I know that some of you, like I, were completely distracted by the events that took place during last weekend’s Special General Conference. I know that some of you, like I, were devastated at the outcome. I know that some of you were satisfied with that outcome. And I know that some of you didn’t even know what happened until the news hit every news outlet Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. It is possible that some of you didn’t know until this morning. It is also possible that some of you don’t really care. But the future of our denomination and, by extension, this part of it is uncertain.
When Pastor Sharon asked me to give today’s message, the Special General Conference was not on our minds. Instead, we were focused on today being Transfiguration Sunday. Listen now to the story from Luke’s Gospel:
Luke 9:28-36 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” 36 When 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.
Oh, Peter! You never can stay awake while Jesus is praying, can you? I have faith in you, though, you’ll get it figured out.
Peter, the uneducated, rough fisherman also called Simon, who was so impetuous. When Jesus said, “Come on along,” along he went. He followed Jesus around Galilee watching as Jesus performed miracles, listening as Jesus taught, and, more often than not, failing to understand just who this Jesus really was.
Peter was on fire for Jesus, though. Matthew’s Gospel includes the story of Peter impetuously jumping out of the boat to try walking on water, and nearly succeeding, I might add.
Peter, as spokesperson for the disciples, is the one who answers when Jesus asks “Who do you say I am?”
That little conversation about Jesus identity comes right before the climb up the mountain in today’s reading. Within that conversation, in all four Gospels, Jesus also tells his disciples that they’re about to go to Jerusalem where he’s going to die. According to Matthew and Mark, Peter takes Jesus aside and says, “Don’t talk that way!” To which Jesus responds, “Listen, folks. I’m going to die. But since I’m actually God, I won’t stay dead. I will tell you this, though: if you continue to follow my Way, you’ll probably die, too.”
Peter didn’t get it. Of course he didn’t! We know the end of the story, don’t we? But that was all in the future for Peter. He continued to hold on to the hope that none of what Jesus predicted would really happen. I mean, really! Jesus is the Messiah we’ve all been waiting for! Everyone will be so excited and Jesus will ride into Jerusalem on his white horse, run out the Romans, and return Israel to the glory days of David’s Kingdom! Peter did not understand what Jesus was saying. He never did, did he? Giving Peter a little slack, the rest of the disciples had no clue, either.
So here we are, skipping happily down the road, and Jesus decides he needs a prayer retreat, not an uncommon occurrence, so climbs the nearest mountain taking his three besties along.
Jesus prays a lot. And he really gets into it. Peter and the boys fall asleep and miss a lot, as they tend to do. While they’re asleep, God’s prophets show up. This happens on mountains a lot in the first few books of the Old Testament, stories Peter, James, and John would have been very familiar with. So there they are on the mountain, Jesus is all glowy, and Moses and Elijah show up to have an encouraging chat with him about his impending death. Now me, with all that bright light suddenly turned on, I’d have woken right up. And the boys woke up, saw what was going on, and got really excited. Wow! Moses and Elijah! The two greatest prophets in history! Standing right here on this mountain talking to our Jesus! Wow!
So Peter, impetuous Peter, wants to rebuild the Tabernacle right there on top of that mountain. Three, actually, one for each of these glowing figures. Just as he’s suggesting this to Jesus, God shows up in person but hidden within a cloud that covers the whole scene. The boys would have been familiar with the Exodus journey and God appearing from within a cloud. Be that as it may, this pretty much freaks them out. Then God speaks. “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
Jesus has heard this before, but the boys haven’t. Coming so soon after Peter had recognized Jesus as the Messiah, this was confirmation. But, as wild as this mountaintop experience has been, Peter still didn’t get the full picture.
As I said, we know the rest of the story … at least I assume it’s not a spoiler to say that things happened just as Jesus said they would. They got to Jerusalem and Jesus was killed. But not after some drama while they were celebrating a Passover meal at which Peter, always impulsive, vows to stick with Jesus no matter what. “Even if I have to die!” he proclaimed in Matthew’s and Mark’s versions. Then he found himself once again falling asleep while Jesus prayed out in the Garden.
The next morning the rooster crowed, Peter was ashamed; then traumatized as his Messiah was hung on a cross to die. And, wonder of wonders, Peter was a witness to the empty tomb on Sunday morning. But Peter still didn’t get it, did he?
The Gospels give us a confused picture of what happened after that but John tells us that at some point Peter headed home. Back to his fishing boat; back to the way things were before the excitement, the mountains and valleys; back to who he was before he denied his Messiah. But things could never be the way they were. Peter’s Transfiguration was well under way.
At some point after the Resurrection, after the Resurrected Christ had appeared to Peter individually and as part of groups, after Jesus commissioned Peter to “Feed my Sheep” (according to John), after the disciples had been commissioned to make disciples, after Jesus had ascended, after the disciples were trading between worshiping at the Temple and hiding out in fear, the next stage in Peter’s Transfiguration happened.
The power of the Holy Spirit blew in at Pentecost and, Acts 1:14 says, “Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them.” Whoa Peter! Dude! Listen to you speak! Acts 1:41 tells us “and that day about three thousand persons were added.” The rugged fisherman had become the first mega-church preacher! He finally gets it! He’s experienced God’s power enough times now that it all comes together and Peter grasps what Jesus had been saying and doing!
The SALT class has been studying the book of Acts for the past several weeks so they can tell you what those crazy Christians, under Peter’s leadership, get up to over the next months. The Reader’s Digest version is that the Holy Spirit got folks fired up and the community grew exponentially.
But Peter’s Transfiguration isn’t done yet. See, this early community was comprised of Jews. The Church was centered in Jerusalem and grew in an ever widening circle outward into Samaria then into the Diaspora, which is Greek for the Jewish communities outside Israel (and at that time it was Israel). The earliest Christians were Jews who believed that Jesus was their Messiah.
Peter was the leader of the group. He’s not sleeping now! He’s having to lead the community in making decisions about leadership, about integrity, about participation. He’s having to help guide the church through the reality of Jesus’ prediction of persecution. He’s even having to travel around dealing with little issues that come up, overseeing miraculous healings and the occasional resurrection, as you do.
And the Word is spreading. It’s not long before those outside the Jewish community start to take notice and become drawn in. First come those called “God-fearers” who were non-Jews who believed in and worshiped the Jewish God.
But then Romans started becoming interested in becoming a part of this movement. Acts chapter 10 tells the story of a Roman Centurion named Cornelius who was stationed in Caesarea, a Roman city not far from Jerusalem. Cornelius was one of those God-fearers and during his prayers one afternoon, God spoke to him. Wait – what?!? God spoke to a Roman! God directed Cornelius to send someone over to another town, several miles away, to fetch Peter back.
Listen to this from Acts 10:
9 About noon the next day, as they (the messengers from Cornelius) were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” 15 The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven. … 19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Look, three men are searching for you. 20 Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them.”
The messengers show up; Peter, along with several friends, goes with them over to Cornelius’s place; and, greeting ritual taken care of, Peter says,
28…“You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.”
Peter, the righteous Jew who has sat at the feet of the greatest Jewish Rabbi of all time, the leader of the Jewish sect called Christians, has been Transfigured! He preaches to everyone at Cornelius’s place, which included Cornelius and his extended family as well as his friends, who would all have been Romans, as well as the group who had traveled there with Peter, who would all have been Jews. It sounds like quite a crowd was there.
44 While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, 46 for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, 47 “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
This New and Improved Transfigured Peter has received, directly from God, new instructions about who was welcome in the young Christian community. This is the moment that Christianity stopped being a Jewish sect. This is the moment God used an object lesson to teach Peter that his tent wasn’t big enough.
Peter was the leader of the Church in Jerusalem and that’s where several of the earliest leaders hung out. They heard about all this with Cornelius and called Peter on the carpet about it. “What do you think you’re doing?!? Those Gentiles are incompatible with God’s teachings!”
Peter told them the whole story. All about the vision he had, how God had sent him to Cornelius, how he had preached and the Holy Spirit had gifted the Gentiles gathered. Peter closed this speech by saying:
11:17 If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”
18 When [the other apostles] heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”
Unfortunately, the matter wasn’t settled. See, Peter convinced the apostles that God welcomed Gentiles into the Church. But their understanding carried an if. A big IF. If the believing Gentiles got circumcised and became Jewish, they could be part of the Church, which was still understood by the Church itself to be a Jewish sect. But this story ain’t over. No, not by a long shot.
