Trasnfiguring

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28 About eight days after Jesus said these things, he took Peter, John, and James, and went up on a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes flashed white like lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, were talking with him. 31 They were clothed with heavenly splendor and spoke about Jesus’ departure, which he would achieve in Jerusalem. 32 Peter and those with him were almost overcome by sleep, but they managed to stay awake and saw his glory as well as the two men with him.

33 As the two men were about to leave Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it’s good that we’re here. We should construct three shrines: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—but he didn’t know what he was saying. 34 Peter was still speaking when a cloud overshadowed them. As they entered the cloud, they were overcome with awe.

35 Then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to him!” 36 Even as the voice spoke, Jesus was found alone. They were speechless and at the time told no one what they had seen.

Introduction

There’s a phenomenon I’ve noticed with people of my generation that always strikes me as hilarious.
Those of us who are on Facebook will, from time to time, log on one morning to discover a total redesign of the site.
What follows is a whole bunch of people posting on Facebook about how much they hate the new design, and they wish that the old design would come back.
But then just a few months later, Facebook will inevitably change their design again.
And those same people, the people who say they hated the design, will post again that they actually hate the new design and wish they would go back to the old one, the one they just a few months ago said they hated.
It’s almost as if the thing that we are most averse to is change itself.
Sadly, we as Presbyterians have made a name for ourselves of our aversion to change.
Our nickname in the greater denominational wars is the “Frozen Chosen.”
We want our churches to stay exactly the way they were when we were children!
We don’t want a new hymnal, the old hymnal suited us just fine!
And don’t you dare ever talk about changing the carpet in the memorial parlor!
You know…at other churches...
To be sure, there are some things that are eternal and traditions that ought to stand the test of time.
But I wonder what place change has in our congregations and in our faith?

Bible Breakdown

Eight Days after a promise.

This story starts with the phrase “eight days later.”
If we’re going to be thorough students of the Bible, we need to ask what happened right before this.
What happened 8 days ago?
The verse right before our story has Jesus saying “I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see God’s Kingdom...”
And then 8 days later they’re headed up the mountain to pray.
It follows that what these disciples are about to experience is something of God’s Kingdom.

Jesus is changed

I can’t imagine how freaky this situation would have been for the disciples.
Jesus is praying, and then all of a sudden he looks different?
His clothes are so white that they start having their own light show?
Now there are three people here where once there was only one?
I’d be terrified!

Moses and Elijah- The Law and the Prophets

What’s interesting is who it is that shows up next to Jesus.

Throwback to Moses in Exodus

We heard in the text we read together just a little bit ago how Moses had this kind of glowing problem that Jesus is experiencing, didn’t he?
Any time that Moses met with God, he would leave the encounter totally radiant.
He was so bright that he had to wear a veil over his face so that people could look at him without Raybans.
And out of these experiences, Moses would give the people what God had given him: the Law.
Here are the rules for how to live your life.
Here are the things you ought to do and the things you shouldn’t.
And believe me, the law that Moses gives out it quite specific!
You cannot wear a shirt made up of two different fabrics, so for those of us with a poly cotton blend on...
There were rules about where and how you could eat.
And my other favorite, there were rules about where and how you could use the bathroom.
Apparently God was really concerned about all of that!
But the big picture is that God gave the law to Moses, and Moses gave the law to the people, and that was the best possible way to live life in God’s world.
Toward the end in Deuteronomy, Moses promises that there’s going to be another one to come just like him.
There’s a prophet like Moses on the way.

The Prophets

Representing the other side of the OT is Elijah, the greatest prophet in Isreal.
Some folks think that a prophet’s job is to tell the future, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.
The prophets in the OT spent a great deal of time looking around at the people of Isreal and the way they were living.
And rightly, they said “Hey, you’re not doing such a great job of living in to that Law Moses gave you, are you?
So the first half of just about any prophetic book that you can come across in the OT is a bit…depressing.
Lots of God’s judgement and anger and wrath and that kind of thing.
BUT! You have to keep reading.
Almost every major prophet has this turn about half way through, where they say (in a gross simplification:)
Hey, you’re pretty far off the path that God set out for you with Moses,
But God is going to bring you back.
God is going to rescue you.
God is going to send a promised one to take care of you.
And again, these prophets are pointing to the one who is going to come after them.

The Prophet

So to have these two men standing beside Jesus is a way for God to point at what Jesus is all about.
Jesus is the one who shows us the best way to live.
Jesus shows us that it is better to be kind than it is to be vindictive.
Jesus shows us that generosity begets generosity.
Jesus shows us that our words matter, and the way we speak about other people is important.
And, Jesus shows us the hope for God’s promised future.
Jesus shows us that God is calling us back to him.
Jesus shows us that no matter how far we wander from that way that he’s called us to live, we are still loved and forgiven in God’s kingdom.
Jesus shows us that God is ultimately on our side.
Jesus is the fulfilment of both the law and the prophets, which is vital for us to remember going forward.

Peter starts talking before he knows what’s going on.

Have you ever had the experience where you are speaking with someone, and as the words are coming out of your mouth you think “Oh boy…I probably shouldn’t be speaking right now.”
Almost like you can see the words escaping and you wish you could visibly push them back in to your mouth?
Like there is some kind of bypass around your brain, and the only things working are your mouth and your heart.
That’s almost never a good situation...
I have to imagine Luke and Peter talked after this...
So I said we should just live on the mountain forever with Jesus Moses and Elijah.
I had no earthly idea what I was saying!
But if we’re honest, what Peter has fallen in to in this story is something that our culture has largely become known for.
We are way more interested in speaking than we are in listening.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok.
All of these services are about interjecting what we have to say into any given conversation.
Almost none of them give great preference to reading or hearing what someone else has to say.
In fact one of the biggest punishments that can be handed down in our culture right now is to deplatform someone, to essentially take away their ability to speak into the world.
And some of those conversations are good, I’m sure.
But some of them are a bit like Peter, aren’t they?
I’m talking, but I have no earthly idea what I’m talking about!

