This year at the age care place where we run services, I have modified a lent series from the prayer book, sort of following the year C readings. In making this schedule, there is some overlap in previous talks I have given, only they were from Mark's account and not Luke's.
Below is the talk I gave on Wednesday that leans very heavily on a previous talk I gave on the Transfiguration account in Mark. I preached that sermon at church so was longer, but for the life of me, I can't remember if I gave a modified version of that talk to the age care place. I figured if I couldn't remember, then they might not either. That talk cites more of my sources. For this one, I did try to get a bit of a Luke feel, highlighting differences, and if I had more time would have drawn out the booths and God dwelling with us more, but generally, the main elements of this talk are quite similar.
I think if you were to ask the disciples at this point in the gospel story, how important Jesus was they would have put Him in the top three, maybe up near Abraham or Moses or David. They were beginning to see who Jesus is but not quite so clearly.
In our passage today, three of the disciples get a better look at who Jesus is, but only for a moment. And what they saw rattled them so much they kept it to themselves, as it was so big they needed time to process it.
Jesus’ Glory
So, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, up a mountain. And up this mountain, Jesus transfigures before them. What does that mean? Well, the text says Jesus and his clothes become white, like really white, like lighting. So, what is that about? Is this some neat trick that would be useful next time they are camping and need to find something in the dark? No, there is more than that, this is a revealing of who Jesus really is. And He is glorious. "for the first time in Jesus’ ministry, his brilliant face and garments now accord with his divine nature (The Gospel according to Luke Jesus: The Human Tabernacle of God (9:28–36))
The shining white is a display of Jesus’ glory. At this moment Jesus is no longer cagey about who He is. During Jesus’ ministry there has been a little bit of hiddenness to Jesus, a don’t-tell-anyone-about-this Jesus, but as we get closer to the cross the disciples and especially these three now, get to see Jesus in all his glory. For a moment their eyes are wide open as to who Jesus really is.
Elijah and Moses
Not only does Jesus’ glory shine through, but Elijah and Moses turn up and start talking to Jesus. Luke tells us
They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. (Luke 9:31)
Moses and Elijah know something about what is going to happen. Jesus is going to depart or literally “exodus” in Jerusalem. Moses went through the great Exodus once, leading his people out of a kingdom of slavery. And here they are talking about something similar, where Jesus would die or depart, saving His people out of a kingdom of slavery of sin into His kingdom of life.
The disciples don’t get any of this. For we get Peter’s words. When it looked like Elijah and Moses were going to leave Peter wanted to build shelters or to set up booths for Jesus and these new guests. This may be a silly thing to say, and the text says poor Pete didn’t know what he was saying. A cloud covered them and they were afraid. It was like when God’s presence would enter the Tabernacle or when under Solomon the temple was opened, a cloud, showing God’s presence came to dwell with the people. But in all of this, they didn’t need tents or booths for God was already dwelling with his people in the person of Jesus.
Peter didn’t know this. He may have thought these guys were staying to help bring about the new kingdom and needed a place to stay up here. The A-team is being formed, ready for the overthrow of the existing order. Moses helped bring down the Egyptians, and Elijah had no problem rebuking the kings of his day.
They could start their rule from this mountain. This could be their HQ. And on this mountain, they are above all the issues that is going on down there.
There was this Jewish expectation that Moses and Elijah would come and encourage people to repent before a great day of judgment. And here they are on this mountain.
In one of the final speeches of Moses recorded in Deuteronomy 18[:15] he says:
The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.
It is very curious, that Moses is here talking with Jesus, a fellow Israelite, and then a voice from the sky says: “This is my Son, whom I have chosen. Listen to him”.
Listen to him
Moses all those years back said someone like him was coming whom Israel should listen to. And here a voice from heaven tells the disciples to listen to Jesus. This moment is a fulfilment of Moses' words. Jesus is like Moses; they have gone up a mountain and heard the voice of God. And the voice of God says, “Listen to him”. This voice is saying Jesus is on another level than Moses and Elijah. Jesus is God’s Son, not just a teacher or a prophet. He is number one.
