Community UMC, Quincy
“Open Our Eyes: Hear All the People”
Rev. Andrew Davis
June 21, 2020
Matthew 10: 24-39
This week, we continue our series “Open Our Eyes” as we think about what it means to open our eyes in order to see all the people, hear all the people, and love all the people around us. While I was not here earlier in the month and we didn’t get to hear it, Jesus gave the Great Commission at the end of Matthew’s gospel to “19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28: 19-20, NRSV). Last week in Matthew 10, Jesus sends the disciples out into the mission field and giving them similar authority to him by saying in chapter 9: 37 that “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (NRSV). Despite not being able to worship together face to face, we can still consider what it means to be in mission with the world and outside the walls and doors of our church, as the harvest is very plentiful out there and we have a great mission field before us and even online. By being in mission with the world, it gives us the opportunity to open our eyes and ears to see and hear the needs of the people around us, and to share God’s transforming love with the community, both personally and online.
As we look at today’s text and think about hearing all the people, it’s a bit of a challenge picking out the part about hearing all the people, much less trying to unpack Jesus’ use of hyperbole (or exaggerated statements to make his point). In today’s lesson, Jesus is ultimately talking about who we listen to; students listening to their teachers, children listening to their parents, listening to experts in their field, to Jesus. When we hear all the people, are we going to hear ALL the people, or only those we want to hear? As series write Rev. Dr. Derek Weber explains,
Too often, we only listen to ourselves; that’s the disciples being greater than the master part of the proverb. To listen to a master, an expert, takes humility – which is in short supply these days. And if that self is the head of a house, the leader of a community, and takes on the role of the Lord of the Flies, then self becomes the center of existence for the whole household and brokenness results.[i]
When Jesus is saying in verses 32-39 that he should be placed above everyone, he is using these statements to show the importance of following him and how he has come to bring the truth of God here to earth. Just like the disciples and us today,
The center of our worship is always Jesus Christ and the call placed on our existence as disciples seeking transformation of the world…we are asking for the spirit to open our ears to the voices striving to be heard, the voices of truth that God is sending us through what have become the most unlikely of sources. So, how do we hear those voices?[ii]
How do we hear “those who cry for justice…or those who work for justice from a different perspective?”[iii] When we think of Jesus bringing the sword, setting family members against each other, or taking up our own cross to follow him, it doesn’t necessarily paint a rosy picture, although perhaps this is why Jesus is using such hyperbolic statements…to get the disciples and others to listen carefully, to open their eyes and ears to see and hear all the people. It’s “a call to listen and discern” as we “can hear the voice of God in the voice of the people around us, then we proclaim it. Or when we hear a cry from the people that is a call to God, then we bring it into the light.”[iv] It’s not easy work in any way, as voices are varied and crises are real, along with differences. One of the things my mission project in January by shadowing the PCIRC staff was to see all the people and hear all the people, as there is a lot that happens around us we may not hear or see.
Even as we think of what Jesus is saying when he comes to “bring the sword,” some might misinterpret this easily. Just look at all of the division in the current climate we live in. Derek Weber further explains that,
Sometimes, because of what we hear, we then cause problems. We make divisions; we call out injustice and oppression. We disturb the status quo. That is the sword Jesus brought and now hands to us to wield, not to bring violence, not to destroy, but to bring truth and justice to a world sorely lacking both. This is the result of this proclaiming the light thing.[v]
I think that’s where we really need to listen and listen carefully, maybe even pause before we create problems or divisions, or even pick up stones to throw, or wield a sword at those we don’t like because it’s very easy to do when we fail to listen to each other. It’s like last week with the sheep and wolves, we can be sheep, but we can be wolves too.
God is there when we hear each other and all the people around us. When we hear all the people, “God is at work around us. Sometimes the call is to catch up to what God is doing. And how will we know what God is doing if we don’t listen to the people around us?”[vi] Especially when God’s voice may be coming through the people around us, which can be a pleasant surprise. Hearing all the people is something to practice in everything we do, whether it’s face to face, on video conferencing, the phone, or social media (even though a lot on social media has caused some divisions as of late, hence why I’m disconnecting more). When we listen to what Jesus is saying in this week’s Gospel lesson, it’s the same as listening to the truth from God. Nevertheless,
we must be confident in the truth that comes from God. We have to be sure of what we proclaim. Does it match the God Jesus presents to us? Does it represent the truth Jesus came to proclaim? Is the sword we wield a sword of our frustration and our anger and our prejudice, or is it the sword of Christ’s truth?[vii]
We need to be attentive to what we hear, and not let our biases or prejudices cloud our judgment over the truth that Jesus brings from God into the light. That’s what it means to be fully committed to Christ and in mission with the world. The voices we hear around us, the needs people have, or crises people experience are real. That’s why it’s crucial that we respond in love and humility first, regardless of whether we agree with each other or not. That’s part of taking up our crosses in order to follow Jesus and be comitted to Jesus. Just as we are working on re-launching in-person ministries, we need to listen to each other’s needs, as some are not ready to return in-person yet. As our bishop, Minerva Carcaño said in this past Wednesday’s webinar, “God is everywhere” and even while staying home and saving lives, God is there.[viii] When we hear all the people, we can respond with God’s transforming love, even when it may feel like being sheep in the midst of wolves, or taking up our cross to follow Jesus. Don’t let the sword of violence or prejudice be the one you carry, but instead carry the sword of truth and justice, even though this is hyperbole and not literal, and can easily be misinterpreted and make us uncomfortable with this language. As we approach the new week and have some time to reflect,
1. How will you hear all the people, even those you disagree with?
2. Where do you hear the truth of God through Jesus Christ?
That’s the work we have ahead of us today and beyond today. Let’s open our eyes and open our ears this week and beyond as we see all the people, hear all the people, and love all the people.
Offered to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!
[i] Derek Weber, “Hear All the People” in Open Our Eyes Worship Series (Nashville: Discipleship Ministries of The United Methodist Church), Accessed 17 June 2020, https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/open-our-eyes/third-sunday-after-pentecost-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes/third-sunday-after-pentecost-year-a-preaching-notes
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Ibid.
[v] Ibid.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño, “Wednesday Webinar on Re-Launching In-Person Ministries,” 17 June 2020
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