Are you a good listener? Luke 9:28-36
Are you a good listener? I know the answer to that question often depends on the speaker and your interest in the subject. If the speaker struggles to string together a coherent sentence in an organized fashion that progresses a thought to a purposeful conclusion, it can be a challenging to be a good listener. Further if a speaker isn’t qualified to speak on a subject and is simply spewing forth ignorance, they may not be worthy of your listening. Additionally, if the subject is unimportant and irrelevant; if there is no perceived value ascribed to what is spoken, then it becomes exceedingly difficult to be a good listener.
In our Gospel lesson for today we are reminded that we have a speaker and a subject worthy of our listening. In Luke 9:35 we read, “A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him.” I’m going to talk more about the speaker and the subject in a moment but first I want to talk about your listening skills. Because it takes more than a qualified speaker and relevant subject to make someone a good listener.
Good listening is active listening. It is not enough to hear sounds and understand vocables. A good listener is actively focused on not only what is being said but how and why it is being said. A good listener seeks to understand thoughts and feelings and the meaning and intent beyond the words that are spoken. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done.
There are several obstacles to overcome if you want to be a good listener, for the sake of useful brevity I will mention three obstacles that I feel are the most challenging to overcome. The first obstacle to good listening is preconceived notions. Often, we enter a conversation believing that we already have all the information we need and have concluded the outcome of the conversation before it even begins. For example, a person who holds a preconceived notion that sitting in the back row of the church is the best place to sit is unlikely to be persuaded to sit in the front row no matter how well reasoned and compelling that argument might be. Another obstacle to good listening is our natural tendency to jump to conclusions. This happens when you hear part of what a person is saying and assume you know the rest of what they are going to say, so you jump to a solution for their problem before you even know what their problem truly is. A third obstacle to good listening is our ability to be easily distracted. A distraction can be anything that we perceive as more interesting or important than the thing currently being discussed. A distraction could be a car passing by the sanctuary window or a thought that randomly pops into your mind, or you might simply be so distracted about what you are going to say in response to the person talking that you don’t actually listen to what they have to say.
Because of obstacles like preconceived notions, jumping to conclusions, and being easily distracted, being a good listener requires discipline and concentration, patience and persistence, empathy and understanding. In other words, being a good listener is a lot of work; it’s not easy... but it is absolutely worth the effort. Statistically speaking the biggest threat to any and every relationship is poor listening. Poor listening is the number one reason marriages end in divorce, poor listening is more often than not the cause of disagreements among friends and disputes between neighbors, poor listening is a major cause of conflicts at work and all-out war between nations. I am not saying all the world’s problems would suddenly go away if we all became good listeners, but I am saying being a good listener will dramatically improve your relationships, including your relationship with your Savior.
Case in point, Peter. In our gospel lesson for today Peter, James, and John are hiking up a mountain with Jesus. Jesus is looking for a good place to spend some time in prayer and He has brought along, I don’t want to call them His favorites, but perhaps His closest disciples to pray with Him. As they ascended the mountain I wonder if Peter was pondering a previous conversation that he had with Jesus. About eight days before this hike Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?”[1] Peter boldly answered, you are “the Christ of God”1. It was a good answer; it was the right answer. Jesus blessed Peter for this answer and then proceeded to explain what it meant to be the Christ of God. Jesus told Peter and the other disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”[2]
Jesus spoke of suffering and sacrifice, but Peter didn’t want to listen to that. You see, Peter had preconceived notions about the Christ of God and those preconceived notions did not include suffering and sacrifice. Peter’s preconceived notions concerning the Christ of God were all about glory and triumph. So, when Jesus spoke of suffering and sacrifice, Peter didn’t listen... much the same way you and I don’t listen when Jesus explains to us what it means to be a Christian. We have a preconceived notion that being a Christian brings about a life of peace and prosperity so when Jesus tells us to pick up our cross and follow him; when He tells us in this life you will have trouble, when He says you will be persecuted on account of me, we don’t listen.
Peter’s poor listening not only prevented him from really hearing what Jesus was saying but it also caused him to jump to a conclusion that suggested a solution to the wrong problem. Peter told Jesus, “Never Lord!”… “This shall never happen to you!”[3] Peter heard Jesus speak of suffering and sacrifice and instead of seeking to understand why Jesus was to suffer and be sacrificed Peter assumed Jesus was looking for a way to avoid such unpleasantries. Therefore, Peter took it upon himself to suggest his own solution. Like Peter we are full of suggestions as to how we might avoid unpleasantries. After all, we have a basic understanding of the Creator and His creation. So, without actually consulting what The Creator says about His creation we have several suggestions as to what we should be allowed to do, with whom we should be allowed to do things, and how we should be allowed to do what we want to do. We tend to assume our pleasure is God’s top priority and we have no shortage of suggestions as to what will bring us pleasure; we have so many suggestions to offer that we don’t really have time to listen to what the creator says about His creation.
Peter’s preconceived notions and tendency to jump to conclusions made him a poor listener. Jesus made that point painfully clear when He compared Peter to Satan and called him a stumbling block.[4] Now, about eight days later, Peter finds himself atop a mountain praying about and pondering on his previous conversation with Jesus. However, as Peter prayed and pondered his eyes grew heavy. The strenuous ascent up the mountain, the setting of the sun, and the cool mountain air made Peter and his companions very sleepy, but the three men became fully awake when they saw Jesus transfigured before them. Luke tells us, “29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31 appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.” Luke makes a point to tell us exactly what Moses, Elijah, and Jesus were talking about. Luke tells us, “31… They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” They were talking about the same thing Jesus tried to discuss with His disciples about eight days earlier, they were talking about suffering and sacrifice.
Unfortunately, Peter was too distracted by the glory before him to listen to what Moses, Elijah and Jesus had to say. To Peter the glory that was before him was more important than anything else which is why Peter blurted out, “33… Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” We have a saying about the way Peter behaved atop the mountain. We say, “don’t be so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good.” We have that saying among us because Peter isn’t the only one who is easily distracted by glory. Sometimes the glory on the other side of the pearly gates shines so brightly before us that we get distracted from our great commission to let our light shine among the nations. Sometimes we get so distracted by the glory before us that we don’t listen to what Moses, Elijah, and Jesus say about the people around us.
Peter wasn’t exactly what you would call a good listener, but Peter isn’t the only one with poor listening skills. You and I are just as guilty of bringing our preconceived notions to our conversations with Jesus. You and I are just as guilty of jumping to conclusions that suggest solutions to the wrong problems. You and I are just as guilty of being distracted by things we feel are most important to us.
You and I are not exactly what you would call good listeners, which is why the voice from the cloud continues to call to us from the pages of Scripture saying, “35… This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” The one who speaks to us is the Son of God. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the one who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.[5] By Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.[6] The voice from the cloud is saying to us, Jesus is more than qualified to speak to us on any and every subject and Jesus is more worthy of our attention than anyone else, including ourselves. Further, the subject Jesus wishes to discuss with us is the most important and most relevant subject we could ever discuss. It is the subject of our salvation which is accomplished because the Son of God was chosen; chosen to suffer for our transgressions and chosen to be the sacrifice Who paid for our sins; chosen to be our Savior.
There is no question Jesus is worth listening to and there is no question the subject He wishes to discuss with us is eternally relevant. The question is, are you a good listener? There are a lot of obstacles to overcome; our preconceived notions, tendency to jump to conclusions, and ability to be easily distracted are but a few of the obstacles we must overcome if we want to be good listeners. It’s not easy, it is going to require regular repentance on our part, but it’s absolutely worth the effort. The conversation Jesus the chosen Son of God wanted to have with Peter is the same conversation He wants to have with you. Jesus wants to talk to you about His suffering and sacrifice which lead to your salvation. Which is why the voice from the cloud still calls to you today from the pages of scripture saying, “Listen to Him.” Amen.
[1] Luke 9:20
[2] Luke 9:22
[3] Matthew 16:22
[4] Matthew 16:23
[5] Revelation 1:8
[6] Colossians 1:17