Listen Up

We reprimand our children all the time, don’t we? “Listen Up!” we demand…but like us they only hear what they want to hear.

Jesus had the same problem with his disciples. Listen to this!

Jesus, now well on the way up to Jerusalem, took the Twelve off to the side of the road and said, “Listen to me carefully. We are on our way up to Jerusalem. When we get there, the Son of Man will be betrayed to the religious leaders and scholars. They will sentence him to death. They will then hand him over to the Romans for mockery and torture and crucifixion. On the third day he will be raised up alive.”(Matthew 20:17-19, AMPC)

Translation… “Fellas, I am telling you that I am about to suffer and die and yes even be crucified.”

And what does he get next? A quarrel amongst them about who would be the greatest of the twelve! Was Jesus thinking… “What on earth have I been saying for the last three years? They just don’t get it!”

It is not like he told them to listen many times before.

If you have ears, pay attention! (Matthew 11:15, CEV)

Are you listening to me? Really listening? (Matthew 11:15, MSG)

How many important thoughts have we missed because we weren’t REALLY listening?

Prayer- Lord, forgive us when we yammer on in our own tone and forget to let you take a turn and speak to us. Amen.