Friday of
the 3rd Week of Lent
March 13,
2015 8:30am
“The first duty of love is to listen.”
A well-respected German
theologian named Paul Tillich made that simple statement.
“The first duty of love is to listen.”
So, Jesus says in today’s gospel
that the first great commandment is to love God with our entire being.
Following Tillich’s insight, the
first step in that love and the step that must always be present is to listen
to God.
We do that most clearly when we
read the Scripture, the very Word of God.
We are receptive, outwardly and inwardly
quiet, wanting to take in what God is saying.
We hear the words, hear them in
their context, and try to understand what God is saying about himself or us or
our relationship with him.
To listen in this way is foundational
to the love of God.
Then, to love our neighbor as ourselves,
what Jesus calls the second great commandment, demands again that we listen.
Again, we are receptive,
outwardly quiet and inwardly quiet, wanting to take in what the other is
saying.
Again, we hear the words, try to
understand the feelings and the thought process beneath the words, and to take
in what the other person is saying about herself or himself, about us, about
our relationship, or about whatever the topic or issue is.
This is not easy to do in our
culture and society.
We talk, we promote ourselves, we
interrupt, we think of what we will say just as soon as the other takes a
breath.
For us, to listen to another is
quite difficult.
But it is the first and ongoing
step of love.
“The first duty of love is to listen.”
Paul Tillich has a great insight.
