Sunday Gospel Reflection
Second Sunday of Lent
Mark 9:2-10
Listen to Him!
Joanne R. Bantang
Ministry of Lectors and Commentators
As a teacher, one of the most frequent cues I tell my students is to listen.
“Class, listen!”
“Lend me your ears!”
“May I have your attention please!”
“Eyes on me (or on the board)!”
“Listen to me and not to your classmates.”
“Stay with me! Are you still with me?”
It is imperative that students are cued to listen right from the start and these reminders are interjected as the lesson progresses when students digress or lose focus. These cues may seem like disruptions to delivering content and they are. However, the disadvantage to learning is greater if students are not reminded again and again.
This is an important skill because listening is at the heart of learning. The first indicators that students listen and are ready to learn are shown in their attentive stance to the speaker and the lesson presented. Students stop speaking with classmates, face the teacher, and focus their eyes on the teacher or the visual presentation. When students do these and keep their attention, they take in through their senses most, if not all, of the information presented. The amount of information received is crucial because these are the ones processed by the brain and according to one theory, are processed and retrieved in the short and long-term memory. The final indicators that students listened well include whether they can repeat the lesson orally, teach the lessons to others, or apply it to similar situations. In short, they have manifested learning the materials.
The readings for this Sunday are also about listening. God, our Teacher, is giving me (us) a very important cue—a cue to listen to Jesus, His beloved Son. I realized (and I find this interesting) that of all the messages God could tell us when He addressed the apostles, He gave us a cue, not some profound idea or lesson, but a cue! But what does it mean to listen to Jesus? What is demanded of us when we listen to Jesus? I suspect that it is similar to my expectations as a teacher or the expectations of parents when they also demand that their children listen to them.
Here’s what I think are at least three (3) ways and expectations from God’s command of listening to Jesus:
1. Listening to Jesus means recognizing and choosing Jesus. It is essential that we know who we are listening to; whose teachings we choose to hear.
In this day and age where there are many and conflicting sources of information about God and His teachings and the implications of these teachings in the way we live, we need to be able to recognize His voice and the version of lessons that remains faithful to the lessons Jesus taught to His disciples. We need to be able to choose Jesus’ lessons and not some other prophets’ or some worldly and relativistic perspectives [cf. Col 2:7-9].
Oh, it is very easy to lose and not choose to side with Jesus. Whose voice should a couple listen to when they are faced with the decision to choose contraceptives versus natural family planning methods? Are we for or against legalization of abortion, divorce, or same sex union? What would Jesus do? What are Jesus’ teachings on these things? Whose authority do we defer to and follow? Like a teacher, Jesus is calling, “Lend me you ear! Listen to me!” Can we locate him and choose his teachings?
2. Listening to Jesus means being attentive, maintaining our focus, and not wavering in our resolve.
We know our sins and the occasions that lead to those sins. At the same time, we know where we can get graces that will fortify our resolve not to commit sin. After confession for example, my resolve is still strong and can sustain me for a long time. However, when we distance ourselves from God and turn our eyes away from Him, the temptations of sin can creep into those cracks of resolve.
It is like this remote learning set-up where teachers are distant, and students can attend the sessions with their video and audio turned off. It is easy to lose focus knowing that the teacher cannot see and cue everyone to be attentive. Jesus’ message is interesting enough but with the world as our classroom, our attentions can waver. During this pandemic, we get fewer opportunities to receive sacraments particularly Confession and the Eucharist. Attending online mass and staying awake while seated in the comfort of the sofa is a constant trial not just for the kids. Even household tasks and work can be distractions and are challenging my time management skills. In all these limitations, our main lifeline is our prayer, and we need to fortify our prayer life and avail ourselves of the sacraments as often as we can. The pandemic has also given us opportunities for catholic-based online videos to help us grow in our catechesis. Find your own strategies for staying focused and attentive to God.
3. Listening to Jesus means obeying, following, and putting into action his teachings [cf. Jas 1:22-26]. Just like Abraham in the first reading who listened to God by obeying His command, the irrefutable evidence that we listened is our actions. I need not elaborate on this and using the parlance of the Gen Z–‘nuff said about it.
I felt that the Second Reading is God’s promise if we listen to Him. If we listen to Him and His Son, with whom He is well-pleased, we can be assured that He is for us and as Saint Paul said – “If God is for us, who can be against us?” And Jesus, “who is at the right of God,” will intercede for us [cf. Rom 8:31b-34]. If we listen and understand the lesson God is intending for us to learn, we can indeed walk gladly before the Lord as He got our back.
So, if “today, you hear His voice, harden not your hearts” [cf Heb 4:7] and listen to Him.
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Artwork:
Transfiguration of Jesus
by Carl Heinrich Bloc
