St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

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Listen to Him

Luke 9: 28-36

February 22, 2004

Today is Transfiguration Sunday – the last Sunday before the beginning of Lent.

This season of the church year began with the story of Jesus’ baptism [Luke 3:21]

In that account we read after Jesus had been baptized Jesus, and only Jesus, heard a voice from heaven saying: "You are my Son, the Beloved"

What does it mean to be "the Beloved" or the Messiah? The temptation story which follows suggests some popular ways, and Jesus rejects all three of these. Then what follows is the story of Jesus ministry, his teaching, and his healing.

Now some three years later and 6 chapters later in Luke, Jesus ministry is drawing to a close as he is about to begin his journey to Jerusalem. By now the people have seen what the "Beloved" the Messiah can do and what he teaches.

Who do they say he is; more important "who do you, the disciples, say that I am?" We know Peter’s answer – you are the Messiah. Jesus then teaches them that the Messiah must suffer and die and that those who would follow him must take up their cross and follow him.

Then Peter, James and John along with Jesus go up a mountain and we have the story of the transfiguration. Now we see the connection between this story and the Baptism story. For again there is the voice from heaven, this time from the cloud which says, ‘This is my Son."

The Messianic secret is out. Jesus, the Beloved is the Messiah. Peter, James and John have heard that and then the voice tells them to; "Listen to him."

Sounds simple. But so hard to do. Even the disciples had trouble. Rest of this chapter tells of the failures, their unwillingness to listen to Jesus. They, like us, have selective hearing. Too often we heard only what we want to hear. What doesn’t fit into our expectations, what challenges our beliefs, we reject. They rejected a suffering Messiah.

They told love you neighbor – yes even those Samaritans, yes and pray for your enemies.

Jesus calls us to do a lot of hard things. Our selective hearing tries to filter these hard saying out. We want to keep the things we like that Jesus’ says and ignore, forget, those things which challenge our comfortable ways. God says: This is my Son. Listen to him.

We all find it too easy to profess a faith and far too difficult to live it.

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