Let's Go To The Mountaintop

Luke 9:28-36   Common English Bible

About eight days after Jesus said these things, he took Peter, John, and James, and went up on a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes flashed white like lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, were talking with him. They were clothed with heavenly splendor and spoke about Jesus’ departure, which he would achieve in Jerusalem. 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.

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. Peter was still speaking when a cloud overshadowed them. As they entered the cloud, they were overcome with awe.

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

Whenever I read a text that begins like this one does: “About eight days after Jesus said these things” --- I want to know what was going on.

Just before Jesus takes James, John and Peter up to the top of Mount Tabor --- we have the story of the feeding of the 5 thousand --- followed up by this intriguing conversation between Jesus and the disciples: (Luke 9:18-27)

Once when Jesus was praying by himself, the disciples joined him, and he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

They answered, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others that one of the ancient prophets has come back to life.”

He asked them, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered, “The Christ sent from God.”

After Jesus asks the disciples who in the world they think he is --- Jesus continues with this --- to me --- rather bizarre admonition.

Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone. He said, “The Human One must suffer many things and be rejected—by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts—and be killed and be raised on the third day.”

Jesus said to everyone, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will save them. What advantage do people have if they gain the whole world for themselves yet perish or lose their lives? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see God’s kingdom.”

I think it is important for us to keep this context in our mind as we look at our story today.

Jesus tells us:

• I am going to die – be murdered

• Take up your cross DAILY (oh that is another topic in itself!)

• Value what really matters

• Don’t be ashamed of me

• The kingdom will be here shortly (before you die)

• Oh yeah --- Don’t tell anybody who I am

And then --- then --- we head up to, what traditions says is the top of Mount Tabor --- or at least a select few do.

In chapter 8 of Luke’s gospel Jesus seems to have designated an inner circle of James, John and Peter.

We climb up to the mountaintop with the disciples to encounter this very strange story.

It begins with Jesus, as he often is, taking time to be present to God when all of a sudden, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became blinding white. 

Two people appear and seem to be in a conversation with Jesus.  And Luke wants us to know that these are not two ordinary men --- but rather heroes from the Hebrew tradition.

Moses and Elijah

They were talking about what was going to happen when Jesus gets to Jerusalem.

What I love about this story is how Peter, James and John react.  

They seem to have been sleeping while Jesus was praying to God and when they woke up, they were startled at who had joined them --- as I imagine most of us would be.

Not wanting this experience to come to an end

Peter suggests building some dwellings --- tents --- or shrines.

Shelters for these distinguished guests

But this mountaintop experience could not be captured.

This experience --- this glimpse of the glory and majesty of God --- was fleeting.

But hopefully --- even thought this experience could not last --- hopefully the disciples were strengthened and renewed by this experience.

Because the journey that they were getting ready to embark on was going to lead them to another mountaintop --- this time one in which Jesus would again be transfigured --- but this time in suffering and death --- and ultimately resurrection.

Can you think of a time where you have experienced the glory of God?

When you have been to the mountaintop?

When I think about mountaintop experiences in my life, I find that I am a heck of a lot like the disciples.

I want to stay up on that mountain and bask in the glory of the experience.

How about for you?

But that is not how it works --- is it?

We don’t get to stay up on that mountain and ignore the world around us --- at least not very long.

Eventually we have to come down.

The truth is --- God wants us to come down

Before the disciples came down from the mountain: the spirit spoke to them and said: 

“This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to him!”

Listen

What is it that God wants us to hear? --- what is it that God wants us to see?

When I reflect on the mountaintop experiences in my life, they have usually signaled some momentous change or shift that is about to take place.

God seems to be using those mountaintop experiences to help prepare me --- to have the strength and the courage to face the next chapter of my life.

Because life is not lived on the mountaintop

Life is lived in the valleys and hills that make up our journey.

The sometimes very mundane nature of life.

Whenever I think of mountaintop experiences --- my mind instantly goes back to that speech that Martin Luther King Jr. gave on April 3rd in Memphis Tennessee at the Mason Temple

Martin said:

We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Of course, we all remember that the very next day --- Martin would be dead.

Assassinated by James Earl Ray --- Martin was dead and his dream seemed tenuous at best.

And it still feels that way --- 55 years later --- the promised land sometimes feels like a distant dream.

