As this is camp day, I have a
camp story. This one is from a men’s camp we went to on the prairies years ago..
We men, as you know, can think
of ourselves as fairly organized and when I was in teacher-training many years
ago we learned that while women are generally more skilled at the creative side
of things men have a much higher aptitude for math and such. So here is a math
question for you. If you start off with 1 Officer and 5 other men from one town
and you add 1 Officer and 4 other men from another town, how many men do you
have? (11)
Good. Now if you subtract 1 person
from the second town (who will get off the bus in Saskatoon) and add 1 person from
the first town (Who will get on the bus in Saskatoon) how many men should we
have on our bus as we leave men’s camp? (The one person we are going to add in
Saskatoon is ‘David’, he is Major Ed’s son) How many people should we have on
our bus at the beginning and the end of the trip? Do you think we could get
that right? With ten men on the bus doing a head count we came up with anywhere
from 6 to 11 people and we were quite content with that until we were driving
away and someone asked, ‘where’s Tim?’ Sure enough as soon as we pulled out of
the camp, down came Tim to where the bus was supposed to be and we were already
gone - leaving Tim standing at the path wondering why we had left without him.
We did get Tim and were joking
with him most of the way back – when we dropped off the other person and as we
drove all the way through and way past Saskatoon anyway. We were joking as we
were talking about how we could be so ‘out of it’ that someone could be left
behind when all of a sudden, Major Ed pulled the bus over to the side of the
highway: “we forgot David”, he said. In all our excitement in mocking ourselves
for forgetting Tim, we completely forgot to pick up Ed’s son, David, in
Saskatoon. To make a much longer story short, we called others who kindly
picked up David and brought him home.
In Luke’s account of the
Transfiguration, Peter, James and John are surprised by a head count. They find
Jesus with some unexpected friends that they don’t know what to do with: Moses and
Elijah. Peter offered to put up a booth or a tent for Jesus and the extra
people but it says, Verse 33, that in making that offer – he really didn’t know
what he was talking about. Peter would have fit in quite well on our bus trip.
In our text, Jesus is found
alongside representatives of the Law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah). This is
interesting because we know that Jesus himself fulfills the Law and the
Prophets. And when and where this scene is happening in the story, we know Luke
wants us to ask the question, ‘who is Jesus’?
It is interesting the way Luke
puts this together too because in telling the story, as we are waiting to find
out ‘who is Jesus’, the Greek text doesn’t call Jesus by name - until we reach
almost the end of the account of the transfiguration. Where English
translations use the name ‘Jesus’, the Greek text simply says ‘he’ or ‘him’. So
while the disciples may be wondering who the two people with Jesus are; the
readers don’t even know that it is Jesus with the two people. All of this is revealed –in the Greek- only at
the end of the story of the Transfiguration. We are kept in suspense – though
not without clues – until that time.
This is an important question
for us today too: Who is Jesus? Luke gives us a couple of answers to that
question in the rest of Chapter 9 leading up to this.
In verses 10-17 is recorded
the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000 with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.
Now this is interesting if we stop and think about it for a moment. The five
thousand number was just the men. This total did not include women and
children. How many people do we have in Port Alberni? 18 000 give or take a
few. How many of those people are adult men? 5000, maybe up to 7000? This
miracle would be similar to if Jesus had fed almost the of the population of Port
Alberni on much less bread (and other food) than is donated to The Salvation
Army every week! Can you imagine having a big meal here and feeding everyone in
the city with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish? Who is this person in Luke 9?
Who is Jesus? Well, he is quite a miracles worker if nothing else but Luke
tells us to that he is much more.
In Verse 22 it is recorded
that Jesus gives us a glimpse of the resurrection – as part of his answer to
this question of who he is - “saying, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and
on the third day be raised’.”
In Verse 26, it is recorded
that he is the Son a Man and that he will come not only in his glory but also
in the glory of God the Father and of the holy angels. Jesus then continues
speaking as Luke sets the stage for the transfiguration scene. Jesus says, “I
tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they
see the kingdom of God.” Eight days and three verses later, Moses and Elijah
appear before Peter, James, and John with Jesus atop the mountain. Peter, James
and John do see the Kingdom of God.
It is an interesting
observation that the Greek word Luke uses to mean that Jesus’ face ‘was
altered’ in Verse 29 points us to the divinity of Christ. It reminds us of how
Moses’ face shone when he met God on the mountain in the Old Testament.
There is the cloud here as a
further symbol of divine presence as well: We remember the cloud pillar through
which God led the Israelites out of Egypt and the cloud that filled Solomon’s
Temple at its dedication. This is very likely another symbol that Luke uses
here to point us to the divinity of the Christ, Jesus.
A part of Jesus’ identity is
revealed through his company atop this mountain as well. We know Elijah: He is
the famous prophet used by God to begin and end a drought throughout the
Promised Land. He is the one God used to prove His power on top of Mt. Carmel
over the false prophets of Baal. He was an instrument to show the power and
glory of God – on a mountain.
We know who Moses is as well.
Moses is known as the great lawgiver. He was the one God used to deliver the
people out of slavery in Egypt. He is the one through whom God delivered the Law
and the 10 Commandments atop Mt. Sinai. God used Moses as an instrument to show
the power and the glory of God on a mountain.
Now here they are: Moses, the
representative of the Law, and Elijah, the representative of the prophets,
being used as instruments of God on top of the mountain to show the power and
the glory of God to Peter, James, and John and to all of us.
Here we have the
representatives of the Law and the prophets as well as the symbolism of the
cloud and all the other things that we have mentioned pointing to the divinity
of Christ who is the completion of the Law. It is finished. The cloud envelops
the people on the mountain, like it did at the dedication of the Temple, and
when it raises only Jesus remains – Christ alone. Where the law and the
prophets once stood now there is only Jesus (verse 36). “And a voice came from
out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen One; Listen to him!’” As we obey the voice when all else has passed
away and when we look up seeking our Lord – like Peter, James and John on the
mountain – surely we shall see Jesus.
Jesus is the fulfillment of
the Law and the prophets. I encourage us to turn our eyes upon Jesus who is
standing in our midst. When we do, truly I say unto you that we will find Him
not only sitting on the heavenly bus of our salvation but we will find that
indeed He is our driver and he wont forget us! and He is taking us home. And as
we remain with Him, He will neither leave us behind nor forsake us.
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