Text: Mark 9:2–10

The question behind today’s sermon is this: "What will enable us to be more aware of God’s activity in our lives and in the world?" To answer this question, I want to recall some stories Mark told about Jesus, his disciples, his followers and his critics.

Some days before the experience described in today’s reading, a Greek mother was distraught because her daughter was not herself and was in the clutches of that which would destroy her. The mother went to Jesus, asked for help, and Jesus healed the daughter; he made her whole; he gave her back her life.

In the next story Mark told, Jesus healed a man who was deaf. Following that, Mark told the story about a crowd of people who had been in what we might call a three day seminar with Jesus. They had run out of food and were hungry. Jesus blessed what little they had—seven loaves and a few fish—and it became more than enough.

The next story Mark told was about some very religious people who came to argue with Jesus. They demanded Jesus show them a sign from heaven, even though he had just done ministries that were clearly signs from heaven. Jesus recognized these very religious people had such a limited perception of God, and their minds had set such stringent limits on the way they believed God could be at work in life that they were going to remain blind to what he was doing, deaf to what he was saying, and never partake of the food he had to offer.

In the next story Mark told, Jesus tried to warn the disciples not to be like these people whose legalistic approach to God and living distorted their understanding of both who God is and the way life is. But the story reveals the disciples did not understand Jesus much better than his critics. Even though the disciples had been with him when he had restored the girl to wholeness of life, when he had enabled the deaf man to hear, and when he had fed the crowd of followers, the disciples still did not get it. They were blind to what was going on. So it is not surprising that the next story Mark told is about Jesus healing a blind man so he could see clearly.

Then Jesus and his followers moved into Gentile territory, and Jesus asked the disciples: "Who do people say that I am?" They told him what people were saying. Then Jesus asked, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter blurted out, "You’re the messiah."

And so Jesus began to teach them that the messiah would be rejected and killed, but on the third day he would rise again. This upset Peter, and Peter began to take Jesus to task for saying such a thing. To which Jesus responded, "Get behind me, Satan! You are not on the side of God but of men."

Jesus then told the multitude who were accompanying him and his disciples that those who would be his followers were expected to deny themselves, pick up their crosses and walk in his footsteps. Those who would try to save themselves would only get lost in the process. It would only be those who were willing to lose themselves following Christ who would find themselves and be made whole.

These are the stories that immediately precede the story we read today. It is clear t hat while Jesus was respected, appreciated and even called "the messiah" by Peter, even the closest disciples did not yet understand.

In the story we read today, Peter, James and John had gone with Jesus on a prayer retreat. There, they had a mountaintop experience in which they saw Jesus in a new light, and became aware Jesus was at least on par with Elijah and Moses. In the process they were powerfully aware of the presence of God, and that God was telling them Jesus was his beloved son, that he was pleased with Jesus, and that they should listen to Jesus.

I think it is important to notice that it was when they were in a situation of prayer that these disciples were able to be aware of what God was showing them and telling them. Of course, even after this mountaintop experience, Peter, James and John did not fully understand. They still had a long way to go. No single experience—however great—takes us all the way in our faith journey. It would not be until sometimes after the resurrection that the disciples would begin to comprehend what Jesus had taught them. But this mountaintop experience was for them an important step in their faith journey toward becoming the persons God intended them to be. It was on this prayer retreat that they were able to see Jesus in a new light.

On this retreat, Jesus did not do anything he had not done before. He gave them no special new teachings. What happened was that Peter, James and John began to understand as they had never understood before what God was doing in life and in their lives through this man Jesus. This Jesus was God’s son, and God was pleased with his son. In and through their prayer experience, these disciples came to know, as never before, who Jesus really was and that God wanted them to listen to him.

I think this is the way it is for us also. We can follow Jesus around. We can read and hear what he said. We can read about and imagine what he did. We can even have those special moments when, like Peter, we will blurt out that Jesus is the Christ. But all this is not enough. We do not begin to understand fully who Jesus was and is, what he said and did until in some way we, too, become aware of the presence of God in our lives making it clear to us that Jesus is God’s son, that God is pleased with him, and that God wants us to pay attention to him.

The way this happened for Peter, James and John was through a time apart from the routine and pressures of daily living. It was in a time of prayer that they began to see Jesus in a new light. It was when they were striving to be open to God that they became aware, as never before, of what God was saying and doing.

The point for today is prayer is essential for our growing in faith and our moving toward spiritual maturity. And the aspect of prayer that leads to the kind of revelation Peter, James and John experienced is not the prayer that is mostly talking to God. Rather, it is prayer in which one intentionally makes the effort to hear and understand what God has done in Jesus and what God is continuing to do in the world and in our lives.

The reason I told all those stories that preceded today’s scripture reading is to help us be aware that prior to that mountaintop experience even the closest disciples were not clearly aware of God’s activity right in front of them. Just as we, too, tend to be insensitive to God and God’s grace at work in the world and in our lives. The challenge for us is the same as for the people of Jesus’ day. Can we recognize God’s activity in our midst?

It is easy for us to be so narrowly focused on what we are convinced are the limits of the way God can be at work and what God can do in our lives that we are as insensitive as the people in Jesus’ day who failed to recognize the activity of God in their lives.

To be able to be aware of God’s activity in our lives and in the world, we must set aside time to strive intentionally to be open to God. This is what Peter, James and John were doing on their prayer retreat with Jesus up on that mountain. It was not while they were busy taking care of daily chores that Peter, James and John saw Jesus in a new light, became aware of the presence of God, and realized they really did need to pay special attention to what Jesus was saying and doing. It happened in time set apart.

Today is Prayer Commitment Sunday. Although the prayer commitment card suggests what we might pray for, I think the most significant commitment we are being asked to make is to discipline ourselves so that we make room in our schedules for time apart from our routines when we will pray.

God help us to make time in our schedules to pray, and when we pray, help us do more than talk to you; enable us to be still and to listen. Amen.

God, teach us to pray. Free us from all that tempts us to play religious games with ourselves and with you. Rescue us from merely throwing requests and instructions your direction. Help us to focus on you. Enable us to admit to ourselves and to confess to you what we really want, what we long for and what scares us. Protect us from pretending. God, help us be clearly honest with ourselves and with you. Keep us from phony piety.

And God, enable us to be still and to listen. Enable us to discern what you are saying to us. Help us make time so that we are able to do more than hurriedly mumble requests. God, we know that we must invest time to have a significant relationship with our spouse or child or parent or friend; help us to remember we must also invest a regular quantity of quality time to have a significant relationship with you.

God, motivate us and help us make the adjustments we need to make in our daily schedules so that we will have time to share what we need to share with you and time to strive to discern what you have to say to us. Lord, teach us and enable us to pray. Amen.