Do you know what you want?

It’s easy to relate to Jesus’ reaction to the crowd in Matthew 11:16-30

 as he compares his followers to of children who cannot make up their minds:  John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, `He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they said, `Look, at Jesus, a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!  

In today’s vernacular, Jesus might have asked “do you really know what you want? What else will it take for me to help you understand how much God loves you?” His beautifully human feelings to which we identify helps us know that the one whose Word we follow and live by can experience these emotions that are so much a part of our lives.

We all view the world through our own prism or lenses that are largely influenced by our experiences and the world around us. Two people can hear an identical message yet, the same two people may have a completely different interpretation. We attribute this to our human nature. Sometimes we consciously create our own reality that serve our desired expectations and “wishes” based on what we want to hear. In most cases, our perception is unconscious and consistent with our view of reality. This might be called “unintentional bias.”

It’s when we allow the ego to “re-write” or “re-create” our own “script” for what we know to be reality, that we work at cross-purposes with God’s will. These become fanciful dreams, not based in reality. On the other hand, “hope” is based on realistic expectations that come into play as new creative possibilities. Scientific studies are rooted in premises that have reasonable potential for a desired outcome. When all parties are blinded any possible unintentional bias is removed.

“What do you want? Jesus seems to ask the crowd. Except he knows they won’t answer. They can’t because what they want is to grow, to evolve, to improve and more. And yet, they want to be left alone, untouched and unchanged, safely ensconced in their comfort zones. Transformative change is risky as it almost always requires that we let go of those attachments that paralyze us; in many ways change may feel a little like dying. How many of us have considered our experiences during Covid19 as transformative? Do we recognize ongoing changes that are desirable and maybe not so desirable? How many of us have been challenged by the need to change, a this time during which holding on to the old way is not even an option?

Paradoxically, we as people who follow Jesus – want to grow but do we really want to change. Why can’t it just happen without our involvement is the fanciful wish? Let it happen in the bliss of ignorance. Change, you see, brings the unknown. Change is not certain. Change implies risk and even potential loss.

In Matthew we see the love of God manifest in Jesus’ ability to embrace our human diversity with his divinely inspired nature. Reaction to the different ministries of John and Jesus provide a model to help us understand that whatever we do can never meet the needs of everyone. We will not be able to reach those whose lenses are distorted by ego and they will forever remain deaf to us. Instead, surrendering our voice to God who through the Holy Spirit will provide the voice that will reach the different ears and different needs, we vainly believe that what we say should be sufficient for all.

Thomas Keating tells us “that there are all kinds of ways in which God speaks to us—through our thoughts and/or anyone of our faculties. But keep in mind that God’s first language is silence. We must listen. We must be willing to listen. The Spirit speaks to our conscience through scripture and through the events of daily life. Reflection on those two sources of personal encounter and the dismantling of the emotional programming of the past prepare the psyche to listen at a more refined level of attention.”

As John and Jesus show us, there is more than one means to the great end… God.