Lend Me Your Ears

Revelation 3:1-6
I’m guessing that many people my age, especially those who live in the English-speaking world, have encountered at some point or other the following lines from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Act 3 Scene 2:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar.

This speech by Mark Antony is a masterpiece of manipulation, used to perfection to turn the Roman mob against Brutus and his fellow conspirators in the assassination of Julius Caesar. But the speech begins with the familiar request to “lend me your ears,” to listen up, to pay attention to what is being said. John, the writer of Revelation, shares a similar request in our New Testament reading for today. “Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches,” he writes (Revelation 3:6). He has just shared words of warning for the church at Sardis, calling the members to wake up before Christ comes “like a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come to you” (v. 3). But the appeal for attention is addressed to a wider audience than the Christians of a particular city or region. “Anyone who has an ear” is enjoined to “listen to what the Spirit is saying.” In other words, you and I have a responsibility to pay attention as well and to listen, not to those who would guide the church according to human standards or worldly goals, but to the Holy Spirit alone. What does God want us to do? Where is God calling us to be active? How may we serve God so that our objective is not success but faithful obedience? Seen in this light, the words of Revelation are far from manipulative, they are straightforward and direct. And while the meaning of much of Revelation is difficult to grasp fully, the demand for attention is precisely on point. “Let anyone who has an ear listen…”

Mark Antony had a carefully crafted message for the crowds of Rome by which he wanted them to be roused to action. But while the words of Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2 are worthy of study, they do not speak to current events with any real significance. John, the writer of Revelation, has a message for us all, one that remains vital and alive, one that is Spirit-filled and bourn of urgency right up to the present hour. Will we hear? Will we even listen? And if we do, will we be guided in the direction we need to go? Perhaps that is the question with which we need to wrestle.

Prayer: Gracious God, may we indeed have ears to hear your message to all people and may we be filled with the Holy Spirit as we seek to do your will at all times. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

When Silence Is Golden

Psalm 62

Among the readings found in the Daily Lectionary are two Psalms for the morning and two for the evening. Today I was struck by the open verses of Psalm 62.

“For God alone my soul waits in silence;

from him comes my salvation.

He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress;

I shall never be shaken” (Psalm 62:1-2).

There are days when I like some noise in my life. I sometimes listen to music or watch TV even when I am doing something else. But there are other days when what I really need is silence, not so that I “can hear myself think,” as the expression goes, so that I can hear what is happening in my heart and soul, the places where God is so often active. Why listen for God? The psalmist makes it clear: God alone is our source of salvation and protection. On those occasions when we allow outside noise to invade our consciousness we may lose track of God’s presence. We may also find ourselves distracted, wandering after things of no importance at all instead of concentrating on what it is that God offers us or calls us to do. Prayer, too, can be hampered by too much noise, even our incessant jabbering to God. A full and meaningful prayer life requires some time to listen, to meditate, to quit talking and let God have a turn. Psalm 62 is a good way to remember the importance of quiet reflection. In fact, I would suggest adding verses 1 and 2 to any list of memorized scripture. At any time it is appropriate to wait for God, our “rock and salvation” in silence.

Prayer: Lord, silence the noise in our hearts and minds that we may hear you more clearly and follow you more faithfully. Amen.