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February 14, 2010
“Words Heard In a Cloud”
Luke 9: 28 - 36
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Scripture passage we are looking at this morning begins with a reference to some things that had been said previously. Our passage begins with the words “eight days after these sayings…”. So as we begin this morning I want to remind you of some important things that had been said a little over a week before.
1. In response to a question asked by Jesus as to who the Apostles believed he was, Peter had declared that Jesus was the Messiah sent from God.
2. Jesus told them not to tell anyone that and then said “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” With those words, Jesus predicted his death and resurrection.
3. Jesus then announced that anyone who would follow Jesus must take up his cross daily and follow him. Thus he predicted the suffering of those who would follow him.
4. Jesus announced that some of those who were standing before him that day would live to see the kingdom of God.
Now that those things had been said, it seems that Jesus and some of his followers were ready for the event we call the Transfiguration of Jesus.
1. Peter and the Apostles were ready to see some sign of the unique nature of the one whom they recognized as being especially sent by God.
2. Jesus had just reminded himself of his upcoming death and resurrection and he was ready for some reassurance and comfort from his Father as the time of his suffering and death came closer.
3. The three Apostles would need to remember this miraculous transfiguration and several other unique signs of Jesus’ power and divinity as they would later be fulfilling in their own lives the suffering that Jesus predicted would befall his followers.
4. Three of those who stood before Jesus and would see the Kingdom of God were with him to see Jesus Transfigured or changed before their eyes.
Now, as with many passages in the New Testament, it is helpful to know something about the Old Testament when you read the accounts of the transfiguration. There are several elements of this passage that are also present in a well-known passage from the Old Testament.
Let me enumerate a few of them for you. 1. We are told here that Jesus and his apostles went up a mountain. 2. Someone, in this case Jesus began to glow with the Glory of God. 3. Moses was present (even though he had been dead about 1400 years in the event described in Luke.) 4. There was a cloud that encompassed the top of the mountain and God spoke from the cloud.
Can anyone remember an event that is recorded in the Old Testament that included these four things, A mountain, a person Glowing, Moses being present and God speaking from a cloud? Yes. A similar event happened about 1400 years earlier as God had just brought the Jews out of Egypt. As they entered the wilderness, Moses went up a mountain. God met him and spoke to him from a cloud, and Moses began to glow with the reflected Glory of God. On that occasion, God gave Moses the 10 commandments, most of the rest of the Old Testament law, and the directions for the construction of the Tabernacle, their portable worship place. In Essence, on that occasion God gave this multitude of ex-slaves a constitution and called them to be His Nation, His people.
I think it is obvious that God so orchestrated the Transfiguration of Jesus to help us understand that Jesus is the new Constitution-giver, and the one who leads a new people on a new Exodus to be God’s new People. We who follow Jesus are a part of the new nation or the new kingdom of God, which fortunately for us is an eternal kingdom.
Peter picked up on the details of this event and wanted to add one of his own. He wanted to build booths or tabernacles for Jesus and Moses and Elijah to stay in for a few days. The Jews celebrated and in some places still celebrate the feast of Tabernacles by staying in temporary shelters to commemorate the shelters that the Jews lived in in the wilderness as they followed Moses. Peter was of course thinking that such a great event would certainly last a few days, but he was wrong
This event of the transfiguration of Jesus was as much or perhaps more for His benefit as it was for the benefit of the Apostles and us. This event reminds us of the divine nature of Jesus, but for him, it was a brief renewal of his divine Glory. When the eternal Son of God entered into Mary’s womb, He set aside some of the powers and qualities of his divinity. He gave up for about 33 years or so His glowing presence, His ability to be everywhere at the same time, the constant visible and audible adoration of angels and some other trappings of Divinity.
As He was facing his suffering and death Jesus needed to feel his old divine nature for just a little while to build Him up for what was to come. Now, could Jesus have faced the cross without the few moments of divine powers that he experienced on that mountain? Yes. but the Almighty Father comforted his obedient Son in giving him these few moments of uncovered divinity.
The Father also sent two old friends to Jesus to comfort him. These two came from heaven, but when they were alive on earth, they had gone through their own times of suffering. They were Moses and Elijah.
Luke is the only one who seems to be telling us that this happened at night. He mentions the fact that the Apostles were fighting sleep, and this allusion fits with Jesus’ practice of spending nights in prayer. This of course makes sense; the glowing presence of Jesus, Moses and Elijah would be much more dramatic at night.
Just after Peter made his suggestion to make shelters for the 3 radiant people, a cloud came over them and the three Apostles were terrified. They probably lost sight of each other in a heavy fog.
It can be pretty scary being in a cloud. I remember once when I was in my father-in-law’s boat on the Point Judith Harbor of Refuge in a heavy fog. We could hear the big ferry boat’s horn and engine but we could not see where she was. We hoped it would not come out of the fog and run over us.
But there are other kinds of clouds we sometimes find ourselves in. You know, the figurative clouds about which it is sometimes said that they all have silver linings. Well, I think you are all mature enough to realize by now that they don’t all have silver linings, or that if they do, even with the silver lining we were much better off before we were overtaken by the cloud.
Some of us become overwhelmed by clouds of grief or clouds of despair or clouds of failure or clouds of disappointment or you can name your own least favorite type of cloud here.
When you are in a real cloud or fog the first thing you loose is your sense of direction. You do not know where to go or what to do. When my father-in-law and I found ourselves in the fog on the water in Rhode Island we would have gone into the harbor and the marina if we had known where it was, so rather than have our sense of hearing drowned out by the sound of our motor in an attempt to move we knew not where, we left the motor off and drifted, listening for waves which would tell us where the land or the walls were. If we found either, we could follow them in to the shore and marina.
The apostles did not have to wait long for a sound to help them. The voice of God spoke to them in the cloud. He said “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to Him.” Then the cloud left and they saw Jesus, in his normal appearance, without Moses and Elijah. And he led them back down the mountain.
God brings clouds into our lives and sometimes like the one the apostles found themselves in, God is in the cloud. But he has given us comfort and advice for when we are lost and bewildered in those many different types of clouds; “listen to my son.” When we are confused and disappointed and lost in grief, we are to listen to Jesus. Read his words that are recorded in Scripture and if you can’t understand them, seek out someone who does. Jesus is God’s chosen one, His Holy Son, and he came on earth to speak so we can read his words and follow his commands and his example. He will lead us through the clouds into His marvelous kingdom, if we listen to him.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at February 14, 2010 04:51 PM