“Listen to Him”
“Listen to Him”
a sermon by Pastor Sonja Dalglish
for First Presbyterian Church in Weslaco
March 6, 2011 – Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday
Exodus 24:12-18, Psalm 2 or 99, 2 Peter 1:16-21, Matthew 17:1-9
focus: God tells us to listen to Jesus who is His Son.
function: To encourage people to not be afraid, to listen and follow Jesus’ teachings, with God’s help.
Introduction
Today is called the Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday. It is the bookend Sunday of the Ordinary Time between Epiphany and Lent. Epiphany is the celebration of the church that honors Jesus as being God’s Son. Ordinary time begins with Jesus’ baptism and ends with this passage where he is transfigured. His face and robe shine bright white. A cloud appears as it did in his baptism, but this time descends around him and a voice once more comes out of the cloud and says, “This is my son, the beloved.” Today, the voice adds, “Listen to him.”
The Passage
This passage is full of Old Testament references and symbolism. Jesus goes up on a mountain, just as Moses went up on a mountain in the Exodus passage. A cloud came down in both passages and God spoke out of the cloud. God’s voice gave Moses the law and the commandments, a way for the people of God to live in community, with God and with each other. The voice gave to Jesus his identity in front of the two greatest prophets in the Hebrew scriptures and in front of three of Jesus‘ disciples. The disciples were told by God to listen to Jesus. By extension, you and I are told the same thing. Jesus is the Son of God and we are told to listen to him.
Elijah and Moses were revered. Not only had they spoken to and for God, their deaths were unusual. No one buried them. Elijah disappeared into heaven in a fiery chariot. Moses went up on a mountain and died alone, buried by God. In this passage, they come to signify the importance of who Jesus identity. Elijah was supposed to come before the Messiah. Jesus tells the disciples that John the Baptist was Elijah – not in reincarnation, but served the function of preparing the way for the Messiah. However, John died as he prepared the way for Jesus. And we know that Jesus, too, will die as he does his father’s will.
Revelation
Moses and Elijah had each met God on a mountain. Moses came down with the Law. Elijah became a wonderful prophet. Now Jesus and the disciples meet God on this mountaintop. This text underscores Jesus’ identity as Messiah. This passage underscores that Jesus was not just the best healer in the world, or the best rabbi who spoke with authority, but is the Son of God. When he speaks, the authority comes from God.
Many people from various religions admire Jesus, but only Christians acknowledge him as the Son of God. God tells us to listen to Jesus. Every teaching is given more weight with this endorsement from above.
I have been thinking lately about fear and anxiety. The disciples were afraid and on the ground. One reaction to fear is to freeze. Jesus tells them to get up and not be afraid. What you cannot understand in English is that the Greek is a passive form – of “be raised” which means that the disciples were not to stand themselves up, but they would be raised by a higher power. You and I, too, can rely on God.
We live in an anxious time. Our news media thrives on sensationalism. People capitalize on our desire to be safe and secure. Life can be difficult. We are easily afraid, and being afraid we are easily controlled.
Family Systems
I’m taking a family systems course once a month. Family systems is a new way of looking at relationships. It acknowledges that as people we have complex brains. When we are frightened, the oldest part of our brain takes over, giving us the freeze, fight, or flight response. But sometimes, the response we need is none of those three. In order to choose the right response, we have to get out of that reptilian brain and use the thinking part of our brain, the frontal cortex. And, one way to do this, is to pause and distance yourself from the situation, try to see things as if you are on a balcony looking down on a dance floor.
Our best decisions are not usually made when we are fearful, but when we are calm and able to think through the possible options. I was reminded of the white tailed deer and their inability to do anything but respond with emotion. They have greatly overpopulated Central Texas. In an effort to provide for them, some kind people rounded up several tractor trailers full of deer and took them to places in Colorado where there was abundant food and wide open places. Unfortunately, by the time the trucks arrived at their destination, the deer were dead. In their fear, they had jumped and jumped, battering themselves and others until they were all dead.
As people, we have the ability to feel emotions, but not be controlled by them. We can get out of our fear and begin to think. We have help from a heavenly source, if we are able to accept it. When we live in fear, our bodies and minds are stressed so that we cannot think clearly. We can be easily controlled by others. God wants us to be free from fear so that we can be the people that we were made to be, with all our many gifts and talents. We can be free to show God’s love to the world. The key God tells us in this passage is to keep our eyes on Jesus and to listen to him, learn from him and follow him.
