When It Enters One Ear and Leaves through the Other
First Reading: Jeremiah 7:23-28
Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 94(95):1-2,6-9
Gospel: Luke 11:14-23
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We’ve probably used or heard the phrase: “It enters one ear and leaves through the other.” It’s said when someone hears advice, instruction, or even warnings but doesn’t absorb them, let alone act on them. Parents use it for their children – when a child is repeatedly counselled but fails to do the right thing; when a teacher explains a concept again and again, yet the students fail to understand; or when a priest passionately preaches a homily only for the congregation to forget it by the time they reach the church doors. In daily life, this phrase captures a frustrating, all-too-common human behaviour: hearing without listening, knowing without doing, nodding outwardly while the heart remains untouched. It’s not just forgetfulness, it’s wilful disengagement. And this is where it becomes spiritually dangerous. It reflects a kind of inward closure that keeps truth out, not by ignorance, but by choice. In biblical terms, it’s more than inattentiveness; it’s resistance to divine instructions – disobedience.
This very problem lies at the heart of the First Reading (Jeremiah 7:23–28). God says, “This is the nation that did not listen to the voice of the Lord their God or take correction.” The Sitz im Leben (life setting) of this passage is Judah’s misplaced confidence in the Temple as a guarantee of divine favour, while their moral and covenantal obligations were abandoned. People came to the Temple, said their prayers, offered sacrifices, but their ears were closed and their hearts even more so. The Hebrew verb used for “listen” is shāmaʿ, which implies more than just hearing sounds – it includes attentive listening that leads to obedience. The people heard the prophets, including Jeremiah himself, but treated their words like background noise – allowing the message to get in one ear and leave through the other. The phrase “they stiffened their necks” (Hebrew: hiqshû ʿorpām) mirrors the image: they were not just inattentive but stubborn, resistant to the very voice that formed them as a people. This spiritual condition made their worship hollow, their religious rituals void of meaning. What went in one ear, left through the other, not because the message was unclear, but because the will refused to act.
The responsorial Psalm (95) resounds this indictment by warning: “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” The Psalm recalls the rebellion at Meribah and Massah, where Israel tested God, despite His previous signs and providence. They listened with their ears but grumbled in their hearts. The Psalm places the hearer in the present: “Today” – a perpetual invitation to obedience. The failure is not in understanding, but in response.
This sets the tone for the Gospel (Luke 11:14–23), where Jesus drives out a mute demon, and instead of faith, He receives suspicion and accusation. The Sitz im Leben here is Jesus’ escalating conflict with the religious elite who, despite witnessing divine power, choose to attribute it to Beelzebul. The Greek equivalent of the theme is captured in “akroates epilēsmonēs” (cf. James 1:23–24) – a “hearer who forgets.” But here, it’s worse – they hear and reject. The Greek sklērynō (“to harden”) in similar contexts (cf. Acts 7:51) shows that their ears were not the issue, it was their hearts. They saw, heard, and still refused. Just as in Jeremiah’s time, they treated the truth like noise: in one ear, out the other. The result is not neutrality, as Jesus warns: “Whoever is not with me is against me.”
Practically, this is a spiritual disease we see daily: people attend Mass, hear the Word, confess their sins, and yet remain unchanged. This exposes how people can be surrounded by grace – sermons, sacraments, signs – and yet remain unconverted. We excuse ourselves with phrases like “I’ll think about it later,” “That homily was nice,” or “I already know that story,” but these are signs that the Word is slipping through. The take-home lesson is stark: spiritual deafness is not always about failing to hear; it’s about becoming so accustomed to God’s voice that it no longer disturbs us. When truth is heard but not acted upon, it eventually loses its impact. God does not merely speak for information – He speaks for transformation. This Gospel confrontation challenges every listener: am I a passive hearer or an obedient disciple? When the Word enters my ears, does it move my heart or bounce off my indifference? God’s voice speaks through conscience, Scripture, tradition, and the Magisterium. But if we reduce these to background noise, we fall into the same pattern condemned in Jeremiah, warned about in the Psalms, and exposed by Christ. The lesson is clear: God doesn’t just want His Word heard, He wants it lived. To let it go in one ear and out the other is not merely foolish – it is spiritually fatal.
O that today you would listen to his VOICE, harden not your hearts! (Ps. 95:7)
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Shalom!
© Fr. Chinaka Justin Mbaeri, OSJ
Seminário Padre Pedro Magnone, São Paulo, Brazil
nozickcjoe@gmail.com / fadacjay@gmail.com
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Have you prayed your rosary today?
O that today I listened to His voice, may I not harden my heart