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28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah"--not knowing what he said. 34As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!" 36And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

THE GREATNESS OF GOD

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Just before today’s reading from Luke chapter nine, the Lord Jesus had asked His disciples who they thought that He was (v. 20). Then Peter answered that He was the Christ of God (v. 20). Then Jesus made the first of three passion predictions. In verse 22, He said: “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Then, He said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let that person deny him or herself and take up his or her cross daily and follow me” (v. 23).

Here in today’s Gospel, about eight days have since passed when the Lord Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on an unnamed mountain to pray. When you talk about having a mountaintop experience, says preaching professor Fred Craddock, don’t even begin to think that yours compares with what happens on the mount of Transfiguration. Craddock says: “There are in the Scriptures accounts of experiences of Jesus and of other persons serving the purposes of God for which analogies in our common experiences are not easily found. One reads and studies these accounts, and the experience is one of awe and wonder and worship. The question, ‘What in our lives is a suitable parallel?’ does not even seem appropriate. Applications and exhortations trivialize” (Interpretation: Luke, 132).

In other words, there on the mountaintop Peter, James, and John get a taste of the greatness of God. The Lord Jesus is praying, and the appearance of His face changes. His clothes become not just dazzling white. The Greek text says that His clothes became like lightning. Suddenly the three disciples see two men also surrounded by glorious light. They see Moses and Elijah, the two great representatives of the Law and the Prophets, whom pious Jews expected to appear at the end of time. They are speaking to Jesus about His coming departure at Jerusalem. The Greek text calls it Jesus’ exodus at Jerusalem.

It’s just too much for the three disciples to take in. They can’t fathom what is happening to them or why. Peter has previously said that folks think of Jesus as a prophet but that he believes Jesus to be the Christ of God, the long-expected anointed king like David. But Peter certainly didn’t have any of this in mind. It is even beyond his imagination. They are all apparently on sensory overload, somewhere between waking and sleeping.

All Peter can do is babble something about building tents or tabernacles for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus – wanting somehow to hold on to this glorious heavenly moment on the mountaintop – wanting somehow to enshrine Jesus with Moses and Elijah as some kind of prophetic trinity. Just as Israel celebrated the feast of Tabernacles by dwelling in tents to recall God’s care for His people in the wilderness, so now does Peter want to stay here on the mountaintop wrapped in glory? Isn’t that a better alternative than to go back down the mountain with Jesus to Jerusalem where He says that He will suffer, be rejected, and killed by the religious leadership?

If Peter and the boys think they have seen it all, then it only gets stranger. The same cloud that denoted God’s presence as He delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt and led His people through the wilderness – that same cloud suddenly envelops them all on the mountaintop. Luke says Peter, James, and John were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then the voice of God that spoke at Jesus’ baptism declaring Him to be the anointed king and servant of the Lord now repeated the word: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to Him!”

Then the cloud was gone. Moses and Elijah were gone. The glory of the Lord was gone. The lightning appearance of His clothes was gone. Then it was Jesus and Peter and James and John alone and going back down the mountain. What could they say? How could they begin to explain what had happened at this point? They were silent – finally silent. No more babbling. No more misunderstanding. No more blissful ignorance of what was going to happen to Jesus. They were silent.

WAKING UP TO JESUS

I don’t know which is the better way to try to describe us disciples today. Are we sleepwalking through life? Or are we only half-awake like Peter, James, and John?

I remember listening a number of years ago to a National Public Radio interview with the former singer/songwriter Cat Stevens. He had long since converted from a nominal Christian culture to a passionate observance of Islam, now calling himself Yusef Islam. He was in Texas at the time raising money for his Islamic schools by promoting the sale of his greatest hits CDs. I found myself listening to this interview with some fascination having once, at the age of 20, attended a Cat Stevens concert and having owned several of his albums on vinyl.

As I listened, I remember how condescendingly dismissive he was of the Christian faith talking about how all those poor simple Christians had just gotten the prophet Jesus wrong. How could anyone think that Allah could have a son? How could anyone possibly take the great prophet Jesus and twist him from the great teacher he was into some kind of false deity?

I thought of Peter on the mountaintop, very much like Cat Stevens, wanting to make Jesus safely one of the prophets, wanting to keep the Lord God very much at a distance from our broken humanity. Yes, let Jesus perhaps be a towering figure like Moses or Elijah. That’s something a pious person can understand and appreciate.

