Listening to Jesus
Traveling as I did the last two weeks provides the opportunity to observe and listen to other people. On February 2, after attending a three day gathering in Florida with American Baptist pastors, spouses, and denominational leaders, Jill and I settled into our seats on the plane that would bring us home. Seated in front of us was a young mother with a little boy who was around three years old. She was very attentive to her son and she had all sorts of things to keep him occupied. She never raised her voice or used negative language, though she did one time speak clearly of a consequence if something continued and he immediately responded. He was a very polite boy with his Cars backpack, and excellent manners saying “Excuse me,” and “thank you,” as he and his mother had walked past people to board. On the plane she had a book to read for herself, and he spent time watching Dumbo, while holding onto a stuffed animal. When we landed and were waiting to exit, she pointed out a tanker trunk and asked her son what he thought might be inside. She listened patiently as he guessed, “Water?” “What makes the plane go?” she asked, and the boy came up with the answer. Jill and I complimented them as we left about what a good listener he was and how his parents were surely very proud of him.
February 19, 2012
Mark 9:2-8, Listening to Jesus
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
[powerpress]
In contrast to that scene, was one I observed waiting to board a plane at Logan Airport on February 5. A mom and dad with just one little girl around two-years-old, certainly not more than three, plunked down next to me in the black vinyl seats. The girl was smaller, less experienced, and physically weaker than both her parents, but it was no contest. She played them like Mozart played the piano. The girl kept saying she was hungry and asking for something to eat, but her mom wouldn’t give her anything. The girl made more noise and didn’t get what she wanted. Dad stepped in and carried the girl away. He brought her back, still looking very unhappy. The little girl wanted to move, which her mom interpreted as being disrespectful. She wanted her to just sit and be still. The girl got up and ran around a bit and the mom was saying negative things like, “Why are you doing that? Do you want to fall and hurt yourself?” Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and I leaned over and said, “Traveling with little ones can be tough. When my wife and I were going on a plane trip when our boys were young, one of the things we’d do was walk them all over the terminal and take them to the play area to tire them out as much as possible before they had to sit in a seat on a plane unable to move for several hours. That seemed to be helpful for us.” The woman looked at me, but her eyes were like the sign in front of a Cape Cod hotel in February – vacant. She either didn’t want to listen to what I said or to try it as a solution to her problem.
I tell you about those two different scenes, because in each of them a key difference, at least to an outside observer with limited information, was that in one case there was listening and in the other there was not. In one case the child heard and responded appropriately, and in the other the child and the parent, were not listening and responding well. Listening and obeying go together.
Let’s pray: Almighty God, you have chosen to speak to us through prophets and wise leaders and most clearly through your son, Jesus Christ. Grant to us now the ability to hear, understand, and obey him whom you have sent. Amen. Today’s Gospel is from Mark 9:2-8 and it is among other things about listening to Jesus. “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.”
Six days after announcing his coming death at the end of Mark 8, Jesus is on his way from Galilee to Jerusalem. He takes with him his inner circle of friends, Peter, James, and John and they go on a hike up a high mountain. Whenever Jesus takes these three aside, you know something special is going to happen. Having been in Israel, I can tell you they would have been hot and very thirsty by the time they got to the end of their climb. On the mountain, Jesus is changed before their eyes – his clothes became a dazzling, otherworldly white. Peter, James, and John also see Elijah, one of the greatest prophets, who was to come before the Messiah, and Moses, the giver of the law, who also had experiences with God on a mountain that transformed his appearance, and they’re both talking with Jesus. The disciples were amazed, awe-struck, and terrified. Peter blurts out the first thing that comes to his mind, basically, “Wow, Jesus, it’s great to be here, how about if we build shelters for you, Moses, and Elijah.” Mark states that Peter “did not know what to say.” It was a transcendent experience for which words are inadequate.
For people who grew up Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, or Catholic, this Sunday before Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent is known as Transfiguration Sunday. Many of us may not be familiar with that term. Younger folks might say, “Do you mean Transformer Sunday? I know what a Transformer is; they’re like heroes who can transform from a robot into other shapes like a car, truck or plane.” The Transfiguration of Jesus has many of the elements of the story of a hero. There’s an arduous trek up a mountain; a tightly knit company of friends on a “mission” together; the appearance of other-worldly figures in dazzling light; the transformation of the hero into an equally dazzling figure; a command from a powerful voice from another dimension; a determined descent to battle other powers back home. Jesus is not a superhero as we sometimes understand it, but as one who lays down his life and thus opens life and eternity to many. Jesus is a hero who dies so that others may live.
