A Study In Luke - Day 32

DAY 32 - LUKE 9:28-36
 
28 About eight days later Jesus took Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly, two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Jesus. 31 They were glorious to see. And they were speaking about his exodus from this world, which was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem.

32 Peter and the others had fallen asleep. When they woke up, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out, “Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 34 But even as he was saying this, a cloud overshadowed them, and terror gripped them as the cloud covered them.

35 Then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him.” 36 When the voice finished, Jesus was there alone. They didn’t tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

You know, God only speaks twice in the New Testament. God the Father, that is. He says, “This is my son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (Matthew 3:13-17), and here, when he says essentially the same thing, but he adds one more thought: “Listen to him!”
I think I should write it this way: 
LISTEN. TO. HIM.

This is the idea; we should be listening to the words of Jesus, not just thinking we understand the spirit of the words that Jesus said. We should listen to Jesus and do what his words command us to do. How would that go if we decided to take the words of Jesus seriously?

We are Christians, so we want to take them seriously, but we don’t take them literally. That is perhaps sometimes the problem. We take his words seriously, but not literally. In other places in scripture, we take the words literally, but not seriously. This means that we keep rules and regulations literally, but when Jesus tells us to take care of the poor or the immigrant, we try to take the words seriously, but not imagining that Jesus would want us to go 2 miles rather than just 1.
 
This is the conundrum of being a Christian. What do we take seriously, and what do we take literally? Some Christians say they take everything literally in scripture, but we know that is not true. None of us do that. Some Christians take nothing literally but do take things seriously, which might create some problems as well. 
To be a Christian means continually discerning how the words of the Bible make sense in today’s world. We must be careful to be prayerful about what we take literally and seriously.

But one caveat. I do believe we have to take most of Jesus's words seriously and literally. When they show up red in our Bibles, we should pay careful attention. This is what God is admonishing us to do in these verses.
 

1. What do you take literally in scripture? 
2. What do you take seriously? 
3. And what do you DO with that information?