Sun Kwak, “Listen to Him”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfSTyPsqGdE

TEXT: Mark 9:1-13

[1] And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”

[2] And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, [3] and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. [4] And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. [5] And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” [6] For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. [7] And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” [8] And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

[9] And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. [10] So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. [11] And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” [12] And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? [13] But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

SERMON: “Listen to Him”

When I was in college, I was a part of a large college group at the church. And we kind of did all of life together, moved around like a mob and met more frequently and more lengthily than was academically responsible — eating extra meals, hanging out late, going places on study breaks (quote unquote). We saw each other enough where we could call each other out for how often someone might wear a particular outfit. Like — You just word that on Tuesday. Or — That sauce stain’s been there since last week. And we had a particular friend Brian who was unafraid to call people out — on anything, and in this case, when people would wear the same things again and again. And so, we were eating Mexicanfood one night, which was a liturgy we faithfully practiced and upheld as a ministry. And while we’re eating our food, Brian looks across intently at one of our other friend’s Jane’s hand and wrist, in particular. And he would proceed to tell her — Jane, your watch isn’t working. Because the second hand wasn’t moving, and the time was way off. And without skipping a beat, she just tells him — It’s been dead for a few months, Brian. And this visibly bothered him — I mean, he looked really perplexed. So, after a moment, he followed up and asked her — So, why even wear it, if it’s broken? To which she responded with even more confidence and sass — Because nobody wears watches to tell the time. And that just never sat right with me. Alisdair McIntyre once talked about finding out the purpose of something. That to understand the purpose of a creature or an object, you need to consider its design, and specifically, the creator’s design. That it’s not left up to interpretation by the user or the creature or the object itself. But you have to consider the designand the purpose given to it by the one who originally made it. That the way you discover the usefulness of the watch, in particular, is to see how well it functions when it does what it was created to do. Because a watch is not good for hammering in nails, as McIntyre argues. Or even, primarily as a fashion piece, as I would argue. But a watch is, in fact, created for, and thus, good for keeping time. That keeping time is its intended purpose for being useful and functioning according to its design.

And when you consider our passage today, in the story known to us as the Transfiguration, we often lose sight of this. That everything has a particular design and purpose. And when we leave it up to the created thing or person or observerto figure out the purpose, mistakes can be made. Because, here’s this moment in the Gospel — the Transfiguration — where you have on the mountain Jesus with three of his disciples — Peter, James, and John. And what these disciples get to witness are the sudden appearances of Moses and Elijah. Now, how these disciples were able to recognize who was who the Bible doesn’t say. But apparently, they were either told or they were able to distinguish and recognize them by looking at them. And understandably, they’re really excited about what’s happening, because it’s Moses and Elijah. I’m picturing if I got to see Tim Keller and C. S. Lewis back from the dead and transfigured. It’s a big moment, because those are my spiritual heroes. And with Moses and Elijah, they’re bigger than what Tim Keller and C. S. Lewis represent to me. Because not only are Moses and Elijah incredibly important figures in the Old Testament. But these two are the very representatives to constitute the whole of the Old Testament, with Moses representing the law and Elijahrepresenting the prophets. And Jesus, back at the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:17, talks about how he did not come to abolish the law and prophets but to fulfill them. And by putting these two — the law and prophets — together in this way, this conjunction of these two words really represented the whole of Scripture to that point. And should have signaled to the disciples — Oh, they’re here to put the spotlight on Jesus.

But Peter, as he’s ecstatic and not sure of how to contain his excitement, goes to Jesus and tells him — Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. And to anybody else, that would have been something incredibly flattering to say. To be put in the same category as Moses and Elijah. Unless you’re the one who made Moses and made Elijah. At that point, you’re categorically different, wouldn’t you say? Because Jesus isn’t on par with Moses and Elijah. And subsequently, he’s also not on par with the law and the prophets. As the one who not only made Moses and Elijah but made the law and the prophets, he’s the one who’s given them their purpose and their design. That they were not meant to stand on equal footing with him and what he had come to do. But rather, as we read in a moment we know as the Road to Emmaus, over in Luke 24:27, after he would suffer and die and rise again, he would explain that the law and prophets were intentionally designed to point to him. That they were not destinations in and of themselves but intended to direct sinners to our Savior. And were they to do anything other than directing attention to Jesus, they were not being used for their intended purpose. For the law was not meant to save, and the prophets were not meant to claim judicial authority. They were created to direct attention to the one who had created them and fulfilled them — who alone has the power to save and has ultimate authority to judge and to declare our verdicts definitively.

