Luke 9:23-27
23 Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. 25 What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? 26 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God”
Luke 9:28-36
28Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” 36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
At first glance, this story feels like we sort of just got dropped into the middle of the New Testament and it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense, except…we're about to embark on our Lenten journey on Wednesday and this text, in particular, has the power to draw us in and to set us up for a proper mind and spirit.
Additionally, even though this story seems like a major shift from the numerous stories of Jesus teaching and healing in the previous 5 chapters, there are some common connections to other powerful biblical stories. The first similarity is God’s voice is audible to those in earshot, just like we hear God’s voice when Jesus is baptized in chapter 3. Remember? As soon as Jesus comes up from being immersed, a dove descends and we hear God saying, “This is my beloved.” In this story even as Moses and Elijah appear before their eyes, the disciples are still not quite sure who Jesus really is. Is he all that different from Moses and Elijah or is He just the new prophet on the block?
Joel Green, my favorite scholar on Luke, says that Jesus’ followers in this story still don't really adequately understand who they're following nor comprehend what Jesus’ status implies about their discipleship. If that's the case for the disciples and they were with Jesus, that probably means that we, too, need some shoring up and a deeper understanding of what it really means to be a disciple and to follow Jesus.
It's not entirely Peter's fault. He's doing the best he can. He knows he's in the presence of greatness and wants to honor all three: Moses, Elijah and Jesus by making them dwellings. And there are elements to this story that, without knowing it, are very familiar to Jews; stories of God’s activity in Old Testament. They (and we) know that Moses’ face was shining as he came down the mountain after speaking with God, and carrying the Ten Commandments. They (and we) are familiar with a theophany (when God speaks to the Israelites through a cloud). When Moses led the people through the wilderness, God spoke Moses and lead them on a cloud by day and a cloud of fire by night. But what's the difference between God’s activity with Moses and Elijah what’s happening with this new ‘prophet’ that they're hanging out with?
Validation and clarification of who Jesus, fully, is… is a big part of this story. Not only are the disciples in need of fully understanding who Jesus is, but so are we. They (and we) need to more deeply understand Jesus as not only friend and teacher, but also Savior. We love the idea of Him being our friend. We love the idea of Him being a great teacher, because we want deep friendships and appreciate those who lovingly teach us. We've all had favorite teachers, at least one, throughout our school years, that we adored and still remember fondly.
But God is trying to school Peter and James and John and the rest of us this Jesus is more than a friend and a teacher. He came to turn the world on its ear. He came to show the world what God intends for our life and everybody else's life! He came to take away the sins of the world.
Hopefully, most of us have had at least one “mountaintop experience” where we see Jesus’ light shine, or we feel God’s presence or activity, where we got healing from an illness or rescued from trouble. Maybe we found a resolution to a difficult problem, or we found peace in the midst of chaos or courage to do the impossible. If not any of these…surely we've all had at least one experience when in spite of our idiocy, God rescued us and saved our bacon.
You may have heard this story about a sea urchin diver in California, this week, who was out on his boat only in a t-shirt and shorts. He was getting organized when a big wave came out of nowhere and knocked overboard him. Now, generally, that's not a problem, because, if you're a safe boater and you’re boating alone, then you have life vest on, as well as a lanyard that you connect to something on your person. The other end is connected to the ignition on the boat; so that if you go overboard, the engine quits. Not only did he not have a life vest or a lanyard on him his boat was still in gear.
So now he's overboard and he’s swimming madly trying to catch up to his boat but the more he swims, the boat's getting further and further away. And he finally realizes that he's exhausting himself and that he shouldn't do that, because he's going to drown. The water is only 54 degrees, and he realizes: “This is the way my life is going to end. My poor wife. My poor children. If only I had been smarter and done all the safety protocols.” But he hadn’t.
And then, after treading water for a while, he realized the smartest thing for him to do is to lie on his back,
because he'd be more buoyant and not exhaust himself. But then there was a rustling in the water and he felt sure it was a shark. Now he’s really scared. It came close and bumped him. But it wasn't a shark. It was a seal and the seal kept swimming around him and bumping into his leg as if to say, “Keep going.”
Now when he fell overboard, because I saw his interview a couple days ago, he actually had just been
mourning the loss of a very dear friend. So, he's fallen overboard. He can't reach his boat and what is the first thing he says? “Come on, God! Really?” How many times have we done that right? As Denise says, “If it's not one thing it's two.” We've all been in those places where we're like, “Really, God?!” But then God sends help. In this case a seal who keeps nudging him like, “Don't give up. Keep swimming.” And as he does so, he looks out into the horizon and he sees an oil rig about three miles away. And the seal kept pushing him towards that oil rig. The fisherman knew that he would eventually be able to, hopefully, get there. And he did. He climbed on to the rig. The rig crew called the Coast Guard. And he was rescued.
Not all of that story made it to People Magazine. Well, actually all of that story made it to People Magazine, but they left out the most important part. In his live interview he said, “Now I know I can really believe in a higher power.” So, my question is “what's he going to do differently?” I hope that he starts going to church or synagogue. I hope, maybe, he changes his behavior and his thoughts and his actions. I don't know. In fact, it doesn't really matter.
What does matter is that we, as we start Lent, learn to change our actions and behaviors. We've all had that “mountaintop experience” but then we go back to our old ways. In fact, Peter did that too, right? I mean Peter was not the best-behaved disciple, by any means all the way to the end. He's the one who denied Jesus he knew Jesus in the courtyard and then the cock crowed…and he wept bitterly.
God knows where we need to take it from here. And, you and I know where we need to take it from here.
But Lent is a very long time. In fact, it's 40 days long and that doesn't include the Sundays. So, I've got a little tutorial for you. Some of you, who have been contributors to our Lenten devotional, may have noticed I didn't contact you. In fact, I didn't contact anyone this year, because we're not going to do a Lenten devotional. We're to do something a little different. It's right here in my pocket.
I have created, for all of us, a deck of ‘cards’. It's 40 days of cards to take you through your Lenten journey. And the theme is focused on three things: Pray, Give (as in giving alms) and Fast. There're 40 cards in here, each with a scripture closely aligned to the day’s charge. And then on the back, of course, is a beautiful watermark of the church. This would not have been possible without Nickel Artistic, who got them printed and got purple bags. And then, also, the bell choir compiled, I think, 110 of these. And so, this is the start of your Lenten journey. And I really encourage you to take these cards daily and ponder how to pray in specific, how to give in specific and what to fast from.
Now I realize that not all of these cards are going to be meaningful to you. And some might be more powerful than others. And some days you might look at the card and say “Ummmm, I'm not doing that.” Or one might really hit you over the head and say, “Yes, thank God, I needed to hear this today.” But my hope is that not only will you take a set of cards for yourself, but that you'll take sets for others to use as well, whether they’re connected to our church or not.
For those who can't get here and are unable to get to church, we will try to mail or deliver them. I also created a deck for our youth and children. They've already been mailed out to all of the families, so that even though they're not with us in church, they can participate from home as a family and learn more about what it means for Lent.
So, yes, it's important for us to continue to recognize “mountaintop experiences”, but the only way to learn the difference between Jesus being friend and teacher and learning who He is as our Savior is to pray, give alms and to fast in honor of the journey that Jesus took for us as friend and teacher and especially our Savior.
May it be so. Amen.