A Message that can’t be put
into a Box
Luke 9: 28-36
As we reflected on the Church
of the Beatitudes in
One of the Rabbis asked me
“Is this like your
The place where you
received God’s word.”
He was saying this because we were at the sight of
the
Sermon on the Mount where Jesus taught the crowd
and presented the Beatitudes to the people.
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the
Blessed
are you who hunger now, for you will be filled.
Blessed
are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Blessed
are you who people hate you and revile you
On
the account of the Son of Man…for such is what
Their
ancestors did to the prophets.
But
who to you who are rich,
for you have
received your consolation.
Woe
to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
Woe
to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
Woe
to you who when alls peak well of you, so that it what
Our
ancestors did to the false prophets.
But
I say to you that listen, Love you enemies,
do good to those who
hate you, bless those who curse you,
pray for
those who abuse you.”
The
question puzzled me and Sam Muyskens (the other pastor on the trip).
On one hand this certainly was a place
where God turned the world
Upside down with the words of
Jesus and yet…
It wasn’t the
turning point in the Christian faith the way
That
The turning point in Jewish history.
It
wasn’t until I got back and continued to reflect on question
In light of our
Discipleship Study that I began to get clarity.
I
knew from my experience in
Than words written on a page or chiseled
in a Tablet.
The Torah for the Jews was
testimony to God’s love
And care for the people
of
We saw it in the synagogue
where the Congregation
Cheered and touched
the Torah as it was presented
And at the
western wall where craftsmen
Were
building a beautiful tabernacle to house
The words of the Torah.
And
for us as Christian’s, the Sermon on the Mount is not
The full expression
of God’s love or God’s word.
Certainly the words of the
Sermon on the Mount
Level the playing
field between rich and poor,
Perhaps
that’s why Luke calls it
The
Sermon on the Plain,
But it is not the
whole expression of God’s word or love.
The full
expression of God’s love and word is
Made
manifest in the person of Jesus Christ,
the word made flesh.
So
when I read today’s passage, the Transfiguration of Jesus,
I realized that our
The Sermon on the Mount (or
Plain) where Jesus shakes up
the world with his words and the transfiguration where
God
shakes up the world with his Word made flesh.
The Transfiguration is right after
Peter confesses that
Jesus is the Christ, and not John the Baptist or
Elijah or a prophet.
Apparently
there was still some confusion because Jesus takes
Peter,
John and James to a mountaintop to illustrate
With
Elijah and Moses at his side
that even though he is in conversation with them
that he is uniquely and distinctly God’s chosen Son.
Now
there are intentional parallels between Jesus and Moses in this passage.
Jesus did go up the mountain like Moses to
pray.
Jesus face shone just as Moses face shown
when he came down from Sinai.
When Moses and Elijah were talking to
Jesus they were talking about
His “departure” and the word
for departure is the same as “exodus”.
And immediately
after the Transfiguration experience
Jesus went
on a journey which would end up
Not
in the Promised Land of freedom for the Jews
But
Freedom
would be realized for all people
In
the cross and resurrection
Of Jesus Christ.
Of
course being normal human beings, Peter and James and John tried
To make sense of this fantastic scene
that was unfolding before them,
By relating it to something
they understood in their past.
They
remembered the last time God lived and dwelled among the people,
That the people built an elaborate
Tabernacle for God,
So Peter volunteers to build
a Tabernacle for Jesus, Elijah and Moses.
The word in English
is “dwelling” so we sometimes miss
That
allusion but the Greek word, skene, means tabernacle
Now
of course God doesn’t need a tent, Tabernacle or even a
It’s like in the
Birth place of Jesus, the
Sermon on the Mount, the Healing of Peter’s
Mother-in-law in
The Tomb
in
It’s what we do to
express our faith and devotion to God.
But
did you notice what happens in the Transfiguration in Luke.
Instead of entertaining the idea of building
a tabernacle the text says:
“A cloud 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
That’s
what God wants more than words or buildings.
God’s living word can’t
be confined to a box or Tabernacle.
We can’t just build a
building that contains our faith, our God.
“We” are the
building that God is building.
We are the
kingdom that God is bringing about.
And
our best response is to “listen”.
Listen
to this Jesus who said brings good news to the poor,
Release to the captives, sight to the
blind, and freedom to the oppressed.
Listen to this Jesus who eats with tax collectors and sinners.
Listen to this Jesus who reduces the gulf
between rich and poor.
Listen to this
Jesus who says to love our neighbor
and then defines our neighbor as the dirty Samaritan.
Listen to this Jesus who challenges us to love our
enemies.
Listen to
this Jesus seeks to save the lost sheep,
The
lost coin and the lost son,
And runs to welcome the prodigal home.
Listen to this Jesus who says
he must “undergo great suffering,
And
be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes,
and be killed,
and on the third day be raised.”
We
can’t put this Jesus in a box, not matter how difficult and challenging
And scary his message sounds.
When Jesus started his
ministry he read Isaiah and said:
“Today the scripture has been fulfilled in
your hearing.”
Let us hear that word again today, truly hear it.
Let
us imagine how God might work in our lives
To
bring about that message of hope that
God
offers in Jesus Christ. Amen