Listen to Him

Scripture: Matthew 17:1-9

You know, we pastors are always fond of these big words… like “transfiguration.” Another pastor friend of mine jokingly stated this week as we were talking about this text, “If we told people we wanted to transfigure something in the church – maybe they’d like it better than if we said we wanted to change something.”

Because to transfigure something means to elevate it and make it more beautiful… and who would be against that, right? We like things that are more… glorious.

And while we talk a lot about glory – about wanting to see the glory of God, how we want things to reflect the glory of God… we strangely don’t really spend a lot of time talking about this story of the “transfiguration” event – where the Glory of God in Christ was revealed on the mountaintop.



Primarily that’s because – well, let’s face it… it’s something that is hard to wrap our minds around. It’s one of those events that defies the logical and defies the natural. Simply put – talking about the transfiguration makes us very uncomfortable.

Because seeing and talking about Jesus as merely a man – a person we can relate to – that makes Jesus, well… more approachable. More… human. We acknowledge we don’t fully understand the mystery of the melding the human and the divine in the person of Jesus, but we can still relate more to the man who walks and talks, laughs and cries right along with us. And therefore we have an image of God now that is more accessible and tangible and real through the person of Jesus Christ.

But what happens on this mountaintop – that’s going to make us a little more uncomfortable. It makes us shy away from talking about it.

Yet what happens on this mountaintop is a pivotal point in the story of who and what Jesus is.

Up to this point, Jesus has just sort of been sitting back and letting others state what they think about him, who they think he is. Asking his disciples… “So… who do people say that I am?” Some say John the Baptist… other’s Elijah… one of the prophets. Yeah – Peter even hits the nail on the head with, “You’re the Messiah, the holy one of God.”

It’s one thing to know and acknowledge that… quite another to actually SEE it.

When I went to Egypt, I had an idea of the grandeur of the pyramids, how huge the temples in Karnak and Luxor were. But until I was actually there and was standing beside them… pictures, descriptions… they just paled in comparison to standing next to the real thing. To actually seeing and marveling at how huge these ancient structures were.

I think that’s kind of like what happened on this mountaintop. It’s one thing to know that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah… it’s quite another to see the glory of God shine through in all its radiance and brilliance.

The event was so memorable – so ingrained in Peter’s mind that he recalls the event verbatim. This is one of the only places I’ve ever found in the New Testament where one of the epistles quotes the Gospel texts word for word regarding an event.

It had that kind of impact. And Peter knew the unbelievable quality to the transfiguration event. Years later, he’s having to defend what he saw – as 1 Peter 1 states. “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

It’s a memorable moment in that, not only is the glory of God being revealed in Jesus, but of course Jesus is standing between two of Israel’s greatest – Moses and Elijah. Moses is the great law-giver, Elijah a great prophet.

And at first, no doubt, Peter thought he was standing in the midst of THREE very important people. I mean – Jesus, yeah, he’s great – but Moses and Elijah? I can just imagine Peter sitting there going, “ummm… what do I do with this? Hey – let’s pitch a tent! A couple tents!”

Kind of the reaction when we have when we’re overwhelmed by an event – isn’t it? What can I do? I just want to DO something!! Indeed – like when a disaster strikes – 9/11, the Tsunami, the Haiti Earthquake – we all want to DO something, even though we don’t have a clue what we can or are able to do at that moment.

So there’s Peter thinking of the only thing he can – pitch a tent. Mark this spot as a memorable event in the history of the Israelites. Because that’s what the Israelites did when something memorable occurred.

When Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River, God told them to grab some of the rocks from the bottom of the River so that they would remember what happened. This idea of preserving an event, a location, so that future generations would know what God had done.

But as he suggests this… there’s a booming voice from heaven that stops poor old Peter dead in his tracks.

A voice from heaven which is repeating what God stated at Jesus’ baptism – “This my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.” Though this time – God adds the command – “Listen to him!” (I really wish I had that Cecil B. DeMille voice… no one does the voice of God quite like him – well maybe James Earl Jones.)