Frederick Buechner, in his book Beyond Words, mused that maybe the oddness of the Transfiguration is not so odd after all. 

It is interesting to note that although Luke tells us that Jesus’ garments shone as bright as a flash of lightning, we are not told that Jesus’ face shone, only that it “changed.” 

In the Greek this is literally that the EIDOS of his face changed, the image, the appearance, of his face was altered. 

How so? 

We’re not told, but it seems that maybe what happened that day is that the true image of God --- shone through in a way the disciples managed to miss seeing most days. 

In that moment --- maybe Jesus was the spitin’ image of God his father.

The truth is that we too often miss seeing this in each other.

We all KNOW intellectually that we are made in the image of God.

But too often we don’t live that way.

We rush past each other in the grocery store

Get annoyed when they get into our space on an airplane

Judge them for wearing a mask --- or not wearing a mask

And so, we miss seeing God’s presence in each other.

Frederick Buechner reminds us that there are moments of transfiguration in all our lives. 

Certainly not on par with what happened to Jesus but still --- as Buechner put it, 

“Even with us something like this happens once in a while. 

The face of the man walking with his child in the park, of a woman baking bread, or sometimes even the most unlikely person listening to a concert or standing barefoot in the sand watching the waves roll in, or just having a beer at a Saturday baseball game in July. 

Every once and so often, something so touching, so incandescent, so alive transfigures the human face that it’s almost beyond bearing.” 

What I love about the transfiguration story is that for just a brief moment the curtain is drawn aside --- and the disciples --- and us of course --- get a glimpse of what is to come. 

A glimpse of the image of God

Of the majesty

Or as Martin reminded us --- 

“I've seen the promised land. . . . Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

For Luke, this story is the transition from Jesus’ ministry to his passion and it is fitting that we remember it the Sunday before we begin the season of Lent.  

Luke will tell us shortly after this story that “Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem” or as Peterson interprets it: Jesus “gathered up his courage and steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem.”

We too are called to called to gather up our courage --- come down from the mountaintop --- and follow Jesus into Jerusalem.

And as we do --- to see the glory of God all around us

And to remember that we are called to be witnesses of that glory and to spread the hope and possibility of the promised land.

WH Auden wrote, September 1, 1939, in remembrance of the Nazi invasion into Poland which marked the beginning of World War II.  It seems fitting to be reminded of it today as we have witnessed the invasion of Ukraine by the Russians this past week.

These are the last two stanzas of that poem.

All I have is a voice

To undo the folded lie,

The romantic lie in the brain

Of the sensual man-in-the-street

And the lie of Authority

Whose buildings grope the sky:

There is no such thing as the State

And no one exists alone;

Hunger allows no choice

To the citizen or the police;

We must love one another or die.

Defenceless under the night

Our world in stupor lies;

Yet, dotted everywhere,

Ironic points of light

Flash out wherever the Just

Exchange their messages:

May I, composed like them

Of Eros and of dust,

Beleaguered by the same

Negation and despair,

Show an affirming flame.

So let’s gather up our courage ---

We have seen the glory of God

It is time to come down from the mountaintop and join Jesus as we walk with him to our Jerusalem.

This Is Hard

 Luke 6:27-38    Common English Bible

“But I say to you who are willing to hear: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer the other one as well. If someone takes your coat, don’t withhold your shirt either. Give to everyone who asks and don’t demand your things back from those who take them. Treat people in the same way that you want them to treat you.

“If you love those who love you, why should you be commended? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, why should you be commended? Even sinners do that. If you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, why should you be commended? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be paid back in full. Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return. If you do, you will have a great reward. You will be acting the way children of the Most High act, for he is kind to ungrateful and wicked people. Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate.

“Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good portion—packed down, firmly shaken, and overflowing—will fall into your lap. The portion you give will determine the portion you receive in return.”

I doubt any of us are of the ilk believing that we should repay people who harm us by our harming them back.

But is Jesus serious here? --- does Jesus really expect us to LOVE our enemies?

You heard Cyrena read to you these words --- but seriously:

Love your enemies. 

Do good to those who hate you. 

Bless those who curse you. 

Pray for those who mistreat you. 

If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer the other one as well. 

If someone takes your coat, don’t withhold your shirt either. 

Give to everyone who asks and don’t demand your things back from those who take them. 

