“He Began Speaking”

“Now seeing the crowds, He went up on a mountain. And when He sat down, His disciples came to Him. And He began speaking and taught them, saying. . .”

And so, begins one of the most important lessons of humankind. Picture yourself as one of the multitudes that is sharing this wonderful moment. This man that we have heard o much about walks up this little rise and sits so that all the people can see him. He has no microphone or amplifier to help carry his voice over the fields for all to hear. Chances are he does not have one of these loud hawkers’ voices who makes a living selling chickens to passersby. He talks in a conversational style, but all can hear, because nobody stirs, nobody makes a noise; all want to hear want he says. All can hear, even those who are deaf.

We can hear, but do we listen? I remember as a 10 or 11-year-old I had to memorize these words for Sunday School. And I did. I remember key phrases such as hunger and thirst and poor in spirit, but that’s about it now. I do have to read them; my memory is that bad. That’s because back then I had to memorize words, not meanings.

Now, as I read these lessons and remember, Jesus sat down, he began speaking and taught. Taught is the key word that most of us forget. We must study each one word carefully to understand or try to understand what Jesus is trying to tell us.

I will take the next few days to try to unravel, at least in my own mind, what the meaning is for my world today. There is a comment form at the bottom of my blog that I encourage all to use. I used to tell my college students that I may be the professor, but we are on a life-long learning journey together and will always and forever learn from each other. The extra letters after my name don’t mean a thing. . . (if it ain’t got that swing!!!!!) if you get what I mean.