Speaking About His Departure

Luke 9:18-45

With today’s text of the Transfiguration, we come to a most remarkable scene. It is a pivotal event in the life of Jesus and must have been a mystery to the three disciples privileged to be there. Matthew, Mark and Luke all record this event in the life of Christ but not John who was one of the three witnesses.  But Robert, I think it was, pointed out in our Sunday School class that perhaps John did refer to this event in his Gospel in the opening chapter.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

But in any event, this is not an incident that can be lightly passed over. There is extraordinary significance in the details of this story, far too much to mention in just one sermon. For this morning, in examining this story, I want to point out three gifts that come to us in following Jesus:
1. we receive the gift of seeing him in his glory
2. we see him model for us the cost of discipleship
3. we benefit as he leads us in the exodus to the promised land

First, when we follow Jesus, we receive the gift of seeing him in his glory.

Peter, James and John have a special status in the group of disciples. There is a core group of 72 disciples among the followers of Jesus. From this group, Jesus chose 12 to be leaders of his followers. And from these 12, Jesus chose these three as those he would most closely work with.

So it is not unusual for Jesus to ask these three to accompany him when he went off alone. In this case, they go with him to the top of a mountain to pray. It might have been Mount Hermon, but nobody knows for sure. Wherever Jesus goes there are crowds so he needs to go to remote places to be alone and pray and this mountain top is a good location.

They climb the mountain and arrive in the evening and Jesus prays. There is another time when Jesus takes the disciples with him when he prays, the night he is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. And that night, as this night, the disciples are sleepy and cannot stay awake with Jesus. They fall asleep.

When they awake, they must have been unsure that they had woken. What they saw must have made them think they were still dreaming.
29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.  30 Two men, Moses and Elijah,  31 appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.  32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.

One of them probably woke first and saw what he could not believe was true. He woke his two companions and they pinched each other to see if they were really awake. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”“Is that Jesus?” “Who are those two with Jesus?” “What’s happening?”

Jesus appears in his heavenly glory, his clothes as bright as a flash of lightening and in some way his two companions, also in glorious splendor, are revealed to Peter, James and John as Moses, the giver of the Law, and Elijah, the first of the great prophets.

Peter, James and John have been through a lot with Jesus over the last two to three years. They have heard him teach with authority. They have seen him heal people, cast out demons and raise a widow’s son from the dead. It has been obvious that he is not an ordinary man. There is obviously something remarkable about him. But this experience dwarfs all the rest. This is, to use an intentional pun, the mountain top experience they have with Jesus.

It is something they never forgot and if they ever doubted or wavered in their faith at some point, they could always look back to this moment in time when they had seen what was true and what was eternal.

At the end of his life when Peter knew it would not be long before he died, he wrote in a letter
16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.  17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

James was the first of the disciples to be martyred, ten years after Jesus was crucified. Peter went to his crucifixion twenty years later in the persecution of Nero. John alone of the disciples died of old age. I have no doubt that this memory, along with the appearances of Jesus after his resurrection, sustained them through the difficult times they faced, even to the point of death.

The reason I think this to be the case is because in my own life I have had moments when I have experienced the glory of Jesus. I have never seen an angel, let alone Jesus, Moses and Elijah. I have never even heard a voice speaking to me. But there have been several times in my life when I have had an experience of the holiness of God.

I remember about 25 years ago, hiking in the mountains of New Hampshire in the northeast of the United States and sitting out at night looking at the stars. The more I looked, the more I saw and I began to pray to the one who had created the immensity of what I was seeing. It was a holy moment.

Last week as we were singing Praise the Name of Jesus, I looked up and imagined I was seeing Jesus and sang to him, “You’re my rock, you’re my fortress, you’re my redeemer. In you do I trust.” That was a holy moment. Actually, in this church in this past year, there have been many such moments for me. And when I am in a difficult situation, when I doubt that what I believe is true, I remember these moments and they sustain me. They encourage me to persevere.

Holy moments are wonderful gifts God gives us and the first lesson we learn from this passage is that these moments come when we follow Jesus.