Amy Jill Levine in her Jewish Annotated New Testament askes if this is just hyperbole from Jesus.

Are we to take this seriously --- and actually love our enemy or is Jesus asking us just to be kind?

It is interesting how this passage began --- the Common English Bible writes:

I say to you who are willing to hear

Luke Timothy Johnson in his commentary on Luke translates this as:

“I declare to you who are still listening.”

The audience between the sharing of the beatitudes last week and this week, seems to have gotten smaller.  

Not everyone was able, or willing to hear what Jesus had to say.

Maybe that is why we are seeing that people are slow to return to in-person church --- we like that we can turn off the pastor or walk out of the room --- if we don’t like what is being said.

It certainly is done when we are in the sanctuary --- but it is a bit more awkward.

As Jesus attempts to grab their attention, he begins to describe the way in which those in choose to be a follower of Jesus --- who choose to be in this special relationship with God are called to live.

But boy is this tough

I was sharing with Peggy and Raina that I was really struggling in putting this sermon down on paper and they said they would write it for me.

Their suggestion was --- after Cyrene finished the scripture to just walk out and say: ”This is hard!” and sit down.

That would certainly would be the most honest thing to do!

Rev. Dr. Tim Keller makes the claim that this call to love one’s enemies is a uniquely Christian idea.  He suggests that no other religions have this mandate.

Unfortunately, we know this is not completely true.

Throughout the Hebrew Bible we are told to love --- sure we are sometimes told to smite our enemies.

But clearly in Micah we are told --- in the phrase you walked past coming into Meridian Street --- 

Micah 6:8 New Revised Standard Version

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;

    and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

    and to walk humbly with your God?

Even the Buddha is credited with saying:

“Hatred will not cease by hatred, but by love alone. This is the ancient law.”

But I think we get hung up on this idea of love.

We really don’t understand what it means.

In the Greek language there are 7 different words for LOVE.

1. Eros: romantic, passionate love. ...

2. Philia: intimate, authentic friendship. ...

3. Ludus: playful, flirtatious love. ...

4. Storge: unconditional, familial love. ...

5. Philautia: self-love. ...

6. Pragma: committed, companionate love. ...

7. Agápe: empathetic, universal love.

But in the English language all we have is the word love.

So when we read “Love your enemies” we are stumped by exactly what Jesus meant.

Are we to love them in an eros way?

Or maybe a philos way?

Or are we being called to love with an agape love?

Our English language doesn’t tell us.

What makes it even more difficult is when we link this passage to the message of the prophet Micah

God wants us to DO JUSTICE while at the same time LOVING KINDNESS

How in the world do I DO JUSTICE and love those who are DOING INJUSTICE --- or even show them kindness?

These two ideas seem to be in tension if not polar opposites.

And some of you would say you don’t and shouldn’t love someone who has been unjust to you --- but Jesus pretty clearly here in Luke’s Gospel is saying that we must if we want to follow him.

This is where I have to take a deep breath

Because Jesus is asking me to go to a place that I am not comfortable with.

It is easier to HATE

It is easier to DIVIDE

It is easier to SEPARATE

It is easier to MARGINALIZE and TRIVIALIZE

And so we find ways to rationalize this challenging passage away.

I think it was in reading over Eugene Peterson’s translation The Message that for me this finally began to sink in.

“To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more payback. Live generously.

“Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them!

But to be honest, it was Bob Goff who made it all make sense for me.

Bob Goff is a “recovering attorney” (his description not mine).  

Who liked to boast that he would use Tom Sawyer’s Island at Disney Land for an office.  

He was named honorary consul for the Republic of Uganda to the United States.

Today he writes and tries to teach people like me to love.

His first book was simple titled LOVE DOES.

I heard Bob speak for the first time about 10 years ago and was hooked.

The phrase that has stuck in my head all these years is LOVE GOES FIRST

What an interesting turn of a phrase.

I think that is what Peterson is trying to get across in his translation.

Bob Goff’s basic premise is --- you cannot love someone that you don’t know.  

And it is our job to go first

So we need to find ways to get to know each other --- especially those we don’t like.

Soren Kierkegaard, that great 19th century Danish theologian and philosopher said it the best:

Men think that it is impossible for a human being to love his enemies, for enemies are hardly able to endure the sight of one another. Well, then, shut your eyes and your enemy looks just like your neighbor.

