Hanging on Jesus’ Words

When was the last time you were hanging on someone’s words? 

You know the feeling, you’re leaning forward, eagerly and almost impatiently waiting on and listening to and consuming every single thing being said. Everyone else in the room disappears. Everything else goes silent. Your whole attention is entirely focussed on digesting every word that is said. 

I experienced this in a subject on Judges at Bible College. Barry Webb was the lecturer and he was softly spoken and yet profoundly wise. When he opened the story of Jephthah in Judges 11 you could have heard a pin drop in the classroom and every eye, every mind, every thought was captured by every word he said. We were hungry for it.  

With this in mind, I had one of those “oh wow” Bible reading moments yesterday when I read a familiar passage but found something unfamiliar. I was in Luke 19 and there is the Zacchaeus story, Palm Sunday and Jesus entering the temple. And then hidden away at the end was this:

“Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.” (Luke‬ ‭19‬:‭47‬-‭48‬) 

All the people hung on his words. They could not get enough of Jesus teaching. They were captivated by his voice. They were mesmerised by all he said. All the people. So many people that the Jewish leaders feared arresting Jesus because of the rebellion such a move would cause. You might say, Jesus’ words had captured their hearts.  

And this led of course to me asking, have Jesus’ words captured my heart? Do I hang on his words? Am I hungry to hear more? 

Truth be told, sometimes my Bible reading (which is of course listening to the voice of God!) is perfunctory and rapid. It’s a task done so I can get onto the next task. How terrible! Sometimes it’s thought-provoking and engaging. I can’t tell you why the difference but I am going to spend some time considering what is happening for me over the next few weeks. What is going on for me, that sometimes I am hanging on every word and other times I am rushing through words to get to the next thing. 

How about you? I know there are some parts of the Bible that will teach, encourage, rebuke and comfort differently to others but I am thinking more about the attitude we bring to our Bible reading. Do we open our Bible with anticipation in mind? Do we open our bible with obligation in mind? Do we open our Bibles at all? What is it like for you? 

I want to be like the people in Luke 19:48 everyday and I am going to do some thinking about why I am not. What about you? What could you do to improve your heart for Bible reading this month? What might you do so you can bring a hunger for God’s word to your every day?