When the disciples were in the midst of that holy moment with Jesus, Moses and Elijah, Peter spoke up
“Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

When Peter told this story to Mark for Mark’s Gospel, he added a little detail that he was frightened at the time of the Transfiguration. Peter remembered well how he felt at the time and so Peter spoke up, not knowing what he was saying, but speaking from his gut out of fear and all the other emotions flooding him at the moment.

It was a glorious, although frightening moment and Peter wanted to capture that moment and build three shelters so the next time he needed or wanted a holy experience, he could climb back up the mountain, go to the shelters and have that experience all over again.

This is something we certainly can all identify with. We have a wonderful lunch with a group of people. There is just something magical about the afternoon and so everyone plans to come back again next month. But the next time the afternoon seems flat. It just is not the same.

It is in our nature to try to hold on to experience and attempt to institutionalize it. We take the living experiences God gives us and set them in concrete. What God said to Peter, James and John needs to be said to us as well.
While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.  35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”

We try to institutionalize religious experience. God says to break out of that institutional pattern and follow Jesus.

There have been times when we have sung a certain song in our service at RPF and the sense of God’s presence as we sang was overwhelming. I remember once taking that same song and singing it at prayer meeting and it went nowhere. We just seemed to be going through the motions of singing. We had an expectation that if we sang the song we would have that feeling again and we tried, but we chased the experience and came up empty.

We don’t receive the gift of seeing Jesus in his glory by doing the same thing we did before. We cannot capture our experience with Jesus and put it in a glass jar.

When we pursue the feeling, we end up emotionally flat or at best, manufacture a superficial emotion that carries us for just awhile. When we pursue Jesus, he gifts us, from time to time, with a holy moment, an awareness of his presence, his holiness, his glory.

Don’t try to hold on to what you have experienced in the past. Remember the past but look to Jesus and move into the future. Seek the experience and you will end up with an empty institutionalized religion. Seek Jesus and experience his glory.

The second gift that comes from this passage is that Jesus models for us the cost of discipleship.

The Transfiguration follows a momentous point in the life of Jesus and his disciples. Peter has just made his great confession of Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ. Jesus asked the disciples who people said he was. They told him what people were saying and then he asked them a better question.
20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

This is a turning point for the disciples, a time when they have said openly what they have hardly dared to think and Jesus responds to this affirmation of who he is by telling them he will suffer, be rejected, die and rise to life on the third day. And then he gives them this teaching.
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.  25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?  26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.  27 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

It is no coincidence that this teaching directly precedes the Transfiguration. The chronology is the same in Matthew, Mark and Luke. It is obvious that they saw in the Transfiguration the fulfillment of what Jesus said
I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.

And I think it is obvious as well that there is a connection between the Transfiguration and the teaching that if we want to follow Jesus, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow him.

At the time of the Transfiguration, Jesus knows what is ahead of him. The disciples are still unclear about what he means when he talks about suffering and dying. Perhaps, they think, he is speaking in metaphors again. The disciples are confused but Jesus knows clearly what lies before him.

He goes to the mountain top and is transformed into his heavenly glory. He tastes again all the privileges that are his in heaven. He escapes the suffering of this world. He experiences again the open relationships with those in heaven and yet he chooses to return. Jesus steps into glorification and turns away and returns to the path of humiliation. Jesus, knowing full well the agony that lay ahead of him, chose to take the path of suffering. Jesus denied himself, picked up his cross and headed off to Calvary.

Any time we feel that we are too overwhelmed to continue. Any time we feel discouraged and depressed, look to Jesus and see the example he set for us. Certainly whatever we face cannot be as difficult as what Jesus faced.

Was Peter thinking of this as he approached his death? I think so. Let’s read again the passage from I Peter, but this time read more of the context.
So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.  13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body,  14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.  15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.  17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

Jesus, in some way, made Peter aware that he would soon depart this life and come to the place Jesus had prepared for him in heaven. I mentioned this in the series of sermons on the fruit of the Spirit, but according to church tradition, Peter was warned that Nero was going to kill him. So he left at night to escape the city and met Jesus. Jesus told him he had come again to be crucified, by which Peer understood it was his time to die and returned to submit to his fate.

