Mensa Otabil - Blessed are Your Ears
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We’re concluding our teaching on the parable of the sower today, and we’re looking at a statement Jesus made after the parable: Matthew 13, verses 16 and 17: Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear. For assuredly, I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it. Many times when we look at our lives, read the Bible, and see all the great prophets of old, we wish we lived in their days.
We wish we lived in the days of Abraham, Moses, David, and Elijah, but we live in our days; we live in the 21st century. Jesus was speaking to His disciples after the parable of the sower and says to them, «Blessed are your eyes for they see.» So Jesus is saying to His disciples, «Listen, what you are seeing now is something that Elijah, Moses, Abraham, David, and all these people would have wished to see, but you are seeing it now.» Then He says, «Blessed are your ears,» because these people would have wished to hear what you are hearing. In other words, Jesus is saying, «Pay attention to what I’m telling you because this is precious, this is important.»
And in our time, we still see Jesus. How do we see Him? Because His story was recorded for us. The gospel helps us to see Jesus; we see how He moved, how He worked, we see what He did in a storm, how He healed people, and we hear His words 2,000 years later. Blessed are our ears who hear the words of Jesus. Now, if the prophets of old had what we have, they would be far happier than they were in their time because they prophesied about the coming of Jesus, but they never saw Him and they never had Him. We, now, after Him, can look back, and we see Him and we hear Him because His word is still alive with us. Don’t underestimate the power of the word you read now; don’t underestimate the power of the word of God that is alive to us now.
So anytime you approach the word of God and read it, blessed are your eyes. Anytime you hear the word of God, blessed are your ears. You are blessed, and I am blessed to be living in a time when the words and the actions of Jesus have been recorded for us, that we can believe His word and we can believe in Him. He says that we can do the works that He did. May the word of God dwell in us and bear so much fruit that we can do the works of Jesus Christ. May His word not fall on the wayside of our hearts; may it fall on good ground, and may the word of God in our hearts bear fruit. And I don’t even want it to bear 30, or 60; I want it to bear 100-fold fruit. May you be a major doer of the word of God. May the power of God be seen in your life this day as you embrace the power of Christ and walk in His power and walk in His goodness.
We walk by faith in the words of Jesus, which still speaks to us today. Every time we read the Bible, we are hearing Him; every time we go to church, His word is exposed; we are hearing Him. This week we have heard Him, and blessed are your eyes and blessed are your ears which continue to hear Christ Jesus speaking to us. I trust that the coming week will be a great one for you and a fruitful one for you because the word of God will make a way for you. Let’s share a word of prayer together. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to hear Your word. Help me to be a doer of all that I hear, in Jesus' name, amen and amen.» Well, my friends, it has been a joy sharing this week with you. I’ll start something new tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.