Actions Speak Louder Than Words

April 6, 2017

Day 96: Give Us Ears To Hear:
"One of them struck at the high priest's slave, slashing off his right ear. But Jesus said, 'No more of this.' And he touched the man's ear and healed him." —Luke 22:50-51

I wonder what it was like to actually physically see Jesus heal people. I know that miracles still happen today, but to see Jesus with your own eyes heal someone with his mere touch, it must have been an overwhelming experience. I wish I could have walked with him and known him when he was a man. That wish grows even stronger when I watch films about Jesus' life. I try to picture myself in the scenes with him and what I would do, how I would respond. I'd like to think that I would not act as Peter did or as doubting Thomas did, or as some people in the crowds did—those who heard him speak, but did not absorb his words, those with "deaf ears."

Anderson talks about how he thinks it is "fitting that the blood spilled that night [that night mentioned in the scripture above] was from a lopped-off ear." He feels that it is "symbolic of world that had stopped listening. Jesus was the Word, and people were no longer hearing him." Anderson believes that it is "also symbolic that Jesus' last act of healing was to heal the wounds of an enemy who had come to capture and kill him." He thinks it represents the "redemption that was coming to the world" after Jesus was crucified. "When he died, he healed us all."

Anderson encourages us to not let the words of Jesus fall upon deaf ears and to declare them to a lost world.

I am all for that, but I also feel like we need to be careful how we "declare" Jesus to a lost world.  I think we as Christians have an immense responsibility to both God and man. We don't want to sugar coat or water down the word of God, but we also don't want to turn people away from God by our zealousness or through our misunderstanding of scripture and how it may apply to the lives of those with whom we share it, which is why I have always believed that we should let our actions speak for us. After all, they are louder than words...as the saying goes.