He Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear

 In Matthew 11:15 Jesus concludes his teacher with the phrase, he who has ears, let him hear.  At first there doesn't appear to be much to this saying because it just sounds like Jesus is simply saying, OK I'd done with that lesson.  He may have well said, "you go that", or "does that make sense?"  

However, by wrapping up his teaching with this phrase it turns this seemingly throwaway comment into something that is profound and can affect our understanding of God in a significant way.  

The lesson of "he who has ears, let him hear" is not talking about the physical ability to hear.  But it is also not just a way to wrap up the lesson.  It is also more than a way that Jesus used to show the authority of his words.  The phrase is a way to open up the listener's mind in such a way that allows him to allow the teaching to enter his thoughts and bring up feelings that meet the teaching with resistance because of past hurts or present fears or for whatever reason that the teaching may be resisted.  He who has hear, LET him hear.  Let him hear the teaching, even though it hurts or is scary to believe.  Take in the teaching because the healing of the teaching will only come if he allows it to interact with those feelings of hurt or fear or whatever.  

It can also be as practical as completing necessary tasks that face us from day to day or at least on occasion.  We can perform physical activities for the sake of accomplishing tasks and doing things but if our motivation to perform tasks gives us undesirable feelings then it can get more and more difficult to complete the tasks.  This can affect us to the extent that we are unwilling or unable to perform the task we want to do or need to do.

So the motivation for performing tasks should give us some level of satisfaction.  If it does not then we have to explore how to change the level of satisfaction.  One of the best ways to do this is to change the story that you tell yourself about the meaning and/or experience of doing the task.  

This mindset (or you could call it an attitude adjustment) begins to give a frame to begin to understand what Jesus meant when he said He Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear.  

A common way to interpret this saying is that Jesus says this to point out to his listeners that the message is important.  That is now necessarily wrong, but I believe there is a way to think about this well-known saying that will help gain a deeper understanding of how to have a relationship with Jesus and others.  


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