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Craig L's Blog

Commonplace Holiness

Category: Gospels

  • On the Transfiguration Of Jesus – Luke 9:28-36 (37-43).

    On the Transfiguration Of Jesus – Luke 9:28-36 (37-43).

    The story of Jesus’ transfiguration dovetails with a persistent theme in all the Gospels: Jesus’ prayer life.

    The Gospels let us know that Jesus often sought out times and places for private prayer. In this, Jesus stands out from the other Biblical characters. Yes, other Biblical characters are portrayed as people of prayer — Moses, Elijah, and others — but no one more than Jesus. This runs contrary to a naive theology: as the Son of God, it seems as if Jesus would be the least in need of prayer and solitude, and the other Bible characters, being mere mortals, the most. And, maybe they were. But, Jesus was the one who sought out the place of prayer the most.

    Here is the fountainhead of all subsequent teaching on the life of prayer in the various Christian traditions — the prayer life of Jesus.

    Luke 9:28-31
    Ἐγένετο δὲ μετὰ τοὺς λόγους τούτους ὡσεὶ ἡμέραι ὀκτὼ [καὶ] παραλαβὼν Πέτρον καὶ Ἰωάννην καὶ Ἰάκωβον ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος προσεύξασθαι. καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ προσεύχεσθαι αὐτὸν τὸ εἶδος τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἕτερον καὶ ὁ ἱματισμὸς αὐτοῦ λευκὸς ἐξαστράπτων. καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄνδρες δύο συνελάλουν αὐτῷ, οἵτινες ἦσαν Μωϋσῆς καὶ Ἠλίας, οἳ ὀφθέντες ἐν δόξῃ ἔλεγον τὴν ἔξοδον αὐτοῦ, ἣν ἤμελλεν πληροῦν ἐν Ἰερουσαλήμ.

    “Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” (NRSV.)

    It was while he was praying that “the appearance of his face changed” (τὸ εἶδος τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἕτερον). In Exodus 34:29-35, we are told the story of Moses coming down from the Mount with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand and it says: “Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.” (Exodus 34:29 NRSV.) This is a similar case.

    I can’t state it better than H. D. M. Spence did, as he waxed eloquent in the old Pulpit Commentary:

    “The marvellous change evidently passed over Jesus while he was in prayer, probably because of his intense prayer. Real, close communion with God ever imparts to the countenance of the one who has thus entered into communion with the High and Holy One, a new and strange beauty. Very many have noticed at times this peculiar and lovely change pass over the faces of God’s true saints as they prayed — faces perhaps old and withered, grey with years and wrinkled with care. A yet higher degree of transfiguration through communion with God is recorded in the case of Moses, whose face, after he had been with his God-Friend on the mount, shone with so bright a glory that mortal eye could not bear to gaze on it until the radiance began to fade away. A similar change is recorded to have taken place in the case of Stephen when he pleaded his Divine Master’s cause in the Sanhedrin hall at Jerusalem with such rapt eloquence that to the by-standers his face then, we read, “was as the face of an angel.” Stephen told his audience later on, in the course of that earnest and impassioned pleading, that to him the very heavens were opened, and that his eyes were positively gazing on the beatific vision. Yet a step higher still was this transfiguration of our Lord. St. Luke tells us simply that, ‘as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered.’”

    Jesus appears transfigured before them. Christ appears now in his true glory. Christ appears now in his end-of-time glory. This story is quite different than the resurrection stories — for there Jesus’ ordinariness is emphasized: he is mistaken for the gardener, he meets with the two disciples traveling to Emmaus as a conversation partner — only to be recognized for who he is in the breaking of the bread. And so forth. The resurrection Jesus is not an overwhelming presence. But, the transfiguration Jesus is: his clothes are dazzling white.

    Jesus is here identified with the Shekinah glory of God. This kind of thing brought later generations of Christians to speak of Christ as: “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God….” (The Nicene Creed.)

