Word to the Wise
Wednesday, February 16, 2022 - Wednesday in the 6th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jas 1:19-27 and Mark 8:22-26]Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts; such a one shall be blessed in what he does. [James]
I think most of the Beloved Congregation would be familiar with the expression, "It went in one ear and out the other!" I think the Letter of James is aiming at that expression in today's first scripture. Big books are written about what takes place between the time a preacher says something from the pulpit and how it reaches and impacts the hearer. Jesus even addresses this in his parable of the sower and the seed! [Mark 4:3-9]. The aim is to "plant" the word in the hearts of believers (and non-believers) in such a way that the "hearer" becomes a "doer!" As James says today, "(H)umbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only...."
I have mentioned in this space a number of times a poster I once saw that said, "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you!" The "doers" would be in danger of jail, and even then would be looking for ways to bear witness! To be a "doer" many of us will have to leave our "comfort zones" and reach out to "the orphans and widows" of our time. Maybe our preacher (God forbid, but sadly too often true) is boring and uninspiring. But the scriptures are written down on a page and in the lives of the "doer" saints. There are many ways the word can be planted in us, but, as an amateur gardener, I know that planting is only the beginning. We have to move from the pew, the page and the lives of other great "doers" to act on our own. AMEN