Mark 8.34 - 9.9
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| Indian Ocean, East London, South Africa |
Sometimes my wife puts her hands on my shoulders.
And says, “Listen to me!”
And then I know.
It’s time to listen!
She has something to say.
So I pay attention.
I listen to her.
Now I don’t know about you.
But I find listening to be a challenge.
I have to work at it.
Maybe we all do.
God said:
This is my son.
Listen to him.
To understand what God is saying to the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, we need to step back in the story … before the Mountain.
When Jesus lays out God’s plan to the disciples.
A plan that involves suffering and death.
What?
What did you say?
Suffering and death?
Suffering and death, you say, for the Son of the Man?
Peter explodes when he hears this!
He takes hold of Jesus, scolds him and sets him straight.
Jesus turns his back to Peter.
Looks at the disciples.
Speaks:
Get behind me Satan. You are not thinking God’s thoughts, but human thoughts.
All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me, and because of the good news will save them. Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Son of Man, the Human One, will be ashamed of that person, when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.
I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see God’s Kingdom arrive in power.
Power?
Oh, that sounds good.
Who doesn’t like power?
Six days later, Jesus takes Peter, James and John to the top of a very high mountain … and there they see the Kingdom, arrive in power.
A bright light falls upon the Mountain.
Moses and Elijah talk with Jesus.
But no King David … no armies … no legions of angels.
Power, you say?
Well, if this be power, I’d like to see weakness.
That’s why God says, Listen to him.
God’s ways are decidedly different.
Different than we might expect …
Peter expected rebellion and victory … he’s on the winning side … he walks and talks with Israel’s long-awaited Messiah … who’s gonna put things right and straighten things out.
Yes, the Messiah!
Restore Israel’s glory … the glory of King David … thrones and kingdoms, palaces and armies… Israel a powerhouse ... a king to be reckoned with … Jerusalem safe and sound … no foreign powers telling us what to do.
Peter had hopes and dreams for a new Davidic Kingdom … and Peter wasn’t alone.
Ask anyone in Jerusalem what the Messiah would do, and they’d answer in unison - The Messiah will save us from Rome; the Messiah will marshall a divine army, arouse the people, save us from our enemies, and restore the glory of David.
For 500 years, the people dreamed the dreams of days of old, when David sat on the throne.
And when Jesus enters Jerusalem, from the Mount of Olives, riding on a young donkey ...
The people shout with joy:
Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD. Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David.
No wonder Peter reacts so negatively when Jesus talks about suffering and death, as God’s way to a new world …
Jesus makes it clear:
No armies to conquer Rome.
No armed conflict.
The work of the Messiah has nothing to do with the past.
The past is past.
Long gone.
Let it go.
It’s all about tomorrow.
A future.
Not by sword, but surrender.
Not by violence, but with values.
And why?
Because war can never bring an end to war.
Hatred will never put an end to hatred.
Violence cannot achieve peace.
Those who live by the sword …
Die by the sword.
Jesus invites us to a different way of power.
Jesus denies himself, and asks of us the same.
Jesus takes up a cross, and bids us do the same.
He does not try to save his life.
But gives his life away.
When we listen to Jesus.
When we truly listen.
We understand Peter’s distress.
Talk of servanthood and surrender sounds good.
But servanthood and surrender are a challenge to all of us.
When we listen to Jesus, truly listen, we’re bound to get uneasy.
And that’s all right.
Jesus is like sharp-edged plow cutting through the hard soil of our soul … cutting through hard roots, turning it upside down, so that righteous seed can be planted, and in time, a harvest of righteousness.
Listen to him, says the Father.
After the Transfiguration, Jesus and the three disciples rejoin the other disciples.
And what they see and hear are folks arguing.
And a boy who’s sick.
Down from the mountain.
The world at their feet.
And what a world it is.
Full of bickering and heartache.
Strife and sorrow.
Sin and sickness.
It isn’t long before the disciples are arguing amongst themselves … and guess what they’re arguing about … Who’s the greatest?
Can you believe it?
After the Mountain.
After Jesus heals the boy.
After Jesus speaks about self-denial and the cross.
They’re arguing about their own importance in the kingdom of God.
Can you believe it?
No wonder God says so clearly: Listen to my Son.
If we don’t listen to Jesus.
We sink into a sea of silliness.
A pond of pettiness.
We lose ourselves in bickering and strife.
And we can’t solve a thing.
There’s no healing in our bones.
We end up just like the disciples.
Bickering over our own importance.
Trying to trump one another.
With spiritual merit badges.
Who goes to church the most?
Who gives the most money?
Who’s been around the longest?
Who prays better?
Who knows more?
I’ve done it, too.
Every preacher I know has done it.
We’re all so full of ourselves, it hurts.
And there’s only one antidote.
Listen to Jesus.
Because Jesus offers to us how to be real, true and good.
How to be witnesses in this tangled and difficult world.
How to get a long with one another.
How to serve.
How to give.
Give way … to make way for the LORD, and for one another.
Give away … time, talent, treasure.
Open up.
Open up to the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Open up to one another, rely upon one another, help one another.
Lay down our lives for one another.
Build the kingdom.
Build up one another.
Bear one another’s burdens.
Forgive each other.
Strive for peace in the church … do not let the Devil win the day.
Seek the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Seek the greatest gift of all - the gift of love.
Love is the greatest of all gifts.
Greater than faith.
Greater than hope.
God says to us today ...
For the sake of love ...
Listen to my Son!
Amen and Amen!
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