Tickled Ears | Monday Invocation

“… The time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching, but, having their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.”
II Timothy 4:3-4 NRSVUE

The full lectionary reading from the second epistle to Timothy covers 3:14 through 4:5. Paul, identified as the author, is believed to have written this text while in a Roman prison. He urges Timothy to “proclaim the message [of the gospel]; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching.”

If you were raised in or adjacent to the Church, there’s a reasonable chance you’ve heard the above passage preached in what we might call a less-than-friendly way. The odds are especially high you’ve seen this text used on social media as an attack on LGBTQ+ relationships and identities, let alone any other salient issue of societal justice.

How might we better understand and contextualize this passage?

It’s worth considering the contrast Paul is drawing with his charge to Timothy. Earlier in chapter 3, he describes people as becoming prideful and exploitative, “arrogant, abusive,.. unfeeling, implacable, slanderes, profligates, brutes, haters of good…” These are harsh descriptors, and this isn’t even the full list!

Paul paints a clear picture of those whose actions work against the safety and wellbeing of the growing Church. I Corinthians 6:9, cited often as a “clobber passage” against LGBTQ+ people,  follows a similar structure. In both of these passages, Paul criticizes the powerful and privileged, those soothing their consciences and insulating themselves from any consequences. Instead of following in the way of the crucified Christ, these individuals instead listen to voices that justify their exploitation, abuse of power, greed, and arrogance.

In light of that, let’s reframe this idea of what “tickles the ears” in our world today. How are we lulled into thinking that inequity is acceptable? How are we reinforcing our biases, prejudices, and assumptions, refusing to challenge them? 

Consider the forces shaping our status quo: the exploitation of resources and human beings for economic gain; the structural injustices of racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and forms of discrimination; the exclusion of marginalized communities such as LGBTQ+ people from full participation in Christ’s Church—the list goes on.

Where you might have once heard this passage and thought of the very person you are today—LGBTQ+ or an aspiring ally—you might now benefit from reframing the text. It is not your identity, beloved child of God, that tickles your ears. 

It is rather when power, privilege, and greed are left unchecked that we begin to believe as fact what Paul names “myths.”

May we awaken to the Spirit’s call to build a just and equitable world.