Be careful then how you listen...

“Be careful how you listen,” Jesus tells his disciples, “ because whoever has something will be given more, but whoever has nothing will have taken away from him even the little he thinks he has.”

Jesus explained his parable about the seed, “word of God,” to these disciples  “but to the rest it comes by means of parables, so that they may look and not see, and listen but not understand.”  The Church asserts that Jesus, himself,  is the "Word of God," the seed,  the transforming "Revelation of God" hidden from some, revealed to others.

Be careful then how you listen... lest the devil come and take the message away from you, or the time of testing  come and you just won't care enough to endure; or the worries, riches, and pleasures of life will choke off the revelation's meaning for you so it doesn't bear fruit.  Eventually, of course, “everything that is hidden will be brought to light” but only the wise virgins who listened, cared to bring enough oil and will partake in the wedding feast. The foolish, though they belatedly obtained the needed oil,  will knock too late and be locked out.   Be careful then how you listen, Jesus warns his disciples.

In this same chapter of Luke Jesus drives a legion of evil spirits from a wild man who lives in a foreign land. It is powerfully rendered from the possessed man's point of view, in Tim Melton's poem. Well worth a listen.

Jesus tells this man, who wants to become a disciple,  to “go home and report all that God has done for you.” Jesus who could see into these people's hearts  that they were not wanting to hear what God did for him. Like a sheep among wolves he sends his disciples.  Jesus also raised a 12 year old girl whose Jewish parents were worried that she had died.  He tells them “not to tell anyone what had happened.”

To the foreigner he says "go home and tell what God has done for you," to the Jewish couple he says  "don't tell anyone what has happened."  To his disciples he explains the parables, to others the meaning is purposely hidden.

Be careful then how you listen... Shema Isreal...

ג אַשְׁרֵי עֲנִיֵּי הָרוּחַ כִּי לָהֶם מַלְכוּת הַשָּׁמָיִם׃