Those Who Listen to God’s Word and Do It

What it looks like when the Word takes root.

Blessed fifth Sunday in Lent to you. I pray you are able to worship with a local expression of Christ’s Church today. For me, I will be driving an hour and a half to a church currently without a pastor, preaching from John 15:1-15 and Philippians 1:9-11. Those aren’t our passages for today, but they do resonate deeply with what is.

The passage today is a collection of sayings and scenes: a lamp, an admonition to listen, a clarification about family, and then a storm at sea. Jesus keeps returning to a single idea - what it means to truly receive the word of God - not just to hear it, not just to admire it, but to live it.

The image of the lamp is straightforward but searching. No one lights a lamp only to hide it. Light is meant to be seen. In the same way, whatever is received from God is not meant to remain private or theoretical. Studying the Bible is not enough. The Word is to become visible, embodied, lived out in real ways. Which is why Jesus immediately follows with a warning: Pay attention to how you listen. Listening is not passive. It is formative. What we do with what we hear shapes who we become.

His next statement so striking - My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. This is not a dismissal of his family, but a redefinition of belonging. Proximity is not the point. Neither is familiarity. The in union with Jesus are those whose lives exemplify what they receive from God.

Then comes the storm. The disciples, who have heard Jesus teach, who have seen his power, who are physically close to him, panic when the wind and waves rise. Jesus calms the storm, but his question lingers: Where is your faith? It’s the same question, really. Not, “Have you heard me?” but “Has what you’ve heard taken root in you?”

So this passage, in all its variety, circles a single invitation. The word of God is given freely, like seed scattered across all kinds of ground. But what matters is what becomes of it. Does it remain something we hear and discuss? Or does it become something we trust, something we live, something that holds even when the storms come?

Luke 8:16-25

“No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on top of a lampstand so that those who enter can see the light. Nothing is hidden that won’t be exposed. Nor is anything concealed that won’t be made known and brought to the light. Therefore, listen carefully. Those who have will receive more, but as for those who don’t have, even what they seem to have will be taken away from them.”

Jesus’ mother and brothers came to him but were unable to reach him because of the crowd. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”

He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who listen to God’s word and do it.”

One day Jesus and his disciples boarded a boat. He said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” So they set sail.

While they were sailing, he fell asleep. Gale-force winds swept down on the lake. The boat was filling up with water and they were in danger. So they went and woke Jesus, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” But he got up and gave orders to the wind and the violent waves. The storm died down and it was calm.

He said to his disciples, “Where is your faith?”

Filled with awe and wonder, they said to each other, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him!”

Prayer (Fourth Sunday in Lent, Book of Common Prayer)

Almighty God,

You alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.