February 27th: "Charged Up"

 

Watch the sermon here

The First United Presbyterian Church of Loveland

“ Charged Up”

Rev. Amy Morgan

February 27, 2022

Exodus 34:29-35

Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterwards all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Luke 9:28-36

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus 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, 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, 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; 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.

Before and after – Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah AND Jesus talking about his betrayal and death and that his followers must take up their cross daily and follow him. After – healing of the boy who with demons who could not be healed by the disciples. 

Context – who is Jesus? Herod wants to know, rumors circulating

Context – prayer

Themes – power and authority (Jesus gives to the twelve when he sends them out; Herod’s power and authority; mob mentality; the authority of Moses and Elijah – law and prophets; the authority of a voice from heaven)

What does Jesus do with the power and authority that comes from being identified as God’s son? He heals. 

Departure = exodus

Fulfillment of /  connections to the OT covenant (Moses and Elijah, tabernacles, shining with God’s presence/authority/power)

Within Luke – Baptism of Jesus, praying in the garden, two hilltops, identity of Jesus, movement toward Jerusalem

“he did not know what he was saying” – why include this detail? Did Peter say something stupid? Or did he say something accidentally spot on? 

Theme: God’s power and authority in Jesus brings new life

Doctrine: The divinity of Jesus

Need: Who can help when powerful people bring destruction and death?

Image: 

Mission: Listen to Jesus

Trouble in the text: The disciples are powerless

Build-up of power – the mission of the 12, the feeding of the 5000, the declaration of the Messiah, and now, they are on a mountaintop with Moses and Elijah and transfigured Jesus!

Trouble in the world: We are powerless

Grace in the text: God’s power in Jesus brings healing and new life

This does not mean an escape from difficulty or even death. Jesus goes toward Jerusalem after this. But the cross is the path to new life. Death is the path to life. 

Grace in the world: God’s power in Jesus brings healing and new life

Imagine how powerful you would feel. If you could cure diseases with a word or a touch. Instead of standing idly by, wringing our hands and hoping against hope, when the treatments don’t work and the doctors have given up, if we had the power to step in and heal someone. It would make us feel good, of course, happy to be helping and making someone’s life better. But it would also give us tremendous power. The power to choose who to heal. The power to withhold healing. The power over life and death, in a way.

And then, imagine that you could not only heal people, but feed them. ALL of them. That Miss America-style dream of ending world hunger? Done. No child goes to bed hungry. No one has to beg for bread. You can create enough for everyone to eat and be satisfied. 

That is some kind of power. A force for good, no doubt. A life-giving power, for sure. An amazing power. The power to heal, to feed, to bring wholeness and abundance. Wow. 

This is the power the disciples were feeling when they went up the mountain with Jesus. Jesus had sent his first 12 disciples out on a mission to “proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” He “gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,” and they brought good news and cured diseases everywhere they went. They had power over demons, over debilitating diseases. And then, when Jesus is teaching a large crowd out in a deserted place, they manage to feed more than 5,000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and two fish. 

The disciples are charged up from these superhuman powers, but they’re also pretty exhausted. When Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain so that Jesus can re-charge his batteries through prayer, the disciples are weighed down with sleep. But they have just enough voltage left to keep awake. 

And that’s when they see what real power is. Jesus is transfigured before their eyes, shining like a thousand-watt spotlight. Once their eyes adjust to this blazing light, the disciples see the two greatest powerhouses of Israelite history, Moses and Elijah, calmly conversing with Jesus. 

They are discussing his departure, our translation says, but in Greek the word is exodus, the same word used for that liberating movement of God that released the Hebrews from captivity in Egypt. These three powerful figures are plotting – not world domination – but world liberation. 

Peter gets a bolt of inspiration and offers to build dwellings, tabernacles, to harness this power and make it transportable. The dwellings referenced here are the same ones constructed in the Jewish festival of booths, Sukkot, which commemorates the tents the Israelites lived in as they wandered in the desert, God ever-present with them wherever they went, in God’s very own tabernacle, a portable divine power-source. 

The text gives us this really strange sidebar: Peter did not know what he was saying. At first glance, it would seem to be making fun of Peter, ridiculing him for blurting out something stupid. But it’s possible that the gospel writer is pointing out that Peter said something deeply insightful and just didn’t understand the implications. Because the whole point of Jesus and his power, the power that allows him even to converse with long-dead powerful people to plan world-liberation, is that God is with us, and will be with us, wherever we go. And the tabernacle really is a perfect symbol of that. But Peter just didn’t understand what was really going on. He thought he could construct another portable divine power-source, perhaps for use in overpowering their Roman oppressors or re-charging the spirits of his burned-out people. 

