Perhaps you heard the story last week of
Trenton McKinley, a 13-year-old young man from Alabama who suffered devastating
head injuries in an accident. After
being flown by helicopter to a hospital, doctors said his chance of survival
was slim, as he had seven skull fractures, and at one point he flatlined for 15
minutes. The doctors told
Trenton’s family to prepare for the worst, and his parents signed the papers to
allow doctors to donate his organs.
Shortly after signing the papers, Trenton moved his hand. Then he moved his feet. Then he regained consciousness. Today he is walking, talking, and doing
far better than anyone could have imagined. In an interview, Trenton said, they (said) I’d be a vegetable.
I don't really seem like a vegetable, do I?
There is no shortage of those types of stories,
with the label of miracle often
attached to them. I find those
stories fascinating, and one of the reasons why I do is because I see them as
glimpses of eternity. I believe
they are moments when God decides to pull back the curtain between heaven and
earth just a bit, just enough to give us a glimpse of the reality of the
eternal world.
This morning we
conclude the series of messages titled What
Is It About Jesus? In this
series of messages I have traced the ministry of Jesus through various passages
in the gospels and focused on those qualities of Jesus that attracted large
crowds to him. Each week I have
offered one word that demonstrated one of those qualities, and then used three
other words that showed in detail how Jesus lived that particular quality.
Today the
word we will consider is eternity. People followed Jesus because of his
teaching, his love, and other reasons, but I believe that above all other
reasons it was because of eternity
and the demonstration of the reality of the spiritual world that drew people to
Jesus. After all, if Jesus had
been only a moral teacher we would likely never have heard of him. If Jesus had been simply a person who
exhibited great love for people, we would likely never have heard of him. It was the fact that everything Jesus
did and said was predicated on the reality of him as the living embodiment of
God that guaranteed not only that he is remembered by history, but also that
billions have been his followers throughout the two millennia since his life
and ministry.
Our
Scripture text comes from a well-known event as recorded in the gospel of
Mark. The event is known as the
transfiguration, that moment on the mountain when Jesus for a moment revealed
himself in his eternal glory to Peter, James, and John. I have preached on this passage a
number of times over the years, but today I want to approach it from a
different perspective. Instead of
going into all the theological details about the meaning of the transfiguration
I want to see it as a moment when a glimpse of eternity was revealed to Peter,
James, and John. I don’t know why
those moments of eternity come when they come, and I don’t know what causes God
to bring them about, but I firmly believe there are those moments – moments
more rare than we wish – when we get a glimpse into eternity, as God decides to
peel back a bit the curtain that separates heaven and earth. In our modern, scientific,
evidence-based world, I think we need these moments. We need these moments not so much as proof of God, but as a demonstration
of what can be. So today, the
three words that I will use to further define the word eternity, are could, should, and
will. The glimpses that God gives us of eternity, such as at the
moment of transfiguration, show us what could
be, what should be, and what will be.
Follow along with me, then, as I
read Mark 9:2-10 –
2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James
and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone.
There he was transfigured before them.
3 His clothes became dazzling white,
whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.
4 And there appeared before them Elijah
and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good
for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and
one for Elijah.”
6 (He did not know what to say, they were
so frightened.)
7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them,
and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they
no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain,
Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of
Man had risen from the dead.
10 They kept the matter to themselves,
discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.
Could.
I don’t know why Jesus selected
only three of his disciples. Why
was it only Peter, James, and John?
I have no idea, except to wonder if it was for this reason – I think the
glimpses that God gives of eternity tend to most often be somewhat small, that
is, they don’t involve a lot of people, but the testimony of those people
becomes important. I think a
glimpse still leaves room for faith, which is always important. Peter, James, and John were left with
the task of telling the others what they had witnessed. That’s the way those glimpse work; they
happen to a few people – or just one person – and they are left to tell others,
and we decide what we think about their testimony. We often want incontrovertible proof, but that is not
conducive to faith. Hebrews 11:1
does say, after all, that faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
A
glimpse, then, becomes a sort of role model, an example, a sign of what could be. We have plenty of examples, unfortunately, of what is. We see far too often the hatred and violence, the division
and harshness, the greed and the envy, the tearing apart and rendering of the
beauty of what God has created, which is all the more reason, then, of why we
need a glimpse of what could be.
When I think of what could, be, I think of the Lord’s
Prayer. In Matthew 6:10 Jesus says
your kingdom come, your will be
done, on
earth as it is in heaven.
When I read those words I hear all three as a reminder of what could be. As Jesus prayed those words he was saying God’s will could be done on earth; that gives me
great hope. In fact, it gives me
more than hope; it gives me peace, confidence, faith, and so many other gifts
as well. At a moment in history
when there is so much that troubles us, where there is so much that makes us
anxious, and so much that breaks our hearts, we need to hear a word from God –
and we need to experience something from God – that will bring to us all that
we need. I think much of Scriptures
are examples of what could be.
From the beginning story of the Garden it is a glimpse of what could
be. The message of the prophets
was often what could be. The
teaching and the parables of Jesus were examples of what could be. The stories of the early church were
ones of what could be. And I hope in
our time together, in what we experience together in worship, also gives us a
glimpse of eternity, a glimpse of what could be.