    And, with Jesus — talking to him actually — are Moses and Elijah. They represent the Law and the Prophets. Moses and Elijah are talking to Jesus about his “departure” (ἔξοδον = exodus). They are talking to him about the events of the Cross, and resurrection, and ascension (“They… were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.“) Jesus’ mission is spoken of here in terms of his giving of himself to redeem humankind.

    The implicit claim here is that everything in the religious traditions of Israel are now culminating in Jesus’ death and resurrection. For us, this points to a progressive unity of the Old and New Testaments. As Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew he comes not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). Faith in Christ challenges us to see the Bible record as a progressive but continuous story, culminating with the account of Jesus Christ.

    Luke 9:32-34
    ὁ δὲ Πέτρος καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ ἦσαν βεβαρημένοι ὕπνῳ· διαγρηγορήσαντες δὲ εἶδον τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς δύο ἄνδρας τοὺς συνεστῶτας αὐτῷ. καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ διαχωρίζεσθαι αὐτοὺς ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ εἶπεν ὁ Πέτρος πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν· ἐπιστάτα, καλόν ἐστιν ἡμᾶς ὧδε εἶναι, καὶ ποιήσωμεν σκηνὰς τρεῖς, μίαν σοὶ καὶ μίαν Μωϋσεῖ καὶ μίαν Ἠλίᾳ, μὴ εἰδὼς ὃ λέγει. ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος ἐγένετο νεφέλη καὶ ἐπεσκίαζεν αὐτούς· ἐφοβήθησαν δὲ ἐν τῷ εἰσελθεῖν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν νεφέλην.

    “Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” — not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.” (NRSV.)

    The text implies: they almost slept through it! They were tired, but they saw it all since they had (as it happened) remained awake.

    An old and unanswerable question here is: how did Peter know these were Moses and Elijah? I’ll leave you to speculate on that one….

    But, it is clear that Peter is overwhelmed by this experience. Luke lets us know that he blurts out something stupid: “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings….” Then the cloud overshadowed them. Remember: clouds are often associated with the visible glory of God throughout the Bible. So, this is the Shekinah (שְׁכִינָה) glory of God, and they are terrified (ἐφοβήθησαν) as they enter it. While this is a form of the common verb for “fear” (φοβέω) — the verb is sometimes used to mean “reverent fear” (Mark 6:20; Luke 1:50; Acts 10:2; Ephesians 5:33; Revelation 11:18).

    This, of course, is the quintessential Mountain Top Experience — a term preachers love to use. Notice: it was not sought. They were tired, but it so happened they were awake enough to experience this. And: it is not an end in itself. It is designed to impress them with the revelation of God in Christ — and their need to heed it.

    Luke 9:35, 36
    καὶ φωνὴ ἐγένετο ἐκ τῆς νεφέλης λέγουσα· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἐκλελεγμένος, αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε. καὶ ἐν τῷ γενέσθαι τὴν φωνὴν εὑρέθη Ἰησοῦς μόνος. καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐσίγησαν καὶ οὐδενὶ ἀπήγγειλαν ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις οὐδὲν ὧν ἑώρακαν.

    “Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” 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.” (NRSV.)

    Christ’s voice is the voice they must heed above all. As Christians we come to understand the preparatory messages of the Law and the Prophets in the light of what God has done and said through Christ. Christ is the key. We interpret all that has come before in the light of Christ.

    The whole point of this overwhelming encounter is to cement in their minds the need to heed Jesus Christ. “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” True discipleship is more than a mountaintop experience — it is a day to day following after Christ — giving heed to his example and teaching.

    John Nolland remarks in the Word Biblical Commentary:

    It is not possible—and it is not right — to freeze this moment of glory. The aftermath of the voice speaks as eloquently as had the voice itself. The moment of glory has vanished. Jesus is alone. The mountaintop experience has passed and what remains is the way of the cross as the way to permanence of glory. They have seen the glory that by right belongs to Jesus, but it belongs to him the other side of death and resurrection.

