Daily Devotional for January 18

 

January 18                                                        Mark 4:1:20

In 1988, the students of a prominent national university for
the deaf in Washington, D.C., reacted with several days of
protest and turmoil on their campus when a hearing person
was named as president. The students were demanding that,
for the first time in the institution's history, a deaf person
occupy that position. They wanted both a positive role model
and a president sensitive to their struggles.

One scene presented on the evening news was a noisy and
tumultuous gathering where a university official attempted to
address a room filled with angry, chanting students. At one
point she said that if the noise continued, she could not speak.
Immediately the students shot back in sign language, "What
noise?" There was no more convincing argument for the
timeliness or justice of the students' demands!

There are more ways to hear than with one's physical ears.
The deaf students were speaking quiet "words" which could
only be heard by the ears of the heart. Their words succeeded
beyond all expectations in producing justice as their fruit. Jesus'
story of the tiny seeds producing unheard-of abundance, in
spite of almost overwhelming obstacles, is a description of the
fruitful abundance of the reign of God when we hear God's
call in our lives with the hearing of the heart.

     God, your reign comes inevitably and abundantly
     when I hear with my heart the needs of others
     around me for meaning and value. Your reign
     comes powerfully and successfully when I respond
     with my tiny efforts to sow the seed of Jesus in hearts
     that are barren and rootless, pressured or
     persecuted, choked with anxiety or compulsion.
     But, first of all, make me good soil for Jesus-seed.
     Amen.

​

From The Road to Emmaus - An inclusive devotional Edited by Joseph W. Houle

Emmaus House of Prayer - Washington D.C.198