First Things First
Speaker: Rev. Matt Henry
Location: Whitney United Methodist Church
Date: February 22, 2009
Some of you may remember a few years back we had the pleasure of being addressed by the Rev. Doctor Eric Law. Eric is a Taiwanese born Chinese Episcopal Rector and he’s a teacher and he’d done a workshop here at Whitney the day before, so he preached to us the next morning. Some of you may remember him. One thing about Eric that I remember is he lifted up for us the Pentecost story from the Book of Acts, chapter two, probably the most famous of the two Pentecost stories we’re given. Now you remember what’s going on in that story, right? The Disciples of Jesus are afraid for their lives that the same thing will happen to them that happened to him, and they are locked upstairs in an upper room in a house in downtown Jerusalem. And Luke writes, at that point, at the point of their deepest fear, the Holy Spirit busts open the doors and comes in like a great wind and lights upon them like little flames of fire on top of their heads. This is the image we get. And then what happens? They start to…..what…..speak! They start to speak. Yes they are. They begin to speak in languages and the crowd that is assembled is awestruck. And their response is, “How is it that we hear these Galileans speaking in various languages that we understand?”
Now Dr. Law posed the question to us, “Is this story a miracle of speaking or is it a miracle of hearing?” Now what would you say right now? What is it? (From the congregation “Hearing.”) Ah, you all have been primed for this because you went through this. Absolutely! Well, in fact really it is a miracle of both. But his point then was that we Westerners who tend to use this (gestures to mouth) way too much and we tend to use it first before anything, and often inappropriately. In fact, his point was we Westerners tend to use this (motions to mouth) before we engage this (motions to ears) amen? Okay, I’m standing in the front of the line here I just want you to know. But his point is Westerners tend to see it as a miracle of speaking while Asians tend to see it as a miracle of hearing. They focus on that part of the package. How is it that we hear….very Asian.
Simon says, “First Things First.” Now, let’s look at this transfiguration story for a moment. We have read this story and heard it so many times, and undoubtedly have heard so many sermons on it; we’ve just drawn this thing out. What else is there in this transfiguration story? Well, in fact, it is a very powerful moment when, for the first time, the true nature of Jesus, in other words who he is as God’s Son, shimmers into the full revealing for the very first time. It will happen a second time only after his resurrection. This story we have heard so much and we skip through so quickly, this simple event friends, is actually a major transition in human history. Why? Because it finally distinguishes Jesus as divine as opposed to being just a healing miracle worker or prophetic rabbi.
So this simple story, however, has a few interesting details about it that raise questions for me. One question is, one must wonder why Jesus chose, out of all twelve of his Disciples, these three to go up there with him. I mean, why did he not take all twelve up there with him? Why just these three with this thing that’s so important, and why Peter and John and James, otherwise known as the Zebedee brothers, otherwise called the Sons of Thunder. Now that’s got to be a tip-off right there about their character. Why are these three to be the only ones to be the sole witnesses to this historic event? In fact, except for maybe Judas, these three are the most fleshed out characters in all four of the Gospels. Tell me truly. How much do you know about Nathaniel, Philip, Andrew, Bartholomew, Mathew (also known as Levi), and Simon Zealote? Except for a few minor details these men rarely if ever speak. They largely fade into obscurity. So why these three? Why didn’t Jesus take all twelve of them up there? Why did Jesus choose them? Maybe it’s the same reason he chose me and perhaps you. We have the most to learn.
Maybe Peter and the Sons of Thunder needed hands-on tutoring. Maybe the rest were left behind because they got it. They got the lessons that needed to be learned while these other three were rather slow on the uptake. I’m up there on that mountain with Christ. In the Gospels, brothers and sisters, these three do most of the talking. James and John, good old Sons of Thunder, they spend a lot of time arguing over which one’s the favorite, just like the Smothers Brothers, you know…..mother always loved you best, right? They do the same thing with Jesus, right? Who’s gonna get to sit on your right side in the great hereafter? It’s gonna be me! No, it’s gonna be me! And they bring their mother into this sordid triangle, so they’re always fighting over who is Jesus’ favorite while Peter…we know Peter. Peter is continually sticking a) his big foot in his b) wide open mouth, right?
Yeah, Jesus chose them precisely for the same reason he chose me and you. We have the most to learn and the lesson is the same for those three as it is for us….listen before thinking, think before speaking, and speak before leaving. First things first. When confronted with God’s awesome, powerful, visual revelation on the mountaintop Peter’s response typifies, I think, mine and yours. In other words, his default setting when confronted by something he doesn’t fully understand is to give unrequested advice. He’s a true male. Tell you what we ought a do here boss, Peter says, let’s set up camp right here. Rather than just witnessing God’s presence and learning from it, his natural impulse is to take charge and do whatever it takes to confine and control God’s presence. Let’s get you into these three little tents where we can kinda deal with you. His natural habit is to talk when he should be watching and listening, amen?
If he was going to say anything, at least rather than spinning bogus assumptions as though they were true, he could at least ask a question. Jesus, this is what I think I’m seeing. Is it true? Is it really the spirit of the long dead Moses and Elijah I’m seeing? Peter could check his assumptions against reality by asking a question, but instead he talks when he should be listening, and God calls him out on it. “This is my Son,” God says. He’s in charge so zip your lip and listen for once. Friends, this is the lesson we all need to learn. First things first. When in doubt, ask God and then carefully listen for Her answer.
Now, none other than the famous Chuck Swindoll says this. He writes, once when he found himself with too many commitments and too few days (now, this doesn’t sound like any pastor I know) he got nervous and tense about it. “I was snapping at my wife and our children, choking down my food at mealtimes, and feeling irritated at those unexpected interruptions through the day,” he recalls in his book Stress Fractures. “Before long, things around our home started reflecting the patter of my hurry-up style. It was becoming unbearable. I distinctly remember after supper one evening, the words of our younger daughter, Colleen. She wanted to tell me something important that had happened to her at school that day. She began hurriedly. ‘Daddy, I wanna tell you somethin’ and I’ll tell you really fast.’ Suddenly realizing her frustration, I answered, ‘Honey, you can tell me, and you don’t have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly.’” Chuck says, “I’ll never forget her answer: ‘Then listen slowly,’”
Friends, this is a lesson all three of Jesus’ Disciples need to learn. And get this, as soon as they get the point the lesson is over and the vision ends. First things first. Listen before thinking. Think before speaking. And God provides a real healthy and necessary relationship model for us by his response. He doesn’t just leave the three alone and wandering blindly in the cloud of unknown. She has the decency to speak before leaving. The Gospel message, Paul writes, is veiled for some because they are not looking or listening for God. In their case the god of this world we live in….Paul’s thinking Satan here….had blinded their minds to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel, of the glory of Christ in the image of God. For Paul, such people are listening to other gods and looking to cause trouble in his beleaguered churches.
What’s the remedy to keep focused on Jesus and our mind off the devil? First things first. Listen before thinking. Think before asking. And then ask before leaving. Above all, let us always remember that, as Christians, when we do speak we can’t speak as the world speaks for, as Christians, the world expects what we have to say to be different, to be radical in fact, to challenge the ways of the world, not to buy into the ways of the world. For we do not proclaim ourselves, Paul warned us, we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and proclaim ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. “For it is the God is the God,” Paul writes. He said, “Let light shine out of darkness who has shown in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the faith of Jesus Christ.”
These words I speak to you this morning I bring to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen