Christ called the religious leaders, blind.
Their blindness was apparent when they could not see that Christ was the long-awaited Messiah from God even though they witnessed the miracles that they were waiting to see.
Christ also called them deaf.
Their deafness was displayed when they could not hear that Christ’s words perfectly aligned with the God that they claimed to serve.
Jesus was so in tuned with the spirit of God that he could hear what the Father wanted him to say and to do.
The deafness of the religious leaders frustrated Christ, but even more so he longed for his disciples to hear the voice of God.
Out of four Gospels, there is only one example of a disciple spiritually hearing the voice of God.
There is one more example. However, it does not involve a disciple. It was manifest through an unnamed woman with an alabaster box.
The first occurrence is recorded in Matthew, and it is the infamous story of Peter answering Christ’s question.
Jesus asked his disciples, “who do you guys say that I am?”
Peter answered with conviction, “you are the Christ, the son of the living God!”
Christ’s response was, “flesh and blood has not revealed that to you, but my Father which is heaven did.”
Peter had heard from God. This is an example that it can be done. It is humanly possible to hear from God.
Unfortunately, there are no other examples of the 12 disciples spiritually hearing. Instead, many times they couldn’t even hear the actual words of Christ, spoken clearly right out of his mouth. His words often fell on deaf ears.
Why?
Because of the religious teachings that were ingrained in them during their upbringing.
A great example occurred over the death of Christ.
They knew he was the Messiah. However, they had been taught that the forever king prophesied by the prophet Nathan to David was going to rule on the throne of David, forever.
There was no death in that equation for them—end of subject.
So, when Jesus started sharing with his disciples that he was going to be murdered, they could not hear it. They were deafened by their religious beliefs.
God had shown Christ that the vicious wolves were going to attack and devour the lamb, the Prince of Peace.
So, what was Christ to do? Raise up an army of his followers and fight for his life, and slay those wicked men?
That’s what any normal human would do, but Christ wasn’t a normal human, and rather, he followed the instructions of God.
Jesus was going to obey God and follow the path of peace.
Unfortunately, Christ was up against a force that was not going to allow peace to reign on Earth, so it was inevitable that he was going to die.
There was nothing God could do, short of raining fire and brimstone down on the wicked, to prevent Christ’s death, which would have been a quick fix. However, it would not have solved the underlying problem.
Humans love religion.
Jesus had done his part. He had been reasoning with the religious leaders for 3 ½ years. Christ had even been able, through the power of God, to perform the three Messianic miracles that they needed to see, and they still hated him, no matter what he did.
Christ consented to his death. He saw the “big picture.” He wanted to demonstrate the peace of God, and he submitted to his heinous demise by the violent men who loved the spirit of religion more than the spirit of God.
Even a few days before his death, the Gospels record that the disciples did not know that Christ was about to die.
As they were walking to Jerusalem for his last Passover, Jesus was telling them, once again, that he was about to be murdered, and they didn’t understand what he was saying.
However, there was one person who did demonstrate that she not only heard the words of Christ, but the voice of the Father as well.
Matthew 26 records that while in Bethany, Christ visited the house of Simon the leper.
There came a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when the disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, to what purpose is this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for much and given to the poor.
Matthew records that when Christ understood that they were reviling the woman, he intervened and addressed them.
Christ said, “why are you troubling her?” “She has done a good work upon me. You have the poor with you always, but not me.”
Christ studied his disciples sternly and raised his voice, “she has poured this ointment on my body, to prepare me for my burial.”
He continued, “now, listen to me, where ever this gospel is preached in the whole world, this needs to be told of what she has done, as a memorial to her.”
The disciples hadn’t understood that Christ was going to die, but she did.
She heard Christ’s words, and she followed the instructions of God. She went out and bought the most expensive ointment that she could afford, and she poured it on his head that day as God had instructed her to do.
So, why did Christ ask for her story to be told?
Because, she was not deaf. She demonstrated Christ’s gospel of the Kingdom of God by hearing the voice of God and doing exactly what her Father instructed her to do.
Her actions represent the works of which Christ was referring to when he told his disciples that when he returns, they would be rewarded according to their works.
Christ wanted her story to be told to commend her, while at the same time, to reprove his disciples.
It was not his disciples who had heard from God, but rather, a woman. She was able to hear the voice of God and she obeyed her Father to anoint Christ for his burial all the while being reviled for doing so by the disciples.
However, like so many of the other teachings of Christ, her story was left in the sepulcher when Christ was murdered.
Her story was laid to rest two thousand years ago.