Beware of Selective Hearing Impairment

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

July 29, 2022: Remembering Martha, Maria and Lazarus
Jeremiah 26: 1-9; John 11: 19-27.

The auricular experts explain that there are different kinds of deafness... mild hearing loss, moderate hearing loss, moderately severe hearing loss, severe hearing loss and profound hearing loss! At times spiritually too these hearing impairments can be calculated in a similar fashion, but we need to add one more crucial type of hearing challenge. That is, Selective Hearing Loss - hearing only what I want to hear, or refusing to hear what I do not want to hear merely because it causes me inconvenience. 

When Jeremiah spoke to them about the impeding danger and their need to return to the Lord, the pople deemed him liable to death. The Word of God keeps rushing into our hearts. It would cleanse it, refresh it and fill it with life, if only we allow it to. If we are biased, prejudiced and suspicious, we would break no ground towards perfection. At times with these biases and prejudices, we fall prey to the syndrome of 'hearing merely what we want to hear'!

When Martha told Jesus, "if you were here, my brother would not have died!" Martha's (and Maria's) hope in the Lord was plainly expressed in those words. But the Lord challenges them to journey further in her hope, not to get stuck to cliches, not to remain with mere statements and memorised aphorisms...but to go all the way out in trusting the Lord. It is like what St. Paul says about Abraham (Rom 4:18)... Jesus invites Martha and Mary to hope against hope! 

Martha's confession about Christ has nothing less than the confession of St. Peter! The faith that Martha had in Jesus was so profound that she believed when Jesus was around nothing could go wrong. Jesus acknowledges the trust that Martha had in him, but invites her to go a step ahead and trust that even if things went wrong, she had nothing to fear for the Lord was with her always! Martha, Maria and Lazarus are given to us, in contrast to the people whom Jeremiah encountered, as persons who accepted the challenge from the hands of the Lord... to hear completely, to hear integrally... and to avoid the prevalent malefficence of selective hearing impairment. 

To hear and trust in the Lord, is simple in times that are pleasant. It isn't that very simple to trust in the Lord "always". Even when things go wrong, or especially in such situations, we are called to be calm but vigilant; seeking solutions but not begging remedies. Not looking for any solutions anxiously, but daring to remain patient with the issues of life is a clear sign of total trust in the Lord that the Lord alone is our hope! 

Amidst all our pressing concerns and pressurising opinions of the world, let us beware of selective hearing impairment, and hear, listen and trust in the Lord wholeheartedly.