“While he was still speaking…from the cloud a voice said,

‘This is my Son, the Beloved…listen to him!’”

–Matthew 17:5

Among the joys of living close to our grandchildren is the ability to be present for the more ordinary occasions. When our children were growing up, we lived hundreds of miles away from both sets of grandparents. While they had close relationships with their grandmothers and grandfathers the visits were always scheduled far in advance. By contrast, two of our grandchildren live 45 minutes from us and the other two of them only 10 minutes. We are blessed. 

Our younger grandson turns three this month and like his older cousins and younger sister, has brought us great joy in seeing him progress through developmental milestones. He loves books and all things mechanical. His speech continues to grow in expressing complex thoughts, too, often asking us how our day has been.  

Recently, he has started this habit of being involved in some activity only to suddenly say to me “No talking, Papa!” There’s no pattern to it. It doesn’t happen when he’s trying to watch television or is afraid I will awaken his baby sister. It can come after he has just said something himself, too, but out of the blue he will look up and order “No talking, Papa!”  I don’t take it personally as he does the same thing with his parents and Lori, but it always leaves me wondering if he has simply had enough!

There’s no question what was behind the call for silence in the Biblical verse above. It comes on the day of Jesus’ transfiguration when he has taken Peter, James and John up a mountain. After arriving, his appearance was transformed and his clothes became brilliantly white. As the three disciples looked on in amazement, two key figures from Israel’s past—Moses and Elijah—appeared with Jesus.

Peter says “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  I wonder how Peter knew who stood with his teacher. Those two ancestors in the faith walked the earth thirteen and nine centuries before that day. There were no photos, of course, and Jesus makes no introductions either. Still, Peter identifies them correctly and offers to build shelter. Maybe he was trying to make the experience last. Perhaps he was simply babbling on, not knowing what to make of what he was seeing.

Whatever Peter’s reasoning, while still talking a cloud surrounds them all and a voice declares “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”  

That’s good counsel. When life is confusing and we aren’t sure what to do next, our best option is to “listen to him.”  When people we deeply love espouse political beliefs we cannot stomach, our best course of action is to “listen to him,” too. When we are grieving or find little hope for the future, when our prayers go unanswered or life just seems stuck in some way it’s wise to “listen to him.”   To take out the gospels and hear his words again or perhaps for the first time; to let those words in all of their power and comfort speak to our life. To do that, of course, we have to listen.

Or as my grandson would put it “No talking!”

Source of All Knowledge, help us to stop speaking long enough to truly listen to you.  Amen.