WEBVTT 00:00:01.629 --> 00:00:03.950 It's Exodus, I'm telling you, not departure, 00:00:04.190 --> 00:00:08.070 not passing on. Exodus. Luke doesn't waste words. 00:00:08.529 --> 00:00:12.310 Jerusalem isn't tragedy. It's a crossing. If 00:00:12.310 --> 00:00:14.189 you miss that, you'll miss the whole gospel. 00:00:20.530 --> 00:00:24.190 Six days after Jesus said the word, no one wanted 00:00:24.190 --> 00:00:27.949 to hear, suffer. He takes Peter, James, and John 00:00:27.949 --> 00:00:31.449 up. The hill. The air thins. The noise drops 00:00:31.449 --> 00:00:35.130 away. Gravel shifts under sandals, and he starts 00:00:35.130 --> 00:00:38.509 praying. And while they are fighting sleep, the 00:00:38.509 --> 00:00:43.369 veil thins. His face changes. His clothes blaze 00:00:43.369 --> 00:00:48.590 white. Moses. Elijah. Law and prophets leaning 00:00:48.590 --> 00:00:53.609 in, talking about his exodus in Jerusalem. Peter 00:00:53.609 --> 00:00:56.369 panics and reaches for wood and canvas. It's 00:00:56.369 --> 00:01:00.920 good for us. to be here a cloud swallows that 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:05.319 plan a voice cuts through it this is my son listen 00:01:05.319 --> 00:01:09.159 to him and when the cloud lifts jesus is found 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:13.579 alone now the light softens into stained glass 00:01:13.579 --> 00:01:18.200 and old wood in a small town sanctuary the hymnals 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:20.439 have a little dust on them the wood floors creek 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:23.900 coffee's hot if you're in a truck cab a kitchen 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:27.510 a dorm room Hey, you're in church with us. Slide 00:01:27.510 --> 00:01:31.849 into the pew. Take a breath. Listen. And I'll 00:01:31.849 --> 00:01:39.769 see you on the other side. As I begin this morning, 00:01:39.950 --> 00:01:43.769 sometimes I hate mentioning this because I know 00:01:43.769 --> 00:01:45.269 somebody's going to hear it and then they're 00:01:45.269 --> 00:01:48.530 not going to feel it afterwards and go, oh, something's 00:01:48.530 --> 00:01:50.549 wrong with me. I didn't hear it. I didn't feel 00:01:50.549 --> 00:01:52.969 it. But sometimes sermons or Bible studies, man. 00:01:53.609 --> 00:01:57.689 To me, they have a hum underneath them. And I 00:01:57.689 --> 00:02:00.849 think today's sermon has a hum underneath it. 00:02:00.930 --> 00:02:03.430 So I hope you can, if I preach this right, I 00:02:03.430 --> 00:02:07.930 think you'll hear it. We'll see. So here we go. 00:02:08.870 --> 00:02:13.569 Six days. That's how long he carried some words 00:02:13.569 --> 00:02:18.530 that made zero sense. Six days since the disciples, 00:02:18.689 --> 00:02:22.009 they were on that road to Caesarea Philippi. 00:02:23.050 --> 00:02:27.409 Where the limestones were cool and the wind came 00:02:27.409 --> 00:02:33.270 off of the Galilee sharp. Jesus said it to them 00:02:33.270 --> 00:02:39.330 plain. Luke 9 and 22. The son of man must suffer 00:02:39.330 --> 00:02:44.810 many things. And be rejected by the elders, chief 00:02:44.810 --> 00:02:50.990 priests and scribes. And be killed. And the third 00:02:50.990 --> 00:03:00.090 day. Be raised up. Must suffer. And Peter didn't 00:03:00.090 --> 00:03:03.530 argue with him this time. If you know much about 00:03:03.530 --> 00:03:07.509 Peter, he'd already done this kind of thing once 00:03:07.509 --> 00:03:10.689 before with Jesus. Lord, that will never happen 00:03:10.689 --> 00:03:15.689 to you. And that didn't go well for him. And 00:03:15.689 --> 00:03:20.240 he had learned the hard way. The only way Peter 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:22.840 actually ever learned anything worth learning, 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:28.020 to carry what Jesus gave him without trying to 00:03:28.020 --> 00:03:34.139 grab the wheel. So when Jesus said, Peter, James, 00:03:34.419 --> 00:03:41.520 John, come with me, he went. No crowds, no questions, 00:03:41.719 --> 00:03:49.699 just the four men and a mountain. The air thins 00:03:49.699 --> 00:03:54.319 as you climb. The noise of the village drops 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:59.719 first. Smell of cooking fires. Then the sound 00:03:59.719 --> 00:04:06.039 of playing children. Then just gravel under your 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:11.699 sandals. Wind whistling through the stones. And 00:04:11.699 --> 