Back in 2019, there was a story that was captured by all ranges of news platforms involving a man by the name of Will Novak. I first read it on the New York Times, but it really got circulated everywhere, because it was such a fun story. At the time, Will Novak was 35 years old and a first time dad to a six month old child. And maybe for some of our parents who know what it’s like to raise six month old children would empathize a little bit here. Or, maybe you won’t — we’ll see. But here’s how the story unfolds. Out of the blue one day, he receives this email about Angelo Onello’s bachelor party. The problem is that he didn’t know and had never met Angelo before. Because the email was actually sent to him by mistake — it was actually intended to reach not a Will Novak but a Bill Novak, which was the mistake of the groom to be’s brother Devin. But when Will Novak receives this email to RSVP to the party, he responds in all caps — COUNT ME IN. Devin and Angelo eventually find out that it was Will Novak and not Bill Novak, Angelo’s actual friend, who got the invite. But they’re intrigued by this stranger’s willingness to come along on this bachelor party, so they decide to keep the invite open to Will Novak. And so, this 35 year old first time dad creates this Go Fund Me page that would cover for the expenses for him to go to a stranger’s bachelor party. And somehow, this got all kinds of traction, because it was such a fun and unusual story. Not only people but companies got involved with sponsoring this event of sending Will to spend a weekend with his newfound friends. And so, all of this is happening super fast. So, Angelo and his friends just ask Will to send them a picture of himself, to clarify that he’s not going to show up with an axe or something. And what he sends them is a picture of himself back when he was eight or so, wearing his Karate gi. And they apparently concurred — This is our guy. So, they’re all in on this experience. And it was a weekend to remember. Because Will generated so much publicity with this unusual happening that he got them some serious hookups. Enterprise decided to sponsor their weekend with a free Maserati. And the group got free drinks the whole trip, which worked out because Will doesn’t drink — so, he ended up being the designated driver of this free Maserati for the weekend. And the Go Fund Me ended up bringing in a surplus of $3,000 after all the expenses, which were significant. And after it all, he decided to gift the surplus to the groom to be Angelo and his bride, as a wedding gift. And all of this was generous, it was a once in a lifetime experience. It provided for and created memories that Angelo and his friends would always recall fondly. And not to be overly critical and downplay an incredible sequence of events. But you could say that even with all the excitement and intrigue and fun of it all, it missed the fundamental mark of a bachelor party. Because it put the spotlight not on Angelo Onello, but rather, on Will Novak. And it makes for a fun story when we read about stories like this in the New York Times. But I think that sometimes, we can do that with Jesus.

And these happenings don’t make for fun stories and laughs, but they have serious spiritual ramifications when we miss the point of God’s Story. When we highlight more the things that are to point to Jesus rather than Jesus himself. When it comes to the law and prophets, or anything else that’s secondary and intended to point to Jesus and not be the point itself. It could be with our politics or social concerns. It could be with a particular sin issue that causes dividing fractures in larger conversations. It could even be a good thing, like our theology or self-improvement or family, that we mistakenly make the point of the matter. I remember so clearly when one of my professors from seminary sternly told one of my classmates who made his theology seemingly more important than Jesus himself, telling him — Look, I love John Calvin. But Calvin did not die for my sins. Because whenever we put anything other than Jesus and his main point and purpose in his gospel ministry (that is, the cross and resurrection). Whenever we put anything else as the main thing, we lose focus and place our emphasis upon the wrong thing. We place our burden for salvation upon something that cannot carry the weight. And whatever it is that’s sidetracking us from looking at and from listening to Jesus, we’re often just like Peter and James and John here. We put Jesus on par with some of our other religious hobbies or convictions that we catapult next to him. And what the Father shows us and showed these disciples is what immediately happens as they hear the Father’s voice from heaven — This is my beloved Son, listen to him. And it’s at this moment where they hear this voice, and suddenly Moses and Elijah disappear. And as we’re told to listen to him, it’s no longer Jesus next to the law and prophets — it’s just Jesus. And visually and experientially, this was the Father trumpeting from the heavens — There’s no other point, he’s the guy, look at him, listen to him.

