Seeing Beyond the Frame
Series: Called - Part 6
Matthew 17:1-9
While he was still speaking, look, a bright cloud overshadowed them. A voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son whom I dearly love. I am very pleased with him.
Listen to him!”
Matthew 17:5 (CEB)
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
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Jesus has called his disciples and they have followed him for nearly three years. They have hung on every word, shared in his ministry of healing and reconciliation, seen countless miracles, and generally committed their lives to his teachings. So why now, after three years of dedicated discipleship, do they finally hear a voice from heaven? And why, of all things God could say in this supernatural vision, are they reminded to “listen to him?”
In the previous chapter we find Peter declaring exactly what this heavenly voice says. “Jesus, you are the son of God.” They already knew. If they hadn’t been listening to him, Peter could have never come to such a conclusion and they wouldn’t be on the mountain in the first place.
It’s one thing to listen to Jesus when all is going well. It’s easy to listen when we are reveling in the affirmation of the crowds that are growing every day as more and more people are fed and healed. It’s easy to listen when we are secure in the knowledge that Jesus can calm any storm and even death is no match for his power and authority. It’s easy to listen when it seems like everything is under control and nothing can stop us from establishing God’s kingdom on earth. But when all is going well, are we really listening to Jesus? Or could it be that we are listening to that voice that tempted Jesus in the wilderness, promising ongoing approval and affirmation, comfort and security, power and control?
This mountaintop experience with Jesus comes right on the heals of a cryptic teaching about being willing to lose one’s life in order to save themselves. Jesus has already realized that his death was both inevitable and immanent. They could not stay on the mountain and the valley into which they would descend was quite literally the valley of the shadow of death the Psalmist so eloquently describes.
So here’s the big question. Will we listen to Jesus when the direction he leads leaves us powerless and weak? Will we listen to Jesus when there is no promise of security or even survival? Will we listen to Jesus when we not only lose the approval of the crowds, but even when we face outright rejection as their shouts of “Alleluia” turn to enraged chants of “Crucify!”
God has a way of showing up in our lives in the moments we most need it, even when we don’t recognize it. The disciples had no idea what was coming, but their need to truly listen to and trust in Jesus would be more crucial and more challenging than ever. They didn’t always get it right. A few would still argue over who would be the greatest in the kingdom. Some would deny and betray him. Others would simply fall asleep or walk away.
In the end, that mountaintop experience would pale in comparison to the glory they would see when he showed up in a locked room and held out his nail scarred hands saying, “Do not be afraid.” It’s hard to listen when you are being led straight to a cross and a grave.
As you walk through the valleys of your own life, are you listening for the voices of security, approval and control, or to the voice of Jesus, son of God?