Should.
What could be is the vision, the example, the model of what could be. Should is the
command. Could demonstrates to us the possibility, while should tells us that we need to get to
work in order to make it so. It’s
as if God is saying, I’ve told you and
shown you what could be, now go and help to make it so.
One of the reasons the should be is not always a reality is
because it is not in the interest of those who profit and benefit from what
is. The should be is a rebuke to the people, the principalities and the
powers that seek to stand in the way of so much of what could be because it is not in their interest for it to become
reality. Plenty of people benefit
from what is, rather than what should be.
When Jesus presents what should
be, it is his way of saying that those who have benefitted from resisting what should be are put on notice. They have had their moment. In Jesus, God has shown what should be, and we will move toward what should be and will never go back to what
is.
At the moment of transfiguration,
Peter wanted to build some shelters and stay on the mountaintop and remain in
that moment of glory, that moment of eternity. But then, just as quickly as the moment had come, it also
passed. It was as though Jesus was
saying, now that you have seen what could
be, now that you have seen what should be, go back down the mountain and make
it happen.
Every time we see a movement
towards or a moment of equality, we are seeing what should be and we feel the pull toward what should be. Every time
we see a movement towards or a moment of justice, we are seeing what should be and we feel the pull toward
what should be. Every time we see a movement towards or
a moment of freedom, we are seeing what should
be and we feel the pull toward what should
be.
This is what the could and should ought to do for us – they ought to move us towards making
them a reality, because for some reason, God has left it to us to accomplish
much of what could and what should be, because an important part of
the process is not just that could
and the should will happen; an
important part of the process is that we get to be part of accomplishing those
purposes.
Which leads us into our final point
–
Will.
Here’s what’s important to remember
about the words could and should – they are conditional
words. That is, they might happen. They could
happen. They should happen. But could and should does not guarantee that they will happen.
That’s why we have the word will. It is God’s promise that all that could be, all that should
be, one day will be. All that could be and all that should
be become, then, not just a hope, not just a promise; they becomes a
reality. The promise of will be is a powerful one for those who
are poor. To know that one day
they not only could or should be lifted out of poverty; one day
they will be. The promise of will be is a powerful one for those who struggle to have adequate
provision. To know that one day
they not only could have or should have adequate provision; one day they
will have adequate provision. The promise of will be is a powerful one for those who long for freedom. To know that one day they not only could have or should have freedom; one day they will have freedom. The
promise of will be is a powerful one
for those who are weary, for those who are worn down by the struggles of the
world. To know that one day they
not only could have or should have rest; one day they will have rest. The promise of will be is a powerful one for those who struggle to have strength. To know that one day they not only could have or should have strength; one day they will have strength.
The promise of will be is a
powerful one for those who have been abused. To know that one day they not only could have or should have
safety and shelter; one day they will
have safety and shelter. The
promise of will be is a powerful one
for those who struggle with fear.
To know that one day they not only could
have or should have confidence and
certainty; one day they will
confidence and certainty.
One of the most amazing glimpses of eternity that I have known took
place here in Shelbyville, at the hospital, over fifteen years ago. The glimpse began a few years before,
in Baptist Northeast Hospital in LaGrange. One evening a member of our congregation was taken to the
hospital after suffering a stroke.
I sat in the hospital through the night with his family, and by morning
it was clear that he was not going to survive and, sadly, he did not. He never regained consciousness, which
greatly troubled his wife, because she said numerous times during that hospital
vigil that there was so much she still wanted to say to him, and so much that
she still wanted to hear from him.
Many of the decisions she would be called upon to make in the coming days
were ones that she felt she did not know what he would want, as they had never
discussed such a moment. In the
years after his passing she remained greatly troubled about all that was left
unsaid. Then, about five or six
years later, another member of our church was in the hospital here in
Shelbyville. He continued to grow
increasingly ill until he arrived at the point where his heart stopped, but he
was resuscitated. Not long after
his resuscitation, while he was still in the hospital, he said that he wanted
to see the woman who had lost her husband. He had, he said, a message for her from her husband. Now, what was really interesting about
the experience is that those two families were not really close friends. They knew each other, of course, but
they weren’t friends to the point that they spent time with each other and the
man in the hospital would not have been aware of the worries and anxiety of the
woman who lost her husband. She
came to Shelbyville, visited him in the hospital, and left there a changed
person. Whatever the message was,
it lifted all the worry and anxiety from her and it was replaced with a great
sense of peace. I really wanted to
know what the message was, but I never asked her. Several years later I officiated at her funeral, and at the
meal following her funeral I was sitting with one of her daughters talking
about her life, and I finally asked, did
your mother ever tell you what the message was that she received from your
father? Her daughter said, she never talked about it, but whatever it
was it really changed her.
Whatever the message, I’m convinced it was a glimpse of eternity. It was a glimpse of eternity that gave
her something she so greatly needed.
It was a glimpse of what will
be.
We know what could be, and we know what should
be, but most importantly we proclaim what will
be!
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