    The Revised Common Lectionary gives preachers the option to include Luke 9:37-43. This is the story of Jesus delivering a demonized boy — after the disciples could not help. The contrast is sharp, and this has led to the common rhetoric about “Mountain Top Experiences” versus service “in the valley.”

    Prayer and service go hand in hand.

    A FREE GIFT TO PREACHERS: Here is a PPTX file for a sermon based on this passage . You can use this, edit this, change this however you wish — it is free for you to use (or not). Click this link: With Christ on the Mountaintop.

  • On Loving Enemies – Luke 6:27-38

    On Loving Enemies – Luke 6:27-38

    This passage is from a section of the Gospel of Luke often called “The Sermon on the Plain.” This begins at Luke 6:17 and extends to the end of the chapter. There are many similarities to the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. This passage in Luke, in particular, has several parallels to passages in the Gospel of Matthew and a parallel to the Gospel of Mark.

    Here is what I mean:

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  • On Peace, Love and Perfection – Matthew 5:38-48

    On Peace, Love and Perfection – Matthew 5:38-48

    In this passage Jesus is continuing the series of antithesis statements he began in verse 21. In these he fleshes out what he means by coming not to destroy the law but to fulfill it. He goes beyond the law — not relaxing it, but pushing it further — pushing it toward its spiritual fulfillment. Jesus challenges us to consider more than just outward fulfillment; he pushes us to examine our motivations and inner lives.

    In verses 21-37 the issues were: destructive anger, covetous sexual desire, divorce, and the swearing of oaths. Here the issues are vengefulness, enemies, peace, and universal love for all.  Here the issue is how we treat — and think about — each other. This passage can be seen as a unit because of its closely related themes.

    This is also one of those passages in the New Testament that uses the word τέλειος — often translated “perfect” — which gave rise to the phrase “Christian Perfection”— often used by John Wesley (and his followers) to talk about the spiritual life. The phrase has been misunderstood from the beginning and continues to be misunderstood today, and it’s easy to see why Looking at verse 48 in its context may help to sort out some of the confusion.

    My goal in looking at this passage is much larger than that one issue — it is to understand how Jesus interprets the Old Testament law and applies it to life.

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  • Launch Out Into the Deep – Luke 5:1-11

    Launch Out Into the Deep – Luke 5:1-11

    I love the way this passage in the Gospel of Luke combines the call of the first disciples with the story of a miraculous catch of fish. There is so much evocative symbolism in this account. For some reason this time, my mind is drawn to that image: launch out into the deep. It is an image which is distinctive to Luke’s Gospel.

    The parallel synoptic accounts are: Mark 1:16-20 and Matthew 4:18-22. They are both shorter and contain less detail. So, that makes Luke 5:1-11 distinctive enough that it’s a great text for preachers.

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  • How Jesus Fulfills the Law – Matthew 5:21-37

    How Jesus Fulfills the Law – Matthew 5:21-37

    Jesus has already stated that the purpose of his ministry was in no way to destroy the Law and the prophets (that is, the Old Testament) but to fulfill them.

    In this passage he begins to flesh out what that means. He seeks to bring the Old Testament law and teaching into its fulfillment by expounding its inner intent and purpose for the people of his own day. In “fulfilling” the law, he fills it up with meaning, demonstrating how it reveals to us the will and purpose of God.

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  • Light, Salt, and Righteousness – Matthew 5:13-20

    Light, Salt, and Righteousness – Matthew 5:13-20

    I often speak or write — or think — about the mission of the Church. It is natural for religious professionals (or even former ones like me) to get in the habit of thinking that the mission of Christ is the mission of the Church. We start to think of the Church as the necessary mediator of the grace of God — as not just the ordinances of the Church but also its very activities as saving. I think it’s a false teaching, myself — but one easily fallen into — to restrict the activity of God to the activity of the Church — and to (unconsciously) fall into the falsehood of thinking the Church is the necessary mediator of grace.

