Living Out Christian Reality

Luke 9:28-35

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 as bright as a flash of lightning. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem.

Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but as they awoke, 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 set up three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not realizing what he was saying. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”

In this story we refer to as, “The Transfiguration,” Jesus invites his inner circle of disciples, Peter, James and John to follow him up on a mountain to pray. There, something amazing happens, Jesus begins to radiantly shine, and Moses and Elijah appear at his side! Peter, the most outspoken of the apostles speaks up, of course, and suggests making a memorial for this moment.

I think we can relate to Peter. We like to pursue and remember the “mountain top.” We want to chase an imagined future. We have an idea in our head of what it would mean if we “made it,” whether that’s in a career, relationship, or discipline. We also like an idealized past. When we feel like we have had a profound experience, we want to memorialize the idea of it – to take a picture, hold onto the ticket stub, just daydream about it, keep the memory alive.

Sometimes we even make faith about a future we imagine or a past we memorialize. We say, “If only things were how I imagine they should be,” or “If only things were how they were in the ‘good old days.’” It is tempting to only think how good it was to be there or to dream about a future arrival and pitch a tent. The writer of the book of Luke is quite clear about Peter’s statement, though – “He did not know what he was saying.” We miss the point by trying to make the idea and memory of the mountain top the main thing rather than its reality. After his statement, Peter, James and John look again and see no Moses or Elijah, but only Jesus. God says, “This is my son, my chosen; listen to him!” The glory of God is not in the memory of an experience but the reality of Jesus.

We are hesitant to go down from the mountain and follow the way of Jesus – the way of the cross. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book Life Together says, “Christian community is not an ideal we have to realize, but rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.”[1] We like to pitch a tent in the ideal of Christian faith, never really practicing it in real life. Consider what we believe about the Church being, “one, holy, and universal.”

We love the idea of unity, how it was once or will be. But when it comes time to participate in the reality of unity, we are hesitant. Unity requires us to deal with confrontation and compromise with real people with whom we often disagree. Christian unity requires us to constantly be open to unity with new members, which sacrifices our tendency to form cliques and exclusive clubs. The same for the holy and universal church. We may like the idea of holiness, but the reality of prayerful discipline and mutual accountability are difficult to act on. It is also difficult for us to give grace for people to fail as they journey toward holiness. Likewise, we are open to the idea of a universal church until it requires participating with real people beyond our language, international and denominational “borders.”

So, what should we do? We should be the church, not as an ideal, but in practice.

• Tell stories of Christian reality! Don’t get stuck dreaming of an ideal church, seek where it is really lived out. Take the things that we say about ourselves and make sure we are practicing them. Focus on the stories of people doing the things we say define ourselves.

• Make memories of faith in real time. Don’t stay stuck in how things were in the past but keep practicing faith in the present. Try to take something you learned from the Bible or from church and put it into practice. Take that experience back to the scriptures and see how they line up. Get out and meet with people in person. Get to know someone who thinks differently than you and try to find some common ground. Live life faithfully!

Faith is practiced in the everyday deeds of ordinary people as they follow Jesus together.

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015), 13.