I don’t want to hear this

A Reflection for Saturday, December 20 by Rev. Dr. Laura Truax

Lectionary reading for 12/20/2025: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; 2 Samuel 7:23-29; John 3:31-36; Selected passage for reflection: John 3:25 – 26, 31-32

Read

John 3:25 – 26, 31-32

²⁵ An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. ²⁶ They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him…  The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³² He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 

Reflect

I just don’t want to hear this, my friend said, carefully folding the Walter Wink column before placing it on top of her Bible.

Yeah. I agree, said another. I’m going to have to really sit with this.

We were at Condo Church – a loose gathering of unaffiliated Christians who gather monthly to eat, talk about God, ourselves and the world. In anticipation of Christ the King Sunday, and against the ICE raids in Chicago, we were discussing nonviolence as a form of resistance, “Jesus’ third way” as Wink described it:

Love of enemies has, for our time, become the litmus test of authentic Christian faith. Commitment to justice, liberation, or the overthrow of oppression is not enough, for all too often the means used have brought in their wake new injustices and oppressions… When we demonize our enemies, calling them names and identifying them with absolute evil, we deny that they have God within them, and that transformation is possible. Instead, we play God. We write them out of the Book of Life. 

Love of enemies…the litmus test of authentic Christian faith.

The speaker in today’s reading is not Jesus, but the prophet John the Baptist. John’s comments emerge from a longer dialogue on how his disciples perceive Jesus to be a threat to their movement. Jesus and co. are also baptizing, and they are doing it close by, (3:26) The nerve of the upstart Jesus. The tribalism of Baptist’s disciples.

After telling his followers to get over it, the Baptist begins a longer thought on just how hard it is to not follow the ways of the world. Jesus comes from God, and he speaks with divine – otherworldly—wisdom. Jesus sees, hears, walks, with a way of knowing that isn’t modeled in the synagogue or practiced by his neighbors. Jesus, John says, testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. In other words, we don’t want to hear it. 

I’m aware of just how much I pick and choose what I want to follow in Christian teachings. I comfortably and securely tell my conservative family members of how Jesus embraces all – no exclusions. I readily expand the meaning of marriage covenant to include all lovers – gay & straight, without exception. I find easy justification for why our government at every level must be a force for justice, equality, and equity. Yet. Invite me into a deeper understanding of loving my enemy; demand that I take seriously a proactive stance of compassion toward those who are discarding those whom Jesus highlighted – immigrants, for instance – and I, too, want to fold up my paper, responding,  I don’t want to hear this.

Soon, the Chicago winters will descend. Federal cuts in critical housing programs for the poor begin in December. The particular cruelty of denying food, shelter, and medical services to the most vulnerable at a time of such great prosperity is without a modern-day precedent.  I will double down on my duty to be where Jesus is – food pantries, community centers, and warming shelters. But my real test, my litmus test of authentic Christian faith, will not be in whether I’m in the shelter, but in how I love those in power who put them there.

Respond

What do you pick and choose from Jesus? Where do you sense Jesus might be inviting you into a deeper relationship with him? Consider what those changes might be and how they may be actualized.

Rest

Jesus, have your way in us. We ask your love to saturate us so that it will change how we experience this world and all people in it. Tell us the things we don’t want to hear so that we may live.

About the Author

Rev. Dr. Laura Sumner Truax is engaged with spiritual direction, church and pastoral consulting, and teaching while leading an active daily meditation group. She is the author of Undone: When coming apart puts you back together, and the co-author of Love Let Go: Radical Generosity for the Real World. Laura lives in Chicago, Illinois. Find her on Facebook or @FreeRangeChristian