00:04:15.759 the sound of Jesus praying just ahead. The most 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:19.759 natural sound you've ever heard, like water finding 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:25.040 its level. Jesus always prayed before something 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:30.899 broke open. And they were tired. They were bone 00:04:30.899 --> 00:04:36.170 tired. Heavy with sleep. Luke will tell you that 00:04:36.170 --> 00:04:39.389 honestly without trying to make them look better 00:04:39.389 --> 00:04:42.209 than they really were. And while they were struggling 00:04:42.209 --> 00:04:47.350 to keep their eyes open, verse 29 of chapter 00:04:47.350 --> 00:04:51.870 9 says, the appearance of his face was altered 00:04:51.870 --> 00:05:00.120 and his clothing became white and dazzling. Peter 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:02.980 had stood in a fishing boat when lightning hits 00:05:02.980 --> 00:05:07.160 the water and the whole lake flashed like hammered 00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:10.839 silver for one split second. And that was the 00:05:10.839 --> 00:05:14.240 closest thing he had in his mind to what he was 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:17.939 witnessing now, except this time it didn't stop. 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:26.199 And what was being expressed here wasn't authority 00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:31.269 over creation. This was something that was older 00:05:31.269 --> 00:05:37.129 than creation itself. This was not Jesus becoming 00:05:37.129 --> 00:05:41.649 something new. It was something that had been 00:05:41.649 --> 00:05:47.629 hidden, had decided to stop hiding. The human 00:05:47.629 --> 00:05:55.649 frame that it was built to hold. The glory. patient 00:05:55.649 --> 00:06:00.790 inside of it for 30 plus years, deciding just 00:06:00.790 --> 00:06:04.149 for the right moment to show you what you're 00:06:04.149 --> 00:06:10.990 really working with. There are moments when the 00:06:10.990 --> 00:06:18.069 veil thins, not tears, thins. The way light goes 00:06:18.069 --> 00:06:22.420 strange sometimes in the afternoon. The way an 00:06:22.420 --> 00:06:25.000 ordinary field, the way you'd walk by it a thousand 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.519 times, somehow looks painted in different colors. 00:06:30.019 --> 00:06:39.459 He was shining, not reflecting, shining from 00:06:39.459 --> 00:06:46.920 the inside out. And then, verse 30, behold, two 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:52.019 men were talking with him. who were Moses and 00:06:52.019 --> 00:07:00.939 Elijah. Moses, the law, everything Israel was. 00:07:01.740 --> 00:07:08.000 Elijah, prophets, the word that kept interrupting 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:11.259 Israel's comfortable arrangements whenever they 00:07:11.259 --> 00:07:17.160 began to compromise. Everything Peter had memorized, 00:07:17.339 --> 00:07:22.379 everything he had built his life around, standing 00:07:22.379 --> 00:07:30.300 there talking to his rabbi. And Luke tells you 00:07:30.300 --> 00:07:33.279 what they were talking about, verse 31. They 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:37.980 spoke of his departure, which he was about to 00:07:37.980 --> 00:07:45.620 accomplish in Jerusalem. Departure. The word 00:07:45.620 --> 00:07:53.860 Luke uses there is Exodus. Not tragedy, not defeat, 00:07:54.100 --> 00:08:00.180 Exodus. Peter didn't understand that yet. All 00:08:00.180 --> 00:08:05.480 he knew was that the one who had told him he 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:10.620 would suffer was now blazing with Sinai light. 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:17.920 And Moses himself was standing there like someone 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:21.800 who recognized finally what his whole life had 00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:28.199 actually been pointing towards. And Peter didn't 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:34.419 want it to end. Friends, attune your ears this 00:08:34.419 --> 00:08:37.620 morning to the reading of Holy Scripture. Today's 00:08:37.620 --> 00:08:39.799 passage comes to us from the Gospel according. 