"The Astounded Crowd" - Sermon, March 3, 2019

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Community UMC, Quincy
“See All the People: The Astounded Crowd”
Rev. Andrew Davis
March 3, 2019
Luke 9: 28-43

            I love a good mountaintop experience!! Whenever I make the drive up to Bucks Lake or Silver Lake, there are a couple little clearings where I can the valley below and it’s always awe-inspiring, at least to me it is.  A couple summers ago, there was a loop trail I wanted to try near Oakland Camp, although it involved a lot of switchback trails.  While I didn’t get up to the loop trail, as my legs and heart weren’t ready for steep switchbacks, I did get a nice view of the American Valley below and once again felt a sense of awe and wonder at the beauty of where we live.  
            It’s very fitting that we live in the mountains as we talk about Jesus’s transfiguration on the mountain that we just heard Jodi read for us in Luke 9: 28-43.  Transfiguration Sunday marks the end of Epiphany (or Ordinary Time I) in the church year, which is the season between the Christmas Cycle and Easter Cycle. It’s a nice book-end to Epiphany that happened on January 6, which is the time the Magi were guided by the light of the Christmas star and found the infant Jesus; to when Jesus has begun his earthly ministry; then ascends to the mountaintop with Peter, John, and James to be bathed in light once again and encounter another physical manifestation of God, or theophany, similar to Jesus’s baptism.  Come this Wednesday, we come down from the mountain and into the valley/wilderness as we begin the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday.  
            Likewise, we conclude our series, “See All the People” in which Jesus has encountered crowds in each of the readings we’ve had in Luke’s Gospel during this season after Epiphany and will once again, encounters a great crowd when he comes off the mountain.  During this series, we’ve been spending time in the fourth and fifth chapters of Luke, but now jump ahead to the ninth chapter, which is a transitional chapter.  To set a little bit of context, which I’ll encourage you to look at in your pew Bibles or read this afternoon when you get home, Jesus’s identity as the messiah is revealed in Luke 9, particularly in verses 18-20 when Peter proclaims him as messiah; yet the disciples still have a hard time grasping this as Jesus foretells his death and resurrection in verses 21 through 27.  It all leads up to this revelatory experience on the mountaintop in this morning’s reading, before he sets his face to go to Jerusalem in verse 51, which is known as the hinge-point of Luke.  
            Now putting ourselves into the shoes of Jesus, Peter, John, and James as we engage with our text this morning, going up to the mountaintop is not an easy journey, judging from anytime any of us have hiked a steep trail or switchbacks up a mountain.  Yet they all ascend the mountain in which they have this encounter with Jesus being joined by Elijah and Moses in verse 30, two key figures in Biblical history. The bright light and Jesus being clothed in white is a moment where Jesus’s glory is revealed to Peter, John, and James when they wake up from sleeping, yet they still don’t necessarily comprehend this moment when Jesus’s face shines and his clothes turn white. Once again, Peter being Peter who doesn’t always think before acting, suggests building dwellings for each until hearing God’s voice command them to listen to listen to Jesus in verse 35 inside a cloud, as Jesus cannot stay there because he has foretold his death and resurrection. Once again, God is revealed to the disciples and us, astounding the crowd of three that is with Jesus on the mountain.  Although this time, God is saying, listen to Jesus.  Trust Jesus.  
            Of course, what comes up, must come down and so Jesus, Peter, John, and James come down from the mountain and meet the larger crowd, although it feels like Jesus is a little bit terse here in verses 37-43, as the disciples on the ground were given the authority to heal and cast out demons in Jesus’s name while Jesus was on the mountain, yet the disciples don’t seem to have the faith in themselves to do it.  It’s similar to when we’re trying to show someone how to do something and they just don’t get it, then getting a little exasperated because they just can’t get it.  While the crowd is astounded at what Jesus is doing by casting out a demon, the disciples still struggle to grasp who Jesus is, while Peter, John, and James stay silent as to what they saw on the mountaintop.[i]
            How many of us sometimes struggle to grasp something, then become astounded when we finally understand?  It’s like when I was in elementary school and junior high, as math was always my worst subject, particularly long multiplication and division. It was a daily battle, as I just didn’t get it a lot of the time which would often test my teacher’s patience, then would result in me getting down on myself, calling myself dumb, and beating myself up.  One time in sixth grade, my teacher (who was one of my most influential teachers), Ms. Manwell finally had another classmate work with me and I don’t know what it was, but with the help of one of my peers, I finally got it on long multiplication, an aha! Moment.  I told Ms. Manwell I wanted to kiss my classmate, although was told it would probably embarrass her.  Except it was a moment when something clicked, so am hoping that tonight that will happen for one of my Follies numbers.  
The time on the mountaintop for Peter, John, and James was an aha! Moment as to who Jesus is, especially when God speaks in verse 35 saying “this is my son, whom I am well pleased.  Listen to him” (NRSV).  Yet, the other disciples won’t fully get it until Jesus is raised from the dead and ascends to heaven, which we will talk more about during Easter next month in Jesus’s post-resurrection appearances.  
            Over these last couple weeks, we talked about the expectations we bring with us, we talked about treating others how we want to be treated, while now we are also talking a bit about faith and trusting in Jesus.  When God says, “this is my son, my beloved whom I am well pleased.  Listen to him,” God is saying the same thing to us today (Luke 9: 35, NRSV).  Listen to Jesus.  Have faith in Jesus, as Jesus is the one who will point us to God and can leave us astounded along the way.  And take it to God in prayer.  So often, we want things to go our way, although we also know that sometimes God shows us something new when we originally thought we had everything all figured out.  Or when we thought we had it all figured out, Jesus comes and shows us something else. 

            Coming off of this special general conference in St. Louis this last week and from what you may have seen in the news about The UMC, there is a lot of worry and wonder that we will be dealing with in the days, weeks, and months as a denomination.  For many, it is feeling like we are heading towards the wilderness. Yet as Jesus tells the astounded crowd and us, we need to trust Jesus and we need to keep being the local church here in Quincy, doing what we do well.  Listen to Jesus.  Allow yourself to be astounded.  And as we come to the table to celebrate Holy Communion shortly, allow the body and blood of Christ to reveal a small part of God’s glory, being astounded in the power that simple elements of bread and grape juice can have as they represent the body and blood of Christ.  Even in the midst of uncertainty as a denomination, even in the moments we might not get it as disciples, we still have this table to gather around, as it’s not my table, not the church’s table, but is Christ’s table.  As people are coming forward to communion and going back, take a look around and see all the people.  See all the people for who they are, different as we are, as we need each other.  And as we begin a new week, keep seeing all the people and keep looking around you as you’re out and about in town, and be astounded by God’s glory revealed to us through Christ.  
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, let the Church say Amen!!  

[i]“Study Notes on Luke 9: 37-50 in The New Interpreter’s Study Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), 1872.   

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