See, there’s this other guy, you may have heard of him … name of Paul. He spent a fair amount of time traveling around the Greco-Roman world and everywhere he went, poof, Christian communities popped up! Then he’d move on to the next town. When he left, someone had to stay and lead. Someone had to stay and preach the message of Christ’s Gospel. It doesn’t take much math to figure out that, given the fact that most of the synagogues Paul encountered threw him out on his ear, these folks who were leading those small Christian Churches were, surprise! Gentiles. I don’t know who the first Gentile preacher was – the record is not clear. But Paul names a bunch of different men AND women in his letters who led their different churches; some are named in Acts.
Paul visits the apostles in Jerusalem with his buddy Barnabas and they proceed to make a report of all the awesome growth they’ve seen, how many people have become followers of Christ, all the places they’ve been and lives they’ve seen changed. It’s amazing! Unfortunately, once more, the Jerusalem leadership gets their pants in a wad over Paul’s disobedience to their interpretation of God’s law and God’s will. A tremendous argument ensues.
Then Peter steps to the microphone. A hush falls upon the room. The other leaders know Bishop Peter is going to put Paul in his place. Peter says:
15:7 “My [friends], you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. 8 And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; 9 and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. 10 Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? 11 On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
The stunned leadership take a vote and decide to update their Book of Discipline. They then send out a letter that ends with these words:
28 “… it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
Huh. Three requirements. Don’t eat anything that has been sacrificed to idols (which would violate the first two Commandments), don’t consume blood (which was understood to be the very life force), and don’t fornicate (which translated meant “faithful in marriage and celibate in singleness”).
Today is Transfiguration Sunday. We might want to dwell on Jesus’ Transfiguration on top of that mountain the way Peter wanted to build tents. But I think Peter’s Transfiguration is far more interesting and challenging for us. His journey from the fishing boat to the pulpit is one we can all emulate.
There are some who say that everything about Peter in Acts was made up because no uneducated fisherman could preach well enough to inspire thousands to follow a dead Messiah, or be wise enough to lead the earliest Christians through trial and tribulation. Have you met Glenn? Because of dyslexia, he was nearly illiterate at the age of 35 but by the time he was 45 he had earned not one, but two masters degrees and by the time he was 55 his leadership had nearly doubled the attendance of several churches.
So don’t sell anyone short. Don’t any of us try to do God’s job in deciding who is and who isn’t qualified for Christian witness. God has given us two commandments: love God, and love neighbor. Everything else is between you and God.
This past week has left a lot of bodies. Our Global Church has already seen a huge loss. Already some have left the connection, both individuals and churches. Others, even annual conferences and one entire Jurisdiction, have boldly stated that the changes are unWesleyan and against the principles of our theology and they have no intention of obeying such unjust laws. Still others, probably the majority, actually, have a wait and see attitude. Many churches are saying to their people that who we are, what we do, has not changed and will not change. This local church, the people we know and love, are the people we know and love. God’s love hasn’t changed. We haven’t changed. Our mission hasn’t changed. Let’s wait and see. Some will ultimately choose to leave, some will choose to stay. That’s the way it always is.
I have no idea what will happen. Will the Judicial Council rule enough of the Traditional Plan unconstitutional that there’s little change to our Discipline? I don’t know. Will we have a huge, ugly split or will the splintering be quieter? Again, I don’t know. Will this group or that group leave the denomination to start something new? Almost certainly, but which will swerve first in this game of ecclesiological chicken is hard to say at this point.
What I do know is this: God loves us. All of us. And God calls us to love one another. I admit that I’m having a hard time loving some of us right now, but I’m working on it and I’m trusting God’s help.
I want to be a Christian like Peter. Peter was willing to accept a completely different way of understanding God’s will. May I be as willing.
I like to finish up by giving out homework called Action Steps.
Action Steps:
1. This week, spend some time with Peter’s story as it’s told through the Gospels and Acts. Reflect on how Peter’s journey may apply to your own life.
2. I invite you to reach out to someone this week who is impacted by the General Conference decision. Share stories, hopes, fears. Pray together. If you’re brave enough, reach out to someone on the other side of the aisle. We need each other, Church.
3. This morning you have the opportunity to respond to Christ immediately. Some of you may feel hurt at the results of our General Conference or from something else. Some of you may feel angry. Some of you may feel smug. Soon we will be sharing together in Holy Communion. At that time, as always, you are welcome to spend some time at the altar. There will also be the opportunity to receive healing prayer. Simply come to the station where I will be. You may share a specific request for healing for you or on behalf of someone, or you may decide to say nothing at all.
John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Movement from which this church descends, said these words as his last: “The best of all is God is with us.”
Let’s pray.
SOURCES:
The Bible by God