31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B
Deuteronomy 6:2-6; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 12:28b-34
November 2/3, 2024
I would like to focus today on the beginning two lines of the Gospel and in that way address everything else you have just heard.
“Hear O Israel! The Lord your God is Lord alone!” Yes, my friends, hear…. hear!… and…. God is Lord alone.
Now, I want you to imagine what would happen if I were to call for a show of hands, right now here in this church, if I asked you, “Do you believe that there is one God and you need to hear Him in some way?” How many of you would raise high their hands? I think most of us would raise them high. Surely, we all would, because it is a basic part of our faith. Now imagine what would happen if I were to ask you a follow-up question, the “truth in the pudding” kind of question, “Do you listen to God more than anyone or anything else in your life?” What do you imagine would happen? How many hands would stay up? Most of our hands would drop, right?
So I will ask the question “To whom or to what do you spend most of your day listening?” If you were to actually add up the number of hours you spend listening to people or something like your smart phone, I will wager that you would discover that you actually are spending more time listening someone or something other than God.
There is an old adage that says, “He to whom you listen, is he whom you will eventually obey.” So, to whom are you listening? Who do you obey?
There are so many people, causes, organizations, political parties that demand we listen to them, especially during an election year. Have those people, causes, organizations, political parties, and candidates — to whom we spend a lot of time listening and hearing— become our lords, to use the word from the Gospel?
The answer is “Yes”. I think I can safely say that. I think all of us break that First Commandment frequently and confess it rarely. We have lords other than God, who is Lord alone because we listen to and hear other people more than God.
Who then is your Lord? Truly, who do you listening to in your life more than anyone or anything else? If we spend a lot of time listening to someone, that person becomes our lord.
Now, please understand that I am not suggesting we stop listening to each other. Or that husbands should stop listening to their wives or wives to their husbands, or children to their parents. No, we need a lot more time listening to each other and in that way reduce the tensions in our relationships and our world. Listening is a good thing! But on the flip side of the coin, and this my point, we all know what history teaches us if we fall into the trap of listening to someone who has become our lord and who drowns out the voice of God in our lives. Recent and ancient history are full of examples. Let us learn from history if not from the Scriptures. We are now finding out what happens when a piece of technology — our iPhones and Androids— become our lord. We spend most of our time listening to them, don’t we? In the Bible God kept telling His people to stop giving their allegiance and their lives to false gods. God kept calling them back to Himself.
For over 15 years now, I have been living without television or internet in my home. I’m not bragging, just stating a fact. I have done this for several reasons, but mainly to help me not succumb to the temptations TV, the Internet, and technology bring, tempting me to me to listen to someone other than God throughout my day. I way too easily fall into trap of idolatry. My forgoing of them is my way of listening to God as much as I can. I know that if I listen to Him more than I listen to the world, He will become my Lord, my one Lord, and I will be set free.
I like to think that by trying to hear God more, I will be better able to accept Him for who He is, i.e., my Lord, the one Lord of my life, who alone makes sense of my life and all that has happened to me. I hope that by living in this way, I may be free from anything that will become a false god to which I become a slave.
That’s one of the wonderful things about God; the more you hear Him and obey Him, the freer you become. He wants you to hear Him and freely serve Him. He wants you to find in Him the freedom which comes in loving Him completely. You were made for freedom and you will only find that freedom by hearing God, having Him as your one Lord, and responding with the love He has first given you.
My challenge to you is take a look at your life. Who are you listening to? Are you hearing God? Can you shut off the computer, the iPhone or Android, cut way down your screen time? Can you begin to question who you pay allegiance to, and where is God in all of that? How can you better hear God? Are you listening to Him every day? Can you honestly say God is Lord of your life because you listen to Him more than others?
Let the words of Moses be my words to you today. Hear these words not as enslaving commandments, but rather as words that will free you from all forms of idolatry and slavery to sin and to the world. “Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! Take to heart these words I enjoin upon you today. Love God above all, with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” In all humility, I testify that I have found this to be true.
