Listen!

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” Matthew 17:5

Today we read the story of the Transfiguration, what happened in the high mountain when Jesus was revealed to be the Son of God. His clothes became dazzlingly white, and Elijah and Moses appeared. I have to imagine myself with Peter and James and John before I realize how amazing and awesome this was. We would all have been terrified, maybe we would be frozen in place, or clinging to each other. Nothing would have prepared us for what would happen next. A cloud cast a shadow over us, and a voice came straight from heaven: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” 

Many years later, in 66 A.D., before he died, Peter wrote about his experience. “We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with Him on the holy mountain. Because of that, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. Pay close attention to what they wrote...” 

We see that Peter followed Christ valiantly until he himself was crucified upside down in Rome under Emperor Nero Augustus Caesar. With the testimony of Peter and other saints, we have no other recourse but to believe that the Creator of the universe sent His beloved Son, Jesus, to give us a message and that we should pay attention to that message. “LISTEN TO HIM!”