LET THESE WORDS SINK INTO YOUR EARS
Luke 9:28-62
Key Verse: 9:44
“Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.
Last week we learn Jesus asked Peter the most important question: Who do you say I am? Jesus asks us the same question to each of us. We can't escape this question nor can we ask others to answer it for us. We all have to decide who Jesus is to us. Our answer will determine how we live in the present life and in the afterlife. Even though Peter made a correct confession as to who Jesus is; his understanding of whom Jesus is was way off. He thought the Christ of God meant a deliverer from Roman Oppression. Jesus taught that the Christ of God would deliver them from sin. It would be accomplished through his death and resurrection. Jesus knew that Peter needed a much deeper understanding as to who Jesus truly is.
Today’s passage has seven events. All seven events tie in one clear prayer topic. Read verse 44a. “Let these words sink into your ears..." The verb sink means "descend gradually." Jesus' prayer for his disciples and each of us is that his words may sink to the bottom of our hearts and stay there.
First, Glory: Jesus showed his glory on the mount of transfiguration to help his disciples listen to him (28-36). Read verse 28. “Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.” Jesus gave his disciples eight days to meditate on Peter’s very important confession that Jesus is “the Christ of God.” After eight days, Jesus took his top three disciples up a mountain. Why? Because he wanted to show them a magnificent visual display of “the Christ of God” that they hadn’t seen before. So far the disciples had only seen how much Jesus suffered to love, bear with and serve all kinds of needy, sick, desperate and demanding people. In addition, Jesus had to face the malevolent religious leaders who would soon kill him. Though the disciples loved Jesus, they might have felt that the Christian life was a losing business; one suffering after another. When they saw Jesus working to exhaustion every day, they may have felt sorry for Jesus and for themselves.
What happened on the mountain? Read verse 29. “And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.” Last week the women of WL used home-made organic facial cream to alter their appearance. Afterwards, their faces glowed with youthful exuberance. When Jesus prayed, his face was completely altered. His face shone like the sun. His ragged and dirty clothes became dazzling white. Through this visual display, he revealed his original image as the creator God.
Through Jesus transfiguration on the mountain, he wanted his disciples to know that his life of unbearable suffering is not all. Ultimately, it will result in a glory that is beyond all the splendor of the world. In addition, he wanted them to know with absolute certainty that there is no greater glory than the glory of God in the person of Christ. St. Paul also recognized this majestic glory of God in Christ. He said in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Many think that the Christian life is boring and not fun at all compared to the glamour and glitter of the world. Many people are afraid to commit their lives to Christ thinking they will lose too much. Instead, they put their hope in all kinds of false idols such as their career and relationship. However, these worldly hopes and dreams perish, spoil and fade away. Man’s utmost joy comes when he catches the glory of God in the face of Christ. Jesus' glory clearly reveals that the Christian life is a life of guaranteed victory. If we don’t see glimpses of the glory of Christ, we’ll have great difficulty letting the word of God sink into our ears.
Read verses 30, 31, “And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” Though Jesus is God, he is also a man who was about to face an excruciating death by crucifixion in Jerusalem. Jesus’ suffering and death would be brutal and horrific. Jesus needed some word of encouragement. At this difficult time, two great men from the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glory. They were also suffering servants of the Old Testament. Their words of encouragement help the word of God sink deeper into Jesus’ heart. To let the word of God sink into our ears, we need to hear words of encouragement from godly people.
While Moses and Elijah were speaking with Jesus in glory, Peter, James and John were heavy with sleep and almost missed this once in a lifetime event (32). Fortunately, they caught a glimpse of the men leaving. Read verse 33. “And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.” Apparently, Peter didn’t want to leave this mountain of glory and return to a world full of troubles and suffering. So, he proposed to build three tents for the three great men: Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Luke says "he did not know what he was saying." While Jesus was making a resolution to suffer in Jerusalem, Peter was making a resolution to chill with Jesus, Moses and Elijah on the mountain. We understand Peter very well. He liked glory and honor without any sacrifice and pain. He wanted to be glorious like Moses and Elijah without suffering like them. He is like many Christians who want to be changed without giving up their sinful habits. Peter’s comments show he still did not let Jesus’ words of his impending suffering and death sink in his ears.
Let’s read verses 35,36, “And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.” Jesus knew that his key teaching of his death and resurrection to his disciples had fallen on deaf ears (9:22). So, God himself intervened from heaven to tell his disciples just one thing: “listen to him!” In this world, people love to talk and then they pretend to listen. They only want to hear what they want to hear. The disciples were the same. They only heard what they liked, and blocked out what they didn’t like to hear. This is known as selective hearing. James 1: 19 says, “be quick to hear, slow to speak.” To truly listen to Jesus and his words we must ask God for attentive ears to hear his voice. In this way, the word of God can sink in our ears.
Second, Reality: Jesus let nine disciples face the gut-wrenching reality of demon possession (37-43). What happened when Jesus, Peter, James and John came down the mountain the next day? A great crowd met them (37). Among them was a man with a desperate plea. Let us read verses 38-40. “And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, ‘Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.’”
What was Jesus response? Let us read verse 41. “Jesus answered, ‘O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.’” Jesus is always gentle, gracious, kind and considerate. But here Jesus referred to his generation as “faithless and twisted.” We learn here that what grieves Jesus the most is when we are faithless, which means that we don’t really believe in God, even if we say we do. They are like Christians who live like practical atheist. Who might some faithless people be in this crowd? The father was faithless when he confronted his son’s demonic convulsions. The great crowd that gathered was faithless for they were only interested in the commotion and excitement. The religious leaders were faithless for they were arguing with the disciples at the foot of the mountain. Surprisingly, even Jesus’ own handpicked disciples were faithless, for they failed to cast out the demon.
