There is a radio commercial that many of you will remember. “When E. F. Hutton speaks, people listen.” This morning we have to think about the question, when God talks, do we listen? It’s a serious question, and one that we always hope the answer for is a resounding, “yes!”

Today is Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday before Lent. We celebrate this now precisely as a reminder that the one who leads us through the coming season of penitence and preparation is preparing us to participate in such glory with him both now and at his second coming. Hear the recounting of these events from Matthew:

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
The Transfiguration is moment when the disciples get a glimpse of what the Kingdom of Heaven will be like. Jesus, changed, speaks with two important of the past. Moses, the giver of the Law, and Elijah, a mighty prophet of God. This is enough to encourage Peter to suggest building a monument to the event. Then, even more amazingly, God spoke directly to the group and said, “Listen to Him.”

I want to go back to my question. Do Christians truly listen to God all the time? Looking at the world today, I think the answer would be an underwhelming, “kinda.” While He doesn’t come out and boom from the sky, God still speaks to us. The problem is, we mere humans are flesh. We have made it too easy to postpone God’s Will about as much as we put off writing our own.

Today we put our attention on work and play and don’t work on listening to God. Even worse, with technology, our attention is easily overwhelmed. A term you hear is, “information overload.” That used to be a wheelbarrow full of books, now it’s something that can be had by simply paying attention to a screen. Actually, we don’t even need a screen to flood our brain with information. All we have to do is turn on a radio. We hear all kinds of things every day, flooded with news, music and opinions.

Our brain actually tunes out some sounds that we hear often. During a meeting with a client I remarked on a noise that I kept hearing. One of the other people said it was a certain device that always made that noise and then realized that she had not heard it until I said something about it.

Listening in Church can be especially difficult. As my daughter said, “those sermons can go on and on and on.” When I told her I was preaching, it didn’t seem to change anything.

Something I’ve learned is that one way to make sure people hear you is to touch them while you’re talking to them. Sarah has had to remind me of this working with CJ. Even then, it’s difficult to remember to do it. Even though I heard what she said, breaking through the routine is a challenge.

That’s what God is doing here. Rather than talking through a prophet, God puts out His hand and speaks. He tells us to listen.

He tells us to listen to His Son.

But listening to Jesus is not easy. He tells us to do things, things that are uncomfortable like reaching out to the poor and needy. He tells us to do things that are unpopular, like standing up for our faith and His teachings. Things that do more than push us out of our comfort zone, like talking about His love to people don’t know. He tells us to do things that might put us in danger, like going out on mission trips to share His love.

Jesus didn’t tell us to do these things because He thought we’d like them. He told us to do them because it’s what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are supposed to care for widows and orphans. We are supposed to give of our whole selves.

But like children, we push those things aside and let ourselves be overwhelmed with the rest of the world. Sometimes we plug in the headphones of the modern world and do our best to tune out God’s voice. Other times we try to talk over God, doing our best to put our ideas and our thoughts over what He has directed us to do.

I have to say this: it doesn’t work.

We can try our hardest to block out God. He’s going to get through to us, one way or another. See, God has something that we have very little of, and that’s patience. He keeps on talking, working through those around us and in events of our lives to bring us to Him and to where He wants us to be. It’s a constant process, sometimes painful, sometimes confusing, but it’s His will.

As Christians we are supposed to be followers of Christ, led by His word and His hand. As we enter the season of Lent, we need to push aside those things that we try to hide from God behind. It’s time to listen.