“Prophets And The Law”
2 Kings 2:1-12 (O.T. Lesson) | Mark 9:2-9 (Gospel Lesson)
An elderly priest, who had spent 50 years preaching in parish missions, dreamed one night that he died and knocked on the pearly gates. “Who is there?” St. Peter asked. “I am Farther Clyde, preacher of missions for over 50 years.”
“Ah, yes, Father Clyde,” St. Peter said, “I’m sorry but you can’t come in yet. First you will have to spend three months in Purgatory.” “Three months in Purgatory!” Father Clyde exclaimed. “I spent my life preaching missions all over Australia!”
“Please be calm, Father,” St. Peter said. “You won’t have to work. We have a comfortable chair for you in a comfortable room. You won’t have to do anything except listen to your own sermons’ day and night.” The priest woke up in a sweat.
On our church calendar today is what is known as Transfiguration Sunday. It’s the last Sunday before we enter the Season of Lent—a forty-day season (minus Sundays) of reflection and preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus which begins this Wednesday on what we call Ash Wednesday. It is a time of repentance, of considering Christ’s sufferings and rethinking how we are called to take up our crosses. Some of us give up things like chocolate or television (don’t make it something you despise anyway) during this season as a sort of fasting. The past few years I’ve advised people that rather than choose something to give up why not choose something to add, like volunteering for outreach work (the Christian Life Center welcomes volunteers), exercising or praying. It’s a good season to rethink how we live and to let some things go, or maybe even to develop some new holy habits.
Do You Want to Fast This Lent? – In the words of Pope Francis
Repent is a word that in some settings has been removed from the Christian vocabulary. If you watch or listen to sermons from some of the famous TV preachers and their mega non-denominational churches you won’t hear the word repent. Even in some of our denominational churches. No, they spend their time patting folks on the back and telling them what good people they are. What was the first thing Jesus preached about? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17 NIV).
In his book, Practicing the Way—Be with Jesus, Become like him, Do as he did, author John Mark Comer writes, “A gardener has two jobs: tend the plants and keep out the weeds. In the same way, each of us needs to ask, What do I want to put into my life? And What do I want to keep out? Plus, What do I want to grow? And What do I want to die?” Maybe we need to insert the word need in the place where it says want?
From one of my morning devotions this week came this text: “Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:7)
As we move into the Season of Lent, I think we need to ask ourselves, “Is there something or some things I need to eliminate from my life? Are there some things I need to add?” (Asbury Outpouring – worship & repentance)
Have you ever tried to shed someone from your presence, and they just wouldn’t get the hint? In our Old Testament Lesson this morning Elisha wouldn’t leave Elijah alone, even though Elijah tried to shed him like we try to shed gnats in the heat of the summer. Reminds me a lot of the story of Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi.
Throughout the Gospels Jesus is portrayed as a type of Elijah. Going further we might view this 2nd chapter of 2 Kings as a parallel to the Acts of the Apostles. The great leader and initiator of the movement ascends to heaven and His disciples carry on the mission. As Jesus’ disciples today, the church is called to look backwards to Christ’s ministry as the example for how we live our lives moving forward.
Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard wrote: “Life must be lived forward, but it can only be understood backwards.”
The “Company of the Prophets at Bethel” that the author mentions would have been like a school for spiritual leaders. Groups like this were gatherings for disciples around a recognized prophet, such as Elijah or Elisha. These gatherings of prophets, located throughout the country, helped to stem the tide of spiritual and moral decline in the nation. The young prophets at Bethel were eyewitnesses to the succession of the prophetic ministry from Elijah to Elisha.
God granted Elisha’s request because his motives were pure. His main goal was not to be better or more powerful than Elijah but to accomplish more for God. If our motives are pure, we don’t have to be afraid to ask great things from God. When we ask God for great power or ability, we need to examine our desires and get rid of any selfishness we find. To have the Holy Spirit’s help, we need only ask with the right motives.