But, alas, Peter’s transportable power houses are not to be. Suddenly, a power overwhelms them that completely drains their courage and leaves them trembling in fear. The very power and presence of God overshadows them and speaks directly to them, claiming Jesus as the Son of God and commanding that the disciples listen to him. 

And then, all the lights go out, and it’s just Jesus on a mountaintop, setting his face toward Jerusalem. Peter, James, and John are so depleted that they can’t even speak about what just happened, and they silently descend back into their normal, powerless existence. 

Their powerlessness is intensified as soon as they reunite with the other disciples. They have been trying, and failing, to heal a boy suffering from convulsions attributed to an evil spirit. The disciples were supposed to have the power to cast out demons and to heal, but they are suddenly and inexplicably powerless over this particular spirit. 

Jesus, however, is not. He casts out the spirit and heals the boy. He may not be shining like the Empire State building, but the power demonstrated on top of the mountain has clearly remained with him. And then Jesus says to his disciples, “"Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands." 

Jesus, Messiah, Son of God, Light of the World, has the power to liberate, to heal, to cast out demons, to restore people to wholeness. And what will he do with all that power? Allow himself to be betrayed. Beaten. Ridiculed. Condemned. Executed. 

In the face of Jesus’ power and humility, the disciples immediately start arguing about which of them is the greatest, the most powerful. They are powerless people, arguing about power, in the presence of the greatest power in the universe. 

And I feel like that is where a lot of us are at today. As we watch in horror while an autocratic super-power attacks a small, sovereign, democratic nation. 

As people are injured and killed, we long for that power to heal. As sanctions create suffering and shortages, we long to be able to provide abundance. As individuals, ordinary citizens, we feel powerless, even as we argue about what the powerful people should be doing. 

And what’s so hard about all this is that for so long, we thought we were so powerful. We thought our treaties and alliances, our massive military power and enormous global economic influence would give us the power to keep peace. And for a long, long time, it has. We’ve been charged up in the decades since World War II to believe that we have the power to heal conflicts and provide resources that would cast out the evil spirits of warmongering. We’ve participated in the decline of extreme poverty and hunger around the globe, boosted education and literacy rates, reduced childhood mortality and made incredible strides in treating and eradicating horrible diseases. 

And now, when our powers aren’t working, when we can’t put an immediate stop to the bombing and bloodshed, we are stunned and scared and don’t know what to do or how to help. People are begging for us to use our power for their healing and wholeness, and we feel like there’s nothing we can do. At least on an individual level. 

And then all of us powerless people argue about who is more powerful and what we should do to prove it. 

And we forget that we are in the presence of the greatest power in the universe. 

The transfiguration of Jesus reminds us that God’s power in Jesus Christ is the power from which all our power to heal and feed and bring wholeness and abundance is drawn. Christ’s power is the power of liberation and peace. Christ’s power is the power that casts out darkness and restores human community. And Christ’s power keeps on working, even when our power fails. 

And that’s the hope our faith offers us today. As we grieve and worry and pray. As we try to figure out what we’re supposed to do in the face of a great world conflict. Our hope is in the cosmic power that shines forth from Christ, lighting up a world steeped in darkness. And our mission is to listen to him. 

God doesn’t command the disciples to emulate Jesus, to try to be Jesus or even Jesus-like. God simply says, “listen to him.” 

If we listen to Jesus through the words of scripture, we hear him saying “do not fear, only believe;” “Blessed are the peacemakers;” “I am with you always;” “Love one another;” “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you;” and “come to me, you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens.” These are not guidelines for foreign policy or blueprints for defending democracy. These words are more powerful than that. These words speak to the power of God in Jesus Christ to heal what we don’t have the power to heal, to provide what we don’t have the power to provide, to be peace where there is no peace. 

Listening to Jesus won’t give us the power to heal, to feed, to fix this mess. But it will allow us to see where Jesus is already at work with divine power, bringing healing, abundance, and hope, even in this devastating crisis.  May we listen to him, and know that he is, as Paul said, creating in himself “one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace,” reconciling “both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.”

Thanks be to God. Amen.