This morning at Advent Lutheran Church (ELCA). we concluded our Meeting Jesus Again series.
Sermon
My message, “Listen to Him” is based on the narrative lectionary passage:: Luke 9:28-45.
You can watch below or read the manuscript.
Excerpt
These disciples were not seeking out a mountaintop experience, but are transformed by it. They and we seek clarity and understanding.
The Transfiguration provides all of this and more. In this moment we see much more than a shining Jesus; we recognize the very nature of who he is.
Moses and Elijah appear, and they talk with Jesus about his upcoming departure. Moses represents the law, the commandments given to the Israelites, while Elijah represents the prophets who spoke God’s truth to the people. And now, in Jesus, God’s law and the words of the prophets come together and are fulfilled.
But here’s the thing, as glorious as this moment is, it’s not the end. The story doesn’t end on the mountaintop.
The voice from the cloud tells us what to do when high atop the mountain, but also how to behave once we come back down and reenter the everyday world. “Listen to Him.”
The voice says, “This is my Son, whom I have Chosen; listen to him.”
This is a statement about who Jesus is and an invitation for all who follow him to know and respond to his voice.
In the verses that immediately precede the Transfiguration, Jesus was teaching his disciples about what it means to follow him. He spoke of his coming death. He told them that following him would mean taking up their cross, denying themselves, and losing their lives in order to gain them. Now, the voice from heaven validates these difficult teachings by affirming Jesus’ identity and issuing an invitation: “Listen to him.”
In the children’s message we played Simon Says or Susan Says. It seems easy to listen to one special voice, but it is always harder than you might imagine. The voice you are supposed to listen to and the one you were supposed to ignore often sound similar.
In this sermon I started by sharing my experience of learning to rely fully on the voice of a colleague named Gary. In the end, the activity wasn’t just about navigating obstacles or racing quickly to the end. It was about trust, learning to trust the voice of my partner, to tune out distractions, and to move forward with purpose.
In our lives competing voices always seek to capture our attention. People are constantly telling us what to do, what to value, and what to believe. This week alone I’ve had multiple people tell me that they could not fall asleep because the voices would not stop – their own internal voice, the voices of family and friends, and even the voices of the media they had consumed that day.
Today, you are invited to listen for a voice – not the voice of Simon or Susan, not Gary or Greg, not your boss or your bestie – but rather the Chosen One.
As a Christian you are a follower of the Way of Jesus, which means you are called to listen to him.
The more intently you listen, the clearer his voice will become. And, the longer you listen, the more your life will reflect his life and model his love.
Amen.