Listen to Him

Mark 9:7b "This is my beloved Son; listen to him." ESV

 

Jesus took His inner circle, James, John and Peter up the mountain. While they were there a weird thing happened. Moses and Elijah appeared. Now, I don't know about you, but if I were hanging around with a bunch of guys and two dead guys showed up I think I might book. Apparently, these guys were so astounded they couldn't move. All that happened was that in Peter's nervousness, he blurted out something about making an altar to each one of them. Then another crazy thing happened. God spoke from heaven. Now, this is fall on your face time. This is get as low as you can possibly get time. This is cover your head time.

 

Now God could have said anything. He could have explained how Moses and Elijah were there. He could have told these guys that they had a mission to fulfill and He could have laid it out for them. He could have told them about some amazing prophecy in the future...but He didn't. Instead God the Father said the thing that was uppermost in His mind. He said what was primary. He didn't mince words…He only used eight of them. This is what He said: "This is my beloved Son; listen to Him." Short. Pointed. Direct.

 

"This is my beloved Son". Why this? I think that this is something that God wanted to communicate all through Jesus' ministry. When Jesus was baptized what did God say? "This is my beloved Son…". This is my esteemed Son. This is my dear Son. Frankly, this is my favorite Son because He is the only begotten Son of God. God the Father's love for Jesus was always on His mind. His love was deeper and wider than my love for my kids. It was more passionate that my love for my granddaughter. And it must have grieved Him to know that the only way He could deliver mankind was to sacrifice His Son…but He did it. But before this happened He wanted these guys to get something:

 

"Listen to Him". This is huge. This is what I have to get. This is what I have to grab. This is what God the Father wanted these guys to walk away with. An eight word sermon with the application: Listen to Him. This word listen means to hear. It means to consider. It means to understand. It means to comprehend. It means to learn. God was taking these guys back to Jesus' role as their Teacher. They needed to hear Him, grab what He said and use it. It wasn't just hear it and forget it. It was he who has ears to hear…hear it. Listen to it. Internalize it. Apply it. Use it. Obey it.

 

Do I? Do I really listen to the words of Jesus? Do I really apply the words of Jesus in my life? The rest of the chapter has some pretty powerful stuff that Jesus says that I need to apply. I am going to hit those this week.