And the price of not being in a relationship with our neighbor is huge!

I love how Rachel Held Evans put it in her final book Wholehearted Faith:

I remained convinced that it was my job to be Jesus to others, so much so that I missed many chances to let others be Jesus to me—to teach me, to heal me, to sit with me, to break bread with me, to listen to me, to weep with me, to call me to repentance, to love me.

We desperately need to be in relationship with each other.

CNN posted a great piece the other day on the benefits of being kind to each other --- besides the fact that Jesus tells us to do it --- according to the experts --- lots of good things can come from it.

There is a powerful story that is told about a Palestinian Priest by the name of Elias Chacour.  

I had the opportunity to meet with Father Chacour on one of my trips to Israel.

Father Chacour is a Marionite Priest in the Galilean city of Ibillin

The story takes place on a Palm Sunday service at his church 

One of the unique features of his congregation is that it is filled with people who are at odds with each other.

Father Chacour realized that there was, in reality, no peace among his people.

At the end of the Palm Sunday service, as he was getting ready to pronounce the benediction, Father Chacour made a startling decision. 

He walked down the center aisle and at the back of the church locked the only two doors to the church and took the key. 

He told the people both that he loved them and that he was saddened to find them so filled with hatred and bitterness for one another. 

Then, in the midst of stunned silence, he announced that only one person could work the miracle of reconciliation in their village: Jesus Christ.

Then he told his congregation this --- he said:

"So on Christ's behalf, I say this to you.  The doors of the church are locked. Either you kill each other right here in your hatred, and then I will celebrate your funerals ... or you use this opportunity to be reconciled together before I open the doors of the church. If that reconciliation happens, Christ will truly become your Lord."

Ten minutes passed, and no one said a word. 

The people sat in silence, locked inside their church.

Finally, one man stood up. 

His name was Abu Muhib, a villager serving as an Israeli policeman --- who you can imagine was hated by many of his Palestinian brothers and sisters because of his decision to work for “the enemy”

And to compound matters Abu was wearing his Israeli uniform. 

Abu stretched out his arms and said, 

"I ask forgiveness of everybody here, and I forgive everybody. And I ask God to forgive me my sins." 

He and Chacour then embraced, with tears streaming down Abu Muhib's cheeks. 

Chacour says it was a miracle --- for within minutes, everyone in the church was crying, laughing, embracing and sharing Christ's love and peace.

Elias Chacour then announced that

"this is our resurrection! We are a community that has risen from the dead, and we have new life. I propose that we don't wait until Easter to celebrate the Resurrection. I will unlock the doors, and then let us go from home to home all over the village and sing the resurrection hymn to everyone!" 

Great things seem to happen --- when we learn to love

Robert Benton's Academy Award-winning film “Places in the Heart” is the story of a young woman, widowed within the first few minutes of the film.  

She is struggling against the principalities and powers of evil incarnate found in everyday life of central Texas during the 1930s. 

Forces are working to take away the only thing her, now dead, husband has left her and their two small children --- a small farm in this Texas town.  

Lynching’s, brutality, infidelity, racism, greed, duplicity all of these are woven into the lives of those who make up the tapestry of Benton's story. 

The film ends with a communion service in the small church in town --- A Methodist Church if I remember correctly. 

At first the camera shows you a few of the good folk in town. 

Next, some of the not-so-good. 

Then the banker and others who conspired to take away her farm. 

The camera continues to move with the passing of the cups of wine. 

There is the faithful black farmhand who helped bring in the crop so the widow might pay her mortgage; 

next to him, the blind boarder. 

The plate passes to the children, then to their mother. 

She is seated next to her dead husband. 

As you are trying to take this in, and it is overwhelming and confusing in the moment --- the camera moves and we see the young man who shot and killed her husband. 

And as they receive Holy Communion they respond to each other: "the peace of God." 

All are gathered at table, to share the bread and cup of life.

Suddenly you realize that this is no longer simply a Sunday morning in this rural Texas church --- this is the kin-dom, eternity captured in time

We are no longer looking at this from a human point of view. 

The film maker has given us a glimpse --- a glimpse of what the kin-dom is like.

I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new.

Loving our enemies may see impossible

It certainly does to me many times

But Jesus is trying to show us a better way

Jesus is trying to show us what the kin-dom of God will look like --- and something that we should all strive for.