00:08:40.620 --> 00:08:45.840 to the physician Luke, beginning in chapter 9 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:51.259 and verse 28. Now about eight days after these 00:08:51.259 --> 00:08:54.100 sayings, he took with him Peter, John, and James, 00:08:54.379 --> 00:08:59.059 and he went up onto a mountain to pray. As he 00:08:59.059 --> 00:09:02.559 was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, 00:09:02.620 --> 00:09:07.779 and his clothing became white and dazzling. Behold, 00:09:08.620 --> 00:09:11.659 Two men were talking with him who were Moses 00:09:11.659 --> 00:09:16.600 and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:20.279 his departure, which he was about to accomplish 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:25.259 in Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with 00:09:25.259 --> 00:09:28.259 him were heavy with sleep. They were fully awake. 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:33.059 They saw his glory and the two men who stood 00:09:33.059 --> 00:09:39.070 with him. Let's make three tents. One for you, 00:09:39.210 --> 00:09:43.870 one for Moses, and one for Elijah, Peter says, 00:09:44.190 --> 00:09:49.769 not knowing what he had said. While he had said 00:09:49.769 --> 00:09:54.090 these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them. 00:09:55.049 --> 00:09:59.870 And they were afraid as they entered into the 00:09:59.870 --> 00:10:05.370 cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud saying, 00:10:06.990 --> 00:10:13.649 This is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him. 00:10:15.070 --> 00:10:24.129 When the voice came, Jesus was found alone. Well, 00:10:24.129 --> 00:10:27.110 since reading a scripture this morning, friends, 00:10:27.110 --> 00:10:37.480 but hold on to that. And Peter panicked. Let's 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:41.039 say it plainly because Luke already did. That 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:44.379 tent comment was not a theological proposal, 00:10:44.519 --> 00:10:49.480 not a tribute. It was panic wearing the costume 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:54.039 of reverence. Verse 33 says, Master, it is good 00:10:54.039 --> 00:11:02.159 for us to be here. Let's make three tents. Sounds 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:08.009 good, doesn't it? Of course it was good. Up there, 00:11:08.029 --> 00:11:12.570 on that mountain, no cross at the end of this 00:11:12.570 --> 00:11:22.129 road. No crowd choosing Barabbas. Just visible 00:11:22.129 --> 00:11:27.269 confirmation that Peter had not made some catastrophic 00:11:27.269 --> 00:11:31.450 mistake when he left his nets on the shoreline 00:11:31.450 --> 00:11:38.529 and his family behind him. So when he felt Moses 00:11:38.529 --> 00:11:42.950 and Elijah beginning to fade, he reached for 00:11:42.950 --> 00:11:47.230 wood and canvas in his mind, something to build, 00:11:47.370 --> 00:11:52.429 something to make the mountain a permanent address, 00:11:52.570 --> 00:12:01.149 not a momentary mercy. Luke says simply, not 00:12:01.149 --> 00:12:10.039 knowing what he said. He's right. Peter was trying 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:13.659 to preserve a moment that was never designed 00:12:13.659 --> 00:12:22.120 to be preserved. So let me ask you. Have you 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:25.840 ever tried to build a tent around a particular 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:31.419 season in your life? Like trying to keep the 00:12:31.419 --> 00:12:35.889 lightning in the bottle? A job. That finally 00:12:35.889 --> 00:12:39.889 fit. A relationship that feels like it's found 00:12:39.889 --> 00:12:44.789 its footing. Stretch of Sunday mornings started 00:12:44.789 --> 00:12:47.009 to feel like Sunday mornings were supposed to 00:12:47.009 --> 00:12:51.590 feel like. It's good for us to be here. Yes, 00:12:51.629 --> 00:12:59.009 it is. Yes, it is. The desire to stay wasn't 00:12:59.009 --> 00:13:04.950 sinful. It was human. Which is to say, it's the 00:13:04.950 --> 00:13:10.250 very thing Jesus came to save, not condemn. But 00:13:10.250 --> 00:13:13.129 mountaintops, my dear friends, are not addresses. 00:13:14.549 --> 00:13:20.049 They're revelations. And the difference between 00:13:20.049 --> 00:13:23.409 revealing something and possessing something 00:13:23.409 --> 00:13:30.269 is everything. And here's what Peter's actually 00:13:30.269 --> 00:13:36.389 doing. Under the construction project. He's trying 00:13:36.389 --> 00:13:40.250 to put Jesus in a row. With Moses and Elijah. 00:13:40.809 --> 00:13:47.789 Three tents. Three equal shelters. The tidy logic. 