“Pay attention”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Saturday, October 12, 2024
Luke 8: 16-25 (Forward, p. 75) CEV p. 1068
One of the maladies often present in people as they age is the loss or deterioration what was once excellent eyesight. This can come in the form of cataracts, glaucoma, astigmatism, and host of other things. What this can result in, in addition to just a loss of sight itself, is a loss of clarity or depth perception or peripheral vision, making it hard, not only to see, but also to pay attention. Important as this physical ability to pay attention is, the ability to pay attention morally or spiritually is even more crucial.
In today’s account from Mark we see something of this. Just prior to today’s account, Jesus has given, and explained, the Parable of the Sower, the Seeds and the Soils, which emphasized the need to pay attention and be open to God’s message. Now, in today’s passage, Jesus speaks of light and importance for seeing, and it is obvious that by this He is speaking of more than just physical light, for He then says, “There is nothing hidden that will not be found. There is no secret that will not be well known. Pay attention to how you listen!” (verses 17-18a). The paying attention He speaks of obviously, then, has to do with how we take in and receive God’s message.
This is reiterated in the next two sections or pericopes. In Jesus’ discussion about family, it turns out that what is truly important is not kinship or physical descent, but hearing and obeying—in other words, paying attention. And likewise with the storm at sea, the disciples’ fear and panic arose, not so much from the storm itself, but from their inability to trust Jesus no matter what, that is, their inability to really pay attention to Jesus and what He was capable of achieving if only they would trust Him. Perhaps this is something that we, you and I, really need to pay attention to as well.
Forward notes: “One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side of the lake’” (verse 22).
“I recently learned that there’s not much difference (scientifically) between a dove and a pigeon. Yet, the way we perceive a dove and pigeon vastly differs. We like doves. Pigeons? Not so much. A study found that the reason why we don’t like pigeons is because they’re everywhere. They constantly invade what we think are human spaces; they keep crossing the invisible boundaries that separate civilization and the wild.
“In this season of my life, I resonate with the Holy Spirit being personified with a pigeon rather than a dove. The ‘other side of the lake’ was a place of Gentiles, a place the disciples would not have gone on their own volition. Jesus crossed invisible boundaries set up by tradition and laws. He associated with people that the “faithful” were not supposed to spend time with; he touched people that religious laws forbade them to touch.
“Theologian Willie Jennings profoundly asks, ‘Where is the Holy Spirit leading us? And into whose lives?’”