The second example of rising above the automatic responses can be illustrated by the actions of Nelson Mandela when he became the president of South Africa. In my Family Systems class last week, we watched about an hour of the movie, Invictus, to see an example of good leadership.
When Mandela took office, the whites were packing their boxes to move out. They were afraid because they knew how badly they had treated the blacks during apartheid. The blacks were resentful and many wanted the revenge that worried the whites. The president called for all people to be better than they realized they could be, to rise above the grudges, and to forgive and work for a unified country. His family, his party, and his bodyguards did not like this, but they did it. In the same way, I think God is calling each of us to be better than we believe we can be, in order to have a community that works for all of us.
Coming Down from the Mountain
Now, sometimes we are feeling so close to God that we feel a wonderful high. But, no matter how much we want to stay in the highs that we feel during retreats, or while praying or singing, we know that the retreats and services, the prayers and the songs come to an end. Life intrudes.
Like Peter, we may just want to stay on that mountaintop – at summer camp or triennium, at the Women’s Conference or a Men’s Retreat. Maybe we just want to build a hut and move in. Some of us even go into the ministry so that we can continue to work in the settings where we felt that wondrous love and peace. We love the mountaintop experiences. But, sometimes, life throws us down, just as it does the three disciples.
We cannot control the economy, the budget cuts, the climbing gas prices, the changing climate, or many other things that we live with every day. Our culture encourages us to fear, so that we will buy smoke detectors, insurance, newspapers and many other things that may make us think we can have more control over our lives. We can be fearful people.
Jesus walks to the disciples and says to them as he does to us, “Be raised and do not be afraid.” Some of his very first words are like those of the angels, “Do not be afraid.” And, I think we, like the disciples need to hear this because we live in a culture of fear. But the first words are the most important, “Be raised.”
The disciples are told to allow God to raise them up. This is reassuring because it means that what they did and what we do, we do not do alone. God is the one who lifts us up and gives us the power to follow Jesus.
Then Jesus walks down the mountain into the world, teaching us about how to love God and other people. He shows us how to accept tax collectors and prostitutes and work for justice in the world. He has a word of love for everyone. Even his rebuke of the overly religious can be seen as love because it helps them to focus on what is important to God.
Conclusion
We will always love the mountaintops. Who wouldn’t enjoy that wonderful communion with God? From those experiences we get a glimpse of what heaven will be like. But, we cannot live there. Even though those moments are precious, we need to be able to continue to live our lives doing what God has called us to do, being the best workers and people we can be.
It is easy to react to the unexpected and the unknown with fear. Life can be difficult. Do not rely on your own strength, but allow God to help you. Life can knock us down. Look up, pray, and allow God to raise you up so that you can follow Jesus and do what he is calling you to do. And that will always be more than you think is possible, better than you can imagine. You can rise above your fears and jealousies and work for peace and reconciliation in the world. You can be a better person than you’ve ever imagined. As we travel through Lent, the forty days, not counting Sundays, in preparation for the death and resurrection of our Lord, we will examine what it means to listen and follow Jesus. Join us this Wednesday evening for the Ash Wednesday service with imposition of ashes to remind us of the shortness of life and Holy Communion to remind us of the eternal life promised to those who put their trust in the Lord.
Be raised up. Do not fear. Jesus is inviting you to follow him.
Listen to him.
Amen
Gospel Matthew 17:1-9
1Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” 6When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
9As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
First Reading Exodus 24:12-18
12The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”
15Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. 17Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.
Psalm Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations conspire,
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and his anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds asunder,
and cast their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the LORD has them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree of the LORD:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,
with trembling 12 kiss his feet,
or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way;
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Happy are all who take refuge in him.
Or alternate Psalm Psalm 99
1 The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
2 The LORD is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Holy is he!
4 Mighty King, lover of justice,
you have established equity;
you have executed justice
and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Extol the LORD our God;
worship at his footstool.
Holy is he!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
They cried to the LORD, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
they kept his decrees,
and the statutes that he gave them.
8 O LORD our God, you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them,
but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
9 Extol the LORD our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for the LORD our God is holy.
Second Reading 2 Peter 1:16-21
16For 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. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” 18We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.
19So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You 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. 20First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
