Introduction: The Flight I Almost Missed
Last December I traveled home to Kenya after being away for a year and a half.
It was a beautiful reunion, family, laughter, stories late into the night.
The kind of joy that fills your whole being.
And then January 7th came. And it was time to return.
My flight from Nairobi to London was scheduled for 11:30 p.m.
I arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport early, Checked in.
Received my boarding pass and made my way to what I thought was Gate 14.
The attendant had mentioned something about the gate, but I wasn’t really listening carefully. I found a seat pulled out my phone, continued scrolling.
A notification came in from British Airways saying the flight might be delayed until midnight. I relaxed. I had plenty of time.
Now, if you’ve ever been Jomo Kenyatta airport in Nairobi, you know it’s noisy.
Announcements constantly echo through the terminal.
Boarding calls. Final calls. Names being called over the speakers.
But I wasn’t paying attention. None of those announcements were for me. Or so I thought.
Around 11:55 p.m. I looked up and noticed something strange.
The gate area wasn’t as full as you would expect for a London flight.
So I checked the flight status on my phone.
It said: Departed – 11:50 p.m.
My heart dropped. I checked my boarding pass again.
Gate 14. That was right… wasn’t it? Panic set in.
I began walking quickly through the terminal looking for airline staff.
One airport worker told me, “Their office is not here , the flight must have left.”
That was not the news I wanted to hear. He pointed me toward a desk farther ahead.
As I hurried there, a staff member from British Airways approached me and asked,
“Are you Kennedy?”
I said, “Yes.”
She said,
“We’ve been looking for you. Didn’t you hear the announcements? We called your name several times. You’re the only passenger missing. The flight is about to leave , run!”
This was at Gate 16. I almost missed that flight.
Not because I didn’t have a ticket.
Not because I wasn’t in the airport.
Not because my name wasn’t called.
I almost missed it because I wasn’t listening.
And that raises the question for us this morning:
In a world full of noise…In a life full of voices…In a culture full of fear…Who are you listening to? Not just what podcast. Not just what news outlet. Not just what commentator. But what voice is shaping your heart? Who is forming your mind?
Not just what podcast.
Not just what news outlet.
Not just what commentator.
But what voice is shaping your heart?
Today we stand at the end of the Epiphany season. And the Transfiguration functions like a bookend.
At the beginning of Epiphany, we heard the story of Jesus’ baptism. The heavens opened. The Spirit descended. And a voice from heaven declared:
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Now at the close of Epiphany, on another mountain, we hear almost the same words:
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
Notice the difference.
At the baptism, the declaration is about who Jesus is. At the Transfiguration, the declaration becomes a command. Listen to him.
And immediately after this mountain moment, Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem. We are about to enter Lent. We will see not only the glory of Jesus ; but the cross of Jesus.
The question before us is not whether Jesus shines. The question is whether we will listen.
Sinai: A People Formed by Listening (Exodus 24)
In Exodus 24, Moses climbs into the cloud on Mount Sinai. The glory of the Lord settles like consuming fire. For six days there is waiting. On the seventh, God speaks.
Israel has been liberated from Egypt; but liberation is not yet formation.
Before they build.
Before they organize.
Before they move forward.
They must listen.
The cloud is not spectacle; it is covenant. God’s people are shaped by the voice they obey.
That pattern carries through scripture. Listening precedes transformation.
The Nations Rage (Psalm 2)
Psalm 2 paints a turbulent picture:
“The nations rage.”
Political upheaval. Power struggles. Competing loyalties.
That sounds familiar.
Voices claim authority. Leaders demand allegiance. Systems insist they define reality.
But the Psalm declares that ultimate authority belongs to the One God calls “my Son.”
Already, Psalm 2 echoes forward to the Transfiguration.
When the nations rage who are you listening to?
Metamorphosis on the Mountain (Matthew 17)
On the high mountain, Jesus is transfigured.
The Greek word Matthew uses is μεταμορφόομαι ; metamorfónomai.
It’s where we get the word metamorphosis.
It means to be transformed, to be changed in form.
And this word appears only four times in the New Testament:
Matthew 17:2 ; Jesus was transfigured.
Mark 9:2 ; the same event.
