Luke 9:28-36
About eight days after Jesus said this, he took
Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.
As he was praying, the appearance of his face
changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of
lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious
splendor, talking with Jesus.
They spoke about his departure, which he was
about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.
Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but
when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with
him.
As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him,
“Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one
for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was
saying.)
While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered
them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.
A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my
Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”
When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus
was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at
that time what they had seen.
Here ends this reading of the Word of God for
the People of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Prayer for Understanding
God You are our refuge and strength; a
very present help in trouble. We ask for Your help this morning as we study
Your Word. Amen.
Message Astounding Glory
Throughout human history, people
have climbed up hills and mountains to commune with God. We feel a connection
to God as we are up above our regular lives, seeing the horizon from a different
perspective.
Outside St. Louis, in the flat,
Mississippi flood plains, the ancient Cahokia people built huge mounds in the
middle of their city. On top of the
largest mound, a temple was built – the ancient residents of the community
climbed high on the mound to worship. By the time French colonists moved to the
area in the 1700s, the Cahokia region was sparsely populated. Trappist French
Monks built their monastery on top of the biggest mound where the temple once
stood. The Monks also wanted to worship God high up in the sky….a little closer
to heaven.
This morning, we read the story of
Jesus’ transfiguration. The story of the
Transfiguration comes around in the lectionary readings once a year – the story
is considered so important we hear it every year, like we hear Jesus’ nativity
story or the Easter narrative. Yet, I don’t remember hearing this story at all
when I was a kid. I don’t think the
problem was that I was not paying attention for 18 years, it is just that this
story is a little odd. I suspect some churches skip right over it as they
transition out of the season of Epiphany and enter the season of Lent.
And, what makes this story odd?
Jesus takes three disciples with him and climbs up a mountain. This part is not
weird. Jesus often secluded himself to
privately pray or would take a small group of disciples with him when he needed
to rest and talk to God. So, Jesus and
James, John and Peter climbed up on top of a mountain. The disciples where
sleepy – this is also a common thing in the New Testament…the disciples were
sleepy a lot.
The startling and strange event that
happened was Jesus’ appearance physically changed, his clothing became as
bright as a flash of lighting, and Moses and Elijah appeared in glorious
splendor. The disciples were awestruck and confused. Peter possibly thought
Jesus, Moses and Elijah would stay up on the mountain and need little shelters to
protect them from the elements. And, even the Gospel writer said that Peter did
not know what he was saying when he offered to build shelters – Peter was so
amazed he was speaking gibberish. The disciples were bewildered and awestruck
by what they witnessed on the mountain that day.
Afterwards, Moses and Elijah
disappeared and Jesus told his followers to keep quiet about what they had
seen.
During Jesus’ ministry, people
questioned who he was. People questioned if Jesus was the Messiah, or just a
prophet or a wise teacher. Even though the disciples were with Jesus day and
night, they also had moments of hesitation when they were not sure Jesus was
the Messiah. The Transfiguration very supernatural. Jesus grew dazzling like a
flash of lightening. A voice spoke out of the cloud, the voice of God spoke out
of a cloud, and said, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”
Similar to the events of Jesus’s baptism, God verbally declared Jesus to be his
son and people are supposed to listen to him. This event clearly demonstrates
Jesus is the Messiah. James, John and Peter could no longer question Jesus’
claim on Messiahship.
But, why Moses? Why Elijah? Why did
they appear?
The appearance of the greatest
leader from Jewish history and the greatest prophet from Jewish history was
very symbolically meaningful to legitimize Jesus as the Messiah. Moses symbolizes
the Hebrew Law. Elijah symbolizes the Hebrew prophets. And, Elijah was supposed
to return to earth alongside the Messiah. So, the greatest prophet and greatest
leader of the Jewish people appeared during the transfiguration to speak with Jesus
and to also prove Jesus is the messiah.
Like the Disciples, most of us don’t
expect to have encounters with the holy, especially in the middle of the
humdrum days of our lives. Most of us have relatively routine days – I wake up
when the alarm rings, make sure Lucia is getting ready for school, get dressed,
eat breakfast, come over to the church office, cross my tasks off my “to-do”
list – Most days seem to follow a pretty mundane order. We don’t expect
interruptions by the Holy. We don’t expect to have the Holy Spirit interrupt
our lives. We don’t expect to have God call out to us. We don’t expect to
witness a physical and spiritual transformation like the transfiguration.
We always hear this story right
before the season of Lent starts. And, I
suspect this is for two reasons. The first is that Moses and Elijah talked to
Jesus about what the scripture refers to “His departure, which Jesus was about
to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” So, on the mountain, Jesus talked to
Moses and Elijah about his upcoming death on the cross, his time in the grave,
his resurrection, and his ascension to heaven. We read this scripture because
we are about to remember Jesus’ journey to the cross.
The second reason why we hear this
text on the Sunday before Lent begins is that it is a reminder that we need to
work to prepare ourselves for Holy interruptions in our lives. Lent is the season in which we prepare to
journey with Jesus to the cross. We prepare for Easter by intentionally praying
more and by repenting of our sins. Some of us take on acts of self-denial: we
give up something that is important to us in order to remember the sacrifices
Jesus made for us. Some of us take on new spiritual tasks during Lent – we may
read a special spiritual devotional or pray through the Psalms or take on a new
spiritual practice in order to draw nearer to God in this time.
Whatever additional things we may
embrace, we also must keep our eyes and hearts open to holy interruptions. We
are task-minded people – we generally don’t like interruptions. But, sometimes
God is trying to communicate with us through interruptions. Martin Luther
redirected his life and decided to become a monk after a thunderstorm and a
close call with lightening. St. Paul became a Christian after being blinded on
the road to Damascus and hearing from Jesus the charge to stop persecuting
Christians. We don’t know how or when
the Holy Spirit will break into our lives. Like the Disciples on the mountain
with Jesus, we may become befuddled or speak gibberish when it happens. But,
afterwards, I pray we will embrace our experience of the Holy and use it as the
launching pad to do great things for God.
Life is full of surprises. Some of
them are blessings. Others are life-shattering. I pray that the Holy
Interruptions we experience will bring grace and blessings into our lives. Let
us work to prepare for the interruptions.
May it be so.
Amen.
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