Transfiguration Sermon: Be silent...Listen

The scripture for this sermon is:  2 Kings 2:1-12 and Mark 9:2-9.  The sermon was delivered to the community gathered at Ebenezer Ridges Care Center in Burnsville, MN, as a part of my CPE responsibilities.


Let us pray.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation in my heart be always acceptable to you, O God.  Amen.  

God said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”

I have been thinking about this single sentence from today’s Gospel for a while.  My mind has been filled with images of Jesus on the mountain, a place where he could find a physical nearness to God, a place to be in community with three friends and then, a place to experience a miraculous reunion with Elijah and Moses. 

I see the three disciples, Peter, James and John, watching this reunion, seeing Jesus transform into something dazzling, perhaps even blinding, and I am not surprised by their fear, of Peter talking because he didn't know what else to do.  Nerves can make us talk, laugh or cry when we simply do not know another way to react. 

When God speaks from the cloud, Peter’s fearful chattering ceases. Can you imagine what God sounded like?  I’d like to think God’s voice was soothing and not booming; that God’s voice was comforting, not bossy or angry; that the love God feels for Jesus was expressed in a way that filled Peter, James and John with the satisfaction that this man, this Jesus, was truly beloved.   I think of these words being spoken like any one of us may speak about a beloved person in our lives.  Like a parent of their child or a friend about a friend or a spouse about a spouse.  Maybe God’s tone would be more like that, but with even MORE love.  

God tells Peter, James and John of his relationship with Jesus during this mountaintop experience.  But the message is more than this.  God tells the men to listen to Jesus.  God tells all of us to listen to Jesus.

How do we listen?  This is a complicated and complex question.  Listening to Jesus first requires some kind of relationship with Jesus.  We need to have some knowledge of the life of Jesus through worship and the Bible.  It takes study, prayer and meditation, too.  We can hear Jesus in many ways, at different volumes, within ourselves and through others; in noise and in silence. 

Listening can be hard work.   We all have so much to offer to one another—our stories, our feelings, our fears, the things we wish for and the things we miss, our dreams and desires, our hopes and our regrets.  We have suggestions and advice, reprimands and praise, a full gamut of emotions and life experience—and we know that all these things are valuable to share.  And sometimes, we should.  Sometimes, we need to be the teacher.  But more often than not, we need to listen.  Here’s why.  According to the Dalai Lama “When you talk you are only repeating what you already know.  But if you listen, you may learn something new.”[1]

Let me say that again.  “When you talk you are only repeating what you already know.  But if you listen, you may learn something new.”

Peter was repeating something he already knew when he suggested in today’s Gospel that they build three dwellings for Jesus, Moses and Elijah—he knew that when something monumental happens, you build a monument to record the event. He was terrified, it says in Mark.  Can you imagine seeing Jesus glow? … or of seeing Elijah and Moses—two of the most important Jewish heroes—standing with Jesus?  He did not understand what was happening.  He could only repeat the things he knew until the next thing happened—God spoke from the cloud.  It was in these few words that Peter learned something new.  It was in the silencing of his voice that he was able to learn the truth.  He had to be silent to hear.

To listen we have to remain silent. 

We are reminded of this in the reading from 2 Kings.  When Elisha and Elijah are traveling to Bethel, people surrounded them and spoke in Elisha’s ear with what seemed to be a recurring message of Elijah’s impending death when they say, “Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?”  Elisha’s response was to tell them “yes, I know.  Keep silent.” 

Perhaps the others did not know what else to say to Elisha.  Perhaps they were nervous and beginning to feel the emotion of grief, knowing that Elijah was leaving them.  Maybe they wanted Elisha to know he wasn't alone, that he wasn't the only one feeling sad and lost on this farewell journey.  Elisha was experiencing his own fears, grief and sorrow.  Maybe he did not want them to continually remind him what was coming.      Sometimes, in those moments where silence seems uncomfortable, where our fears begin to take over, and random chatter begins to fill the void, we need to close our mouths and experience what is in the silence, even if we don’t know how to, or we don’t want to.

Unfortunately, it is sometimes hard to find silence. 

Living in community, like this one, there is always noise coming from somewhere.  Clocks ticking, water dripping, music playing, television sets blaring, people talking, activity here, meals there.  How can we keep silent in such a noisy, noisy world?

If we are lucky enough to be able to find moments of quiet, an opportunity to turn off hearing aids, locate some solitude where we can sit with our own thoughts or let the thoughts float away, maybe then we can do what God commanded Peter, James and John to do in today’s Gospel when God said, “This is my Son, the Beloved.  Listen to him.”

It can be in the silence where we can truly listen, digest and experience Jesus more fully.  Where we can hear his voice or experience the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  It is in the stilling of our busy minds where deep listening provides the solace and grace of our relationships with God.

Now, I know we can hear Jesus at any point of time if we pay attention.  But I think these scripture readings work well to remind us that it is not only okay, but necessary to be silent; to sit still; to listen and receive the love of God through the personal relationship with Jesus. 

How do we silence the world around us so we can listen?  I’m sure many of you have found wonderful ways to do this.  But if you are looking for another idea, one of the ways I have found to center my thoughts and eliminate the noise in my head is to repeat, “Be still and know that I am God.”  “Be still and know that I am God.”  It is in the stilling of the mind that opens the self to being silent and finding a peace that opens the ability to listen with more than just ears. 

Let us pray.  O God, you sent your beloved son into the world and asked us to listen to him.  Help us to do just that.  Help us to find silence.  Help us to listen.  Help us to hear.
Amen.


[1] Retrieved 2/10/2015 at 9:11 p.m. https://www.facebook.com/FundRazr/photos/a.10150466403903299.367096.35678438298/10152622068428299/?type=1&theater