Listening To Jesus
Mark 9:2-8
Have you ever walked into a situation where the best thing that you could ever say was nothing at all? I’m sure at some point in our life we have all suffered from “Foot in Mouth” disease. Sometimes the words slip out faster than we can realize just what it is we are saying.
As a prerequisite to ordination with the Wesleyan and Nazarene church, the person seeking ordination must stand before a group of peers (District Board of Ministry in Nazarene circles) and be prepared to answer questions. These questions will lead this board to decide if the candidate is indeed ready for ordination, or if more growth is needed in the person’s life. It can be a very nerve wracking experience.
Prior to my own ordination, I stood before the DBMD of the Kentucky District. Melissa was with the Mrs. Black, the District Superintendent’s wife, as I stood alone before the firing squad. Rev. Black asked me to take a seat. As I was preparing to sit down, one other member said, “We have your chair wired so we can fry you when you say something we do not like.”
At this point, conventional wisdom would say “ Just laugh! It’s a joke!” I’ve never really listened to conventional wisdom, so as I was being seated; I looked over at the board member and said, “Well, it’s a good thing I am wearing my rubber underwear today.” The DS laughed the loudest, and I sat in my chair red-faced because of what I had just said at the beginning of my ordination interview.
Despite my slip of the tongue, I was recommended that the Wesleyan church accept me as an ordained minister.
It’s amazing how many times we can just spout off the first thing that pops into our heads when a situation calls for nothing to be said at all. We were taught in Bethany during our pastoral counselling class that the best counsellors do more listening than interjecting their own thoughts and ideas in any given situation.
There are times when we feel like we need to be the hero. When someone is hurting, we feel the need to ride in on our white horse and save the day. Often though, we can make more of a mess. As hard as it is sometimes, there are times that arise when the situation calls for to be quiet.
Peter was a man who was like that. Sometimes he would say some brilliant things. Then the times would arise when he would spout off and totally miss the point. What he, and the other disciples, failed to do was to stop long enough and listen to what Jesus was saying.
I had a teacher in high school that would always tell the classes he has that there was a difference between hearing what he had to say and listening to what he had to say. To hear somebody means the sounds that are made enter into the ear canal. Listening is taking what we hear and focus in on it.
The question to be asked today is are we listening to Jesus?
Background:
To find out what this Scripture has to say to us, we need to look at this all in the context of what was taking place. Jesus and the twelve have just crossed the Sea of Galilee, and are on the Greek side of the lake. While here, Jesus has performed many of the same miracles that He had on the Jewish side. There were people healed from ailments and illnesses, demons cast out, etc. Up to this point, Peter had declared Jesus as the Christ, and once again, Jesus had said He was going to die again.
A lot of this may have become easily lost amongst the Disciples. They have seen Jesus feed thousands before. They’ve witnessed blind people regaining their sight before. Jesus did these things on such a frequent basis; perhaps they were once again missing the point. Even His ever present “ I’m going to die boys.” may have been wearing thin. No matter what the case, they heard all Jesus had to say, but that doesn’t mean they were listening. In fact, Jesus said something about this would be clearer after He rises from the dead, but...
We to can fall into that trap. We have been in church enough to hear many of the same messages over and over again. When we opened our Bibles, the “Mount of Transfiguration” passage is so familiar, maybe some of you thought, “I’ve heard it before. I’m doing all right. When is lunch, anyway?” That’s called hearing, but not listening.
We can sometime become so enthralled with our own lives that we miss what Christ may be trying to say to us in the service.
Despite it all, Jesus takes three with Him to stand on the mountain with Him, and that’s when all their lives will be changed.
Read Mark 9:2-8
What a thing to be a part of! Can you imagine what it would be like to be there on that hill? There was Jesus in all His heavenly glory. Not only that, there stood the two heroes of Hebrew culture. I mean, it’s not every day that you get to see Moses and Elijah! That can of thing would render a person speechless! Well, almost.
Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Mark 9:5,6
Have you been there before? I have been a part of some tremendous time of worship. The service was so touching, and the Holy Spirit’s presence was so real that it was almost like you could touch the face of God! Everything is so serene, and then someone changes the whole experience by saying something that had no relevance to what was taking place. Whoomp!!! The spiritual high was lost because someone didn’t have enough sense to keep still.
Fortunately, God had a better plan for the guys who have just witnessed this event, despite what Peter said. Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" Mark 9:7
I don’t know about you, but I can almost hear the love in God’s voice. THIS IS MY SON!!! I know when I get to talk about how Caleb is doing in school or in regards to his health, I do so with the utmost pride. He is MY boy. No matter what he does, that pride is there. That’s what I envision God like in this passage.
With that love, the disciples are told to listen to Jesus. No just hear what He has to say, but to truly listen to Him. It doesn’t matter if He repeats Himself, listen to Him. You probably missed it the first time, so listen again.
It’s amazing that such an endorsement comes after Moses and Elijah have appeared. Both men were known for how they listened to God. He called Moses to lead his people from captivity to freedom. He called Elijah to preach the truth to King Ahab, Jezebel, and all the others in his time. For years, the Jewish people looked up to them and their lives, but now God was saying to listen to Jesus.
You see, Jesus was the embodiment of all these men had received from God in the first place. Moses was given the law from the hand of God. On this mountain, Jesus was standing as a symbol that He was the law completed. Jesus came to fulfill what the law was originally intended for.
The Law were the rules to allow people a chance to live a holy life in the presence of a Holy God. Jesus, by His death and resurrection, fulfilled the law.
Elijah was the spokesman for all the prophets who had foretold about the coming Messiah. Jesus, by Peter’s own admission, was the promised Christ!
By God’s own endorsement, He was telling the three there on that hill, and us today, that Jesus is worth listening to because His message is even greater than the two men there. This is the Son of God... He is worth listening to.
How does that apply to us today? Look at it this was, if you will. The Lord still has a lot to say to us today. We have not heard it all, or lived it all. There are many times when the best thing for us to do in a situation is not to speak first and ask questions later. Often times we should just quiet ourselves and listen to what He says to us.
Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. Mark 9:8
No matter what takes place, the focal point in our life always should be Jesus. If we are having problems in lives, instead of looking to ourselves for the answers, may it’s time to start listening to Jesus. When your friends are going, and you’re all alone, listen to Jesus.
Writer Charles Swindoll once found himself with too many commitments in too few days. He got nervous and tense about it. "I was snapping at my wife and our children, choking down my food at mealtimes, and feeling irritated at those unexpected interruptions through the day," he recalled in his book Stress Fractures. "Before long, things around our home started reflecting the patter of my hurry-up style. It was becoming unbearable.
"I distinctly remember after supper one evening, the words of our younger daughter, Colleen. She wanted to tell me something important that had happened to her at school that day. She began hurriedly, ’Daddy, I wanna tell you somethin’ and I’ll tell you really fast.’
"Suddenly realizing her frustration, I answered, ’Honey, you can tell me -- and you don’t have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly." "I’ll never forget her answer: ’Then listen slowly.’"
Listening sometimes takes practice, especially when it comes to listening to what Jesus may have to say to us. Again, we look at Moses, and especially Elijah, for this help.
1 Kings 19:11-13
The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
He often speaks to us in ways, that if we are not careful, we can miss it, like a still small voice.
Conclusion:
I will be the first to admit that I often struggle in actually listening. There are times that I can totally miss something that Melissa might say to me, only to have her repeat it over and over again. In that same fashion, there have been times when I have missed what God was saying to me. Maybe I didn’t want to hear what He had to say. Perhaps I was too wrapped up in myself and my problems that I drowned Him out.
I will also admit and say that I have no idea what Jesus might be saying to you today. But I will say it is worth stopping it all, and listening to Him.
Perhaps He’s speaking to your heart this morning. Do not allow the people around you stop you from listening to Him. Peter was distracted by what was going on around him, and missed the point that this was a learning time. Today, will you listen to Jesus? Let’s pray.
