I am 49 year old father of three and husband of one (for life)

Monday, February 19, 2007

Listening to God

LUKE 9:28-36
28 About eight days after Jesus said this; he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31 appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters–one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.) 34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.

I’m not one to make excuses, but today I am making an exception. The scripture that was just read is probably familiar to most of us. I would also guess that some of you have heard a sermon preached on this text before- I know I have. You may be thinking, “So, what’s the big deal?” A couple of things:
Jesus transfiguration experience is not something that we can easily identify with. It is difficult to find an analogy that people can relate to. One commentator said it well:
“There are in the scriptures, accounts of experiences of Jesus and of other persons serving the purposes of God for which analogies in our common experiences are not easily found. We read and study these accounts, and the experience is one of awe and wonder and worship. The question, “What in our lives is a suitable parallel?”- does not even seem appropriate.”

Secondly, I don’t believe that neither you nor I will be invited by Jesus to go up to the top of a hill and pray with the savior of the world. If that has happened to you, I would be more than willing to give you the floor so that you can share your experience with us!
All kidding aside, the reality of Jesus’ transfiguration is that this was an extraordinary experience for Jesus and three of his disciples. I can’t make it fit into the parameters of our experiences.
Having said this, I went to the scriptures and after reading the passage several times, a single sentence seemed to speak to me: “A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” If God were to say but eleven words to us, what would they be? I believe that these are the words God would say to us: “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”
Now, listening is a strange kind of science, isn’t it? There is listening and there is hearing. Hearing is something that we do unconsciously. Throughout any given day we hear many sounds and noises: the sound of traffic on a well traveled street or that of a crowd inside a shopping mall- we hear these noises and sounds, but we don’t listen to them. Around our house, we are never at a loss for noise. Televisions playing in the background sometimes two are on at the same time and on different channels, yet at the same volume- stun! Then there’s the sound of kids playing (some might call it fighting). There’s the noise that I sometimes pay attention to and that is the sound of something falling to the ground followed by an “Uh-oh”. You get the idea? There are noises that we hear all of the time- they are just a part of life’s rhythm.
Then there is the art of listening. Yes, I believe that it is an art. Listening is defined in the dictionary as:
To give close attention with the purpose of hearing; to give ear; to hearken; to attend. To give heed; to yield to advice; to follow admonition; to obey.

Many of you know that I am sales trainer by trade and there is a common thread that runs through much of what I preach to my students- listening skills. Whether it’s in the context of a selling skills class or Effective Interviewing, I spend a significant amount of time focusing on active listening. If people feel as though he or she is being listened to, that they are being fully understood- that changes everything! I think that we understand that pretty well, but are you a good listener?
I saw a survey not long ago which said one thousand candidates were asked the question, “How would you describe yourself to an interviewer?” I have their top five answers:
1. I am a good listener
2. I am a hard worker
3. I am a quick study
4. I am a people person
5. I am a team player
Now, friends you may know this already, but when someone tells you that he or she is a good listener- look out! I’m sure that some who profess to be good listeners really are- I don’t doubt it. But my suspicion is that the majority of people that call themselves good listeners are the kind of people that will let you say what you need to say, “speak your piece” if you will. But they can’t wait to say what they need to say. There are so few good listeners out there. Do you know people that are good listeners? I’ll bet that you really like those folks. There’s not much to dislike about a good listener. Why is that? I believe it is in large part due to the perception that listening equals caring. If I listen to you, that means I care about you and that’s a really important point here. Why is it that Jesus’ words sometimes fall on deaf ears? Why is it that we sometimes think that Jesus’ words are for everybody else and not you or me?
I believe that our listening skills (or lack of) have a lot to do with who’s doing the talking. In my case, I have really tried, and I’ve still got a long way to go, to become a better listener to particular people in my life, namely my wife and kids. Listening to kids especially is really important. There aren’t many things that we can do for our kids that can build them up like listening- really listening to them!
Which leads me to a question- How well do we listen to God? If we say we love God- how do we show that the love we feel is real? We listen- we obey- we take heed. What has God told us through Jesus? I found this story about on the beatitudes and it is written from the perspective of a disciple’s perspective. How does a disciple respond to the beatitudes?
Matthew 5: 3-12
Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathered them around. He taught them saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are they that mourn.
Blessed are the merciful.
Blessed are they who thirst for justice.
Blessed are you when persecuted.
Blessed are you when you suffer.
Be glad and rejoice for your reward is great in heaven.

Then Simon Peter said, "Are we supposed to write this down?"
And Andrew asked, "Are we supposed to know this?"
And James asked, "Will we have a test on this?"
And Phillip said, "I don't have any paper."
And Bartholomew asked, "Do we have to turn this in?"
And John said, "The other disciples didn't have to learn this."
And Matthew asked, "Can I go to the boys' room?"
And Judas asked, "What does this have to do with real life?"

Then one of the Pharisees who were present asked to see Jesus' lesson plan and inquired of Jesus, "Where is your objectives and lesson plan?"
And Jesus wept.

How do we respond to Jesus’ instructions? Do we ask if there will be a test? Do our minds automatically cling to the reasons why we can’t do what Jesus has told us to do?
If we say we love God, we listen to God.

During this upcoming season of Lent we are to reflect on the suffering and eventual crucifixion of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Remember, that the fate he suffered was for you and for me. The least we can do is listen to him and try to live out that which our Lord has commanded in our daily lives. If we look a little further into Luke chapter 9 we would find in verses 44-45: "‘Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands.’ But they did not understand this saying. . . ." This suggests that the command to "Listen" is really a call to a deeper understanding of Jesus and who he is as the Son of God, as well as a subtle call to followers of Jesus to understand the implications of following Jesus.
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
Winston Churchill

The story of Jesus’ transfiguration isn’t just about Jesus and His unique identity as the Messiah of God. I believe that the significance of this story is that the disciples would not, could not, and flat out were not listening to Jesus. Jesus was telling them about his upcoming death and suffering, they pondered visions of pomp and circumstance in some political kingdom to come. Jesus spoke of betrayal and sacrifice, and the disciples simply were focused on what Jesus could do for them- they didn’t want to face the truth. They were too caught up in being disciples rather than listening to God. I wonder about my life as a disciple of Christ. Am I listening to God in this season of suffering or am I simply waiting for the day of resurrection?
A thought to go: As we approach the season of Lent, let’s not get ahead of ourselves and cut right to Easter. Let’s stay where we are right now and listen to what God is saying to us as individual Christians as well as a community of believers.