I have preached lots of Transfiguration Sunday sermons. this week, I branched into a couple of areas I haven't often in the past. As I referenced, I had read an article comparing the words God speaks at the Transfiguration with the words God spoke at Jesus' baptism. I found it very interesting and thought provoking, so it became the basis of the first part of the sermon. I then finished with a section reflecting on where the women were in the story (not on the mountain!). I find it fascinating that in Luke the women see the empty tomb and tell the men, but the men, who had been privy to the Transfiguration, do not believe them. I had encountered several years ago that Luke "interruputs" the story with the resurrection, so I tied the interruption to interrupting the silence, which I think has theological and biblical integrity.
“On and Off the Mountain” march 3, 2019; St. Andrew; Transfiguration Sunday; Luke 9: 28-37
Luke 9: 28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus[a] 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. 32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake,[b] 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,[c] 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;[d] 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.
37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.
Introduction: Transfiguration Sunday. The last Sunday before Lent. A chance to go up on the mountain to hear what Peter, John, and James heard and a chance to come off the mountain and reflect on the women’s role in the story as we finish our preaching series on women in the biblical texts.
On and off the mountain we will discover the challenging call to discipleship.
Move 1: On the mountain.
a. Jesus and the disciples have been on a roll leading up to this moment.
1. Jesus has taught parables; healed people; brought a young girl back from near death; fed the 5K; Peter has confessed that Jesus is the Messiah; Jesus has told them about his death and resurrection; and told them about the challenge and cost of discipleship.
2. And then time to breathe.
3. Eight days to breathe, absorb, and reflect on whom this person is they follow and what it means that they have chosen to follow him.
b. Now they are on the mountain.
1. No surprise that something exciting is about to take place on the mountain.
1. Strange exciting things happen on mountains in the biblical stories.
2. Abraham took Isaac up on the mountain.
3. Moses saw God’s glory and received the Ten Commandments on a mountain.
c. This moment on the mountain is no different.
1. there before Peter, John, and James appear Moses and Elijah.
2. Moses, arguably one of the greatest leaders of the Israelites people. Moses, who knew a thing or two about going up on a mountain.
3. Elijah, the great prophet to the Israelites, who also knows something about mountaintops and being swept away in the moment.
4. And, of course, they are joined by the transfigured Jesus.
d. The disciples recognize something amazing is taking place and they want, well, they want to stay.
1. In the glory of the moment, Peter suggests they build booths.
2. As if in the certainty of the moment, the certainty that Christ is indeed a leader like Moses or Elijah, Peter wants to hang out for a while.
4. Take it in - stay in the moment.
4. A temptation we all encounter when we have mountaintop experiences - the temptation to try and stay in the moment forever.
e. But the voice from the clouds, the voice of God speaks to interrupt their desire to stay and to make the claim of discipleship clearer.
1. “this is my son.” Suddenly, Peter, John, and James,…..suddenly we shift back to the river Jordan and remember the baptism of Jesus when God spoke in a similar fashion.
2. But the words heard on the mountaintop are slightly different. Instead of “You are my son.” God says, “this is my Son.”
3. God speaking directly to the disciples to put them on notice that Jesus is more than Elijah, more than Moses — Jesus is God in flesh.
4. Welcome to following not just some great leader or a terrific teacher, but following the Son of God.
f. “This is my Son, the chosen” - again, a little different language than at Jesus’ baptism when God calls Jesus, “beloved.”
1. God’s words at the moment reveal a different aspect of who Jesus is.
2. Jesus is chosen by God, which puts his life and ministry in the context of being chosen and called.
3. It also puts into context how the disciples are to understand what it means to follow Jesus.
4. Their call to discipleship is grounded in their being chosen, just as we are reminded that our discipleship is grounded in being chosen, being called by God.
g. The final words from God: “listen to him,” words not paralleled in at the River Jordan, but spoken now to confirm the core task of discipleship - “listen to Jesus.”
1. In the magnitude of the moment, God gives the disciples a simple way of understanding their discipleship - listen to Jesus.
2. As disciples of Christ, we too hear this simple reminder - our task begins with listening to Jesus.
(Scott Shauf, Gardner-Webb University, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1572)
h. The disciples listen and follow….they listen and follow Jesus off the mountain.
1. they listen and follow Jesus off the mountain and among the people Jesus has come to save.
2. They listen and follow Jesus off the mountain and among the people Jesus calls them to serve.
3. Like we listen and follow Jesus into the context of our world and live among the people and serve the people, God sends Christ to save.
Move 2: Notice, Peter, John, and James keep silent as they follow Jesus off the mountain.
a. In Luke’s telling of the story, Jesus does not instruct them to keep silent, but they do.
b. we do not know for sure, but I suspect that off the mountain they immediately were questioned by those who greeted them.
1. As some of you may know, I have a wife and three adult daughters, which means I have spent the last 25+ years answering, again and again, their questions like - what were the women doing in the story?
2. Clearly, Luke does not help me in my parental or marital conversations about this story, but I suspect the women were among those asking Peter, John, and James what happened up on the mountain.
3. The women who had already joined them in following Jesus.
2. the women who also knew that strange, exciting things happen on mountaintops.
3. The women who remember the stories about Moses on the mountain.
4. the women who remember Abraham and Isaac going up to the mountain, and probably the unspoken part of story, Sarah, Abraham’s husband and Isaac’s mother, anxiously waiting to see who would return from the mountain.
3. The women who want to know what happened that day on the mountaintop.
c. Imagine this conversation taking place just after Peter, James and John have come down off the mountaintop.
1. “What happened on the mountaintop, Peter?
What happened John?
James, come on tell us!”
2. “nothing”
3. “no really, we know special things happen on the mountaintop. What did Jesus say up there? What did he do?”
4. “nothing. Really. We just walked up, tried to stay awake, walked back down. Nothing happened.”
5. “I don't believe you. Something must have happened. Come on, tell us.”
6. “Nope, nothing happened. Just another day on the mountain,” all the while the excited, somewhat fearful looks in their eyes betraying their words.
7. Maybe over the next few days Peter or James or John might whisper, “Something did happen. But I can't tell you about it. Maybe one day.”
move 3: Despite the silence of Peter, John, and James, they all continue following Jesus in the world.
a. Watching and helping as he teaches.
1. Witnessing Jesus healing people.
2. Listening and reflecting on what they see and hear.
3. Taking measure of how Jesus lives out his calling in their midst as they discover their calling as his disciples, even as Peter, John, and James keep the silence.
4. Watching as Jesus dies on the cross - Peter, John, and James perhaps wondering how their mountaintop experience fit together with his crucifixion.
b. Luke breaks the silence about the transfiguration of Jesus with the empty tomb.
1. Ironically, or perhaps it’s a God thing, it is the women who find the empty tomb.
2. the women who go and tell the disciples what they have discovered.
3. Peter, who had been on the mountaintop, who had seen Jesus transfigured, who had heard God’s voice from the clouds, this Peter cannot believe the women’s story of the empty tomb until he races there to see it for himself.
c. Now, the silence is shattered.
1. The power of God to resurrect as revealed by the empty tomb and the resurrected Christ’s appearances among them has spoken.
2. Now Peter, John, and James can add one more story.
2. “Remember when we were on the mountaintop and told you nothing happened. Something really did happen.
We saw Moses and Elijah and Jesus gloriously transfigured before us.
God spoke to us from the heavens and told us: “This is my Son, my chosen. listen to him.”
3. One more story to hear and tell.
4. One more call to listen and follow the resurrected Christ into the world to serve.
One more call for us today.
Amen.
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