Romans 12:2 ; “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 ; “We are being transformed from one degree of glory to another.”
That limited use is powerful.
In the Gospels, the word describes Jesus’ glory revealed; who he truly is.
In Paul, the same word describes what happens to us, an inward, Spirit-led transformation into Christ’s likeness.
The glory revealed in Christ becomes the glory reflected in believers.
The same word connects his revelation and our transformation.
And how does that transformation begin?
“Listen to him.”
The Disciples’ Difficulty and Ours
If you know the Gospels, you know something important:
The disciples struggled to listen.
Peter boldly declared, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!”
And Jesus replied, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”
Thomas insisted he would not believe unless he saw the wounds.
Again and again, Jesus spoke of suffering, death, resurrection, and again and again, the disciples misunderstood or resisted.
On the mountain, God commands: Listen to him.
And yet listening proved very difficult.
If those who walked beside Jesus struggled to trust his words, our task may feel even harder.
The human condition, what we call sin interferes. Pride interferes. Fear interferes. Self-protection interferes.
Other voices are often easier to believe.
The Spirit of Liberty and the Inner Life
I recently listened to Jameel Jaffer’s lecture “The Spirit of Liberty” on CBC radio. He reflected on Judge Learned Hand’s famous words: liberty lives in the hearts of people, and when it dies there, no law can save it.
Jaffer spoke about the challenges facing our neighbors to the south, how institutions tremble when they hear threatening voices, how fear paralyzes leadership, how courage fades when it is most needed.
Friends, what we hear shapes us. It shapes our hearts. It shapes our choices. It shapes the world we build together.
If we fill our hearts with fear, we build fearful communities.
If we fill our hearts with resentment, we build hardened cultures.
If we fill our hearts with dehumanization, we normalize cruelty.
But if we fill our hearts with the voice of Christ,
Love your enemies.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
Do not be afraid.
Take up your cross and follow me.
something changes. Something shifts. Something transforms.
Paul tells us in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
And Romans 12:2 reminds us: “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us we are being transformed “from one degree of glory to another.”
This is not political theatre. It is not speeches or protests.
This is spiritual renewal. Heart-level, mind-level, soul-level transformation.
The Spirit of liberty, real liberty, lives in hearts that are shaped, guided, and renewed by Christ.
So I ask you today: Who are you listening to?
Whose voice is shaping your heart?
Whose words are guiding your mind?
Choose wisely, because what you hear will determine not just your life, but the life of the world around you.
The Bookends of Glory
At Jesus’ baptism, the voice declared who he is.
At the Transfiguration, the voice commands discipleship.
Between those bookends lies Jesus’ ministry; healing, teaching, forgiving, challenging.
After this mountain, Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem.
Glory leads to the cross.
Epiphany light gives way to Lenten shadow.
To listen to Jesus means not only admiring his radiance, but following him toward costly love.
That is where listening becomes real.
How Do We Listen Today?
If listening was hard for the disciples, how do we do it now?
We are not on the mountain.
But we are not without guidance.
We have:
- The Scriptures, the written stories and sayings of Jesus.
• The witness of the church through the ages.
• The Spirit at work within us.
• One another, the shared discernment of the community.
• Our own lived experiences of Christ’s mercy and faithfulness.
We listen in worship.
We listen in prayer.
We listen in study.
We listen in silence.
We listen in acts of compassion.
And as we listen, we are slowly transformed.
Not dramatically glowing.
But quietly reshaped.
From one degree of glory to another.
Conclusion: Only Jesus
Matthew says that after the cloud lifts, the disciples “saw no one except Jesus himself alone.”
Moses fades. Elijah fades.
Only Jesus remains.
In a world of many voices, many claims, many anxieties ;
Only Jesus.
And the question remains:
Who are you listening to?
When fear rises ; whose voice steadies you?
When anger spreads ; whose word tempers you?
When doubt creeps in ; whose promise anchors you?
“This is my beloved Son… listen to him.”
That evening I almost missed my flight because I was not listening.
May we be a church that listens deeply.
May we enter Lent attentive to the One who walks toward Jerusalem.
May the glory revealed in Christ become the transformation alive in us.
And may the Spirit of Christ renew our hearts ; so that the Spirit of liberty truly lives there.
Amen.