“Pay attention”
Written By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Monday, November 15, 2021
Matthew 17: 1-13 (Forward, p. 17) CEV p. 1004
No wonder the three friends of Jesus, Peter, James and John, were bewildered and frightened. First off, there was Jesus Himself, wonderfully transfigured. Then there were the two ‘greats’ of Jewish history, Moses and Elijah, long since dead but somehow present at least for this moment. And then there was the cloud of God’s present, the Shekinah glory of the Lord. But topping it all off was the voice, the voice from heaven, from the cloud, that was addressed specifically to them.
And what did the voice say? “This is my own dear Son, and I am pleased with him. Listen to what he says” (verse 5b). There is quite a bit wrapped up in this brief message. Firstly, it affirms just who Jesus is. Jesus is none other than God’s Son. Not only that, God is pleased with Him, as He is doing exactly what God wants Him to do. But, perhaps most importantly—and stemming from the above—they need to pay attention to what Jesus is saying, what Jesus is telling them, which most obviously, they have not. Somehow, whenever Jesus speaks of His own death or of the costs and demands of discipleship, they don’t seem to ‘get it’. They had other things on their minds, other expectations of the Messiah, the Christ, and other desires for life. They simply did not hear, in many ways because this didn’t fit their presuppositions or their understanding or education up to this point—or their desires. It simply was under their radar, and outside the scope of their thinking. And so, the call to pay attention, to ‘listen up’, is most appropriate and necessary.
So, what about us? Are we, you and I, ever like that? Do we miss out on what God is trying to say to us, perhaps because it doesn’t fit our cherished ideas or presuppositions? Or perhaps, because it stretches us far beyond our cherished desires or outside of our comfort zones? While God will never violate the tenets of Scripture, He is indeed desiring to ‘do a new thing’, and most incredibly, He wants us to be part of it. And so, we, you and I, do have to pay attention and ‘listen up.’ Amen.
Forward notes: “While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’” (verse 5)
“For the last twenty years, I have used a group Bible Study method that is prescribed in a gospel-based discipleship prayer book published by the Episcopal Church’s Indigenous Ministries Office in the late 1990s. The three-step process entails reading the gospel appointed for the upcoming Sunday or Daily Office. In each step, the gospel is read aloud, and then a series of questions are asked after each reading. The first question that is asked is, ‘What word(s), idea(s), or sentence(s) stand out for you?’ The second question, ‘What is Jesus (the gospel) saying to you?’ And the third, ‘What is Jesus (the gospel) calling you to do?’
“As the Gospel of Matthew tells us today, we are called to listen.”
Moving Forward: “Read through the passage from Matthew three times today, each time asking the questions in this reflection.”