God’s statement as Jesus stands in between Elijah, one of the greatest prophets, and Moses, the great law-giver… God states… “Listen… to HIM.” While Peter was probably thinking that Moses and Elijah were the big deals… the voice from Heaven is saying something different. Not denying that they were big deals in Israel’s history, but Jesus, the Son of God, is the fulfillment and embodiment of the prophets and the law. The prophets and the law are wrapped up in on the one with whom God is well pleased. Wrapped up in the one who God says “LISTEN TO HIM!”

Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets – their time is now past. They pointed to the one that would come…now the one who was to come is here… so LISTEN TO HIM!

Darn that whole listening thing anyway… You mean, we have to actually pay attention to this guy? It’s no wonder that command caused them to fall facedown to the grown in fear. Listening wasn’t really one of Peter and the other disciples’ strong suits during this time, if you remember correctly.

The transfiguration kind of is a bookend to the season of Epiphany – it started with the baptism of our Lord, and now we end Epiphany and begin looking toward the season of Lent, Ash Wednesday coming this week… with a reminder of that baptism – but Jesus will now begin the process of moving toward Jerusalem. Setting his face toward the place where he will have to suffer and die.

Jesus has already told them this once… six days earlier, in fact. That’s what the reference is to the “six days later” – in the passage just before this one, back in Chapter 16, Jesus had told them while in Caesarea Philippi that he had to go to Jerusalem so he could die, and Peter wanted nothing of that.

Peter was all, “Oh no, that won’t ever happen to you Lord!” And Jesus’s response… a very a kind and gentle… “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Ouch. That kinda stings, Jesus.

But Peter just wasn’t big on listening. At the last supper, Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Jesus three times, and Peter’s all “Whatever… that’ll  never happen.”

Of course, before we get too down on Peter, let’s remember how well our listening skills usually are when it comes to the voice of God. Most of the time – what God has to say, we don’t always want to hear.

“Moses – go free my people from the Egyptians”… Ummm… yeah, I kinda killed somebody there – that’s not a good plan, God. “Jonah – go tell the Ninevites to repent.” Nah – I don’t really like them, so I kinda want you to actually destroy them God.

“Go to seminary Rebecca…” Yeah, right… whatever God. That’s a good joke.

It’s easy to listen to God when he’s saying what we think we want to hear. It’s another to listen when God is saying things we perhaps don’t want to hear so much. I usually tell people if they’re trying to decide whether God is telling them something or not – if it’s something you don’t want to do – that’s probably God telling you to do it.

And what the disciples were going to hear – Jesus constantly talking about his death – was not something they wanted to hear about. Yet – it was needed. It was something that had to happen. A horrible, awful, event that would lead to the most wonderful and amazing promise the world has ever known.

So Jesus tells them – don’t tell anyone about this. I don’t want the focus to be on this glorious event right now, because something terrible has to happen first. But when I’m resurrected… then… then remember. Remember and tell everyone so they will know I truly am the Son of God – that you saw this. I’ve brought the three of you up here to witness this – so you can remember and witness to what you saw. Witness to the glory of who I really am. Of what I represent. I am the law and the prophets. The law and the prophets are wrapped up in me – the Son of God. The covenant between God and humanity is not wrapped up in tablets of stone – but in the real body and blood of Jesus Christ.

And as they shake and tremble in fear – He does what Jesus does best. He says, do not fear. And he reaches out… and he touches them. Reminding them of his presence. In Matthew, reaching out and touching was also how he healed.

It’s that reassurance – he wasn’t going to desert them. He was going to die – yes. But also be resurrected and would send his Holy Spirit after he ascended to never leave them – or us alone.

As Peter says…  we “will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” We are attentive and we hold on – as we descend from the glorious mountain top, and enter into the dark valley of the Lenten season.