I love Dr. Charles Stanley. There I said it. Me, the good catholic boy loves the great Baptist preacher. I have watched him for years, taken notes on his sermons (corrected the errors of course!! Her her) and used his themes in talks and retreats. I’ve even donated to INTOUCH ministries (don’t tell the bishop!! Hee hee).
One of the fantastic methods Stanley uses while preaching is to interject, every once in a while, the injunction: listen. As he preaches, he’ll says, “listen” it’s a verbal speed-bump saying, “here it comes. here’s the main point…“
In today’s Gospel for the Second Sunday of Lent, right in the midst of the transfiguration of Jesus, the voice of the Godhead speaks. From the cloud, He is his own speed bump. He says, “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. LISTEN to him.”
In the bewildering chaos that must have been the Transfiguration, Peter scrambles to capture the moment by doing something…erecting tents of all things. Like parents at a kid’s sporting event filming the moment instead of living the moment, Peter is caught up in doing something.
So, what is God trying to tell us today? If I might be so bold, here are my thoughts.
- Before all else LISTEN. We need to listen to God. In order to listen, we need to quiet ourselves, shut out distractions and focus on him and His word. Scripture is the living word of God. It breathes the very life of God in us. Put on the air mask of God— breathe in the life of God.
- Only after listening can we DO SOMETHING. Peter just has his order out of sync. Listening to God will, at minimum do two things in our lives. First, it will tell us something about God and about us. Second, it will call us to action. We will find, in our time with God who he is. How God is father, provider, protector, savior, healer, redeemer, forgiver…Love itself. And we will see how we both need all that he is and how even at our best, we are not who he is. God is God and we are not. We need him. This graced awareness will call us to action. That action will be to reverse course: repent, avoid sin, stop doing something, change behavior or attitude. Or it will compel us to build or tear down a wall that divides. It will push us to action: to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, visit the sick, give freedom to prisoners. It will compel us to be Good News. As Christ was transfigured, we will become transformers.
But only if we listen…TO HIM. Matthew 17: 1 -9
