Do We Hear the Words of God?

Imagine the shock of those who heard our Lord when he said: “Which of you can convict Me of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe Me?”

Then he continues, even more provocatively: “He who is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear is that you are not of God.“

So that brings me to an important question: do I hear the words of God? If I hear them, how do I hear them?

Gregory the Great wrote, in his homily on this Gospel,¹ about those who might hear the words of God. There are many, however, who do not hear him. They may refuse to listen, they may hear and go through the motions but not internalize his words, they may even hear and be moved to tears, but once the tears stop they return to their former ways. In summary, many do not hear the words of God, because the desire to carry them out in their deeds. Those who hear the words of God live the words of God.

Those who truly hear the words of God long for their homeland of Heaven above all else. They restrain the lusts of the flesh. They turn away from the glory of the world. They do not seek to enrich themselves in this world, because they look to the next. To hear the words of God truly, we must hear them with our hearts as much as our ears, and we must live them.

These words, they are living and effective, they must change us because of who is saying them. Christ says, “Ántequam Abraham fíeret, ego sum.” “Before Abraham was, I AM.” Gregory says that ante belongs to the past, sum belongs to the present. “The divinity has neither past nor future, but possesses being always.” By saying “I AM”, the Lord was unambiguously announcing that he was the eternal God who spoke to Abraham. If that’s the case, his words are not mere suggestions from a smart guy who lived a holy life. They are commands from the one who holds your being in existence at every moment.

The Jews picked up rocks to stone our Lord, because they heard him and they hated what he called them to do. Gregory notes that “truth flees the mind which it does not find humble.” How many of us recognize the failure of the Jews in today’s Gospel because they refused to hear the preaching of our Lord, but turn around and fail to live his commands ourselves? How many of us condemn the wickedness of others, but fail to turn away from our own wickedness? How many of us revile those who place their own teachings above that of Christ and his Church, but then turn around and do the same thing with a teaching or so-called truth we like better?

In such cases have we not become just like those who wanted convict our Lord of sin? Who wanted to stone him for calling them to hear and live his words?

I will allow St. Gregory the Great the final word:

Behold, he calls, and we are unwilling to return. Behold, he endures, and we make light of his patience. While therefore there is time, brethren, let each one forsake his wickedness and hold God’s patience in deep reverence — lest the God he now dismisses as peaceable prove utterly impossible to escape once his wrath is kindled.