Second Sunday of Lent – Listen to Him!

Mark 9: 2-10

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling bright, such as no one on earth could brighten them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved;[b] listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.

Our Gospel reading today is one of the most portrayed in Art of any scenes in the New Testament. Here we have the transfiguration of Jesus. When you think about how dramatic the scene is, you can see why it’s so popular for artists. Jesus takes the disciples up the mountain (let us remember that to the people of the ancient world they saw mountain tops as ‘closer to God’), and there Jesus radiates light as Moses and Elijah appear beside him, followed by God himself turning up in a cloud and declaring ‘This is my Son, listen to him’. If you saw that today, you would probably try and take a quick snap on your phone, wouldn’t you?

Let us remember, of course, that everything we’re told in this passage has been written down because it meant something, it is significant. Particularly, it’s important to note who it is alongside Jesus. We have Elijah and Moses, two of the most important leaders in the history of Israel. Moses, who brought God’s law to his people, and Elijah, who performed some of the most amazing miracles in the Old Testament and saved the religion of the Israelites from being corrupted by the other religions of the day. So there are the great Old Testament characters, Moses and Elijah, but why are they the ones stood next to Jesus, yes they were significant, but what does it mean that they’re stood there? Well, Moses had said in his day this, that ‘there was one that will come from among you’, I.E. an Israelite who would lead people on a new exodus out of slavery. And of course, Moses had gone up a mountain to see God when he received the law, he had seen God’s robe and come away with his face reflecting his light. Note in this reading, the light is actually coming from Jesus himself, and much as Moses went back down the hill to bring God’s law to others, the disciples are going to go back down the hill to bring Jesus’ light out into the world.

Then there’s Elijah. The Old Testament Prophets are quite clear that Elijah would come back. In the book of the prophet Malachi it says “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Elijah is like the welcoming party for Jesus – a figure that John the Baptist fulfils in the New Testament. He’s like that guy before the wrestling match who bigs up the wrestler. Elijah has the prophet-vibe of ‘ Let’s get ready to rumble’. So here you have the person who brought the law, and the person who is the hype man (essentially) for God himself and here they are. And they’re both saying, “This third guy, *phew* now he is important.”

It’s a bit like that old joke about the time when the Pope went to visit Los Angeles. He had a fancy limousine pull up for him at the airport and as the driver helped him get all the bags in the car the Pope said “look at this beauty of a car, has it got a V8 engine?”

To which the driver said “yes, of course.”

“And it’s a real Rolls Royce?” Asked the Pope.

“Yes, of course.” Said the driver.

The Pope stops and grins to himself.

“You wouldn’t mind if I drove it would you?” He asks.

And of course, the driver was a good catholic so wouldn’t say no to the Pope himself.

So the Pope, still in his gear, looking the part, takes the keys and gets in the drivers seat while the driver sits in the back. ‘His holiness’ starts to drive around LA, enjoying himself as takes it through the gears and gets faster and faster until the driver gets nervous. The Pope starts to speed as the speedometer passes 80, 90, 100 and then… flashing blue lights.

The Pope pulls over and a police man knocks on his window. Embarrassed, he rolls his window down. And the policeman waves him away, without asking any questions. As the policeman gets into his car he says to the other policeman “here you’ll never guess who that was”.

The other says “no, go on, who was it?”

“Well.” Says the first. “Let me put it this way, the Pope was his chauffeur…”

Well in our Gospel reading. The obvious thing is, if Moses and Elijah are this guys limo driver, who is Jesus? They’re here and not glowing and he’s got robes of living colour, so this Jesus probably is somebody you should take note of.

Moses reflects the light when he comes down from mount Sinai, whereas Jesus is the light. So Peter responds in quite a human way. He knows what they’ve done in other holy places where people met like this and he want to build tents, to do a bit like what was done when God appeared in the past, to build a shrine. But he doesn’t get, still, what’s happening. He understands that it’s significant but not why. Some scholars say of the transfiguration, you need to look through the transfiguration, towards the cross. And of course, Peter doesn’t know that the cross is coming. He doesn’t realise that this light wasn’t meant to be stuck in one place. It was like to be taken out into the world. Jesus was very much not into building another transitory, unmoving, temple building like the old. Rather he was into taking God out into the world. But without knowing about the cross, as Peter didn’t at the time, that’s very hard to see.

Just before our reading today, in verse one (we start at verse two for some reason) Jesus says “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power” then we have the transfiguration, after which he says “tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” This is all leading towards the cross and resurrection. We should be looking through the transfiguration, onwards, towards the cross. This is all part of the journey that we’re on this lent. We’re moving towards the cross, and what the transfiguration shows us is who is about to be crucified.

And next in our reading we have perhaps the most dramatic bit of all. Jesus is still radiating light and a cloud appears. Like the cloud that appeared in the old testament when the temple had been rebuilt and God filled Jerusalem with his presence. The cloud appeared and God the Father speaks, he says “this is my Son. Listen to him.” A bit like in Jesus’ Baptism where the Father says “this is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Now he says “listen to Him.” As though all of creation is holding its breath at what he is about to say, or in this case, in what he is about to do.

God told them to listen to him. Moses and Elijah are listening to him, you should listen to him. On this journey we are all on, on the way to the cross, listen. Listen to what is about to happen. This person who was just a shining light that God told you to listen to is about to die on a cross.

One of the great things about doing lent more traditionally is that we can take part in that held breath, alongside all creation, that we see here. We can stop and look towards the shining light of the resurrection, through everything we know of Jesus. We can look towards the cross and have this time of anticipation.

So this week, I want you to listen to Him. If Elijah and Moses listened, so will we. If St Peter, St John and St James listened, so will we. If God the Father tells us to listen, then we will listen. You might ask, what are we listening to? Well, we’re listening to the cross. Listen to the cross this lent. To what Jesus did there.

This week. I encourage you to go off and spend some time looking at a cross. Either get a picture of it up on the internet or look at real physical cross if you have one. Just spend ten minutes this week, looking at the cross and listening to what Jesus did there in silence. In some quiet time or maybe with some soft music. Go and do that and just see what Christ has to tell you. Lay your sins on him. Say sorry, and know you are forgiven. Then take that light out into the world to be shared with all. Amen.