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TRANSFIGURATION SUNDAY “Don’t BLAME PETER” Readings: Exodus
34:29-35, Psalm 99, 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2, Luke 9:28-36 Preached at Baldwin Presbyterian
Church on February 14th 2010 “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.” (Luke 9:33) Peter was a straight ‘A’ student in the class of “Embarrassing things I
wished I’d never done”. He was the one who suggested Jesus should get out of
the boat and let him, the fisherman, take care of the fishing business, only
to be told “Cast your net on the other side” and take in the biggest haul of
fish he’d ever witnessed in his life. He was the one who when they came to arrest Jesus took a swipe at the one
of the guards and injured his ear, only to be told by Jesus, “Put your sword
away” and witnessed Jesus healing the man and ran away in fear. He was the one who after Jesus had been crucified, three times, denied he
was or ever had been a disciple. Just like Jesus said he would! And in our reading today we are told, that in the face of an amazing
happening on a mountain top, Peter (with his mouth in gear and brain in
neutral) says the wrong thing. Peter wants to stay on the mountain. Wants to
build 3 little tents up there, one for Moses, one for Elijah and one for
Jesus. But… wait….don’t blame Peter. I can almost imagine Peter thinking, “This is great! Everybody can come
up the mountain and have a personal counseling session with the prophet of
their choice! Maybe we could put a fence around the tents. Charge an entrance
fee. Andrew could set up a concession stand. We could advertise. T-Shirts.
Bumper Stickers. Get them to write stuff down and sell autographed copies of
‘The wisdom of the Three’. Let’s stay on the mountain! Peter’s dreams, whatever they may have been, were short lived and quickly
silenced. We read in Luke 9:34 “While Peter 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!" Once the voice had spoken and the cloud had disappeared, almost as
suddenly as it had happened, they were alone again. No clouds. No voices. No
Moses. No Elijah. Just some awe struck (and confused) disciples standing on a
lonely mountain with Jesus. No need for tents now. No need to stay on the
mountain any longer. There is a dramatic intensity to the final phrase of
verse 36 “And they kept silent.” As we meet for worship today I simply want to draw two things from out of
Peter’s experience. Firstly, that there is a time for talk and a time for silence. Secondly, that there is a time for
being up on the mountain and a time to come down from the mountain. There is a time
for talk and a time for silence. Don’t blame Peter. We all do it. We’ve all done things, said things,
reacted to things, got involved with things, that weren’t only
‘inappropriate’ or ‘embarrassing’ but were ‘just plain wrong’. We all have moments when we are tortured by
thoughts of “Why did I mess up? How could I be so stupid? I’m such an idiot!”
We speak out when we should shut up and sometimes shut up when we should
speak out. There are many things in our Christian faith that are described as a
‘mystery’. The doctrine of the Trinity. The Date of the Lords future coming.
The celebration of communion. For centuries the church has been divided over
mysteries. People have tried to contain the mysteries of faith with their
words, and their theories and their assumptions. God is mysterious. If ever I claim
to be able to tell you everything you need to know about God – do this church
a favor and fire me! The more I learn, the less it seems I know. Do you think that any person, any church,
any denomination, any system of belief, can fully capture in its words, the
mystery, the majesty, the magnificence, the very presence of almighty God? No
way. All the words of the Bible, all the confessions of the Churches, all the
Hymns and the prayers and the creeds, they are all just words. Oh! How we’d
love to capture God in our words. How we’d love to contain God to something
we know. How we’d love to put up little tents and say, “Hey, that’s it, just
go in there and talk it over with Elijah. He’ll sort it out.” God is Spirit. God is
love. Mystery. God is greater than we
can even conceive, (Let alone contain in
the language of any tongue.) I can’t explain the Transfiguration. What makes a mystery a mystery is
the very fact that it is a mystery. It is something that defies explanation.
