Sermon – Up on the Mountain to Pray

Sermon – Up on the Mountain to Pray Pastor Kent Elliott

The Scripture for the Sermon – Luke 9:28-43a

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James,

and went up on the mountain to pray.

And while he was praying, the appearance of his face hanged, and his clothes became dazzling white.

Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"--not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"

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.

What sayings? Trials to come – in Jerusalem, crucifixion, rising from death.

Luke, mtns, & prayer.

Your experience of going up on the mountain?

Story. Camp budget… (I tell my story about the advice I had for my assignment to build a budget for a camping season to come, when nothing was known. Involved going by myself to the camp, counting wildflowers & measuring river flow at camp, doing some nonsense math, etc.)

Go to camp. Count…

Now realize the key to that was not the nonsense about counting this and that. It was “go to camp!” by yourself! Enjoy the spring meadow flowers, listen to the roaring river. Remember what it is to bring our folks up on the mountain in retreat, to let our kids spend a week in intentional Christian community. Then, back down in the world below, the numbers on the page will still be guesstimates, but we’ll know that it is important to organize this program, for God’s own sake.

Up the mountain to pray!

***

He took a shine to us. Trans (changed) - figured (appearance). Leads somewhere. Where?

Is it vision, or some shared hallucination? Leave that thought for now, but we have to ask.

Only Luke – what they were talking about. Exodus, the transfiguring of humanity, KofG presented in midst of vision.

Weighed down – depression of hearing again of this Departure (,>@*@<), and these centuries deceased guys in the conversation. Enough to weigh us down, but not quite check out in sleep. So they saw his glory, his shining presence with Moses & Elijah.

It is clearly a transforming moment, even as we hear it again. Let’s make shelters. Let’s hold this part, and leave the anticipated Departure out of the story for now. But that’s not what can be.

So, in this heavy weariness, now we are in a dense fog.

And a voice.

Group hallucination, or divine transfiguring vision. Here’s how we get our answer. “Listen to HIM!” the vision is still to point to the work of God in Christ. Changed from glory into glory

“At some point, I think we need to cut through all voices, especially the siren song of self, and wait in silence for God alone. Like the disciples on the mountain, we need to find Jesus. Not the filtered and focused Jesus of partisan religion, whose claimants have caused no end of human misery, but the Jesus we would see if the holy cloud covered us and then lifted and we looked on what God would have us see.

“I doubt that we would see Jesus living in a shelter of our making, whether doctrine or institution or holy war, but someone more akin to the one whom Peter saw: a gentle soul whose aura was peace, whose arms opened wide, who saw humanity's brokenness, even the brokenness that would claim his life, and yet loved without reservation.”[1]

On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."

Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions.

But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astounded at the greatness of God.

Illustrates so well the message in “listen to HIM.”

They couldn’t do it.

And where is Jesus’ little rant of frustration directed? At disciples who had the power but hadn’t figured out how to use it? at the father for asking too much? No

At the whole system, this generation. The whole people of God who just don’t seem to get it, that God is offering new life, a whole new way of being…

And then he gets to work. The mountain wasn’t a hallucination from some group mental illness. The cloud comes, and we are directed where to put our trust. Listen to HIM! This is the one who drives out whatever possesses, and keeps us from the wholeness of God’s realm.

Up to the mountain to pray. Down to the city to heal. For the whole of life. Welcome to the reign of God. The kingdom is in your midst, he tells us. Listen to him.