| “ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER” Exodus 14:5-31; Luke 9:28-37 Olivet Covenant Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA © Rev. Linda Jaymes, 10/18/2009 |
Have you ever noticed that it often seems like we no sooner get through one crisis before another pops up? Or that as
soon as we accomplish some great goal in our lives we become painfully aware that there is another mountain to climb, just
staring us in the face? We seem to think that all we have to do is make it through our current crisis or get to the top of the
mountain we’re currently climbing and then the rest of our lives will be smooth sailing.
I think this mindset is built into us or at the very least it begins early. We tell ourselves, “Life will be great when I
graduate from high school and go away to college…things will get easier when I graduate from college and get a job…all my
dreams will come true when I find the love of my life and get married…and have children…or when the children are old enough
to go to school…or when the children are out of the house…or when I have grandchildren…or when I can retire…” and on and
on it goes. We seem to think that life should be easy, instead of one problem, challenge, or frustration after another. But the
reality is that ever since humans fell from grace, life has been “one thing after another” and it will continue to be until Jesus
comes again.
Based on the story of the Exodus, it seems that the Israelites fell into that same faulty way of thinking. After being in
bondage in Egypt for 400 years, they must have expected their lives to become a veritable paradise once they had their
freedom. They had heard about the “Promised Land,” the “land of milk and honey,” and maybe they even thought the streets
were paved with gold. What a shock it must have been when they discovered soon after they had marched out of Egypt that
Pharaoh was hot on their trail in pursuit. Suddenly, the Israelites didn’t think leaving Egypt was such a good idea, and they
began to hurl insults at Moses. They were quite ready to return to captivity in Egypt rather than face the changes and
challenges that lay ahead. Moses had to give the people a pep talk and God had to reprimand Moses to get them moving again.
Only after they had stepped out in faith into their unknown future did they witness the power and grace of God as He drowned
the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea.
That was quite a triumph for the God of Israel and his people. But it wasn’t long before the people discovered that that
triumph wasn’t the end of their journey—it was just the beginning. They had achieved freedom from Pharaoh, but they had a
long journey ahead of them, fraught with challenges, dangers and setbacks. As the people wandered in the wilderness for the
next forty years they had to deal with one problem after another, and in fact, because of their little faith, most of them—
including Moses—died in the desert. Only a handful from that generation ever made it into the Promised Land.
Whether we like or not, the reality is that this is what life in a broken world is all about. The longer we live the more we
realize that life really is one crisis or challenge or struggle after another. In many ways, compared to the rest of the world, we
live in a land of great promise—but we’re still not in heaven yet. We would be rather foolish to believe that we could get
through life without having to face major difficulties from time to time. Granted, some people have it easier than others. But
having it easy should not be our highest goal in life. Our highest priority or goal should be serving and pleasing God and being
faithful to Him as we journey to the Promised Land. And for that matter, since heaven is already guaranteed to those who trust
in Jesus Christ, I think we could say that it is our journey to heaven, not our arrival there that should be our focus in this life.
Heaven has already been won for us through the blood of Christ, and so our job is to concentrate on becoming more like Christ
along the way.
That was something the first disciples also had to learn, and it wasn’t easy for them, either. Jesus taught his disciples that
if they were going to follow Him, they would have to take up their cross daily. In other words, to be his disciples, they had to
be willing to accept hardship—and not just occasionally, but continually! But they didn’t really understand what Jesus was
saying, any more than they understood Him when He told them He would be rejected, killed, and raised to life on the third day.
It was shortly after Jesus warned them of his impending death that He took Peter, John and James, the disciples who were
closest to him, and went up on a mountain to pray. It turned into a supernatural experience, as Jesus was transfigured before
them. He began to shine like lightening, similar to the way Moses’ face used to shine when he would enter the Tent of Meeting
to pray. After being in God’s presence Moses would have to cover his face with a veil because his glowing face terrified the
Israelites. However, according to Luke, this was not the case when the disciples saw Jesus transfigured and gleaming like
lightening. Apparently the disciples were sleepy but not scared. We are told that Moses and Elijah also appeared on the
mountain in glorious splendor and they talked with Jesus about his “departure” (his death) which would fulfill what the prophets
had foretold.