    There is, in fact, a mission of God larger than the Church — out of which the Church was born as a response. The Church did not create this mission and the Church does not own it. It belongs to God. Jesus came into the world as the living expression of the mission of God in the world. The Spirit of God was given to empower the Church in its witness to Christ.

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  • Fulfilling the Word — Luke 4:14-21

    Fulfilling the Word — Luke 4:14-21

    Luke is the New Testament writer whose narratives emphasize the activity of the Holy Spirit. Thus, Luke’s account of the life of Jesus, and the mission of the early Church are linked to the Old Testament witness of the creative and inspirational Spirit of God: The Spirit of God that swept over the waters in creation (Genesis 1:1-2), the Spirit who inspired the craftsmen who made the sacred objects for the tabernacle (see, for example, Exodus 31:1-6), who inspired the prophets. Luke is making the implicit claim that this same creative, energizing Spirit of God is at work again in the life and ministry of Jesus. Luke will also make this same claim about the expanding mission of the early Church — in his record in the book of Acts.

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  • The Beatitudes – Matthew 5:1-12

    The Beatitudes – Matthew 5:1-12

    19th Century Campmeeting

    In the summer of 2014 (as I recall) I preached for the evening services at the Family Bible Camp at the Albright Park Camp & Retreat Center in Reed City, Michigan. It was a very natural place for me to be, and I was glad to preach there. I have a fondness for the tradition of the holiness camp meeting (as you may have noticed), and it felt right to be there preaching in that old tabernacle.

    It occurred to me: why not preach on the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew? I remembered the importance of the Sermon on the Mount in the preaching of John Wesley, and I wondered if a series of messages suitable to a camp meeting could be delivered based on it. I think it went very well.

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  • Inspired Biblical Authors (2): Luke 1:1-4

    Inspired Biblical Authors (2): Luke 1:1-4

    In my last post in this series, I pointed out that 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 may not be as helpful in understanding the idea of the divine inspiration of the Bible as it might seem at first glance. To restate: Because this passage uses the word θεόπνευστος (literally: “God-breathed”) and because 2 Peter 1:21 speaks of prophets who were “borne along by the Holy Spirit,” and “spoke from God” — this would seem to suggest that the inspiration of the Scriptures was some sort of divine dictation, similar to (what people suppose was true of) prophetic inspiration.  But, since the writings these authors are speaking of surely is the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) — interpreters (especially Protestant ones!) have good reason not to draw that conclusion. The Septuagint differs somewhat from the Hebrew Bible, and contains additional books. Anyway, 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 is more focused on the usefulness of  Scripture than on any theory of its inspiration and authority.

    Most interpreters want to avoid the idea of inspiration as a sort of direct dictation from God — even though this idea has some popularity among the Christian public. Thus, for example, Louw & Nida say:

    “In a number of languages it is difficult to find an appropriate term to render ‘inspired.’ In some instances ‘Scripture inspired by God’ is rendered as ‘Scripture, the writer of which was influenced by God’ or ‘… guided by God.’ It is important, however, to avoid an expression which will mean only ‘dictated by God.’” (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains 1989).

    Interpreters want to avoid the notion of divine dictation because it does not seem to accord with what we otherwise know to be the process by which the Scriptures were written. And, it is to this I want to turn now.

    Let’s take a look at those few passages where the Biblical authors talk to us about the process of writing and their intentions in writing.

    Luke 1:1-4
    Ἐπειδήπερ πολλοὶ ἐπεχείρησαν ἀνατάξασθαι διήγησιν περὶ τῶν πεπληροφορημένων ἐν ἡμῖν πραγμάτων, καθὼς παρέδοσαν ἡμῖν οἱ ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς αὐτόπται καὶ ὑπηρέται γενόμενοι τοῦ λόγου, ἔδοξεν κἀμοὶ παρηκολουθηκότι ἄνωθεν πᾶσιν ἀκριβῶς καθεξῆς σοι γράψαι, κράτιστε Θεόφιλε, ἵνα ἐπιγνῷς περὶ ὧν κατηχήθης λόγων τὴν ἀσφάλειαν.