Inherent in the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus is the promise of a life beyond what’s apparent to earthly eyes in our ordinary daily living. There is more to life and beyond this life than we can see most of the time. Our son Nathan’s English class is studying Shakespeare’s great play, Hamlet. In it, Hamlet says to his friend Horatio (I.v.165), “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Both Elijah and Moses were believed by many Jews to be God’s advance scouts of the end times. Because Elijah went bodily into heaven (2 Kings 2:9-12) and Moses’ grave was never found (Deuteronomy 34:4-7), these two men of the faith were thought to be available for God to send back at the right time. God would send them to inform humankind that God’s reign was at hand. It is no accident that these two appear with Jesus on the mountain. They talk with Jesus and then they disappear into the cloud, which is a sign of God’s presence, (see Exodus 40:34-38), and the disciples hear a voice say, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
The word from the cloud, “Listen to him,” is a reminder to pay attention to Jesus’ words about living as his disciples, the reign of God, and the prediction about his suffering and death (8:31). Listening to him is life changing. Who we listen to and allow to shape our thinking, attitude, and worldview is crucially important. However, listening well is something most people have room to grow in. Are you listening? Can you hear me now? “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.” “Listen, my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…” When E.F. Hutton talks…people listen.” Listen up. Pay attention. That last phrase reminds us that truly listening is costly and demands something from us. Henning Mankell, a Swedish writer, wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times (December 10, 2011) titled, The Art of Listening. For the last 25 years he has lived off and on in Mozambique, a country located on the southeast coast of Africa. In the article he states, “The simplest way to explain what I’ve learned from my life in Africa is through a parable about why human beings have two ears but only one tongue. Why is this? Probably so that we have to listen twice as much as we speak. In Africa listening is a guiding principle. It’s a principle that’s been lost in the constant chatter of the Western world, where no one seems to have the time or even the desire to listen to anyone else. From my own experience, I’ve noticed how much faster I have to answer a question during a TV interview than I did 10, maybe even 5, years ago. It’s as if we have completely lost the ability to listen. We talk and talk, and we end up frightened by silence, the refuge of those who are at a loss for an answer.”
Listening and hearing are not the same things. When God encourages us to listen to Jesus that implies far more than the physical act of hearing, it means, listen and obey, listen and follow, listen and do what he says. Like the two little children and their parents I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon, we all have to decide what kind of listeners we’re going to be. Think about something as foundational as prayer: what percentage of the time we spend praying is speaking to God, asking for things and interceding for others and how much time is spent simply listening in silence for God to speak to us? As one person observed, “Prayer is not a matter of my calling in an attempt to get God’s attention, but of my finally listening to the call of God, which has been constant, patient, and insistent in my inner being. In prayer, as in the whole salvation story unfolded by Scripture, God is reaching out to me, speaking to me, and it is up to me to be polite enough to pay attention.”[1]
Jesus speaks about listening, believing, obeying many times. For example, in Matthew 21:28-32, Jesus says, “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. 30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Even Jesus’ opponents recognize that the person who truly listens is the person who acts on what he or she has heard. To be asked to do something and to say, “Sure, I’ll go,” without having the intention, desire, or conviction to act, is not to truly listen. Jesus says the son in the story who truly listened and did the will of his father was the one who went and did what his father asked. The same is true for us as followers of Christ. If we say, “Yes,” to Jesus but that “yes” doesn’t influence our thoughts, words, and actions, then the Lord may fairly ask if we’re listening and doing the Father’s will which is what God wants us to do.
In John 10:1-18, the relationship between Jesus the Good Shepherd and his sheep depends on listening and responding to Jesus’ voice. “The sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
We don’t listen to those who would steal our hope or rob us of joy. We listen to the one who comes to give us abundant life, recognizing he has many sheep, some who may be very different than us, but we are one with all those who listen to Jesus’ voice.
As I reflected on the Gospel for today it occurred to me that some of Jesus’ most important words and actions occurred on a high place.
Jesus climbed a hill and gave the Sermon on the Mount which contains some of his most remarkable and powerful teaching.
Jesus climbed the Mount of Transfiguration and was transformed and spoke with Elijah and Moses and his disciples were urged to listen to him.
Jesus climbed a hill called Calvary and was crucified and died for our sake. When he came down the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus entered into the depths of a father’s despair over a son who couldn’t be healed.
When he was taken down from Calvary his body was laid in a tomb and by the Son’s wounds we are healed.
Jesus came down from heaven, down the Mount of Transfiguration, down from Calvary, but he rose up from the grave with power, hope, and eternal life.
Jesus is the Beloved Son of the Father, listen to him.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; listen to him.
Jesus is our hope of eternal salvation, listen to him.
Our passage today ends, “Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.” There is a sense in which this was true not only of the experience Peter, James, and John had on the Mount of Transfiguration, but it will be true for us at the end of our life. There are lots of voices competing for our attention, including our own, but when we come to the end of our days, we’re going to look around, and we’re going to see only Jesus, and we want to be able to listen and hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master.”
Are you listening? “Let everyone with ears to hear listen.”
Blessing “Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21)
For further reading, here are some other related scriptures to Mark 9:2-9
Exodus 34:29-35, 2 Kings 2:1-12, and Psalm 50:1-6.
[1] Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, Speech, Silence, Action!