How often our conversations with each other have the same basic structure as this conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees!  How often we enter into a conversation, not in order to encounter another, hear what they have to say, and receive their reality, but instead to say our own piece or pursue our own agenda.

What a gift it is, what a freeing and enriching grace, to make a choice to set aside my agenda and listen.

It’s not easy.  My stuff feels important and urgent to me, because it’s mine.  Your stuff, unless it has a very very direct connection to my stuff, feels peripheral to me.

To listen to you requires that I recognize and intentionally set aside those feelings.  It’s a spiritual discipline in two stages.  First, I must notice the feelings.  They may revolve around my own stuff, or they may revolve around you and the prospect of paying attention to you.  Whatever they are, I notice them:  excitement, sense of urgency, happiness/sadness, irritation, fear—whatever.  Then, I must make a choice to shift my attention from these feelings and turn instead toward receiving what you are offering.

Perhaps, if you undertake this discipline, you will discover some of the spiritual gifts the Pharisees missed out on:  a sense of perspective about what really matters (as distinct from what feels urgent); a healthy humility; a disposition to receive the other as gift and bearer of gifts (rather than as competition, threat, or demand).

Be aware that how you interact with God is probably not much different from how you interact with the flesh-and-blood people in your life.  The more you practice noticing your own inattention and choosing to give your attention to the people in your life, the better you will become at doing the same thing with God.