Luke 4:31-37

        Listen

        31 And he went down to Caper'na-um, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath; 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority. 33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon; and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 "Ah! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy  us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. 36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, "What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out." 37 And reports of him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

       My daughter is wonderful. When she was a just an small child, we had a coal burning stove in the living room to heat our home. One day she started to walk over towards it and in a panic I screamed at her to stop! I really screamed at her. She cried and was afraid to go near the stove again. I suspect I may have scared some demons out of her that day and she may have needed a diaper change as well. This wonderful little girl listened to what I had to say even if it involved some level of fear.  Thank God she did listen.

       The demons in this reading listened to Jesus as well.  I am sure there would be something said about him curing a man on the sabbath or some such nonsense but I'd like to focus on the listening.

        You probably already know how I feel about stopping to listen to those around you and the subtle (and not so subtle) messages that God sends us all day long.

         While I am certainly not even close to the definitive word  when it comes to God's word, I know that I am a voice. I also know that the Bible, indeed, all holy scriptures are not the definitive word either. While certainly inspired by God, they are open to interpretation and certainly mis-interpretation. One thing is certain, they do contain truths about our lives and how we are supposed to live. They do contain stories of a love affair between God and his people, between people and their God.

          As such, do we listen to holy scripture? Do we try to read them and understand them? Perhaps a bible study group is in order. Perhaps we could get a study bible that has notes in it that will help us understand, the context, the original wording etc. It isn't enough to say any ancient texts are holy. They need to be read, understood and listened to. When we do, I feel countless demons of every sort will be exercised.

          Listen, hear God's word.