Listen to Him!

“This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Argile Smith tells the story of Raymond and Sylvia.1 Their marriage of almost thirty years was in trouble. Lately they seemed to do nothing but argue! In a last-ditch effort to avoid divorce court, they consulted their pastor, who quickly referred them to a marriage counselor. In their first meeting with Dr. Alexander, the counselor quickly put them at ease with her warm smile and calm demeanor. During the session, Dr. Alexander asked Raymond to describe Sylvia’s personal longings. Raymond launched into a long catalogue of Sylvia’s insecurities and of all that he had done to boost her confidence. He offered his diagnosis that Sylvia’s troubles stemmed from her relationships with her dysfunctional family. Dr. Alexander abruptly stopped Raymond. “Raymond, please repeat my question,” she said. “Certainly,” he answered. “You wanted to hear about Sylvia’s insecurities, and I’m filling in the background for you.” Dr. Alexander then turned to Sylvia and asked, “Sylvia, what are Raymond’s longings?” “Frankly,” Sylvia replied, “Raymond longs to make sure I know what’s wrong with me and what I need to do to fix myself.” Raymond quickly defended himself. “No,” he said, “it’s just that I know her better than anyone else, and I want to give her advice that will help her be a better person.” “Raymond!” Dr. Alexander snapped. “I see one issue in your marriage already. You don’t know how to listen to Sylvia. You don’t listen to what she is trying to tell you. I bet you don’t listen to anyone else either! You certainly didn’t listen to me. I had to almost shout at you to get you to be quiet.” During succeeding sessions, Dr. Alexander explained that she had snapped at Raymond to get his attention and to show him that his listening skills were not what they should be. Then Dr. Alexander taught both Raymond and Sylvia how to truly and deeply listen to each other. Their marriage was saved!

When Dr. Alexander emphasized the importance of listening, perhaps she had the end of today’s Gospel lesson in mind. It’s no coincidence that Sundays in Epiphany tide begin and end with God’s voice. Do you remember Jesus’ baptism, in our Gospel reading for the first Sunday after Epiphany? As Jesus came up from the water, he was anointed with the Holy Spirit and, in Mark’s Gospel account, he alone heard God declaring, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” With that affirmation of his identity, Jesus set out proclaiming the beginning of the Reign of God. Before the events of today’s Gospel reading, Jesus had predicted his crucifixion and resurrection. He had reminded his friends that they too will face persecution if they follow him. Six days later, God led Jesus and his friends into an almost indescribable experience away from the crowds. The disciples were dazzled by a miraculous vision of Jesus. Before they could make sense of it, God spoke again, this time addressing them all. “This is my Son, the Beloved,” God told them. And then God commanded them, “Listen to him!” During the descent from the mountain, perhaps Jesus felt reassured that he had chosen the right path in setting his face towards Jerusalem and what awaited him there. However, his friends might well have been wondering, “How do we listen to him? When? And what else might he say?”

Do we have those same questions? More to the point, are we akin to Raymond, the husband in our story? Do we need Dr. Alexander’s help in learning how to follow in the disciples’ footsteps, how to truly and deeply listen to Jesus? There is so much in our world that makes it difficult for us to listen to him, isn’t there? You know how we live in a 24/7 world. Some of you are in professions where you have to be on call. Even the rest of us can surround ourselves nonstop with the TV, the radio, magazines, newspapers, e-mails, smart phones, ipods, and all the rest of our “silent noisemakers.” Remember national holidays? Nowadays, the only way I know it’s a national holiday is that there’s no mail service! And, of course, we have no Sabbath, no time to rest and just be quiet, either on Saturday or Sunday. Now I’m not advocating a return to the Sunday closings of my girlhood. When my car battery died here in Gallipolis a couple of months ago on a Sunday, I was grateful that the auto department of Walmart was open and able to replace it. And even if we do find that quiet space, if we read the daily office – even the short form – or try to study the Bible, we often have a hard time concentrating, and we find all our worries and concerns crowding out God’s voice. Or worse yet, we might even be afraid to open ourselves to Jesus, fearing what we might hear!

What might help us to listen to Jesus? There are many Dr. Alexanders in the spiritual realm, many holy ones who can school us in our spiritual listening skills. Here’s what some of them might tell us. First, we should find and use our off-switches! Second – and here’s my favorite word again – we should be intentional about our spiritual lives. Do you have a rule of life? A rule of life doesn’t have to be complicated: it involves committing yourself typically to some form of daily prayer – even very briefly – periodic Bible study, regular corporate worship, stewardship of your resources, and some form of ministry. For the more adventurous, our guides might point us to some of the contemplative prayer forms: breath prayer, lectio divina, the Anglican rosary, praying with icons, or keeping a spiritual journal. You can even find God in the movies, through creating an art object, or doing handwork. There’s no shortage of ways to listen to Jesus. What is needed is willingness to draw apart for a time and open yourself to his presence.

And when we do take the time to listen to Jesus, what indeed might we hear? We might hear a reply to our prayers. Jesus might offer us “blessed assurance.” But, on the other side of the Transfiguration experience, Jesus was headed to Jerusalem. And so Jesus might also remind us, as he had reminded his friends, that, “If any want to be my disciples, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross and follow me.”

Those are words we probably don’t want to hear! Even if we are willing to hear them, we might wonder how we do bear our own cross. Although many Americans still accept capital punishment, we no longer live in a society where crucifixion is an acceptable form of execution. So let’s starting by clarifying what bearing your cross does not mean.2 Obviously it does not mean literally being crucified. It does not mean regarding suffering as spiritually good in itself. This notion has been a pillar of centuries of Christian piety, but the truth is that Jesus did not accept death believing that his suffering as such could rid the world of evil and sin. Rather, his death showed us that the transformative power of divine love can overcome the worst evil of the world. Bearing out cross also does not mean privately bearing our own difficulties for Jesus’ sake. Jesus’ death was a very public affair, and he was executed by the prevailing authorities because he did and said things that challenged systemic greed, domination, and exploitation. Bearing our cross does mean doing what Jesus did, i.e., doing the things that got him into trouble. It means living out our baptismal vows, especially our promise to “persevere in resisting evil.” It means speaking out against injustice and violence. It means publicly and energetically pursuing personal and social righteousness. Bearing our cross means engaging with the poor and suffering. It means living out our promises to proclaim and act out the good news. As Brother James Koester SSJE reminds us, “The life which you, and we and Jesus chose at our baptisms is a life where day by day we must choose to love, and not to hate, to be friends and not enemies, to forgive and not to hold grudges, to heal and help and hold and not to injure, wound and scar. It is the choice to live such a life that eventually cost Jesus his own.”

We’ve seen the signs this Epiphany tide. We’ve gone up that mountain with Jesus. We know with greater certainty that Jesus was and is the Word made flesh. We’ve heard God’s command to “listen to him.” Now we’re coming down the mountain. On Wednesday, we too will set our faces towards Jerusalem. Are we ready to commit ourselves to the way of the Cross? Are we ready to commit ourselves to truly and deeply listening to Jesus? Are we ready to hear what Jesus might say to us about ourselves and about this parish?

If we are, then perhaps we might truly pray, O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness …. Amen.

1. In Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit (Lima, OH: CSS Publishing, 2011), 55-57.

2. Following Rodney J. Hunter, in Feasting on the Word (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008), 452.