Listening to Jesus

October 18, 2021 at 5:15 am Leave a comment

*Credit: Karolina Grabowska / Pexels.com*

It can be difficult to listen to Jesus – especially when you don’t like what He has to say. Peter learned this lesson firsthand when Jesus prophesied that:

He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Matthew 16:21-23)

Peter could not fathom that the man he thought to be the Messiah would have to suffer and die. He struggled to hear what Jesus had to say.

Six days after this exchange between Peter and Jesus, Jesus takes Peter, along with James and John, up a mountain where His appearance is transfigured. Moses and Elijah appear along with Jesus and a voice booms from heaven:

“This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:5)

“Listen to Him.”

After just struggling to listen to Jesus, Peter needed a reminder. We do, too, because we can struggle to listen to Jesus, too. Do we struggle to listen to Jesus when He tells us:

To love our enemies? (Matthew 5:44)

To keep not only our actions, but our hearts, pure? (Matthew 5:28)

To not hold too tightly to the treasures of this world? (Matthew 6:19)

That He loves us unconditionally, even when we feel valueless or unlovable? (Luke 12:7)

The Gospel writer John opens His Gospel by calling Jesus “the Word” (John 1:1). With a title like this, it stands to reason that Jesus has a lot to say. Which means that we have a lot to learn from Him.So, even when it’s hard, let’s listen to Him. What He says matters.