Christ Lutheran Church: Welcome

Let's Try That Again - February 22, 2009

Let's Try that Again

Mark 9:1-6

February 22, 2009

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

We just read the story of how Jesus’ appearance was changed into dazzling white atop a mountain ... in front of His three chief apostles, and while He was speaking with Moses and Elijah. And from the cloud that surrounded Him a voice said, “This is My beloved Son – listen to Him!”

Do you remember how a voice like that had come one other time? It was when Jesus was baptized by John and when He came up out of the water the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove and a voice came from heaven saying, “You are My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” And we’re going to hear something very much like this one more time, at the moment Jesus died on the cross, when the captain of the soldiers who had just executed Him exclaimed, “Truly this WAS the Son of God!”

The first time this was said was at His baptism when Jesus began His earthly ministry and the last time was at the moment that His ministry ended on the cross. But what about this middle time on the mountain that this was said? This is was the turning point: after three years of earthly ministry Jesus turned around at this point and began His journey to the cross .... and beyond.

There were several people there at that scene on the top of the mountain. Which one of these people do YOU most identify with? With Moses, the lawgiver? With Elijah, the prophet who was one of only two people in the Bible who never died? Or do you identify with Jesus who was about to voluntarily head to His own crucifixion? Do you most identify with the apostles James and John ... the ones Jesus nicknamed “big mouths”? Or how about Peter, the one Jesus chose on whom to build the church?

For myself, I constantly identify most with Peter – not that God has chosen to build His church upon me, but because Peter is the guy who sometimes does the wrong thing for the right reason .... like when Jesus said that he was going to have to be arrested and tortured and executed. Peter steps up and says, “Oh no, Lord – that shall never happen to You!” His heart was clearly in the right place. But presuming to stand in Jesus’ way to prevent the crucifixion? That was where he stepped in it. Jesus wheeled on Peter and rebuked HIM saying, “Get behind Me Satan! Your thoughts are NOT on the side of God, but on the side of men!” And I think to myself, “Poor Peter.” He had the right idea.

And then up on this mountaintop. Here again Peter steps in it. He sees Jesus talking with Elijah and Moses talking out here in the middle of nowhere. So Peter comes up with this great idea, “Why don’t I build three ice fishing houses here, one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah? Actually, he didn’t say “icehouses” – he really offered to build three booths. The closet thing we Minnesotans know to booths is ice houses. Jews build these things every autumn as part of one their big three festivals. It is a seven day harvest thanksgiving festival where they have to live outdoors in these little shelters.

They can build them out of any material as long as the roof is made of stuff like branches and leaves. These days they often bring in electrical wiring for fans and TV’s and such. They do this because when Moses came down from the mountain (see the connection now? Moses ... mountain?) and they had to wander for forty years in the wilderness, they sometimes built little shacks to stay in along the way. And God told Moses to tell them to do this every year in festival they call the Festival of Tabernacle or the Festival of Booths or more technically, the Festival of Succoth.

So, as an act of faithful worship and adoration and tradition, it makes total sense to me that what would come to Peter’s mind is the idea of building booths. Wrong! Jesus ignored him because they were not meant to stay on top of the mountain but to get back down to the plains and valleys of everyday life where the people were, and to get on their way to His fateful appointment with the Cross.

So here again is Peter doing the wrong thing for the right reason. I can identify with that. For example, last week I announced that we would use the modern version of the Lord’s Prayer because it starts out, “Our Father in heaven,” rather than “Our Father WHO ART in heaven.” Why because we are discovering in confirmation that as many as a third of our teenagers do not know what it means to pray to our Father who ART in heaven. One kid thought that we were praying to a God named “Huart”! Others thought that we were praying to our Father who AREN’T in heaven! So that all our kids could more meaningfully participate in worship, I suggested that we go with the version that simply says “Our Father in heaven”.

Well, throughout the week I got a few emails that essentially told me that I was doing the wrong thing for the right reason. By trying to make it easier for some to worship, this change so upset other people that it would make it very, very hard for THEM to worship. So, we’re going back to the old way. There are other ways we can skin that cat. And the main way is for parents and grandparents to take the initiative to constantly make sure that their kids not only know how to recite things, but actually know what it is that they are saying.

Jesus did not want Peter putting even well meaning things (like the wording of His prayer of all things) in the way of His journey to the Cross and our journey with Him. He called us to do three things: to deny ourselves, to pick up our Cross and to follow Him. Period.

Amen. May it be so!