00:13:48.070 --> 00:13:52.649 Of a man who thinks he can organize. What God 00:13:52.649 --> 00:13:57.529 is doing. If he finds the right containers. And 00:13:57.529 --> 00:14:02.399 the father interrupts him. Not rudely. But completely, 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:07.899 verse 34, a cloud came and overshadowed them. 00:14:08.019 --> 00:14:11.679 And they were afraid as they entered into the 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:16.240 cloud. Fitting, we hear the rain on our roof 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:20.820 because we Okies, we think we know a little bit 00:14:20.820 --> 00:14:26.360 about weather. But in the Bible, clouds don't 00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:33.940 just drift in Israel's story. Clouds mean presence, 00:14:34.019 --> 00:14:41.399 capital P. The cloud at Sinai, the cloud over 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:47.519 the tabernacle, the Shekinah, the presence of 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:53.059 God. And now this cloud swallows Peter's construction 00:14:53.059 --> 00:14:58.159 plans whole, and they're inside it. And they 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:08.399 were afraid. Not odd. Afraid. The way you're 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:11.759 afraid when the thing you have been told about 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:17.600 your whole life shows up and is actually real. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.500 Sinai didn't feel safe either. Moses hid his 00:15:24.500 --> 00:15:31.110 face. Israel came undone. The presence of God 00:15:31.110 --> 00:15:36.169 does not negotiate comfort. It makes you real. 00:15:37.090 --> 00:15:42.570 And the voice arrives into that fear, not after 00:15:42.570 --> 00:15:48.549 it, into it. Verse 35 says, this is my son, my 00:15:48.549 --> 00:15:57.710 chosen one. Listen to him. Not build stuff for 00:15:57.710 --> 00:16:01.919 him. Not compare him to these other two dudes. 00:16:03.700 --> 00:16:10.580 Listen to him. And what had Jesus said just six 00:16:10.580 --> 00:16:17.259 days earlier? That he would suffer. He'd be rejected. 00:16:18.860 --> 00:16:24.340 He would be killed. Peter wanted the glory without 00:16:24.340 --> 00:16:27.970 the cross. And the father said, stop building 00:16:27.970 --> 00:16:33.289 and start listening. The mountain doesn't cancel 00:16:33.289 --> 00:16:38.409 out Jerusalem. The glory on that mountaintop 00:16:38.409 --> 00:16:44.169 does not compete with the cross. It reveals who's 00:16:44.169 --> 00:16:49.049 actually hanging on it. And Moses didn't come 00:16:49.049 --> 00:16:54.610 as credential. He came as companion. Someone 00:16:54.610 --> 00:16:58.169 who had already led people through a sea that 00:16:58.169 --> 00:17:02.570 looked like death came out with liberation on 00:17:02.570 --> 00:17:07.430 the other side. The first Exodus. The archetype. 00:17:07.630 --> 00:17:13.069 The shadow. He recognized the road Jesus was 00:17:13.069 --> 00:17:17.769 walking because he had walked it first in a different 00:17:17.769 --> 00:17:23.400 key on a different ground. The law. And the prophets 00:17:23.400 --> 00:17:29.480 bending towards this very moment. This man. This 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:36.240 road that looks like defeat. But turns out to 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:40.180 be the hinge on everything that actually turned. 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:45.700 Cross is not the end of the story. It was the 00:17:45.700 --> 00:17:51.940 passage through the sea. And Peter. would not 00:17:51.940 --> 00:17:58.519 fully understand any of this until the other 00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:04.859 side of a rooster's crow, an empty tomb, a charcoal 00:18:04.859 --> 00:18:09.900 fire on a beach, where a man who had every single 00:18:09.900 --> 00:18:13.799 right to be done with him offers him breakfast. 00:18:15.339 --> 00:18:20.339 And as a result, years later, in his first letter, 00:18:21.420 --> 00:18:27.420 He writes these words, Peter's words. For we 00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:31.279 didn't follow cunningly devised fables when we 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:34.220 made known to you the power and the coming of 00:18:34.220 --> 00:18:41.180 our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen. But we were eyewitnesses 00:18:41.180 --> 00:18:46.980 of his majesty. The mountaintop didn't make him 00:18:46.980 --> 00:18:53.259 fearless. It made him certain. There's a difference. 