Deep Listening for God’s Voice
- davidwperk
- Apr 26, 2024
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Friday, May 13, 2022
The week of the fourth Sunday of Easter
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:
27 ‘You have heard that it was said . . . .28But I say to you
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 961)
AM Psalm 40, 54; PM Psalm 51
Exod. 34:18-35; 1 Thess. 3:1-13; Matt. 5:27-37
Today we celebrate the Feast of Robert Hunt. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
Today’s Gospel reading presents Jesus addressing three Old Testament commands, one from the Ten Commandments and two others. In each case, the breadth of the command gets stretched and its imperatival demand intensified. The commandment against adultery was intended to protect a man’s patriarchal claim on his wife. The provision about divorce assumed that divorce was allowed and sought to facilitate remarriage for the woman. The command about oaths forbad swearing falsely and was an extension of the third of the Ten Commandments, the one against using God’s name in vain.
The interpretive chores a reader faces in today’s Gospel are legion, so I would prefer to bypass wrestling with those and go to what fascinates me in a devotional way. What intrigues me in each case is the phrase, “You have heard that it was said.” The Jewish tendency was to avoid the use of God’s name whenever possible because it was so sacred. The phrase “it was said” in verse 27 refers to commandments received directly by Moses from God on Mount Sinai and could be translated, “You have heard that God said.”
Jesus went to their understanding of what God had said that they continued to regard as normative and binding, but he revised that understanding. Jesus reframed what God had said, as if the commands of the past could not be frozen in time. The God who spoke still speaks, speaking fresh words in new and different contexts.
Relating our past understanding of God’s will to the new circumstances of a different day usually proves maddening to the church. Our ongoing dilemma in popular culture and in the churches regarding sexual orientation and gender identity certainly demonstrates that. Just what IS God saying to the church now and how do we relate that to what we understand God has said before? It is not that God speaks inconsistently. Rather, it is that our capacities to hear keep proving limited and that the context from which we read, hear, and understand keeps changing.
Note that Jesus said Moses’ provisions about divorce (Deuteronomy 24) were an adaptation to the intractable stubbornness of the Israelites and that God’s intentions for marriage were better honored by looking to the creation narratives. Could there be a heads up here for us that this and other Old Testament passages cannot simply be read in proof text fashion and carried over into our current setting? Rather, they must be contextualized against their backdrop in time and against the total witness of Scripture, which for us includes the witness of Jesus’ life and teaching.
In the midst of the complexities of reading Scripture and listening for God’s intent, do you not find comfort in knowing that God keeps speaking to us, desiring to be known and to guide us? If we truly believe that, will it not affect our behavior? Will we not become a more avid reader and listener? Will we not read and listen with greater humility, not assuming we know what a particular text might mean? Will we read and listen with gratitude to the God of grace for seeking to get through to us? Will we read in community and trust that we will come closer to the Spirit’s voice together than in isolation? After all, we ARE listening for God’s loving voice.
Note: The Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUSA) adopted this set of guidelines for the reading of Scripture. I believe you will find them helpful.
Poetry often offers me a form of expression that enlivens truth in a way that prose writing cannot. Take for example this poem by Antonio Machado, the Spanish lyric poet. It evokes in me that desire to listen deeply.
Is my soul asleep?
Have those beehives that labor
at night stopped? And the water
wheel of thought,
is it dry, the cups empty,
wheeling, carrying only shadows?
No my soul is not asleep.
It is awake, wide awake.
It neither sleeps nor dreams, but watches,
its clear eyes open,
far-off things, and listens
at the shores of the great silence.+
+Times Alone: Selected Poems of Antonio Machado, trans. Robert Bly (Middletown, CN: Wesleyan UP, 1983), pp. 43-45.
Collect of the Day, Fourth Sunday of Easter
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 225)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Robert Hunt, priest and first chaplain of Jamestown (died ca May 1608 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Robert Hunt
Almighty God, we bless your Name for the life and witness of Robert Hunt, first chaplain to the Jamestown colony, who sought to unite your people in your love amid great hardship: Help us, like him, to work for reconciliation wherever we may be placed; through Jesus Christ your Son, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Guidance
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP 100)
A Collect for Fridays
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 97)
A Collect for Quiet Confidence
O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 832)
A Collect for the Presence of Christ
Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. Amen. (BCP, 124)
A Collect for Mission
Merciful God, creator of all the peoples of the earth and lover of souls: Have compassion on all who do not know you as you are revealed in your Son Jesus Christ; let your Gospel be preached with grace and power to those who have not heard it; turn the hearts of those who resist it; and bring home to your fold those who have gone astray; that there may be one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 280)
Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 5:27-37
27 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. 31‘It was also said, “Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.” 32But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
33 ‘Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.” 34But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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