Why are people faithless? It’s because they do not let the word of God sink into their ears, and instead they cling stubbornly to their own strong ideas and desires. A faithless man soon degenerates to becoming twisted and crooked. Romans 1: 28 (NIV) reads "Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind; to do what ought not to be done." Verse 42a describes a result of a “faithless and twisted generation” When one is faithless, they cause undue woe and suffering to those around them, like this boy convulsing helplessly from a demonic spirit. What did Jesus do? Verse 42b, 43 say, “But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God.” Jesus had the majesty of God about himself, because he had absolute faith in God in all situations. In this part Jesus is most sorry when we are “faithless and twisted,” that he asked, “how long am I to be with you and bear with you? (41) Jesus rebuke is also to each of us. We have to examine our Christian life. Are we faithless and twisted? Do we cause undue woe and suffering towards others? We cannot change ourselves. Let us cry out like the father who said Mark 9:24 “I believe; help my unbelief!” We can overcome our faithlessness when we let the word sink in our ears.
Third, Creative redundancy: Jesus taught the same thing again and again, yet his disciples didn’t get it (43-45). Because Jesus drove out the demon, all the people were astonished, and “they were all marveling at everything he was doing” (43). But in the midst of such a joyful celebration with high fives, and cheering, and clapping, Jesus said a most serious thing to his disciples. What was it? Let us read verses 43 and 44. “And all were astonished at the majesty of God. But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.’” Jesus was almost like a party pooper. He dampened this joyful atmosphere with very serious words: “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”
Why did Jesus do this? It’s because his disciples weren’t listening to his word. They confessed correctly that Jesus is “the Christ of God.” They saw the transfigured Jesus. They saw Jesus heal a demon possessed boy. Yet they rejected that he must suffer and die according to God’s plan. So, Jesus had to tell them again and again about his passion, that he would be betrayed and delivered into the hands of men. But despite Jesus’ persistence in telling them what must happen, verse 45 says, “But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.” Why couldn’t they understand and perceive what Jesus was telling them repeatedly? Was it because there was a build up of wax in their ears? The next part teaches us three things that hindered them from hearing God’s word.
Fourth, Hindrances to hearing God’s word (46-62).
Firstly, Competition (46-48), the first hindrance. After Jesus told them a most serious truth, we would expect the disciples to be more serious. As they walked, they began to argue who would be the greatest among them. We are no different from the disciples. We find we are often inwardly very competitive and constantly comparing ourselves with others, while sporting a plastic smile. When we are competitive toward a particular rival, the word of God never sinks in our ears. Instead, jealousy, hatred and violence sinks in. How did Jesus help his disciples with their bone crushing feeling of competition toward their rival? In verses 47, 48, Jesus teaches the importance of humility. A humble person is ready to accept a child. Most importantly, a humble person lives before God and not before people. We can say that one who is competing with others, and comparing himself with others is not a great man, because he denies God’s sovereignty and doesn’t let the word of God sink in his ears.
Secondly, Sectarianism and exclusivity (49-56), are two related hindrances. Sectarianism means, “You’re not in my church, so you are not welcomed.” Ex-clu-si-vity means, “My church is better than your church.” Sectarianism and ex-clu-si-vity are close cousins. When John saw someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name, he was upset because he didn’t belong in his group. John was sectarian. In another incident, Jesus sent some messengers to request the help of some Samaritans (52) but they rejected Jesus’ disciples. James and John became angry and said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (54). they had a strong sense of Jewish racial superiority over the Samaritans, as well as a sense of exclusivity. When we think we are better or despise others, we prevent the word of God from sinking into our ears.
Thirdly, minimizing the high cost of following Jesus (57-62). To let God’s word sink into our ears, we must count the cost of following Jesus. In verses 57-62, we find three kinds of people who may be unable to let God’s word of calling sink in their ears. Who are they? First kind of people are those who want Jesus to guarantee them a good life. Someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go” (57). He wanted Jesus to guarantee him a good wife, successful career, obedient children, etc. Jesus said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (58). Jesus was telling him, “Follow me by faith because you love me, and not because you want some guaranteed benefits from me.” The second kind of people are those who need to do something else first before following Jesus. When a man was invited to follow Jesus, he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father” (59). “And Jesus said to him, ‘Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you go and proclaim the kingdom of God’” (60). Jesus was not saying that he should not be responsible for his family, but he is saying that there is no greater urgency than to proclaim the kingdom of God. In modern terms, they are those who say, I will follow Jesus when I get a job, I’ll follow Jesus when I get married… The third kind of people are those who follow Jesus with a BUT in their hearts. Read verse 61. “Yet another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’” He wants to follow Jesus, but something else is always tugging at his heart. So “Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’” (62). We cannot follow Jesus “plus something else” in our hearts. Peter was like this, he followed Jesus plus his dream of becoming a cabinet member in Jesus’ kingdom. Jesus’ words will not sink in our ears if we have Jesus plus something else in our hearts.
Today’s passage shows us Jesus’ agony for his disciples to let his words sink into their ears. They knew in their heads that Jesus is “the Christ of God.” But their hearts still longed for the glory of this world, not the kingdom of God. So, Jesus showed his top 3 disciples his awesome glory on the mount of transfiguration, and to let them hear God rebuking them by saying, “Listen to him (Jesus).” Still they didn’t listen to Jesus, nor let Jesus’ words sink in their ears. May God bless us to let Jesus’ words sink into our ears, so that we may truly know who Jesus is.