Sunday, March 3, 2019

Reflection on Luke 9:28-43

The vision is meant for you.

Well, actually it was meant for Peter, John, and James, but since, at some point, they opened up about what they saw on the mountain that day with Jesus; the vision is meant for you.

There is a reason that Jesus wants you to see his Godliness underneath the clothing of everyday life. There is a reason that Jesus wants you to overhear him speaking with Moses and Elijah about his impending exodus from the world. There is a reason that God demands you to “Listen to him.”

The vision is meant for you. But, what does it mean?

Peter does not know what it means. If you are confused, you are in good company. Peter, Jesus’ right hand man, the one who declares that Jesus is the Messiah, and the one who should understand all things is, in the end, befuddled by all of Jesus' shiny glory on the mountain that day.

That is why he offers to pitch some tents for everyone; a practice of the Israelite people from the Festival of Booths where they reside in temporary tents waiting for answers from God.

Peter needs some more answers. He needs a clearer direction. He needs God to be a little more direct in what all this means.

Sound familiar? Have you ever needed more answers? Have the answers you have gotten from God only brought more questions? Have you ever been confused by Jesus’ purpose for your life? Has Jesus ever performed the miraculous, but you do not know why?

I cannot tell you the amount of times that I have sat by the hospital beds of people who have been brought back from the point of death only to admit: “It obviously was not my time. Jesus needed me around a little longer, but I have no idea why.” Welcome to Peter’s world.

You may not understand the reason, but the vision is for you.

Maybe we are seeking the profound when we really should be seeking the simple. Maybe we expect the truly great, when what is actually being revealed to us is rather ordinary. What I mean to say is that sometimes we are so wrapped up in the mysteries of Jesus’ glory…in his shiny Godliness…that we do not see him in the plain clothes right in front of us.

Let us take a look at what Jesus did immediately after the vision. Jesus came down the mountain and set a child free from a terrible spirit that had completely overtaken the child. The child convulsed on the ground, unable to get up, unable to be the good son that his father desired, and simply unable to live. The boy was imprisoned, and Jesus set him free.

Jesus could have just sat on the mountain in all his glory. He could have just lived on the lofty heights as the Son of God, basking in that divine greatness. Yet, Jesus covers up his glory once again in some ordinary clothes so that he might come down off of the mountain and set a child free. Jesus is not a savior who desires glory. Jesus is a savior who desires exodus.

Exodus is the movement from a place of slavery and imprisonment, through the dangerous waters of the red sea, to a place of freedom.

Jesus is a savior who desires exodus.

Think about it; Jesus will soon in the story overcome death on a cross. He will overcome the permanence of the tomb. He will set himself free from the ultimate in imprisonment: death and burial.

Jesus is a savior who desires exodus!

Exodus is precisely what he is talking about with Moses and Elijah on the mountain that day. Exodus is what Jesus' mission is all about. And, if we are commanded by God to listen to Jesus, which we are, then maybe what we are to take away from this mountaintop experience is that we are a people of exodus. We are a people who seek to follow Jesus, setting people free from all that binds.

This vision of exodus is for you. This mission of following Jesus and setting people free is for you to hear today.

This vision of exodus was precisely what the recently empty-nested mother heard from Jesus when she first encountered the young woman in her 20s. The young woman was in an obviously controlling and abusive relationship. Sightings of the couple having loud and aggressive parking lot disputes was not uncommon in the small town. Often the young woman’s significant other would be seen, with arms wrapped around her, literally trying to control through force and anger where she went and what she did. The tomb-like nature of the situation was so obvious to all those around, yet no one knew what to do.

The empty-nested mother saw Jesus' vision for the situation though. She saw that this young woman could be free; free to live a life without all of the abuse; free to live a life of growth; and free to live a life where there is love instead of control.

The empty-nested mother looked around her home and saw two empty rooms. They were rooms of grief. The sadness of her two children moving on in life was still raw. Do not misunderstand, their family was a happy, loving family. There was nothing wrong. The children grew up happy and then moved away as should have happened.

Perhaps, the joy of raising her family made the kid's growing up even more painful for the mother.

However, in those grief filled rooms the empty-nested mother saw the potential for new life. She saw rooms of freedom. She saw at least one room that could be the new home of a woman trapped in life.

The next day, the empty-nested mother offered a room, and some motherly love, to the young woman in the abusive relationship. Within two hours the young woman was moved in and being served her first slice of warm, homemade banana bread.

The young woman was on the path to freedom, and it was all due to the empty-nested mother who saw the vision of Jesus and listened to his voice. She followed him down the mountain and understood the freedom that is found in his name. In scripture, she saw her savior setting free the young boy and in the story found a purpose for life even after her role of mother was over. She decided to follow Jesus and be a person of the exodus.

Jesus is a savior who desires exodus, and we listen to him. Ever found yourself searching for purpose? You have found your answer. You are a follower of Jesus and a person of the exodus. The vision was meant for you.

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