    “Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.”


    Luke does not speak of the writing of his Gospel as being a divine dictation — or anything like it.

    He tells us that he set out to write not just an “account” (διήγησιν, as in verse 1), but “an orderly account” (καθεξῆς). Louw & Nida say that the word καθεξῆς means “a sequence of one after another in time, space, or logic” (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains 1989). Time, thought, and organization went into the writing. Not only that, but investigation and research preceded the writing itself: “after investigating everything carefully from the very first….” It is said here that Luke’s account of the life of Jesus from the testimony of those who were “eyewitnesses and servants of the word….”

    So, this is not at all the same as the delivery of an oracle. It was often claimed that the Oracle at Delphi fell into a trance and delivered messages in that state. But, Luke tells us that his writing proceeded from research, thought, and organization.

    The ecstatic structure of human spirituality would also suggest a trance-like type of inspiration. But, in Christianity mind and spirit generally work together. The Holy Spirit imparts wisdom and rationality. While ecstatic in a very basic way, it awakens the mind rather than suppressing it.

    This is a wisdom which was often well-expressed within the 19th Century Holiness movement — but seems to have been forgotten since. Here are the views of Thomas C. Upham (1799–1872):

    The person, who is guided by the Holy Spirit, will be eminently perceptive and rational. The operations of the Holy Spirit, in the agency which he exerts for the purpose of enlightening and guiding men, will not be found to be accidental, or arbitrary, or in any sense irrational operations.
    …

    We repeat, therefore, that one evidence, of being guided by the Holy Spirit, is, that such guidance contributes to the highest rationality. In other words, the person, who is guided by the Holy Spirit, other things being equal, will be the most keenly perceptive, judicious, and rational. Not flighty and precipitate; not prejudiced, one-sided, and dogmatical, but like his great inward teacher, calmly and divinely cognitive. The experience of holy men, particularly of those who have made it a practice to ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit on their studies, agrees with this statement.

    (Found here or here.)

    So, however we are to understand the nature of Biblical inspiration, it is not as a trance-like inspiration that overrides human rationality. It is not divine dictation — and this fact is attested by Luke, one of the most prominent of the New Testament authors. It is the community of faith that recognizes these writings as “inspired” “God-breathed” and its authors as “cared along by the Spirit” — even though it was a rational process to the writers themselves.

    Furthermore, Luke wants us to know that his book rests on the testimony of “eyewitnesses.” It is about events that actually happened. So, again, this is not a collections of oracles given by immediate inspiration — Luke wants to make a credible claim that it is the account of events that happened.

    This insight, in turn points us toward the kind of revelation that the Bible imparts to us. It is not so much a direct vision of God as it is a record of events that reveal the nature, will, and purpose of God. It is historical revelation. The inspired words of Scripture witness to revelatory events.

    Again, taking 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 and 2 Peter 1:21 by themselves would seem to suggest something different. But, in fact, this is an evaluative statement being made about the writings of rational minds illuminated by God’s Spirit.

    But, we can’t let these observations rest on Luke alone. So, next I want to turn to some other passages that tell us about the process by which the Bible was written.

  • A Radical Call – Matthew 4:12-23

    A Radical Call – Matthew 4:12-23

    A story can be told in more than one way. Two witnesses may see events in a significantly different way. I think sometimes preachers, commentators, and theologians give in too easily to the temptation to get behind the story of Jesus rather than reading it for what it is . The way the story is told cues us to the meaning the gospel writers saw in the story. It is story-telling that we encounter in the Gospels, not some kind of scientific history writing. The story has a point. That’s why the gospel writers tell it. In addition, people often too quickly attempt to harmonize and explain. And, I think the temptation is strong in this passage.

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