Hear My Son!

Text: And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Sons. Hear Him!” (Luke 9:35)

How do you feel when you are recognized? For example, as a child, do you recall you parent or parents saying to someone “This is my daughter or this is my son?” How did you feel? Didn’t it make you feel like you were the most important person in the world?

When an individual says, “This is my wife or this is my husband” there is a feeling of being special. A parent is very happy and pleased when a teacher says their child is a pleasure to have in class or their child is doing outstanding work.

Everyone likes to be recognized. Everyone is special in the eyes of Almighty God. God created each of us in His own image, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).

Everything God created was good. “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). God is so proud of us that He wants us to spend eternity with Him in His kingdom. His love for us is so great that He came upon this earth in the Person of Jesus Christ.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God came in the Person of His Son to pay the sin penalty that we could not pay.

God sent His Son as a gift to each one of us. He entered the world through a woman, but had no earthly father. He was born in a dirty smelly stable with animals standing by. He had no crib, like our son or daughter, but instead, He was laid in an animal feeding trough. He was cared for and raised by an earthly mother and father. He had no earthly possessions. In fact, “...had no place to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20).

He didn’t have a degree in chemistry from one of the Jewish schools, but He turned the water to wine. In the biological sciences, He was born without the normal conception. He disproved the law of gravity when He ascended into heaven.

He was a humble servant who fed 5,000 men plus women and children with two fish and 5 loaves of bread. He didn’t have a medical degree, but He cured the sick and gave sight to the blind. He was called master although He did not have any servants.

He was not a military leader, but He conquered the world. He never hurt anyone or committed any crime, yet He was crucified. He died upon a cross and was buried in a borrowed tomb, yet He lives today. He was a humble and true servant to His Father and to all mankind. He gave each of us what no one else could give us and that is eternal life with Him in His kingdom.

Our Scripture reading talks about a miracle that took place upon the mountain. As you recall, Jesus often went off to a quiet place to pray. He liked the mountain terrain as a place to teach the people and He liked it as a place to go and commune with His Heavenly Father.

In this particular scenario, “He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray” (Luke 9:28). You might ask why Jesus took these three people with Him on this occasion. Peter, John, and James were Jesus’ most intimate followers. They were His very close friends. They were considered to be His “inner circle” of associates.

Jesus wanted to demonstrate to the disciples that He truly was the Son of God. Some people at that time considered Him just another prophet just as some people of this day consider Him a prophet like all other prophets.

People had no problem believing Jesus real because He possessed the same attributes and characteristics of any other human being. These three disciples believed He was human, but Jesus wanted to make an everlasting impression upon their mind relative to Him being the Messiah.

Jesus’ intention was to go through a change or transformation. People could see an outside view of Him, but He wanted to reveal His inward being. His real divine being was covered or veiled by His flesh. In other words, we cannot see the inner person. We don’t know what a person is like on the inside, we can only see what is on the outside.

This miracle or scenario is called the transfiguration. Matthew, Mark, and Luke each record the event in their Gospel. Each of the writers lists the names of the three disciples present with Jesus. These three were the only humans to witness this astounding event.