Elijah was taken to heaven without dying. He is the second person mentioned in Scripture to have this honor. “Enoch walked faithfully with God, then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis 5:24 NIV). The only other person taken to heaven in bodily form was Jesus after His resurrection from the dead.
If you grew up in the Midwest like I did, there’s is a good chance you have sweet summer memories of catching fireflies. We used to take the big mason jars—put a little grass in the bottom—catch the fireflies—put them in the jar and it was like having a nightlight in your bedroom. Fireflies are able to emit a chemically activated glow in the midst of darkness.
Before electric lights were available, early miners often used “lamps” powered by either fireflies or fish-skins. Both were able to provide a safe, non-combustible light-source for workers where gases and fumes made any hot burning fuel a combustible potential for disaster.
Jesus has gone up on a mountain. It was on mountains that some amazing things have happened and been recorded for us. With Him are Peter, James, and John, or as I like to refer to them, “The inner three.” And it was there that He glowed for them.
On four special occasions, Jesus admitted this “inner circle” to experiences which they learned precious lessons. On the occasion of the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8:51), they were granted a preview of their Lord’s mastery over death. On the Mount of Transfiguration, where we are today and is recorded in all three of the Synoptics, they gained clearer insight into the importance of His impending death. On the Mount of Olives (Mark 13:3), they marveled at His prophetic discernment. In the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37), they got a glimpse of the sufferings of the Savior—the cost of their salvation.
God appeared to both Moses (Exodus 24:12-18) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:8-18) on mountains, and they are present in our story today. Moses, the prototype of the Messiah, had himself been transfigured after his meeting with God, and Elijah, His forerunner, shows the Messianic era is about to begin; they represent the “Law and the Prophets.” You might remember that Jesus said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17 NIV).
Jesus was transfigured before them. Transfigured means that He was changed into a more divine figure—one no longer of this world. Transfigured is presumably a technical term in late Greek for the act of metamorphosis—it means a transformation or a complete change of appearance and form. The best example we have of metamorphosis is the transformation of a lowly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly.
Then a cloud covers them (you can’t make this stuff up). Maybe you remember but in the Exodus story, as Moses was leading God’s people through the wilderness what was it that led them? A cloud. And when they camped, and Moses would go to the Tent of Meeting, all the people would stand at the entrance of their tent and that cloud would cover the tent.
And with that, they encountered heaven’s unrestrained affirmation, “This is my son, whom I love.” Intimately linked with Sonship is God’s command, “Listen to him!” (Not just hear but listen) For the disciples then and for contemporary readers now, the only access to the mind of God is through listening—obeying the teaching and actions of the Son contained in Mark’s message.
The disciples’ hearts must have been pounding. Their minds must have been reeling. Imagine, if you can, the intensity of the experience, the magnitude, the divine brilliance, the breathtaking light, the mystery, the joy!
On that mountain, they experienced a vision of God, of divine presence and power that they would never forget. The disciples were changed—they were empowered—they were transfigured—transformed; and then, much to the chagrin of Peter, they were sworn to silence.
We have to wonder, given his history of running off at the mouth, how successful Peter was at keeping this secret and we have no evidence that he didn’t, but we do know that the disciples, the inner circle, came down from the mountain and engaged in ministry and mission, even more convinced that what they were doing was infused with the love and power of God.
We all need visionary moments with Jesus. Sometimes those “mountaintop” moments for us may come during prayer, during Holy Communion, during meditation, or even during an encounter with someone we’ve never met before. Those moments are God encounters, divine soul-transfiguring events that mold us and change us, infuse us with zeal for God’s mission and love for God’s people.
We don’t stay on the mountain. We don’t stay in the clouds. But Jesus does stay within us and beside us, as we go out to minister to real people with real problems in real places.
To be the hands and feet of God, to be Christian leaders and disciples and apostles to a world in pain, a world that struggles to love, we need to pull ourselves back, and allow Jesus to shine—to glow no one else ever has—and to listen to Him, not just hear Him, but listen to Him!
Thanks be to God!
Eastman First Methodist Church 