Isaiah says: The Lord GOD opens my ear that I may hear (Is 50:5).
If the Lord opens your ears what might you hear? Angelic voices; the sounds of peace and harmony; words of comfort and consolation?
Isaiah didn’t hear those things. What he heard was harsh and unpleasant. He tells us what an effort it took to continue listening, to accept what he was hearing through the ear that God had opened. “I did not refuse, did not turn away.”
God also opened Jesus’ ear. In fact not just his ear but his whole being, so that it had no protection, so that it would be poured out like water (cf Psalm 22, and Job). All his being was split open, like his cloak that was torn, and the veil of the Temple that split apart to let God soak the world with His presence, with His life.
When God speaks in our hearts we may hear comfort and consolation, angelic voices. But when He opens our ears it is to hear the world around us. Isaiah and Jesus heard the voices of condemnation, the sounds of hatred, the noise of discord and of pain. These are not sounds we want to hear. Anyone would want to rebel against listening, to turn away, to shut out the sounds of a world that is suffering and piling pain on pain.
We don’t have to enter into that pain in the way that Jesus did. If we are fortunate we will not hear words of condemnation and hatred directed against ourselves. But if we allow our ear to be opened, if we don’t turn away, then we will hear the pain and the hatred all around. And we will need to be strong and firm. We will need to act as the prophets we are called to be (Lumen Gentium, 12) – not to shout out from the mountaintop or from a soapbox, but maybe from our Facebook page or in conversation with neighbors. We do need to speak of the righteousness of the Lord, to push back against the voices of hatred and discord, to comfort the broken-hearted and bind up the weak.
That prophecy can only start with listening, just as it did for Isaiah, and for Jesus. They had the power of God within them to enable them to listen fully and accept what they heard, and act on it. Our faith gives us that power also, our faith is that power, and if we don’t rebel or turn away then we will also act, as Saint James points out.
In that way we give up our own life, our own comfort, our own will, and gain the life that Jesus offers us, a life that is shared with everyone around us. Sometimes we will get hurt, but we will not be shamed, because the Lord God is our help. Jesus has saved us from whatever happens. He told us: “whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it”.