It’s the little details in those familiar stories of Jesus in the gospels that sometimes take you by surprise. You think to yourself, ‘Hmm, I’ve never quite read it like that before’. So here he is on his way to the house of this Jewish leader. He’s on the way to attend to a sick girl, the man’s daughter, who may in fact be at the point of death. The members of the man’s household have come from the house to meet him. The narrative says that Jesus ‘overheard’ them as they came with the news that the girl had already passed away and that it was hardly worth Jesus coming any further. Instead he encourages Jairus, to ‘not fear, only believe’.
Now the word ‘overhear’ we usually take in the sense of ‘eavesdropping’ or accidentally listening in to the conversation of others. Here the meaning is a bit different. The word that translates ‘overheard’ is ‘parakouo’ in the Greek, which literally means to hear alongside, but also carries with it a sense of hearing, but paying no heed, or deliberately disregarding what’s being said. In a sense, you could say it means ‘hearing beyond’, or hearing what’s said alongside you, but listening out for another voice, and I kind of like that particular idea.
It’s something I think I need to learn more of. These days there are many voices around, some that come from rationality and science, (obviously, when it comes to discussing my medical situation), others that come from well meaning and caring friends, and some voices from within my own head, that arise more out of fear and anxiety than anything else. I need to learn to listen beyond all of these voices, for the voice of the Master. That voice which gives meaning to our current situation, that sets it against the perspective of a greater purpose and plan, and thereby a place in which to shelter and find comfort. I suppose it’s much the same as it is for the sheep, who are attuned to the shepherd’s voice, and instantly recognise and follow him, because they instinctively know that’s where their source of food is, that’s where their security lies.
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