Digging Deeper - Shema (Hear and Obey)
The story is told of a rabbi searching for Jewish kids who had been displaced as the Nazi years began, their families seeking to protect them by sending them to a monastery in southern France. After the war ended this rabbi went to the monastery. They had been there for years and the priest in charge was unaware of the circumstances. He told the rabbi that all the children were Christian, not Jewish. Many were very young when taken there and the kids were unclear of their past. The rabbi asked if he could visit the wards where the children lived. When the kids were gathered in front of him, he began to sing in Hebrew, “Shema Israel, Adonai elohenu, Adonai echad” (Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one). The faces of many children lit up, as they joined the rabbi in singing these words.
Why did this resonate with the kids? Because it was embedded into their memory from their youngest years, as their fathers and mothers recited these words in the morning and at bedtime. The words from Deuteronomy 6 continue, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might…You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you arise.”
Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, and this was what he responded with. It all begins with the word “Shema.” Usually that Hebrew word is translated as “hear” but in the book Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, Lois Tverberg says it is much deeper than what our English word “hear” indicates. It is more than “to perceive sound.” It includes careful listening, taking heed, and responding with action to what you have heard. Tverberg remembers in a Hebrew class she attended a student asked, “How do you tell someone to obey?” The instructor simply said, “Shema.” For the Jew (and it should be for the Christian too), if we truly hear, if we truly listen, we will obey what our master instructs. Later that day Tverberg did a word search for Bible verses that contain “obey” in them, and in almost every case the Hebrew word behind obey was Shema.
When David prayed in the Psalms, “O Lord, please hear my prayer” he was not accusing God of being deaf or disinterested, rather he was calling on God to take action!
In a similar fashion, you may recall Jesus telling the crowds (and us), “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear” (Mark 4:9). What he was saying was, you have heard my teaching, now take it to heart and obey what I say! He had just told them the story of the Sower who sowed seed, some had birds eat it, some fell on rocky ground and didn’t take root, some fell among thorns and were choked, but some fell on good ground and produced, yielding much fruit. Jesus was saying we should have fertile ground in ourselves that allows God’s Word to take root and allows us to grow and mature, serving the Lord with our talents, obeying him. We are later encouraged by James to be doers of the Word, not merely hearers who delude themselves (James 1:22).
The sad fact is, many Jews who grow up saying daily, “Shema, O Israel” allow it to become a fruitless routine. They say the words, but they forget what it means to truly hear, to listen, to obey. We need to be careful of this, as well, realizing that to truly hear what God says, is to follow through with the action our Lord has called for. Whoever has ears to hear, let him Shema.
Cross Point: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear. But to what shall I compare this generation? Like children calling to their playmates, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance.’” (Matthew 11:15-17).
Why did this resonate with the kids? Because it was embedded into their memory from their youngest years, as their fathers and mothers recited these words in the morning and at bedtime. The words from Deuteronomy 6 continue, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might…You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you arise.”
Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, and this was what he responded with. It all begins with the word “Shema.” Usually that Hebrew word is translated as “hear” but in the book Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, Lois Tverberg says it is much deeper than what our English word “hear” indicates. It is more than “to perceive sound.” It includes careful listening, taking heed, and responding with action to what you have heard. Tverberg remembers in a Hebrew class she attended a student asked, “How do you tell someone to obey?” The instructor simply said, “Shema.” For the Jew (and it should be for the Christian too), if we truly hear, if we truly listen, we will obey what our master instructs. Later that day Tverberg did a word search for Bible verses that contain “obey” in them, and in almost every case the Hebrew word behind obey was Shema.
When David prayed in the Psalms, “O Lord, please hear my prayer” he was not accusing God of being deaf or disinterested, rather he was calling on God to take action!
In a similar fashion, you may recall Jesus telling the crowds (and us), “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear” (Mark 4:9). What he was saying was, you have heard my teaching, now take it to heart and obey what I say! He had just told them the story of the Sower who sowed seed, some had birds eat it, some fell on rocky ground and didn’t take root, some fell among thorns and were choked, but some fell on good ground and produced, yielding much fruit. Jesus was saying we should have fertile ground in ourselves that allows God’s Word to take root and allows us to grow and mature, serving the Lord with our talents, obeying him. We are later encouraged by James to be doers of the Word, not merely hearers who delude themselves (James 1:22).
The sad fact is, many Jews who grow up saying daily, “Shema, O Israel” allow it to become a fruitless routine. They say the words, but they forget what it means to truly hear, to listen, to obey. We need to be careful of this, as well, realizing that to truly hear what God says, is to follow through with the action our Lord has called for. Whoever has ears to hear, let him Shema.
Cross Point: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear. But to what shall I compare this generation? Like children calling to their playmates, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance.’” (Matthew 11:15-17).