I once received a post card with the name “Kevin” written on the front of it.  Underneath the name was a verse with all the characteristics of people called “Kevin”.  Uncannily, most of the characteristics fitted me quite well.  Uncannily that is, until one day I entered a gift shop and saw a similar set of cards with all sorts of Christian names on them and the characteristics of each printed below.  There were Brians and Peters and James’s and Roberts and every conceivable name and they nearly all fitted me to a “T”.  Alarmingly the Margarets and Jeans and Lillys nearly all fitted me to a “T” as well.

The horoscopes in the paper each day can sound very convincing, the characteristics and elements of life they pick up often seem to fit, until you read everybody else's predicted future and discover that almost all of them seem to fit too.

There are some people who seem to be able to look into your very soul, and read your character just as if they're reading a book.  I wonder whether that kind of ability is some sixth sense, along with astrology and fortune telling and spiritualism, or whether it's a trick, which can be learned, or whether it's something else.

Perhaps it's just an ability to listen well.  The first principle of good listening is to reflect back to the other person, what they’ve just said.  In a way, it’s like holding up a mirror.  But it’s often greeted with an astonished, "How did you know?"

The answer is that I didn't know, but have merely repeated in different words what you just told me!  Really good listening, concentrating on and hearing everything somebody says, is still fairly rare.  And it’s even more rare to discover somebody who can listen so well that they can actually hear what isn’t said; can hear the background feelings and emotions.  So that those who experience this sort of deep, concentrated listening for the first time feel that the listener knows everything about them, and can almost see into their soul.

I wonder whether perhaps spiritualists and mediums are able to listen in that sort of way, so that they pick up from their audience all sorts of feelings and emotions, which are unsaid, together with facts and hints, which are barely said.  All of which gives them such good insights into their audience that they’re able to log into key thoughts and feelings as though those thoughts and feelings were transmitted from "the other side".

Jesus was undoubtedly an excellent listener.  But his powers went beyond simple listening into the realms of really seeing into a person's soul.  He always seemed to know exactly what a person needed to hear.  It might not always have been what they wanted to hear, but it was always the truth about them, and a truth, which may well have been hidden deep in their own unconscious.

Jesus saw immediately into the hearts and souls of the Pharisees and called them hypocrites.  And when the rich young man asked him what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus told him to sell all that he had and feed the poor (Matt.19:16-22).  When a lawyer asked him the same question about eternal life, Jesus didn’t mention money but told him to love God and to love his neighbour (Luke 10:25-28).

Jesus saw into Nathanael before he'd even met him, and he liked what he saw. 

"Here is a real Israelite there is nothing false in him," Jesus said about Nathanael.  And his words were immediately proved true by Nathanael’s response.  Nathanael said, "How do you know what I’m like?"

Jesus simply replied, "I saw you under the fig tree." And that was enough for Nathanael.  He immediately accepted Jesus’ words at face value and instantly became a follower.

It sounds like a very naive reaction and perhaps it was, for those whose hearts contain nothing false tend to be naive.  But it may be that someone in whom there is no falsehood is able to pick up at a very deep level, the degree of goodness in the person they’re speaking too.  And because they have no falsehood, people like Nathanael can respond instantly to that goodness without suspicions and doubts and uncertainties clouding their judgement.

I think that perhaps one of the most attractive features of Jesus was his ability to instantly know the person to whom he was talking.  He was a great judge of character without being judgemental of that character.  It was especially attractive because he didn't reject anybody, no matter what they were like inside.  He took each person as he found them, saw the good in them, didn’t judge them on their faults, and gave them a deep sense of self worth.

Jesus knew the rich young man was selfish and greedy, and that his money was more important to him than life itself.  But Jesus still offered him the route to eternal life.  And when the young man rejected it we’re told that Jesus was sad, because he loved the young man despite all his imperfections.  That young man may not have liked the answer he got but at least he had the courage to ask the question!

The reason that Jesus was so straight spoken and honest with people, was that his honesty gave them an opportunity to see themselves as they really were and to do something about it.  Honesty holds up a mirror in which we can see ourselves as others see us.

It's the most difficult thing in the world to receive real honesty from other people, because it means not only hurt pride, but also giving up cherished illusions about ourselves.  And that's not always easy.

Jesus hasn't changed.  He still has the ability to instantly know us for who and what we are.  We may no longer see him face-to-face, but he still sees us under the fig tree and knows all about us.  In fact, if God is within us as He has promised to be, then he is involved in everything we do, in every thought we think, in every emotion we feel.  He knows us better than we know ourselves.

We can do nothing apart from God, for he is as much a part of us as breathing.  We can still hide from him though and sometimes we try to, by pretending he doesn't exist, or even by using church and ritual and tradition to keep him in a safe box where he can't threaten our cherished illusions.