Readings: 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 and Mark 9:2-9

The Gospel reading began with the words, ‘Six days later . . . .’  and then we heard this account of the experience of Peter, James and John, with Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration!

To help us properly understand what’s going on here, I think it’s worth looking back at what had been going on six days earlier!

Well – a few things had been going on, actually, and they are all significant!  Jesus fed the five thousand, he healed a blind man, and then he has taken the disciples away on their own, and has asked them who people are saying he is?  From which we have Peter’s great confession that he is the Messiah!

Then Jesus has tried to explain to them that he must suffer, die and rise again.  A concept which they clearly had struggled to make any sense of!

So, six days later, here we are!  And to help them to understand, he has taken the three of them on this little trip up a mountain!

And I can’t help but notice here, that there is a parallel, between what happened on that mountain, and our own situations, here, as we each, in our own way, struggle in our understanding of the events of Holy Week and Easter, and as we try to find out God’s will for us, and to hear his voice speaking into our lives!

Visions can be immensely powerful, life-changing experiences!

For the three disciples, conditions were exactly right for a vision.  The mountain was high so they were inevitably tired after their climb, and perhaps the air was quite thin.  There was something special about the atmosphere, just the three of them, especially chosen to be alone with Jesus.

And everything about the vision spoke of God:  

• Jesus' face shining like the sun, and the radiance of the garments.
• The presence of Moses and Elijah representing the law and the prophets.
• The voice and the bright cloud signifying the presence of God.  

And the reaction of the three that experienced it was a natural one – they were terrified! Mark’s account leaves us in no doubt that Peter, James and John were deeply shaken by the whole experience!   

But Peter, you will remember, tried to calm it all down, and bring it to earth by offering to build three shelters.

Bringing an experience like this down to earth, makes it more manageable.  We humans like to be in control, so while Peter is unable to be in any sort of control over the mystical ‘God side’ of what’s going on, he shifts the emphasis towards that which he can control!

But then we have the voice!  And the voice from the cloud is not a frightening voice, but a re-assuring voice – it’s God's voice, and it simply reiterates the proclamation heard at Jesus' baptism, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.  Listen to him."  

Jesus seems to have known, that after his failed attempts to explain things to them six days earlier, he needed to take them on this trip, in order to experience resurrection for themselves – for there is no doubt that this is what it is – a foretaste of resurrection!

So what of us? How hard do we try to listen to God’s voice?  Probably not very hard, I suspect – because whilst we may say that we want to do God’s will, there is always a natural reluctance!

The trouble is, those who hear God's voice or see his visions will never be the same again.  Once you know yourself to have been touched by God, it's very difficult to look back.  You lose your old life and your old self.  And God sometimes asks difficult and dangerous things from those he touches – think of what happened to visionaries like Joan of Arc, Galileo, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King! 

But I do think that we should all be listening and searching a bit harder – I don't believe that God only speaks to special people.  I believe he speaks constantly to everyone, the problem is, that for most of us and for most of the time, we are not open to hearing him!  

And that’s partly because of the natural reluctance I’ve just spoken of, but it’s also because nobody will hear God’s voice unless they are able to believe that it is possible – it’s like dreaming the dream, like believing in the impossible!

And as Christians, that is what we are being asked to do, day by day, and when we seek to draw others into the life of the church, that is what we are trying to help them to achieve – the ability to be part of the living vision!

And if this all seems too much, remember, this is a shared journey!  God didn't ask Peter or James or John to go to the mountain alone, but he took all three of them together.  

And it was together that they experienced the disturbance and the fear, but also the overwhelming radiance and brightness and meaning and light.  Together they heard God's voice, and it changed their lives.  And that same voice does still continue to change lives today – the lives of those who are open to the possibility.  

So, if you want to hear God's voice, you’ve got to be open, not just to possibility that it really can happen, but also open to the possibility that what he says to you will change your life!

May we, like Peter, James, and John, be transformed by the glory of Christ, and may the Holy Spirit empower us to listen, obey, and share the love of God with a world in need of His redeeming grace. Amen.