"This Is My Son…Listen to Him!”
Exodus 24:12-18 & Matthew 17:1-9

This Sunday is the last for the season of Epiphany and it points to the Transfiguration of Jesus. Jesus is seen on the mountaintop as the glorious, reigning Son of God. 
Up till now the disciples had only seen Jesus as a human that God was with. Now they are seeing him in his glory as the Son of God. They hear the affirmation of his glory from the Father saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”  The Father’s voice was pointing them to the One worthy of all their attention. What Peter and the other disciples were beginning to learn is the gospel. That Jesus is God come down to man in order to bring us to God. This sermon’s focus is how loving the gospel is listening to Jesus.
It is easy for us to become distracted by other people and things and miss the glory of Jesus. Peter was distracted by the presence of Moses and Elijah, two men God used to reveal himself to his people. But now Jesus, the one to whom the Law and the Prophets point, the one who will replace the law, is in front of them. And God has to tell them to "Listen to him!”  We need to listen to him everyday all day. Don’t be distracted by the Moses’ and Elijah’s of our day. They’re only men, but Jesus is the Son!  
Listening to the Son, with whom the Father is well pleased, is what gets you through this life. Listen to him, because he is greater than Moses. Listen to him because he is the mediator of a better covenant. Listen to him because his blood speaks better things than Able’s. Listen to him because in him God dwells with us. And as we listen to him, the Father’s pleasure with him, is the pleasure the Father has with us.