Listen here.
Welcome to
Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the appointed Scripture readings for
the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
in Hudson, OH.
Thank you for
being with me today.
This Sunday ends
the Epiphany season. You might recall that the season began with the light of a
star guiding the Magi to find Jesus and worship Him. This Sunday we find Jesus
shining with the light of His own glory as He Himself points forward to His Resurrection.
Let’s take a look
at the reading.
The Reading:
Mark 9:2-9 ESV
2 And after
six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high
mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and
his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach
them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were
talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is
good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses
and one for Elijah."
6 For he did not know what to say,
for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a
voice came out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son; listen to him."
8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them
but Jesus only.
9 And as they were coming down the
mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of
Man had risen from the dead. (Mk. 9:2-9 ESV)
Comments
This miraculous
event shows us a glimpse of Jesus’ glory. It shows us His importance as two
great prophets – perhaps the greatest prophets – of the Old Testament appear to
Him. We are reminded that Jesus is God, and while He usually hides His glory,
He is, nonetheless, glorious. He is fully human, but He is no mere man. He is
God incarnate; the Son of God who dwells among us.
As I’ve read this
text over the last few weeks there are two words that come to my mind. They are
talking and listening.
In terms of
talking, Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus. We don’t know what they were
saying, but it is clear that Peter couldn’t stand to be silent during this
exchange. He feels the necessity to talk – and he speaks out of turn. He talks
about staying on the mountain. He talks about building tents while he has no
materials. He talks about things that don’t matter, trying to hold on to the
moment.
On the other
hand, when the cloud covered the disciples and God spoke to them His message was,
“This is My beloved Son; listen to Him.” God’s command to the disciples is
listen.
I wonder how good
we are at listening. And I wonder how often we are too busy talking to listen.
I’ve seen this happen in conversations with my family. It seems reasonable that
it would, or at least could, happen in our relationship with God.
Now, don’t get me
wrong, and don’t hear what I’m not saying. I’m not saying that we should spend
less time praying. God invites and commands us to call upon Him. We need to
pray, and probably don’t pray as much as we should! But we also need to listen
to Jesus. We need to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as He brings
what we’ve learned listening to God’s Word to mind and as He helps us apply
God’s Word to our lives. We need to listen as God speaks of His love,
forgiveness, and salvation, and as He tells us about His will for how we should
live.
One of the things
that I’ve learned in my life is that as I listen to Jesus, this helps me speak
back to Him in appropriate ways. His words teach us what to pray about, what to
talk to God about.
It is an amazing
thing – a grace filled action – that the Son of God would become human so that
He could save us from our sins. It is also amazing and grace filled that Jesus
speaks to us. We do well to listen. And as Jesus speaks to us, He invites us to
answer and so we pray.
Meditate on
listening and talking today. Think about how and when you listen to God’s Word.
Examine the frequency and the content of your prayers. Pray for God to make you
a better listener so that you may be a better pray-er.
Prayers
O God, in the
glorious transfiguration of your only-begotten Son you once confirmed the
mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the ancient fathers, and in the
voice that came from the bright cloud you wondrously foreshowed our adoption by
grace. Therefore, mercifully make us coheirs with our King of his glory, and
bring us to the fullness of our inheritance in heaven; through Jesus Christ,
our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
forever. Amen.[1]
Memory Verse:
2 Corinthians 4:6
- For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," / has shone
in our hearts / to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God / in the
face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6 ESV)
Thank you so much
for using Devotions for Worship, I pray that our time together has blessed you
and given you something to meditate on – some reminder of God’s grace to rattle
around in your brain – for the rest of the day.
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favor? If you got something out of this devotional time, would you like and/or
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me get the word out, and hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to
others.
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God bless you!
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