Advent Lutheran Church

"Listen to Him"

Selam!  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Do you know the privilege of singing in the choir? Hearing a preacher over and over. In Ethiopia when you sing in the choir, especially on wedding services, you are privileged to hear many preachers. The irony, though, is that you might hear the same preacher repeatedly. By the way, wedding services are long in Ethiopia and wedding without a choir is unthinkable.

There is one pastor I heard at wedding services more than dozen times. Well, you can guess what that means.  After hearing repeatedly, at some point you would know those illustrations and advice given to the couple.  This pastor always tells his own wedding story to teach the couples about love and transparency.

This is his story in his own words. “… after the wedding service and reception was over, after all the invited people had gone , after all our families and friends had gone, my wife and I went to our room. It was only her and I in that room.  We began taking off our wedding clothes. I was the first one to start. I began by taking off my shoes, my socks … don’t worry, I won’t go further…. By the time I was taking off my shoes my wife stared on my toes and said “What ?” I said,” What?”  She said,“ I did not know that you have an ugly toe!”

She was right. A fungus had eaten the nail on my big toe. Yes, it was ugly.  After a few thoughts I said, “so what?  You have already made the vows and married me.”

Then he makes the point of how from that moment on things began to be uncovered, unveiled. That moment is the beginning of the uncovering of our hidden personality. The moment of becoming exposed both outwards and inwards.

                (By the way, it is a common experience for most African kids to walk on bare foot until our families could afford to buy shoes. Because that, we are exposed to many diseases that come from worms and fungus.)

Yes, a true love consists of a process of unveiling the truth.  Our gospel story is about unveiling the identity of Jesus.   Because God loves the people, God is willing to unveil the glory and the identity of his son. God did want the people to be confused by people’s assumptions about the identity of his son.

Therefore, the Transfiguration story is the climax point of giving the right and clear answer to the questions of who Jesus is.

Earlier in this chapter, in vv 7-9, Herod, hearing of the great works that Jesus was doing, "was perplexed,” because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen. 

Herod said, 'John I beheaded; but WHO IS THIS about whom I hear such things?' And he tried to see him."

The question of “WHO IS THIS?" is a central point to chapter 9 in particular and the whole gospel in general.  This is a question asked by political leaders, religious leaders, and the general community. However, it does not stop there.  It is the question of the closest people too, the disciples.

Yes, it was the 1^st century question and continued to be the 21^st century question. The schisms, splits, divisions, and war in the history of the church, had its root in the question of who Jesus is.

 Sometimes we ask the same question: Who is this? Who is Jesus for our life, for our family and for our community? As there had been all kinds of suggestions about the identity of Jesus in the past, there are in the present too.

In the story, it seems that Jesus wanted the disciples to hear from the one who had sent him – his Father. That is why Jesus went to the mountain with the disciples to pray. It is not written but I guess that his prayer request would be “Father, please tell the disciples who I am so that they may believe in me and you.” The gospel of Luke is so consistent about the importance of prayer in a discipleship process.

 Prayer needs time and place. We need to set apart a time and place to pray. For Jesus, the mountain was the perfect place for prayer. Early in the morning was his favorable time to pray. It is good for us to find a favorable time and place to pray.

The story tells us that it is while Jesus was praying the transformation took place.

 Are you tired of questions after questions in your life? Pray. Are you tired of explaining about yourself? Pray.  Are you tired of negative circumstances in life? Pray.

 Notice that in the story, before God gave the answer to the question of  WHO IS THIS?, the appearance of Jesus’ face was changed. Jesus was transformed.

Brothers and sisters, while we pray, we may not always get the perfect answer we need.

We may not get what we need as soon as possible. However, something happens in the prayer, we will be transformed.  We will be changed.

During Holy Week in Lent in my church in Ethiopia, there a service called “sharing what God’s has been doing in our life.” It is open for all people who would like to share what the Lord has been doing in the past year.

Every year, so many amazing stories are shared. Among those stories, I will never forget one story shared by a blind woman.  She shared with us that for many years, she had been praying for her eyes to be opened. She had tried medical options but it did not help her, had tried healing services, but nothing happened.

One night during the Lenten season, while she was praying, for the first time in her life she accepted her blindness. This is what she said: “Even though I cannot see the outside light, I can see the light that shines in me and in the world.”  She was transformed from denying her situation into accepting, and began to see things in a different way. 

Therefore, prayer is not always about getting the answer but it is about being transformed. While we pray, we will be transformed with faith, hope and love. That moment always brings excitement. Such a moment will be our mountaintop experience. It is our ‘wow” moment.  The problem with such moments is, it is so tempting that we want to stay there. 

Think about the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2008.  That is a mountaintop experience, a transformation from the Senator of the State of Illinois to the President of the United States of America. Millions of eyes were on him. Millions were gathered to be part of the history of the first African American President.  Think about the recent New Orleans celebration of the Saints’ victory. What a great experience! However, there is something called “coming down from the mountain and serving the needs of the people.”  Our mountaintop experience should be translated into  serving the people.

 It is great to have newborn babies like Addison, Majkin and Carson. All of us who are parents know that there are moments after moments where we wished if we could freeze it. However, transformation is inevitable. Growing and changing is inevitable.  Soon we as a community of faith will be participating in the spiritual transformation that is going  to happen through their baptisms. They will be marked with the cross and sealed by the Holy Spirit as a sign of their transformation into the children of God and as they become part of the Church.

What a great experience it had been for these disciples to see the transformation of Jesus.  We hear Peter asking to stay there and to freeze the moment. As Peter was talking to Jesus, the cloud came and overshadowed them. And from the cloud came a voice that said “This is my son, my Chosen; listen to him.”

Here comes God to give the answer to the question of WHO IS THIS?

THIS IS MY SON, MY CHOSEN; LISTEN TO HIM.

Prior to their hearing the voice, they were overshadowed by the cloud. The cloud is the symbol of Gods’ presence. A cloud is a dense accumulation of air.  That air is the Holy Spirit. The word Spirit in both in the Hebrew and Greek language has the meaning of air, or wind.

We all are covered by the presence of God through the Holy Spirit.  Therefore the voice that is saying “listen to him” is not coming from afar. It is as close as the air we breathe. The same is true with the voice of Jesus, to whom we are told to listen. As the voice of the Father came from the cloud so is the voice of Jesus. Oh, it is everywhere. It is very close. What we need is to listen.

While I am watching some news on TV, there is something that bothers me always. It is the warning given by the journalist to the viewers about the pictures that are going to be seen, especially when it comes to people’s death and suffering. I wonder for whom they are caring. They don’t want us to share the suffering by seeing the realities.   

Well, that is not the case with Jesus, to whom we are told to listen. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus told the disciples about his death and suffering. He told them that discipleship is about carrying the cross and denying oneself. Since he is the truth, he will tell us the truth. The truth will set us free.

As we are ready to get into the Lenten season, let us hope to be transformed in faith, hope and love.

As we are ready to get into the Lenten season, let us walk through the season listening to him. Amen.