Transfiguration

This semester I'm taking a preaching course. Below is the sermon I preached this week on Mark 9:2-9.
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“This is my Son, the beloved ,listen to him!”
“This is my Son, the beloved ,listen to him!”
“This is my Son, the beloved ,listen to him!”

Many voices say, ‘listen to me.’ Just this morning I have listened to numerous voices. I woke up to the voice of my husband which was quickly followed by NPR’s weather forecaster, field reporters, national commentators, and audio clips of politicians. I must not omit your voices, including yours Dr. Rogness’ which I obviously listened and responded to, after all, I am standing before you.

These voices have all said “listen to me” within the two hours I’ve been awake. I expect that throughout the rest of my day I will also hear voices of Hollywood celebrities, Olympians, musicians, political commentators, the children I nanny, other classmates and professors and even the voice of my mother.

The critical concern becomes, why listen? What is each voice trying to tell me? Why are they telling me this? What are they trying to get me to do? What are the benefits of listening? Don’t get me wrong, these voices are not the epitome of evil and to be avoided at all cost. These voices have their place. These voices are important. Yet, in the midst of these voices there is a voice from a cloud, “This is my Son, the beloved, listen to him!”

It is appropriate to realize this is not the first time the words “this is my Son, the beloved” are spoken in Mark’s gospel. In the first chapter of Mark, after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, a voice came from heaven saying, “you are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Here the announcement is addressing Jesus. This is in contrast to the transfiguration proclamation addressing Peter, James and John. In both cases, Jesus hears a voice from above. Jesus has been claimed “This is my Son, the beloved, listen to him!”

In the very sentence that claims Jesus we are given a command – listen to him. The truth is we don’t listen. We don’t even want to listen to him. We shout over Jesus’ words. We listen to the voices in and of this world.

In the chapter before the transfiguration Jesus “began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him." A crucified messiah is too much for Peter and it’s too much for us. We don’t want Jesus to be crucified either. If he’s crucified and is raised he’s not just a wise teacher and his words are not mere abstract principles or abstract things. They’re the words of God for us. They’re the words of God speaking to us.

And yet, how well do we listen? The skeptic in me asks, when do I ever listen to God? My hope is that I was listening to God’s call when I came to seminary, when I sat with the friend who struggled with an unplanned/unwanted pregnancy and when I teach Sunday school. Yet, I constantly want things my way. I do not want to surrender myself. I want to be my own god.

Unlike myself, the disciples were with Christ. We have seen how well the disciples listen to Jesus and they were with Jesus.

Our turning point comes through faith. No matter what we or the disciples do, Jesus’ saving work does not change. As Jesus is claimed through water and the word, we too are claimed in the water and word of our baptism. This happens despite even with bad listening skills.

The disciples did not listen, yet Christ was crucified, died and was buried and on the third day he rose again. Luther’s explanation of the second article of the Apostles Creed explains Christ’s salvific work.

"He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned human being. He has purchased and freed me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver but with his, holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. He has done all this in order that I may belong to him, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in eternal righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he is risen from the dead and lives and rules eternally."

It is fitting that we spend this, the last Thursday before Lent recalling the voice from the cloud, “this is my son, the beloved, listen to him!”