I probably use the phrase "Listen to me" about a dozen times a day. My children will listen to just about anything they hear. Except me.
They will listen to the television, the radio, their video games, and other sources of amusement. When I ask them to put on their shoes, or to eat their breakfast, or to get in the car, they just keep on doing whatever they were doing before. It is as if I never even spoke.
Of course, when it comes to spirituality, I'm not too different. I listen first and most to the voices of our culture and society --- the entertainers, the advertisers, the brokers of good taste. I spend so much of my time earning, saving, spending and otherwise attending to my lifestyle preferences that I don't often hear any other voices. I'm too concerned about my job, my home, my financial security, my next vacation, etc. I don't often feel that I hear the voice of God.
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus is transfigured into a dazzling image of holiness and converses with Moses and Elijah on a mountain top. It is a heady moment, and the disciples who witness it are keen to preserve the experience.
"Rabbi, it is good that we are here!," says Peter. "Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Suddenly a cloud overshadows the group, and a voice from the cloud announces "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." Moses and Elijah are gone.
"Listen to him." Perhaps that is God's way of trying to break us free for the other voices in our lives that distract us and entrance us. In addition to cultural influences, most of us also have parents, children, spouses, employers and others who would influence our thoughts and behavior. These voices that tell us what we should want, or what they want from us. We also have our own inner voices that often discourage us from daring to live by our truest values and to discover our truest selves. These are the voices that tell us we are not good enough.
"Listen to him." Jesus Christ is speaking to us, but we may not be able to hear him. We may be too driven to satisfy the expectations we have been given or that we give ourselves. We are often too busy trying to be the people we think we need to be, and we don't hear Jesus calling us to be the person we were created to be.
While the Transfiguration offers a brilliant image of an exalted Christ, ultimately it is you and I who need to be transfigured. Today's celebration is an invitation to a deeper conversion. It will only happen if we are able to hear and respond to the voice of Christ calling us, inviting us, to do his will.
Christ is not calling us to a chore or a task --- to put on our shoes or get in the car. He is calling us to be transformed and to participate in the ongoing transformation of the world. Bill Peatman writes from Napa.
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