Engage Brain Before Putting Mouth in Gear
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Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.
Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.
They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
Now 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.
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.
While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.
Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
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.
Introduction
Introduction
In 3 days Lent starts. This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and I hope to see all of you at Flowery Branch for the service at 7PM. For the last 20 years or so giving something up for lent has been quite a fad. I think ya’ll know how superficial in a lot of cases this is. Much of what people do in this regard is more cultural now than it is spiritual. This year I want the church to add something, prayer. I know we all pray, but I want us to work on improving our prayer lives, making our prayer lives richer and deeper. We’ll be talking about this some in our Sunday school classes, I am gong to ask you to use a certain devotional guide, and I am going to preach a series on prayer. We’ll get into it completely next Sunday. But we will touch on prayer today as well.
Background
Background
Lent ends today with Transfiguration Sunday. John doesn’t mention this event, but the other 3 do, and Luke’s version in different than Matthew or Mark. Luke adds some interesting details the other 2 do not have. As I say, it is not a good question to ask which one is historically correct. It makes no difference each gospel writer emphasizes or adds details that are important to their story of Jesus. Gospels are gosples, they are not history books. So the question to ask is why is Luke, or Mark, or Matthew telling this story in this manner. What are they trying to communicate to their specific community?
Luke was writing to Theophilus, most likely an important Gentile or Roman who commissioned this gospel. He is purpose of his gospel is to
Luke 1:1-
Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us,
just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,
I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.
Luke is writing to us too, so that we may know the truth about which we have been instructed. By the way Theophilus means lover of God.
Context
Context
This text follows Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Son of God and then Jesus telling the disciples what his messiah-ship is about for the first time. He tells them about his coming death and resurrection. This story is found immediately after that. After this mornings text the 4 return down the mountain and Jesus heals a demon possessed boy the disciples could not heal. And after that he foretells his death and resurrection a second time, this time to the crowd as well. Then in verse
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
Exegesis
Exegesis
So this transfiguration story comes in the middle of a section where he foretells his death and resurrection twice and then sets his face on Jerusalem.
Jesus takes Peter, John and James up on the mountain with him. We don’t know what mountain for sure (none of the gospels tell us), but many scholars and ancient tradition has it that it was this mountain, Mount Tabor (explain picture).
Luke gives us 2 details that are important and different than Mark and Matthew. Luke claims it was 8 days after Peter’s confession of him as the Christ. The other 2 gospels say it is 6 days. This is probably symbolic of Jesus resurrection which the 1st century Christians called the 8th day of creation. Second, Luke has the Transfiguration occur while Jesus is praying. This is not what happens in Matthew or Mark.
So while praying Jesus face changed, whatever that means, his clothes became dazzling white and Moses and Elijah appear.
it is unclear whether the disciples have actually fallen asleep and awakened to this sight or they were just really sleepy. But they must have thought they were in a dream like state. Essentially what has happened is that they are glimpsing into heaven, another dimension in which a door has been opened. I do not want to psycho analyze Peter, John and James, but what must have been going through their heads!
Now here is an important point and this is only in Luke
They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
The word departure here is exodos. The greek word we get exodus from. Only Luke has this detail. In other words they were discussing his death and resurrection! The disciples were seeing the glorified bodies of Jesus, Elijah, and Moses, all 3 in a resurrected state.
The symbolism is heavy here. Luke is saying that Jesus and what he is going to do is fulfillment of the law and prophets. Only Moses and Elijah went up the mountain to meet God. Now Jesus has gone up and while in prayer has the mantle passed to a new day for Israel.
Folks this is heavy stuff, really heavy. I am not goin to try to explain it, it cannot be explained. It is a mystery so deep we can’t get our minds around it! have you ever been in awe of something like this? I have, kinda . . . and on a mountain top too
There was a group of youth form my old church about to lead a worship service on top of the mountain at camp Glission. They had gathered up there about thirty minutes before the service to pray. As they stood in a circle holding hands they asked God to be present in this service. They asked God to give a sign that he would be present during that service. At the precise moment that prayer was uttered a whirlwind appeared over them and swept leaves up among them and it left as soon as it appeared. It was an otherwise calm night. Are you skeptical? Do you doubt this was a sign for God? For those kids that night God offered them exactly what they needed to go into that service with confidence and faith. They believed it to be a sign from God. A God we cannot see, using wind we cannot see to provide the evidence of his blessing on that service and what they were doing. They couldn't see God, they couldn't see the wind, but they saw the evidence of both!
They were so excited and breathless when they told me this story. is it any wonder that Peter opened his mouth before speaking, that is he needed to engage his brain before putting his mouth in gear. Just as he says this the cloud appears, this is the same cloud that Moses experienced on Mt Sinai, that same cloud that was said to be in the holy of holies, the same cloud that led the Israelites in the wilderness, this was the shekinah of God! God speaks to them
Luke 9:35
Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” 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.
This was the same voice Jesus heard while praying after his Baptism:
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Application
Application
One commentator says this is like the gospel in a nutshell. In one scene we hear echoes of the baptism of Jesus, Jesus’ passion predictions, Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law and prophets, the death and resurrection of Jesus, and his ascension and future coming. There are many things to talk about here, but i want us to focus on 2 this morning: prayer and following the command to listen.
Prayer
Prayer
Over and again we see in Luke that Jesus is a person of prayer, especially and important times in his life, Baptism, transfiguration, and Gethsemane. By his rich prayer life Jesus sustains his ministry in the will of God. In fact, his identification by God as his chosen both occur immediately after or while praying, that is his baptism and here in the Transfiguration.
In 5:16 Luke mentions the frequency of jesus prayer life and his time taken away to pray.
We see these qualities of Jesus prayer life in Luke
He faces his ministry with prayer
He gets clear of distractions
He prays in private
Serious prayer goes before being effective in our work
Now let’s move to listening or following God’s command to the disciples, which is God’s command to the church.
Listen
Listen
It is interesting that the cloud and voice appear while Peter is talking:
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. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.
Luke 9:33-
We know when they go back down the mountain they go back to the real world. Here is Raphael’s painting of this. (explain). Folks we are not to make memorials on the mountain top. This is idolatry, we are to be about the work of Jesus. We are not going to agree with everything the church does and we certainly need to be sure our brain is engaged before we open our mouth about it. Our command is to listen to Jesus and be about the things Jesus tells us to be about. The work of the church is not done on the mountain, but in the valleys of life. As one commentator wrote, “The call to hear Jesus is timeless.” Church we need to remember that we need to be saturated in the voice of God. praying and listening are vital to not only a healthy spiritual life, but vital to life itself, and vital to serving others. We cannot redeem ourselves or the church, only Jesus can do that. And he can only do that if we accept his offer of redemption.
Are we building memorials or are we serving? Are we really listening to Jesus or are we whispering in our own ears?
The Transfiguration cannot be explained in words. But what we can take home today is that we need to be people of prayer, listening to Jesus, as we go into the world as servants. If we do this brothers and sisters our redemption is close at hand.
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.