00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:59.619 Fearless is something you perform. Certainty 00:18:59.619 --> 00:19:03.160 is something you carry through what you know 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:10.759 is coming. And there is a valley, friends, doesn't 00:19:10.759 --> 00:19:16.599 announce itself. It just happens. Shimmer fades. 00:19:17.579 --> 00:19:22.059 The clarity softens, and you're standing in an 00:19:22.059 --> 00:19:27.200 ordinary Tuesday, wondering when the light changed. 00:19:29.339 --> 00:19:32.079 And some of you are standing in it right now, 00:19:32.299 --> 00:19:37.259 not six days after, not even sure anymore if 00:19:37.259 --> 00:19:41.579 you were really up there, or if maybe your memory 00:19:41.579 --> 00:19:44.359 had just gotten generous and called it glory. 00:19:46.190 --> 00:19:51.109 The shimmer's gone. The light went back into 00:19:51.109 --> 00:19:56.829 his skin where it lives. Moses left. Elijah left. 00:19:57.089 --> 00:20:03.710 The cloud scattered like it never was. And the 00:20:03.710 --> 00:20:07.509 mercy in this story isn't that the glory comes 00:20:07.509 --> 00:20:16.619 back. It's what's left when it goes. Because 00:20:16.619 --> 00:20:24.119 there is Jesus. In ordinary clothes, patient. 00:20:25.099 --> 00:20:30.420 When the voice came, scripture says, Jesus was 00:20:30.420 --> 00:20:40.119 found alone. Not lonely, alone. That's not less. 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:46.000 That's actually the whole thing. And he says, 00:20:46.039 --> 00:20:52.640 follow me down the hill. Back into a world where 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:56.920 the questions don't resolve cleanly. Where you 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:00.420 will stand in a crowd and forget what you saw. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:04.420 Where Sunday morning starts to feel like a Tuesday. 00:21:06.180 --> 00:21:09.460 Where listening will cost you something that 00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:11.980 you're not quite sure you can afford to lose. 00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:20.480 He says it like it's not a promise. He says it 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:28.259 like it's a choice. He says, listen to me. And 00:21:28.259 --> 00:21:32.140 if you're standing there in the valley, and you 00:21:32.140 --> 00:21:35.460 don't know if you heard him on the mountain or 00:21:35.460 --> 00:21:39.640 just dreamed it, and he is asking you to follow 00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:49.670 anyway. So what do you do? Choice? Always. Yours 00:21:49.670 --> 00:22:03.230 to make. Amen? Amen. You don't have to hold the 00:22:03.230 --> 00:22:06.200 mountain. You don't have to recreate the shimmer 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:09.019 or prove you were really there. When the cloud 00:22:09.019 --> 00:22:11.579 lifts and the light settles back into ordinary 00:22:11.579 --> 00:22:15.119 skin, Jesus is still there. That's the comfort. 00:22:15.299 --> 00:22:18.380 And here's the conviction. Stop building tents 00:22:18.380 --> 00:22:21.339 around yesterday's glory and start listening 00:22:21.339 --> 00:22:25.920 today. Follow him down the hill. Follow him into 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:29.480 Tuesday. Follow him into the places that don't 00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:31.660 feel bright but are still holy ground because 00:22:31.660 --> 00:22:35.650 he's standing there. The cross is not the contradiction 00:22:35.650 --> 00:22:38.589 of the glory. It's where the glory is going. 00:22:39.670 --> 00:22:43.450 So if you learn something new today, if you've 00:22:43.450 --> 00:22:45.930 heard something you hadn't considered before, 00:22:46.230 --> 00:22:48.630 if something felt fresh to you, throw that old 00:22:48.630 --> 00:22:50.529 like in the offering plate like we used to do 00:22:50.529 --> 00:22:53.349 in church. And if you want to keep walking with 00:22:53.349 --> 00:22:56.089 us through Lent this year, go ahead and tithe 00:22:56.089 --> 00:22:59.089 that subscribe. That way you'll know when we 00:22:59.089 --> 00:23:01.890 as a church start walking towards Jerusalem again. 00:23:02.359 --> 00:23:03.859 And until then friend, be blessed.