GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 7:16
Listen up!
Alice and I traveled from our home to her physician’s office recently for a 3:00 p.m. appointment—a trip that takes about one hour. It was an appointment scheduled a couple of weeks earlier. While the afternoon weather was pleasant, I interrupted a project, and Alice had other things to do, but this was important, so we put everything aside for the appointment. Traffic was light, and we made good time. We reached the office with about 20 to spare. The receptionist, an attractive young woman, informed Alice that the physician was unavailable because he had an emergency at the hospital. She apologized but said she had called several times. Alice checked her phone and, sure enough, the screen showed four missed calls. She did not hear the phone, and of course, neither did I.
While I was getting gasoline recently, I noticed an advertisement for a brand of cigarettes selling for $4.25 per package. Each package has printed on it a warning that smoking seriously harms you and others around you. The Canadian government now requires that each individual cigarette bear the printed warning: “Cigarettes cause cancer,” or some similar warning. Yet, companies continue to produce truckloads of cigarettes for consumers who have ears but do not hear.
There are reports that alcohol is carcinogenic. Among other health problems, alcohol causes impaired judgment, digestive issues, liver disease, high blood pressure, brain shrinkage, addiction, and dependency. Nonetheless, consumers continue to purchase and use alcoholic products as fast as distilleries can produce them. They have ears but do not hear.
Pollutants released into the atmosphere are contributing to climate change. The atmosphere is warming; some areas are receiving less rainfall, glaciers are melting faster, and ocean levels are rising. Yet individuals and governments ridicule such warnings as “fake science.” They have ears but do not hear.
In many, though not all, versions of the Bible, after Jesus warned the crowd that it is not what goes into a man that condemns him, but what comes out, he said, “If anyone has ears to hear, hear.” (Mark 7:16) The second “hear” is in the imperative mood; it is emphatic. Many translations have “let him hear,” but in this sentence, there is an emphatic “Hear!” Undoubtedly, Jesus knew how startling his words were, so he said, “Hear!”
Jesus’ statement, “If anyone has ears to hear, hear,” is as relevant now as it was when these words were first penned—perhaps even more so.
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