Isn’t it still easier today to domesticate Jesus, to reduce him to a great teacher? Isn’t it easier to want a glorious mountaintop experience of prayer and worship than to follow the only Son of God to His cross and ours?

Half-asleep disciples? Sleepwalking disciples? Could that be us?

ALMOST!

Driving down the street in our coastal community, I saw one of those church signs that said: “There’s no such thing as being almost saved.”

I thought of that dramatic scene near the end of the movie Titanic when most of the people for whom there was no lifeboat had drowned. Jack, the young artist played by Leonardo DiCaprio, has already died of hypothermia. Rose, his lover played by Kate Winslet, is floating on a wooden door and is near death. Finally, a lifeboat with room for more people has come back and is looking among the dead for survivors. A searchlight is shining in the darkness. Rose is so cold that she can hardly think. Then she recognizes that help has come. She dives into the water and swims to a frozen man with a whistle in his mouth. She grabs the whistle and begins to blow.

If Rose had not grabbed the whistle, if Rose had not seen the light, if Rose had not found the strength to keep on blowing the whistle, she would have been almost saved. But being almost saved was, in fact, the fate of all the others floating in the water.

If there is such a thing as being almost saved, it’s called being tragically unsaved.

And what of our world today? Those that see no need for rescue, see no chains of sin binding them, see no evil, and see no need for a Savior – of them, could it be said that they were almost saved? Could such a terrible thing happen to half awake disciples?

THE CHOSEN

The great and gracious God that shows Himself in Jesus Christ has come down to earth to “take on our nature and our lot” (as the Eucharistic prayer of Hippolytus puts it). Or as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Peter, James, and John were blessed to see the greatness of God on the mountaintop so that they might understand that Christ Jesus was no prophet – not even a great one like Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets personified. Christ Jesus was Himself the Gospel, the good news of God’s gracious rescue of sinners enslaved by sin, death, and Satan. Soon Christ Jesus would lead a new exodus through His death on a cross and the subsequent affirmation of His glorious resurrection. Soon he would lead enslaved sinners through the waters of Holy Baptism in order to give us and them the hope of the everlasting joy and freedom of the heavenly Promised Land.

So when God the Father envelops Peter, James, and John in the cloud, He tells them clearly the way of salvation. Listen to Jesus. Attend to Jesus. Pay attention to Jesus, the only begotten Chosen Son of God!

WAKE UP AND JOIN THE RESCUE PARTY

If Jesus were simply one of the prophets, then remaining half awake or even to be sleepwalking disciples would be no big deal. But now that we know that Jesus is the unique revelation of God, now that we have seen His lightning appearance on the mountaintop, we cannot go back to a time of not knowing. It is as one pastor said of a recurring conflict with his wife. He said, “I couldn’t not know what I knew!”

Peter, James, and John couldn’t forget what they had seen and heard. When someone has come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, that person can betray the relationship, can wander off where demons dwell, and can, like Peter in the courtyard, deny the Lord Jesus. But that person can’t forget what she or he knows. There is no more sleepwalking. There is no more being half awake.

Christ Jesus has come looking for everyone enslaved by sin, death, and evil. He has come to call sinners to the waters of baptism and to saving faith. Like the lifeboat in Titanic, Christ Jesus is shining in the darkness, seeking those near death, that they might not be almost saved – but ultimately lost.

Wherever you have been, whatever you have done, whatever has been done to you, no matter how lost you feel, no matter how enslaved you are – Christ Jesus loves you and wants you to be His forever. He has died for your sins. All of them! He wants you to be baptized into His death and resurrection. He wants you to trust Him forever!

If you have been already baptized and believing, but have been sleepwalking or half awake, Christ Jesus is calling you to listen to His voice. Follow Him to His cross. Lose your selfish self. Indeed wake up and join His rescue party.

There are people all around you that are living lives that are worse than a disaster movie. They are enslaved and can’t see it. And there are people all around you that are drowning in hopelessness and despair. They are dying for lack of love. Don’t let them be almost saved! Shine the light of Christ into their darkness! Let them hear the Savior’s voice speaking through you: “I love you forever. Come…be mine!”

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[To hear an mp3 version, please click on the icon at the top right “This Week’s Message” page at www.stmatthewsch.org]