Authentic Listening

Listening is not a virtue or an end in itself. Listening becomes virtuous if we listen to God and not to the world which seeks to replace God with its agenda.

“And do not follow the customs of the present age,

but be transformed by the entire renewal of your minds,

so that you may learn by experience what God's will is—

that will which is good and beautiful and perfect.”

(Letter of Paul to the Romans 12:2, Weymouth New Testament)

Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane when he was about to be captured by his enemies. In that beautiful prayer, he asked his Father to protect those whom the Father gave him. Jesus was praying for those disciples to whom he revealed the Father and who remained faithful to what he told them.

“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word” (John 17:6).

These people whom the Father gave to Jesus are those who listened and believed in what Jesus taught them. In this prayer, Jesus made a distinction between those who belonged to him and the world.

“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours” (John 17: 9, NAB).

Jesus made a clear distinction between those who belonged in him and those that belonged to the world. Surface reading of the text showed that Jesus was not praying for the “world” but only for those whom the Father gave him.

One of the indicators by which these faithful men and women are known is that the world hates them. It is so because they do not conform to what the world is saying or teaching.

“I gave them your word, and the world hated them because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world” (John 17: 14, NAB).

It is never the task or the mission of the disciples to conform to the world. The task of disciples is to proclaim and remain faithful to the Word of God, not to adjust or conform to the world.

This is indicative of the conflict between the Word and the World. This is why we have to be careful when teaching ideas that conform, rather than confront, the world. Those genuinely faithful are distinguished by their confrontation against what the world proclaims as right or wrong.

Thus, if the disciples agree with what the world is advocating, earning the praises of the world, then there is something wrong. The world hates the disciples because they are preaching what Jesus taught them.

“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you” (John 15: 18 – 19).

Authentic disciples are not concerned with popular decisions that will make them favorable in the eye of the world. Leaders who are more concerned with efforts to win the favors of those who are not believers, those who have rejected the clear teachings of the Lord, are misguided.

John, in his First Epistles, further warned the disciples to avoid belonging to the world.

“Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2: 15 -16).

The warning of the Lord is also for those who will lead the community of believers. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus warned Peter how he would be tested by the Prince of the World, Satan.

“Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat” (Luke 22: 31).

Authentic listening is to listen to God, not the world. Truth is never about popular ideas but an encounter with Jesus, who is alive.

Listening is not just a matter of gathering opinions or updating perspectives to what is current or popular.

The primary exemplar for authentic listening is Mary. When God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth to proclaim to a young woman named Mary that she will bear the Son of God, Mary listened.

Her response is to conform to God’s will. She did not bother with what other people were going to say. She did not twist God’s word to agree with the culture of her time. Instead, she responded that it is God’s will that must prevail, not hers.

Thus, those who are truly listening to God can never reach the conclusion that divorce, same-sex marriage, abortion, euthanasia, artificial contraception and genital castrations are alright. It is never right and will never be right for those who are truly listening to God.