And what I find interesting in these words, while Jesus was transfigured, while he was all bright and shiny, the voice doesn’t say “Look at Him! See His glory! Believe with your eyes, look!” No, instead we are told to listen to the words of Jesus and yet, Jesus doesn’t say anything. On top of this mountain, no words of Jesus are recorded. So, what are we to listen to?
Just before this, we are told that 8 days earlier Jesus said:
“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (Luke 9:22)
and that
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. (Luke 9:23-24)
Jesus has already explained what is going to happen to him in Jerusalem and what it means to be a follower of Him.
Now, Jesus said lots of things, and I think we should listen to everything He has to say, but in light of the fathers voice here and what was just said in the previous section, we should listen to Jesus about His way to the cross, and hear that all who follow Him are to live the way of the cross. Following Jesus is a way of service, a way of sacrifice. It is a harder path where you will experience trouble.
Just after this passage, back down the mountain, the disciples encounter another evil spirit that they could not drive out. Life resumes after this experience. Down here there is evil and oppression and people fighting for power and status. And the disciple's lives only get harder from this point on. Peter was probably right; it would have been better to say up on the mountain.
The disciples would go on to see the Son of Man rejected and killed. They will run away in fear of losing their life, and when Jesus comes back from the dead, after they receive the Holy Spirit, they spread the message of Jesus to a hostile world that rejects and persecutes them.
And this is real life, it is a flow of events, some up and some down. We can’t just set up camp in the good moments, in these mountains top experienced. We may have some of these, but they do not last.
Instead, the word of the Lord remains constant. We are to do what the voice from heaven tells the disciples. We are to listen to Him. That is what the disciples did after Jesus’ resurrection. That is what followers of Jesus do, they listen to Him.
Hold on to God’s word
Scripture is something that we can trust, even in turmoil and distress.
We are to listen to Jesus, to trust His word because they are true. Because they are life-giving.
The movie Black Hawk Down is a true story about an extraction operation that went bad in Somalia. One of the helicopters got shot down and the pilot, Mike Durant was injured and got taken captive. A battle on the ground ensued as the soldiers tried to leave the town. In the movie there is a scene where a helicopter flies over the town and over a loudspeaker it blares “Mike Durant, we won’t leave you behind, Mike Durant, we won’t leave you behind” over and over again.
In an interview with the real Mike Durant, he said it was three days into captivity when he heard the words from the sky “Mike, we won’t leave here without you”. He said he would never forget those words. Imagine you are Mike, wounded and captured by the enemy, and then you hear that the US Army hasn’t forgotten you. That they will not leave without you. You would cling to those words. They would give you hope and you would not give up. It would be 8 days after he heard those words that he would be released.
Being a Christian doesn’t mean, and it can’t mean, that we are free from suffering. We can’t stay away and isolate ourselves from the world. There are disasters, demons, disease, and death out there that affect us all. There are troubles and worries in this world, but we also have Jesus, the Christ, and His words of eternal life. Cling to His words for hope.
When faced with disasters, do we trust Jesus that he is both caring and powerful, so is able to save us?
Are we willing to let Jesus be Jesus and trust Him and His plan or think we have a better way forward?
We need to hear from Jesus so that we can make it through the messiness of life, and to be with Him forever.
Cling to his words. Know that He does care for us, even if our way is hard, even when we carry our own crosses.
Jesus revealed His glory before his disciples. His disciples were going to face some heavy things in the immediate future when Jesus died and later their own lives will be cut short. But what they didn’t stop doing was listening to and following Jesus. For they knew that Jesus was glorious.
Every day we are hearing all sorts of narratives and saying things back to ourselves in our minds. But instead, we need to hear from Jesus every day, for He is God and worthy of all our worship, and we are prone to forget this.
We are to listen to the Father's voice, we are to listen to Jesus, for in the messiness of life, God shines through.
Eternal God, our glorious King,
whose Son Jesus Christ was transfigured on the holy mountain
and seen in splendour by his chosen witnesses:
grant us, his followers, faith to perceive his glory,
to listen to him, and walk in his way,
that we may be changed into his likeness from glory to glory;
for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.
0 comments:
Post a Comment