Listening for the Voice of Truth

 

Listening for the Voice of Truth

A family was sitting around the dinner table when one person said, “You never listen to me.” The other replied, “Of course I do. I heard every word you said.” But the first person said, “Yes, you heard the words, but you didn’t hear what I was trying to tell you.” We have probably all had a moment like that. We can hear someone’s voice without really listening to their heart. While they are still speaking, we may already be planning our reply, defending ourselves, or holding on to the one sentence that proves our point.

That is very close to what is happening in today’s Gospel. The Pharisees come to Jesus with polite words and a reasonable-sounding question about taxes. But they are not really looking for wisdom. They are listening for something they can use against him. So, before we even hear Jesus’ answer, the Gospel asks us a question: when we come to the Lord, are our hearts open? Are we ready to be taught and changed, or do we simply want Jesus to agree with what we have already decided?

Listening like that is not easy. All of us hear things through our own fears, assumptions and past experiences. With so many voices competing for our attention, how do we recognise the voice that is true, honest and life-giving?

God Calls Us by Name

Isaiah gives us a place to begin. He speaks about gates being opened, and we might think of them as the doors of the heart. God calls each of us by name. Beneath all the noise, it is God’s voice that gives life, meaning and direction. If we stop listening for that voice, it is very easy to lose our way.

Isaiah also reminds us that God is present from the rising of the sun to its setting. So, it is worth asking: whose voice fills my day? There are plenty of voices competing for our attention. Prayer helps us come back to the one voice that matters most. It recentres us and helps us live the whole day as an offering to God.

A Faith That Becomes Thanksgiving

Saint Paul takes this a step further. He reminds the Thessalonians that prayer and daily life belong together. If we are truly thankful for what God has given us, that gratitude will show itself in the way we treat people—in generosity, patience and love.

Faith is not something we keep tucked away for ourselves. The love we receive from God is meant to be shared. The Good News is not just a set of beautiful words. It is the Holy Spirit at work among us, shaping who we are and the way we serve.

Whose Image Do We Bear?

Now we can come back to the question the Pharisees put to Jesus. They want him either to oppose the authorities or to make it sound as though Caesar comes before God. It is a clever trap. And perhaps their question still feels familiar: how do we live our faith in a society that does not always understand or share it?

Jesus answers, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” He is not asking us to choose between being responsible citizens and faithful disciples. The coin bears Caesar’s image, but we bear the image of God. We meet our responsibilities in the world, but our deepest loyalty, our conscience and our whole life belong to the Lord.

A Question for the Week

So here is a simple question to take into the week ahead: which voice is shaping my life? Is it the loudest voice, the most demanding voice, or the voice of God? Are we allowing the Lord to shape the way we speak, listen, choose and serve?

The Lord is not asking us to step away from the world. He asks us to live in it with faith, gratitude and love. May he open our hearts, help us recognise his voice, and teach us to bear his image more clearly in the way we live each day. Amen.