"Not Cool"

Luke 9:28-36

²⁸Now Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³⁰Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. ³¹They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ³²Now 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. ³³Just 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. ³⁴While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. ³⁵Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” ³⁶When 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.

This is the word of the Lord….Thanks be to God

 

Today is one of those arcane, little known celebration Sundays in the Presbyterian World.  According to the calendar, today is Camp and Conference Ministries Sunday.  It is a day for us to remember, and give thanks for, the camps and conference centers that help shape faith and life.  We especially lift up our own Camp, Camp Whitman, and we, in fact, will be singing a camp song as our last hymn this morning.

Camps are places where you go to live with other people, some known to you, some strangers—but at the end of 2 weeks in a very small cabin, you know each other really well.  It is a time for s’mores, and talent night, and standing in line to wash your hands or take your turn on the banana boat.  It is a time and place to deepen your faith, or perhaps grow some if yours is just a fledling faith, it is a time and place to practice living in a community built on the love of Christ. 

It is a time and place for mountaintop experiences—times when you feel the love of God so strongly, the presence of God so tangibly, that you don’t have words to communicate what or who you saw, much less think that anyone back home will believe you anyway.

And it is a time and place and experience that pretty much ruin you for the rest of the world.  A friend of ours used to say that her daughter came back from camp so holy nobody could stand to be around her for the first two weeks or so- before it rubbed off, before the glory and the light faded, before things got back to normal.

Which is what seems to have happened to the disciples.  They have been up on a mountaintop, they have seen the glory, they have seen Moses and Elijah and Jesus- AND THEY WANT TO STAY UP THERE- but then the light dims, and the glory fades, and they are left standing there, blinking their eyes.  And they go down the mountain. And they told no-one nothing. Yeah, I bet they did

How could they?  What could they possibly say?  There was light, and a cloud, and a voice….

 

“Listen to him”  the voice said. This is my son, my chosen- listen to him!  If the voice out there  in the Jordan river, that day that Jesus was baptized, said to Jesus as he came up out of the water: “You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased”, this voice is directed at the disciples- “this is my son. Listen to him”.

But I’m pretty sure they don’t.  And really, how could they?  What with all the lights and the cloud and being half asleep and stark raving terrified, it would be hard to listen to anything or anybody.

So, they all go down the mountain.  And Jesus goes with them

Luke 9:37-45

³⁷On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. ³⁸Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. ³⁹Suddenly 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. ⁴⁰I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” ⁴¹Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” ⁴²While 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.

⁴³And all were astounded at the greatness of God. While everyone was amazed at all that he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, ⁴⁴“Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands.” ⁴⁵But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was concealed from them, so that they could not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

This is the word of the Lord…..Thanks be to God

 

Apparently Jesus is a little short on sleep as well as the disciples, because he sounds cranky- a man brings his son to Jesus to be healed- sound familiar?  We’ve already heard the story of the healing of the centurion, and the restoring to life of the widow’s dead son- this man begs Jesus for help…and Jesus gives what seems to us a rude and short tempered answer- and it’s not really clear if Jesus is annoyed with the man, or with the disciples who tried to heal the boy and didn’t quite do it, or if Jesus is just sick and tired of death and illness and despair, and has had enough. But Jesus rebukes the demon, heals the boy, and gives him back to his father.

End of story, right?  They all go home, Jesus has a snickers bar, and he is returned to his normal, peace loving, mercy giving self. 

But no. Jesus has more words for the disciples.

He says to them:  “Let these words sink into your ears”.  But the original language is a little rougher than that- literally, “stick this in your ears”- the equivalent of “stick that in your pipe and smoke it”- or something ruder still.

Jesus tells them that the Son of Man is going to be betrayed, handed over into human hands. Not cool Jesus.  Not cool.  He has already told them this: that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.  Apparently the disciples didn’t like that, and so just conveniently pretended not to hear it.

I don’t know how many of you have seen the video by a sweet, chubby faced kid named “kidpresident” who is in a video for people who need a peptalk.  And this kid, dressed in a suit and tie, reads part of the poem “The Road Less Traveled”.

He takes out a crumpled piece of paper, and in his best, 7 year old serious voice, reads a poem we learned in school- “Two roads diverged in the woods and I took the road less traveled”

But the kidpresident goes off script and begins yelling “and it hurts, man. Really bad.  Rocks!  Thorns!  Glass!   Not cool, Robert Frost”. 

Not cool.  Not cool Jesus, to start talking about death—your death.  Not cool to start talking about taking up the cross and denying myself in the same breath you talk about following you. 

Not cool.  Up on the mountaintop?  That was cool.  Talk about death and suffering-definitely  not cool.

But what kidpresident is yelling about is precisely that Robert Frost has not told the whole truth. And it is what the disciples are so stunned about- that the way of Jesus, the way of the cross, the road less traveled is hard, with glass and thorns and pain.

Which is why the disciples needed to hear that voice on the mountain—the one that said “Listen to him”.

It is interesting to note that Jesus, up on the mountain top, spends time in prayer.   As Presbyterians, we do a lot of praying.  But I also have to say that, as Presbyterians, we use a lot of words and do a lot of talking.  We are not so good at listening. Spending time in silence, waiting for God to speak.  After the request list, after praying for people we know and love, after praying for peace in the world, to just……listen.

 

“Prayer is a way of attuning ourselves to God and to our shared life” (http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=667).  And prayer is a practice- a spiritual practice, but a practice nonetheless.  Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours to become exceptional at something- a tennis swing, or playing the piano. Even if you are naturally gifted—it still takes that many hours of practice. 

Perhaps part of what this story in Luke is telling us, that as we pray we grow not just more comfortable but also more competent and confident at thinking about all of our lives in relation to God and our Christian faith. (David Lose, ibid). Anne LaMott just wrote a book about prayer titled “Help. Thanks. Wow”, which are, to her, all the prayers that there are.  But I would also say that simply listening for God is prayer, too- perhaps the one we need the most practice in.

And so we are going to do that, today.  In a little bit, we will have our prayers of the people.  And there will be spoken words, but also times of silence.  Some of that may make us feel uncomfortable—that’s okay.  Practice is often like that.

And we will practice again, this coming Wednesday, at the Ash Wednesday service.  There will be words and music, but there will also be silence.  I hope you will join us at Lodi.

And I hope—no, I pray—because as your pastor, I pray for you—I pray that during the holy time of Lent, you will practice silence.  And Listen for God.