He Who Has Ears To Hear, Let Him Hear

Jesus said this often. The question is why? What did Jesus mean when he said this? After all, Jesus was a great teacher. At the same time, there were some pretty enigmatic things that Jesus said. After all, aren’t we still arguing quite a bit over what exactly Jesus meant in certain passages? There is also the classic case in which the disciples say to Jesus, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech!” (John 16:29) because he was always using some rather mysterious figurative speech. Jesus also says, “This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (Matt 13:13). As a teacher, if I was as unclear as Jesus was at times, I would be fired.

So we ask again, why the sometimes unclear teaching? Jesus was often time subtle because what Jesus was saying was so radical that he had to say it with a certain degree of subtly or else there would have been rioting in the streets. After all, they did kill him for claiming equality with God (John 10:30–33), but even that, he said quite subtely. So subtley that there are pseudo-Christain cults that use (almost) the same New Testament as the protestant evangelical NT and they argue that Jesus never said he was God. This means that Jesus must have said it in pretty subtle terms (Paul was more direct about it).

In his subtlety Jesus exemplifies good missiology. I have some friends who think that at all times we should be ready to stand up and preach the gospel in the clearest of terms…even if it just makes everyone feel awkward. Jesus certailny did this and we certainly have to be ready to face awkwardness when sharing our faith, however, Jesus was also subtle and careful about how he said certain things because if he would have said them directly, once again, people would have absolutely lost it and chaos would have broken out.

Don’t hear me wrong, I’m not saying that we should be shy about our faith or that we should shroud our evangelism in a cloud of ambiguity. What I am saying, however, is that there are certain ways to say certain things.

The book of Revelation is a perfect example of this. Over and over in Revelation we hear “He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Also in Revelation we have codified messages to the churches (like 666, for example). This alls goes to imply that things aren’t as always as black and white about when, how, and where we share our faith. Granted, I would rather err on the side of being overly bold and controversial, however, there could be other options.

I think that we must remember that it is the Holy SPirit that gives meaning, that convicts hearts, and that leads us to evangelize. This being the case, it is by no human effort that people are saved.

This isn’t the only dynamic at work in Jesus’ enigmatisms (semi-shrouded radical teaching). There is also the dynamic of teaching that transcends human logic. See here for more on that feature of the mystery of the Gospel.

For those who have ears to hear, listen.