Talk Less- Listen More

God speaks directly after Peter.
It’s almost like God has been listening for just a little bit, and has had absolutely enough of what Peter’s trying to get across.
God says two very very important things:
This is my son, the chosen one.
This is not just some street magician.
This is not even a prophet like we used to have before, people who speak on God’s behalf.
This is God’s son directly, the Messiah that all of those folks have been pointing to.
This is the one who has the ability to bring about change in the world.
And almost aimed directly at Peter- Listen to him!
Stop talking!
Stop doing!
Stop putting yourself first!
Have you spent enough time to listen to what this chosen one son of God has to say?
Or have you been too busy trying to speak in to the conversation?
And after all of that, the smoke clears, and Jesus is there alone and back to normal.
But again, in the same way that you need to understand what comes before this story, something interesting happens after.

Changed to make more changes- The Boy at the bottom of the mountain.

As they come down the mountain, they find a man and his son who is possessed.
They also find the rest of the disciples desperately trying to throw out the demon, and they can’t.
They are bumping up the limitations of their abilities.
Jesus has some harsh words for his disciples, and then he heals the son.
Another way to put that: Jesus changes things for that boy and his father for the better.
Where as we only have the limitations of our abilities, Jesus who is transfigured on the mountain has the ability to transfigure the world around him.
Jesus is not just an empty shirt.
Jesus is not just a moral example.
Jesus is not just a light show and a fun story.
Jesus is the Son of God, the chosen one, who has the power, ability, and desire to change our world for the better.
Jesus has the ability to change the darkness around us and turn it to light.
Jesus has the ability to change our wickedness and create in us a clean heart.
Jesus has the ability to change our illnesses and our pains in to healing.
Jesus has the ability to change our souls and welcome us in to the kingdom of God.
The question, then and now, is will we let him?

Apprentices

Let’s Use Lent to Quiet Our Hearts

As we’ve already mentioned, so much of our culture is built around what we can broadcast.
If we’re not careful, the subtle message that can sneak in is that we are only worth what we speak.
We can lose the subtle art of making sure we’re listening to each other, and much worse,
We can lose the ability to hear what Jesus is saying to us through all this broadcasting.
Lucky for us, we’re about to enter in to a very special season in the church life.
Lent is about disciplining ourselves, something else the world around us isn’t often keen to do.
Lent is about slowing down a little bit, backing off the hurried pace of life a bit more.
Lent is about quieting our hearts and listening for God.
This is why folks give stuff up for Lent.
Me personally, I decided this year that I’m giving up eating out alone.
I also decided to go on the public record for a bit of accountability, so if you see me at Chipotle by myself, rebuke me in the name of the Lord!
But I decided that I’m not grateful enough for the food I eat.
I’m not grateful enough for the money that I have that allows me to eat.
So I need to still my heart, listen to Jesus, and let him help instill in me a sense of gratitude.
And the beautiful thing is how customizable Lent is!
This isn’t to say that you all need to give up eating out.
You don’t need to give up anything at all if you don’t want.
But I would encourage you to use this season of discipline to quiet and still your hearts, to stop speaking for a bit, and to listen to what Jesus has to say to us.

Let’s Use Lent to tune our hearts to Jesus Way of Life and Message of Hope

I you look around at the news lately, you might start to wonder if the prophets would say the same things they’ve always been saying about our world.
There are wars and rumors of wars, and by the way we need to hold the people of Ukraine in our prayers these next few weeks and months for sure.
There are unimaginable levels of poverty in our world.
There are people dying at an alarming rate still from totally preventable diseases.
This kind of feels like the judgement part of those books, doesn’t it?
I don’t know about you, but I could use some hope.
And I don’t want cheap hope that’s nothing more than optimism in disguise.
I don’t want pithy sayings and gentle reassurances.
I don’t want the kinds of things that numb us to how bad the world is.
No, I want the hope that can only come through Jesus Christ.
I want the hope that says this world is not all there is.
I want the hope that says not one sparrow falls from the sky without the mournful eye of our savior.
I want the hope that says Jesus is bigger than any or all of the nation states out there.
I need more Jesus.
Jesus is the place to find hope.
So this Lent, may I encourage you to find your hope in someone rather specific.
Read the Gospels!
Spend some time in prayer.
Gather together with other church friends to ask what Jesus is up to in their lives.
Listen to the beloved, the chosen one.

Let’s Use Lent to allow Jesus to Change Us

I know, I know, frozen chosen faithful.
This is hard!
A good friend of mine who works as a counselor says “No one changes until the cost of not changing out weighs the fear.”
In other words, unless we become aware of how dark things are, there’s no reason to change.
And there in lies the problem, most of us live pretty good lives.
Why on earth would we ever want Jesus to change us?
Because Jesus can offer us something better.
Jesus can offer us healing that we didn’t know was possible.
Jesus can offer to take away the baggage of our sin and replace it with a light and easy yoke.
Jesus can speak directly in to our stubborn hearts and remind us again and again that we are worthy of love, if only we would reach out and grab it.
It may not be easy.
It may not be quick.
It may involve some convulsions and screaming and curse words.
But the change that Jesus offers, the transfigurations of our own hearts that only he can provide?
That’s better than any Facebook upgrade.
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