Luke 9:28-43
Intro
This passage offers a potpourri of items to talk about. To begin with, there is the retelling of the transfiguration, which is when Jesus is physical transformed before the eyes of Peter, James, and John to what many consider to be the eternal body. Moses and Elijah, the great leader and prophet of the Jewish nation, stand along side of the transfigured Jesus, and there is also a voice that is heard from heaven calling out to the three disciples to "listen to" Jesus, even as they cower, in shock and fear. In and of itself, there is a whole lot to talk about there.
However, the way that the lectionary sets itself up, there is an additional story of miraculous healing that is to be told in conjunction with this version of the transfiguration account. The thing is, on the surface, these two tales have nothing to do with one another. It is in this second story that Jesus comes off, at least as I read him, frustrated. He’s frustrated at how fickle people’s faith can be.
It is at the conclusion of this narrative that we are told, what I believe, to be the connective tissue between the stories of the transfiguration and the healing of the son of this unnamed man. We are told that the people were astounded "at the greatness of God". In the first case, the disciples were astounded because of the Divine transformation that they were able to behold. In the second, the crowd was astounded because of the healing power of God through Jesus. Here’s the question, posed to both our biblical characters and to us here today, if you believe that God can and will perform miracles in the world, which is part of the faith that we are led to have, then why would you ever be astounded? Shouldn’t you instead expect one? The scripture reads this way.
Luke 9:28-43
28
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.37
On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38 Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. 39 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. 40 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." 41 Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." 42 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. 43 And all were astounded at the greatness of God."A Faith Unleashed = Miracles at Hand"
Every time I read an account of the transfiguration I end up feeling sorry for the disciples. These very human men were placed in a situation in which they did not have a context to explain it. The world the they knew did not include moments where Moses and Elijah show up to talk shop with the brilliantly transformed person who they believed would restore the kingdom of Israel, which they understood to be the kingdom of God. No one would know what to do in that situation. I think that Peter’s reaction, masked behind shock and sleepiness, of, "let us make three dwelling places" was probably as good as you’re going to get. And in terms of not saying anything about what they saw until after Jesus had died and been raised, let’s be honest, who would’ve believed them? No one.
I many ways, neither do we, because we hear this sort of story and end up saying, "yeah, right. Three guys, two of whom are dead, shining as brilliantly as the sun the sky, and a voice booming from out of nowhere. Clearly, somebody had been enjoying a little too much of the wine that night." For us, the idea of a miracle has become the land that is reserved for a novel, or a movie, or someone who the world views as delusional.
Here’s the thing though: if that’s what you think, if you think that miracles are the figment of imagination, then you are clearly looking at the world with the wrong type of eyes, and not allowing your faith to truly guide you in your daily journey.
A story to illustrate my point, a few years back I was able to meet a gentleman who was absolutely on fire for the Lord. He was looking for ways to get involved in the church, looking for ways to serve in the community, looking for ways to allow the love of God to be felt through his life. He was an energizing presence. In and of itself, this story is not miraculous. However, as I got to know him better, he told me the story of how he came to be so dedicated to the service of God.
It turns out that he had been diagnosed with cancer, a cancer that was so aggressive that his doctors did not feel that he had much longer to live. I think they actually gave him one of those, "you have ‘X’ number of months to live" statements. While he was most definitely a Christian prior to that point in his life, it was then that he began to earnestly pray, "Lord, if you take this disease away from me, I will dedicate all that I am to You. All of my interests, all of my talents, all of my skills will be devoted to Your service. Lord, You can heal me. I believe in You."
And you know what? That’s exactly what happened. He was healed. The doctors who had told him that he only had so long to live came back to him with subsequent tests and could not scientifically explain what had happened. He would just look back at his trusted physician, and with a little bit of a smile say, "God healed me." He is a walking, talking, real as they come miracle. Since that day, when he made that little arrangement with God, he has followed through, he has unleashed his faith and dedicated all that he is to the service of God.
One of the great travesties of the modern church is that too many of its members have bought into secular understanding that the events contained within the Bible are merely wise tales, fables of a less advanced intellectual society. We have found ways to explain away every miracle and unexplainable event. I’m not saying that Jonah ever spent time in a fish, but for too many of us, we have handcuffed the greatness of God.
If Jesus were here today he would so easily declare, "you faithless generation." So many of our scripture passages, week after week, are crying out for us to unleash our faith, to allow the greatness of God to flow though our hands and words, out into a world that so needs to experience the miraculous greatness of God. The greatness of God hasn’t gone anywhere. It is in the world.
However, we like the disciples on that hillside, and that crowd before the man from Nazareth, have put limits on what is possible, have put a check valve on how great God truly is.
That’s how it was for the people in our passage this morning. Even when the greatness of God was right in front of them, we are told that they were "astounded", flabbergasted, thunderstruck, bowled over, wordless. And the Son of God was in their midst! Its no wonder that Jesus has one of those moments of frustration, "you faithless and stubborn generation", "why won’t you believe? Why won’t you trust? Why won’t you understand the truth that you were created to know? Why won’t you believe that the greatness of God is here, today!"
And we’re in the same boat. Because those same questions that were put before the Israelites have only grown louder the farther that we have moved away from the actual person of Jesus, and correspondingly, the more ‘enlightened’ that we have claimed ourselves to be.
Think about it, where are we told to place our faith today? In what the doctors tell us. In what the scientists tell us to be true. Now while the intellectual gifts that these individuals have been given are gifts from God, neither they, nor the ‘truths’ they espouse, necessarily have any base in reality. Science and medicine are ever expanding fields of knowledge where understandings that are accepted in one generation, are looked at by the next as backward. At one time, it was scientifically accepted that the world was flat. At one time, it was scientifically accepted that one race of people was smarter than another. At one time, it was scientifically accepted that the world had entered a period of global cooling. The history of science is chock full of examples where humanity learned a new ‘truth’, at least until that truth was proven to be not as faultless as we had once believed, as we had once had faith in.
This is why Jesus frustrated of cry of ‘you faithless generation’ needs to be, not only heard, but responded to. You are here today because of a faith that tells you that God is real, and Jesus came so that we might have the opportunity to live eternally. We’ve bought in that far.
Now we need to unleash our faith and trust that the greatness that we long for, is not found in the ways of the world, but in the truth of God’s Holy Spirit is with us today! We need to be like the gentleman who I talked about just a few minutes ago, and not just in terms of the faith that he was able to exemplify, but also in his willingness to speak of the greatness of God that he was able to experience in his life.
Because here’s the thing, I have no doubts that seated among us today there more than just a few miraculous stories that have been experienced, and are waiting to be told. However, because we don’t talk about them all that much, if at all, it’s as if they don’t exist.
But they do! Have faith and allow what you know to be true to be heard and lived out in your life. Allow your faith to be unleashed and allow the greatness of God to be felt today!
Do you want to behold the miraculous greatness of God? Have faith! And you will begin to see that it was there all along, you just weren’t able to recognize it as such. Begin to view the world with eyes of a faith that has been unleashed! Recognize the greatness of God! It’s right there for you to behold!
After Sermon Prayer
God, Your miracles are in our recognizable presence, if we would allow our faith to become unleashed. God, for a variety of reasons we have put limits on our faith and how it is to be a part of our lives and in doing so have ignored, and renamed those occasions when Your Spirit has moved and the miraculous became reality. Lord, help us to unleash our faith for an unleashed faith equals Your miracles at hand in the world. Lord, awaken our faith! In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.