🔔🔔🔔 Hearing VS Doing

Ari Umble

13 Aug 2025 — 5 min read

I. 1️⃣ The Texts in Context

Mark 6:20 (NRSV)

for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.

Herod feared John (a recognition of holiness),
Liked to listen (a curiosity or fascination),
But when pressured, executed him anyway (no transformation).

Ezekiel 33:30-32 (NRSV)

As for you, mortal, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses say to one another, “Come and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.” They come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they will not obey them; for flattery is on their lips, but their heart is set on their gain. To them you are like a singer of love songs, one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; they hear your words but will not do them.

The people seek out the prophet out of interest,
They enjoy the delivery (Ezekiel is “entertaining” to them),
But their hearts are elsewhere (set on their own gain, not God’s commands).

2️⃣ Parallels Between Herod and Ezekiel’s Audience

Theme	Herod (Mark 6:20)	Ezekiel’s audience (Ezek 33:30-32)
Recognition of the messenger’s holiness/authority	Feared John, knew he was righteous and holy	Came to hear “the word from the LORD”
Emotional engagement	Liked to listen, intrigued by John’s words	Compared Ezekiel to a skilled singer—pleasant to hear
Intellectual interest without moral surrender	Heard John “gladly” but did not repent	Heard Ezekiel but “will not do them”
Underlying competing loyalties	Feared losing status/power (and influenced by Herodias’ pressure)	Hearts set on gain and self-interest
Final rejection of the prophetic call	Had John beheaded	Ignored God’s commands despite hearing them

Both Herod and Ezekiel’s audience were spiritually entertained but spiritually unmoved.

3️⃣ What We Can Glean About Ezekiel’s Audience

This connection sharpens our understanding of Ezekiel’s hearers:

They were not hostile in appearance — They didn’t drive Ezekiel out; in fact, they came willingly to listen.
They had a taste for prophetic spectacle — The artistry, eloquence, and drama of the prophetic message appealed to them.
They separated admiration from obedience — Ezekiel’s skill was appreciated aesthetically, but his message was not received as a call to life change.
Their hearts were ruled by other loves — God explicitly says their hearts were set on gain, revealing divided loyalty.
They illustrate “surface-level spirituality” — Religion as entertainment, inspiration, or cultural talk-point, rather than covenant faithfulness.

4️⃣ Implications

The connection between these two passages reveals a consistent human pattern: People may enjoy the idea of God’s word without submitting to its authority.

Interest ≠ repentance — Curiosity and enjoyment can mask resistance to actual change.
Fear of God’s messenger ≠ fear of God — Herod feared John, and Ezekiel’s hearers respected his skill, but reverence for the messenger without submission to the message is hollow.
External listening ≠ internal transformation — Hearing, even gladly, does not equal doing.

5️⃣ Modern Parallels

Just as Herod and Ezekiel’s audience enjoyed hearing but rejected doing, modern believers can:

Listen to sermons as intellectual or emotional experiences without surrendering life patterns.
Admire Bible teachers, podcasts, or Christian authors without ever obeying the hard parts of God’s call.
Feel “moved” in a service but never move in repentance.

6️⃣ Summary Takeaway

Herod and Ezekiel’s audience both demonstrate that the danger to God’s people is not only outright rejection, but comfortable admiration without obedience.

In both cases, the audience’s initial openness gave way to ultimate refusal when God’s word threatened their idols—whether those idols were political power, personal gain, or self-preservation.

They enjoyed the prophet’s voice,
but rejected the Prophet’s God.

II. 1️⃣ The “Hearers Only” Warning

Jesus – Luke 6:46–49; Matthew 7:24–27

“Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and does them… is like a man building a house on the rock… But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck, it collapsed, and its destruction was complete.”

Jesus draws a hard line: hearing without doing is like building on sand — collapse is inevitable.
He addresses professing disciples, not outsiders.

James 1:22–25

“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror… and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.”

James warns that “hearer-only” faith is self-deceptive.
The metaphor of the mirror shows the tragedy: God reveals reality, but the hearer walks away unchanged.

2️⃣ Linking This to Herod and Ezekiel’s Audience

Aspect	Herod (Mark 6:20)	Ezekiel’s audience (Ezek 33:30–32)	Jesus & James’ Warning
Eager to listen	“Liked to listen” to John	“Come and hear what the word is”	Hearing the word is good — but not enough
Emotionally affected	“Perplexed” by John’s words	Enjoyed Ezekiel “like a singer of love songs”	Emotion ≠ obedience
No change in life	Still imprisoned John; still ruled immorally	Hearts “set on their own gain”	Without action, the house collapses
Final outcome	Beheaded the prophet	Continued disobedience	“Great was the fall” / self-deception

Herod and Ezekiel’s hearers perfectly illustrate the warning:

They heard,
They even enjoyed hearing,
But they did not obey.

By biblical definition, they were hearers only.

3️⃣ What This Reveals About Ezekiel’s Audience (with the New Testament lens)

Factoring in Jesus and James makes it clear that Ezekiel’s audience:

Was in spiritual danger, not neutral curiosity — hearing without obeying isn’t harmless; it’s the fast track to destruction.
Was likely self-deceived — thinking that exposure to God’s word counted as faithfulness.
Was accountable — just as Herod was culpable despite liking John, so Ezekiel’s hearers couldn’t claim innocence because they “enjoyed” the prophet.

4️⃣ A Recurring Pattern in Scripture

The Word comes through a prophet, teacher, or Christ Himself.
Hearers are drawn — for curiosity, admiration, or entertainment.
They mistake hearing for responding — sometimes even feeling moved.
When obedience costs them something, they choose self over God.
Collapse or judgment follows.

We see this in:

Herod with John (Mark 6)
Ezekiel’s audience (Ezek 33)
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount conclusion (Matt 7)
James’ exhortation to scattered believers (Jas 1)

5️⃣ Modern Application

This is not a “Bible times only” problem.

People attend church, listen to podcasts, read devotionals, and enjoy the message without submitting to it.
We can admire the messenger’s delivery while ignoring the cost of following the message.
Self-deception is the risk: mistaking interest for faith and conviction for conversion.

🔑 Takeaway

Herod, Ezekiel’s audience, Jesus’ hearer-on-sand, and James’ mirror-forgetter all share one spiritual flaw:
They confuse hearing God’s word with obeying it.

But in Scripture, truth heard and not acted upon hardens the heart (Heb 3:15), deepens self-deception, and leads to collapse.

The antidote?

Wholehearted seeking (Jer 29:13)
Remaining on the narrow road (Matt 7:13–14)
Bearing lasting fruit (Matt 13:23)
Practicing the word (Jas 1:22–25)