Because when you look back at verse 1, this kind of serves as a link in many ways to connect this passage and moment to what was previously told to us in Mark’s Gospel, when Jesus was said to be teaching about how he had come to dieand to suffer many things back in ch8v31. And we looked at this, noting how Jesus had to teach them, because they didn’t have categories for a suffering Messiah. And for these disciples, they’re not getting it, and they wouldn’t until post-resurrection. Which is understandable, because they were being told something contradicting, perhaps, to what they grew up hearing. And so, they’re told here to listen, to listen to him. G. K. Chesterton writes of how there is a big difference between listening and hearing. That there is a way to merely passively hear the noise around, but there is a way of actively listening with the intent to be changed by a channeled energy put into this activity of listening. And what God is trying to tell these disciples and us — Listen to him. Instead of highlighting or placing on par with him things that are meant to serve him, we listen to Jesus himself for who he is, why he had come, and what it all means for us.

My 20’s were probably some of my darker moments on a spiritual level. I remember this season, when I was deeply entrenched in my sin. And I couldn’t get myself out, it seemed like, no matter how hard I tried. And because I didn’t want to let it leak, what I started doing was lying and hiding my sin from others. But instead of shrinking and disappearing, which is what I wanted it to do, these sins just grew and grew until they were seemingly uncontainable. Because you know, that’s how lies work — you tell one and create a new one to cover for an old one, and soon you have more lies than you can cover up for. And I often learn in stages, kind of like the blind man whose blindness was cured in stages. But there was one moment, where the penny dropped, as Tim Keller might say — when what I knew connected to what I felt and experienced. That I was lying and covering up, because I was trying so hard to influence people’s perception of me. Because I didn’t like the things I did, and I didn’t want that to be put out into the open to allow for people to judge me and think negatively of me. That if people saw who I actually was, I thought I might be disqualified and rendered unaccepted. All the while, I had forgotten something so fundamental — that in Christ, my verdict had already been permanently changed. That to the only set of eyes that truly matter in this universe, I was already deemed righteous, not because I changed anything about myself. But because Jesus entered into the chaos of my lies, into the whirlwind of disapproval. And he experienced the ultimate shame that I was so afraid of, so that I can hide in him and in his righteousness for cover and for acceptance. Because he gave up his life and his comforts for me, in order that I might dance in that reality of true acceptance and belonging. And it became clear to me — Listen to him. The Father saying — This is my beloved Son, and I’m giving him to you. Listen to him. To listen to what he has to say. Not to the false narratives out there, not to the false accusations, not to false methods of self-propitiation or self-salvation. But in his authored and perfected story — that he favors you, that he loves you, that he’s died for you, that he’s proclaiming you righteous before the throne. Listen to him.

And that’s something I see here in our passage. When we read about Jesus’ clothes here, we read in verse 3 that as he was transfigured, his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And the only other place that word for bleach, the Greek word λευκαινω, appears in in the New Testament is in Revelation 7:14, where we read of the people of God, the great multitude from every nation — These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That they’ve been bleached white. And I don’t know if you’ve ever used bleach before — you should only use it on whites, because the bleach will overpower not just the stains but the other colors. And what we’re told here in Revelation 7 of the multitude of people, which are every tribe and nation, every soul redeemed. That with the multitude of our experiences and the myriad of our sins, it’s not Jesus who is seen wearing these robes bleached white. But it’s the people. And how? In the blood of the Lamb. That in the sacrifice of the Son of God, who was to suffer many things and die and be raised again. At his cross, there was a bleaching power, where our guilty stains were washed away. Where he took upon our guilt and shame, where he became sin that we might become his righteousness. Where there was a verdict to be declared upon us, because there was one that was declared upon him, when he took upon the verdict deserving for sinners when being blot out from his Father’s favor and experiencing wrath for us and in our stead. And I know that there are some of us in here who carry with us sins from the past that we don’t think could ever truly be washed away. So, we keep it confined and private, trying to ignore it, just as I had. But my sisters and brothers, if we bring these to the light of the gospel, those stains on our robes will be confronted by a bleaching power of the great gospel exchange that makes us white as snow. And so, we listen to him. We listen to his voice over us. That in Christ, we are not rejected but he was, so we have ultimate acceptance. We hide behind him and listen to what he says about us — that we are redeemed, that we are washed, that we are loved.  We listen to his story. We listen to his love and to his words of truth. Not catapulting our manmade convictions or even our theological hobby horses next to him, but to see Jesus alone. Look upon him, dear friends. Listen to him. And may his love overpower and drive out all fear and shame by the power of his blood.