LISTEN (sunday sermon)

“This is my beloved Son: listen to him.” 

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

Good morning to you, if I have no sermon it’s because I prepared a superlative homily for today, Proper 13A, the 9th Sunday after Pentecost, God changing Jacob the timid hanger-on to Israel who fights with God and wins. I completely forgot that August 6 is an obligatory Holy Day that takes precedence of our Sunday scripture.

Transfiguration is August 6, which is ridiculous, as absurd as celebrating Christmas twice a year: we celebrate Transfiguration during Epiphany as the second of two Grand Epiphany Sundays every winter, and that’s where it fits, not some hot rainy summer day in August. The first Grand Epiphany Sunday is the Baptism of Christ, when the Spirit comes down as a dove and a voice from heaven, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I AM well pleased.” The other Grand Epiphany is the Last Sunday in the Epiphany Season, the gospel we read just now, Jesus on the mountaintop with Peter, James and John as they witness Jesus with Moses and Elijah, and the same voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son: listen to him.” 

We may laugh at Peter’s confusion, which adds to the chaos as James and John look on terrified, but Peter’s outburst raises the question, “What are we to do in response to this one of whom the voice speaks, this Jesus whom we thought was just a man?” A faithful Jew, Simon Peter is not sure but seeing where he is, he remembers Jewish festivals: Shavuot, the wave offering, the wheat offering and God giving the Torah to Moses on the mountain. Sukkot, the thanksgiving harvest festival of booths. Peter is on the mountain with God as Moses was. Moses the Law and Elijah the Prophets: Peter is not talking nonsense, Peter is transfixed and transfigured as he sees Jesus, alongside the most holy men of Israel, proclaimed Son of God. What to do? Stand in awe? Bow in worship? Fall on his knees or his face? Build a dwelling, a booth What to do? 

God has the answer, a commandment: not build things, listen to him. This is my beloved Son, listen to him, the Son of God, or even, in the Gospel according to John, this one Jesus is God the Son, the Logos, the Word through whom all that is came into being: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over churning chaos, and God said, “Let there be light,” and it was so, and all that God said, it was so. Logos, Word: hear him, listen to him. Peter is not wrong: Peter now knows we must glorify Jesus as Moses and Elijah are glorified, and building temples or mansions or rooms or booths or dwellings on the mountaintop seems right to Peter. What Peter misses in the chaos of the moment, is that Jesus is not about buildings but about listening and obedience. 

The Transfiguration is “show and tell.” It is not that Jesus changes, but that we change; God tells us who Jesus is and what to do about it: listen to him, do what he says and what he does, step into the Way of the Cross, a way of sacrifice and love.

This is neither sermon nor homily. I wrote an excellent sermon for today, but I had the wrong scripture and I’m not writing another sermon. No sermon, this is a reflection on this Grand Epiphany that we read last February and read again next February: epiphany, the revelation that not Jesus, but Peter, James and John, and you and I, are transfigured in a life-changing mountaintop experience of God himself shining down from heaven to acclaim Jesus beloved Son, listen to him. “This is my beloved Son.” Do you believe that?

Do you believe that?

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and 

fellowship, in the breaking of the bread, and in the 

prayers?

Will you persevere in resisting evil, and , whenever

you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?

Will you proclaim by word and example the Good

News of God in Jesus Christ?

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving

your neighbor as yourself?

Will you strive for justice and peace among all

people, and respect the dignity of every human

being? Think about it. Think about it, who do you hate, American Christian?

Think about it: these are not rote questions to be answered like a cage of parrots in the bird house at the zoo, these are actions, the only acceptable responses both to God’s  commandment, “This is my beloved Son: listen to him,” - and to Jesus’ commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Examine yourself: how are you doing? Are you loving? Are you striving? Are you respecting? 

Are you listening?