Peter could have continued out of the city, but he chose to deny himself, take up his cross and follow Jesus. What Peter faced was not as difficult as what Jesus faced.

To what has God called you? To what is God calling you? Are you willing to follow him? Are you willing to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus? Are you feeling overwhelmed by what is in front of you? Are you feeling apprehensive or afraid of what might happen if you follow Jesus?

The second gift in this passage is that we can look to Jesus and see his example and take courage that we too can deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow him.

The third gift in this passage is that we benefit as Jesus leads us in the exodus to the Promised Land.

In the American game of baseball, there are times when the pitcher who throws the ball to the catcher meet together on the pitcher’s mound to talk during the game. Sometimes other players on the field join them. I’ve always been curious to know what they talk about when they are there. Do they talk strategy? Do they talk about what they’re going to do after the game? Does someone tell a joke to relieve the tension?

When Luke writes about Jesus having a conversation with Moses and Elijah, I have an even more intense curiosity. What were they talking about?

Luke says they spoke about his departure. Why of all the people in heaven were Moses and Elijah sent to talk with Jesus? Did Jesus ask them what it is like to die? Elijah wasn’t much help on this score since he was taken up into heaven. But then Elijah could talk to Jesus about what it was like to ascend into heaven. I don’t mean to be flippant here. But I am curious to know what they said and why these two were sent.

On Palm Sunday in Marrakech during our glorious worship celebration with children walking around the room waving palms and others waving banners in the air, I leaned over to Annie and told her I thought maybe one of the things Moses and Elijah told Jesus about his departure was that before he left they’d have a parade in his honor.

Maybe part of that conversation was adoration of Jesus by Moses and Elijah. At the time of the conversation, Moses has been dead for 1300 years and Elijah for almost 900 years. But here they are revealed in their resurrection bodies, alive with Jesus. How did Moses and Elijah get to heaven before Jesus died for their sins?

I know what theologians say. That there were figures of Christ in times before Jesus, like the bronze serpent that was lifted up on a pole. Anyone who was bitten by a poisonous snake but looked at the bronze serpent on the pole, lived. Coming to Jesus, looking to Jesus and believing in him is what saves us so these kinds of things prefigured Jesus.

In the timelessness of eternity, what happens before and after on this planet do not have the same sense of chronology in eternity. However you look at it, Moses and Elijah were standing in heavenly glory with Jesus because Jesus was going to go to the cross and die for their sins, just as he has died for our sins two thousand years later.

If Jesus had chosen not to go to the cross, would Moses and Elijah have lost their heavenly existence? That is fruitless speculation because Jesus did go to the cross and all of salvation history was predicated on his voluntary choice. Moses, Elijah and you and me owe our present or future heavenly existence to the choice Jesus made to go to the cross. So I imagine there was adoration of Jesus in the conversation.

When Luke says they spoke about his departure, the word Luke uses is exodus. This is not a commonly used word in the Bible and pulls us back to the time when God called Moses to lead his people Israel out of suffering in Egypt in an exodus to the Promised Land of Canaan. When we follow Jesus, he gives us the gift of leading us on an exodus out of this world of sorrow to the Promised Land of eternity.

This word is used only three times in the New Testament and it is interesting to me that it is used here in Luke and then once by Peter as he writes about his departure or exodus at the end of his life and once by Paul as he writes about his departure at the end of his life.

The passage from Peter we have already read.
And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

And from II Timothy 4 Paul writes:
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.  7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

This is the third gift we receive from Jesus in this passage. When it is time for our departure, Jesus will lead us in our exodus to the Promised Land as he promised on the eve of his own departure.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.  2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.  3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Sometimes I feel I am in a rut with the same message over and over again. But it is so clear to me that however I look at Scripture, the message is continually for us to look to Jesus. When we look to Jesus we receive from him the gift of seeing his glory. When we look to Jesus we see the model for us of one who denied himself, took up his cross and followed the path of obedience. When we look to Jesus we are led to the place for which we long deep in our hearts.

I encourage you to turn your eyes upon Jesus. If you are a Christian or if you are thinking about giving your life to Christ. Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus
to reach out and touch him, and say that we love him
Open our ears Lord, and help us to listen
Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus