Say It, Use Your Words

22 September 2025  Luke 8:16-18

“Take care, then, how you hear.” Luke 8:18

If you are a Christian, Say it! No one should have to guess. Evangelization is not about dropping hints.

The Sower of the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-15) did not scatter seed just in places where it was most likely to take root. He scattered it everywhere – on the sidewalk, in the garden overcome with weeds, on the rock pile. The scattered seed hit everyone, friend and enemy alike. The Sower wasn’t subtle. He wasn’t dropping hints.

Evangelists aren’t Ninjas, at least not in the sense that they sneak around and try not to call attention to themselves. Evangelists are not like crossword puzzles, leaving little clues that you can figure out by figuring out other clues, across or down. Evangelists are spotlights, they are like answer keys to tests, so when they speak, if they are doing their job right, people say, “Oh yeah. Now I get it.”

We are not the flashlight in the drawer, but the lamp on a lampstand. Our message is not just the light that people see, but also the light by which they see everything else clearly, and are blind without. Evangelists are wasting time if people have to guess whether they are Christians. Our business is too urgent. There is no time for dropping hints.

That is why we need to “take care how we hear” (cf. Luke 18:10). If any are hearing with the intention that people will perceive enough of the gospel “by the way we live our lives,” they are lights under a basket. They like to quote the story often told of St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” Only St. Francis never said that. In fact, St. Francis used words all the time, direct and pungent ones at that. If any are hearing with the intention that people will perceive enough of the gospel from other people whose gift it is to share the gospel, they are lights under a basket. “Evangelist” is not an office that some hold and others don’t. It is a characteristic of Christian living – all Christian living. It is a mission to which all believers are called by virtue of their baptism and confirmation.The oldest prayer in the Bible, the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), which is still prayed daily by observant Jews, has faithful believers talking all the time about their faith: “And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart. And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. They shall be a sign upon your hand, and they shall be an emblem between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house, and on the gates of your cities.” From the beginning it was imagined that there would never be a time when faithful people were not talking about their faith. It was never a calling for just the few.

That’s because no one should have to guess whether you are a Christian. Evangelization is not dropping hints.

Sir Ernest Shackleton was an Antarctic explorer at the turn of the 20^thcentury. He was optimistic and charismatic, and made it a point to mix freely with both officers and crew of his expeditions. His conversation was always expert enough to be informative, and confident enough to inspire trust. In his famous 1914 expedition, when his ship, the Endurance became trapped and crushed in pack ice, he led his men for two years, delivering all 28 of them home safely. Raymond Priestly later said of him, comparing him to other explorers: “For scientific discovery, give me [Robert Falcon] Scott. For speed and efficiency of travel, give me [Roald] Amundsen. But when disaster strikes, and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.”

The days always come when you won’t want to guess who has the right words, or ponder hints about faithfulness. Because of those days, take care how you hear.