Hearing God's word

This morning I read the scriptures for Morning prayer. The lectionary is working its way through Jeremiah and John's Gospel at the moment and as often happens it was possible to see a link in the two readings. It's not often that as I read out loud for a service I become especially attuned to what God is saying- I suppose because I'm usually concentrating too hard on not making a mess of the reading - but today the words imprinted themselves on me as I read. (Jeremiah chapter 14) Here Jeremiah is told not to pray for the people and to prophesy that God will punish them. Jeremiah argues that others are prophesying that God will bless the people and not punish them. God then says: "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name, I did not send them nor did I command them or send them" What struck me was how easy it may be to tell people good news, and to say what you know they want to hear rather than listening for what hod is actually wanting to say. Then in the Gospel Jesus challenges the Jews for not listening to what He says and not recognising that He is speaking the word from the Father. Again I ask myself do I listen to what Jesus is saying and recognise it is from the Father. Something to think about as I look to the future