Something that goes outside and beyond our normal experience. Within Christian life there needs to be those times when we realize that
all our words, all our logical planning, and all our endeavors to understand
have not been successful. That before God it is a good thing to sit in silent
awe and wonder and in an attitude of contemplation. But then some of us are not very good at silence. We like the radio on or
leave the TV going even if we are not watching it. We need a soundtrack
playing behind our lives. When things happen that we can’t explain we want to
block them out by answering questions that nobody is really asking. When we have nothing to distract us it can make us aware of noise going
on inside our own lives. Unanswered questions. Deeply rooted fears.
Experiences we have never quite got over. Things we just don’t want to deal
with. Shut them out. Say something. Play something. Don’t blame Peter. He was just trying to deal with a situation where he
felt totally out of his depth. Silence just seemed too much of a burden right
then. But as Ecclesiastes 3:7 tells us there is “a time
to be silent and a time to speak”. Wisdom is
found when we discern the difference. Make room in our lives for silence and
maybe we would then be less likely to respond in inappropriate ways. A second thing we see in this passage: There is a time
for being up on the mountain and a time to come down from the mountain. We all have our spiritual highs. Memories. Moments. Places. Experiences.
Retreats. Conferences. Concerts. Mission Trips. Epiphanies. Milestones.
Insights. Call them by what you choose. Be thankful when they come your way.
Accept them. Cherish them. But don’t calcify them. Don’t petrify them. Don’t
make idols of them. That’s what Peter wanted to do. It was easy to have faith when the glory
and radiance of that mountain moment was shining all around. “Hey, let’s
capture it and stay up here forever”. Don’t blame Peter. We all do it. We have some experience away from our normal circumstances. We make great
promises and come away having high ideals. But then the reality of the
everyday crashes in on us. And our high intentions are left up on the
mountain top. It’s hard coming down from the mountain. It’s not so easy to get back into the
routine. We start wishing we were back up on the mountain. It was all so clear
then. There was radiance to that moment that we don’t see in the valley. The
voice of God sounded clear. The prophets were in plain in view. Why do we
have to come down from there? Why can’t it always be like that? Maybe it’s precisely because the experiences on the mountain are not
given for us to leave them up there, but for us to take down into the valley
with us. They may well be moments that have shaped us, but their genuineness
will be measured by the influence they continue have upon us, by how useful
the insights we have received become in facing the routine moments that fill
most of our days. You see as a pastor I know about this. I’ve been to this conference or
that seminar where I’ve been presented with the “This is what you need to do.
10 steps to the perfect church” approach. So often the presenters are
speaking about things that have truly happened in their own situations. And
you rejoice with them. You hope to gain some insight. You feel your
confidence boosted and say, “Yes, that’s exactly what we need to do!” It’s when you get back and you start dealing with the reality of your own
situation that you start to realize that they were not coming from where you
are. Thankfully we have a God who knows exactly where we are. One who offers
forgiveness for the times when we like, Peter, have our mouths in gear whilst
our brains in neutral. A God who is just as present in the valleys as upon
the mountain-tops. There is a time for talk and a time for silence. There is a time for
being up on the mountain and a time to come down from the mountain. Peter got
those things confused. But don’t blame Peter. We all do it. Praise God that
God’s acceptance of us, isn’t through our own efforts but through the triumph
of God’s Grace. There is hope on offer. There is forgiveness on offer. There
is renewal on offer, here and now through Jesus Christ. The Transfiguration was also a moment when the declaration of who Jesus
was thundered once more from the heavens. ‘Then from the cloud
came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" It is for us to listen for Jesus Christ in the silence and in the midst
of our busy lives. It is for us who seek to be disciples to meet with Christ
on the mountain and walk with Him in the valley. God declares “This is my
Son, my Chosen”. Christ is the Son sent to be our Savior. In Christ we are
chosen to be the people of God, called to worship and service, strengthened
through the Holy Spirit, that our lives may give glory to God. Amen. Adrian Pratt |