When the disciples became more awake and aware that Moses and Elijah and Jesus were all there together on that
mountain, they knew that something significant was happening. Peter, for one, wanted to freeze that moment in time. He was
ready to put up three shelters for these mighty men of God and stay up there with them on the mountain forever. I think this is
where we get the phrase “mountaintop experience” and if you’ve ever had one you can probably understand why Peter didn’t
want it to end. But as scripture even tells us, Peter didn’t know what he was saying. He didn’t realize that you can’t hold onto
a mountaintop experience for long. These powerful experiences should be treasured as landmarks on our faith journey, but you
have to keep moving. You have to come down off the mountain and deal with the realities of life—life that is filled with one
thing after another—good and bad, victory and defeat, triumph and challenge. And for people of faith, the test is how we deal
with all of that, every day of our lives.
Even Jesus had to do that. That mountaintop experience was a wonderful one, not only for the disciples but also for
Jesus. While on that mountain, God spoke words of affirmation and love, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen;
listen to him.” Yet even Jesus had to come down off the mountain. The very next day He was back with the multitudes of
people, teaching and preaching and healing and comforting. Life was one thing after another for Him, too, all the way to the
Cross. His Heavenly Father’s love and affirmation did not keep Jesus from suffering and death. And if Jesus had to face and
endure one thing after another in his life, why should we expect it to be any different for us?
As much as we would like to experience heaven on earth, we still have to live in a very broken world, filled with pain and
suffering. After every victory there will always be one more river to cross, one more mountain to climb and one last enemy—
death—to face. But the Good News is that we don’t make this journey alone. The Holy Spirit goes with us, sometimes
coaxing, sometimes encouraging, and sometimes prodding or maybe even dragging us along. And when we finally get to the
end of the journey, there’s more Good News. We don’t have to overcome that final enemy, death, because Jesus has already
done that for us. We don’t have to spend three days in hell, battling the powers of darkness, because Jesus has already beaten
them, once and for all. Our future in heaven is kept safe for us until we get there, and so we don’t need to spend any time or
energy in this life, worrying or working for what Jesus has already accomplished on our behalf. If we have trusted in Christ
for our salvation, we can leave that salvation in his very capable hands.
But what we do have to do is live every day to the best of our abilities, using the gifts and talents and faith that God has
given us. Our journey to the Promised Land may be as difficult as wandering in the wilderness was for the Israelites or as
dangerous as preaching the gospel was for many in the early church. There is no way of knowing what tomorrow will bring;
much of life is beyond our control. But what we can control—and what Jesus expects of us—is to respond to every challenge
as people of faith, daily taking up the crosses that may block our path to the Promised Land. And with that faith and each
other, we will get there, looking more and more like Christ each day. Although our lives here may be one crisis or sadness or
struggle after another, all of that will pass away. All that “one thing after another” will lead at last to that mountaintop where we
will hear the voice of God, saying “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and share your master’s happiness.” And
then and only then will it be time to put up shelters and settle down and live on the mountaintop forever.
Let us pray.
soon as we accomplish some great goal in our lives we become painfully aware that there is another mountain to climb, just
staring us in the face? We seem to think that all we have to do is make it through our current crisis or get to the top of the
mountain we’re currently climbing and then the rest of our lives will be smooth sailing.
I think this mindset is built into us or at the very least it begins early. We tell ourselves, “Life will be great when I
graduate from high school and go away to college…things will get easier when I graduate from college and get a job…all my
dreams will come true when I find the love of my life and get married…and have children…or when the children are old enough
to go to school…or when the children are out of the house…or when I have grandchildren…or when I can retire…” and on and
on it goes. We seem to think that life should be easy, instead of one problem, challenge, or frustration after another. But the
reality is that ever since humans fell from grace, life has been “one thing after another” and it will continue to be until Jesus
comes again.
Based on the story of the Exodus, it seems that the Israelites fell into that same faulty way of thinking. After being in
bondage in Egypt for 400 years, they must have expected their lives to become a veritable paradise once they had their
freedom. They had heard about the “Promised Land,” the “land of milk and honey,” and maybe they even thought the streets
were paved with gold. What a shock it must have been when they discovered soon after they had marched out of Egypt that
Pharaoh was hot on their trail in pursuit. Suddenly, the Israelites didn’t think leaving Egypt was such a good idea, and they
began to hurl insults at Moses. They were quite ready to return to captivity in Egypt rather than face the changes and
challenges that lay ahead. Moses had to give the people a pep talk and God had to reprimand Moses to get them moving again.
Only after they had stepped out in faith into their unknown future did they witness the power and grace of God as He drowned
the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea.
That was quite a triumph for the God of Israel and his people. But it wasn’t long before the people discovered that that
triumph wasn’t the end of their journey—it was just the beginning. They had achieved freedom from Pharaoh, but they had a
long journey ahead of them, fraught with challenges, dangers and setbacks. As the people wandered in the wilderness for the
next forty years they had to deal with one problem after another, and in fact, because of their little faith, most of them—
including Moses—died in the desert. Only a handful from that generation ever made it into the Promised Land.
Whether we like or not, the reality is that this is what life in a broken world is all about. The longer we live the more we
realize that life really is one crisis or challenge or struggle after another. In many ways, compared to the rest of the world, we
live in a land of great promise—but we’re still not in heaven yet. We would be rather foolish to believe that we could get
through life without having to face major difficulties from time to time. Granted, some people have it easier than others. But
having it easy should not be our highest goal in life. Our highest priority or goal should be serving and pleasing God and being
faithful to Him as we journey to the Promised Land. And for that matter, since heaven is already guaranteed to those who trust
in Jesus Christ, I think we could say that it is our journey to heaven, not our arrival there that should be our focus in this life.
Heaven has already been won for us through the blood of Christ, and so our job is to concentrate on becoming more like Christ
along the way.
That was something the first disciples also had to learn, and it wasn’t easy for them, either. Jesus taught his disciples that
if they were going to follow Him, they would have to take up their cross daily. In other words, to be his disciples, they had to
be willing to accept hardship—and not just occasionally, but continually! But they didn’t really understand what Jesus was
saying, any more than they understood Him when He told them He would be rejected, killed, and raised to life on the third day.
It was shortly after Jesus warned them of his impending death that He took Peter, John and James, the disciples who were
closest to him, and went up on a mountain to pray. It turned into a supernatural experience, as Jesus was transfigured before
them. He began to shine like lightening, similar to the way Moses’ face used to shine when he would enter the Tent of Meeting
to pray. After being in God’s presence Moses would have to cover his face with a veil because his glowing face terrified the
Israelites. However, according to Luke, this was not the case when the disciples saw Jesus transfigured and gleaming like
lightening. Apparently the disciples were sleepy but not scared. We are told that Moses and Elijah also appeared on the
mountain in glorious splendor and they talked with Jesus about his “departure” (his death) which would fulfill what the prophets
had foretold.
When the disciples became more awake and aware that Moses and Elijah and Jesus were all there together on that
mountain, they knew that something significant was happening. Peter, for one, wanted to freeze that moment in time. He was
ready to put up three shelters for these mighty men of God and stay up there with them on the mountain forever. I think this is
where we get the phrase “mountaintop experience” and if you’ve ever had one you can probably understand why Peter didn’t
want it to end. But as scripture even tells us, Peter didn’t know what he was saying. He didn’t realize that you can’t hold onto
a mountaintop experience for long. These powerful experiences should be treasured as landmarks on our faith journey, but you
have to keep moving. You have to come down off the mountain and deal with the realities of life—life that is filled with one
thing after another—good and bad, victory and defeat, triumph and challenge. And for people of faith, the test is how we deal
with all of that, every day of our lives.
Even Jesus had to do that. That mountaintop experience was a wonderful one, not only for the disciples but also for
Jesus. While on that mountain, God spoke words of affirmation and love, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen;
listen to him.” Yet even Jesus had to come down off the mountain. The very next day He was back with the multitudes of
people, teaching and preaching and healing and comforting. Life was one thing after another for Him, too, all the way to the
Cross. His Heavenly Father’s love and affirmation did not keep Jesus from suffering and death. And if Jesus had to face and
endure one thing after another in his life, why should we expect it to be any different for us?
As much as we would like to experience heaven on earth, we still have to live in a very broken world, filled with pain and
suffering. After every victory there will always be one more river to cross, one more mountain to climb and one last enemy—
death—to face. But the Good News is that we don’t make this journey alone. The Holy Spirit goes with us, sometimes
coaxing, sometimes encouraging, and sometimes prodding or maybe even dragging us along. And when we finally get to the
end of the journey, there’s more Good News. We don’t have to overcome that final enemy, death, because Jesus has already
done that for us. We don’t have to spend three days in hell, battling the powers of darkness, because Jesus has already beaten
them, once and for all. Our future in heaven is kept safe for us until we get there, and so we don’t need to spend any time or
energy in this life, worrying or working for what Jesus has already accomplished on our behalf. If we have trusted in Christ
for our salvation, we can leave that salvation in his very capable hands.
But what we do have to do is live every day to the best of our abilities, using the gifts and talents and faith that God has
given us. Our journey to the Promised Land may be as difficult as wandering in the wilderness was for the Israelites or as
dangerous as preaching the gospel was for many in the early church. There is no way of knowing what tomorrow will bring;
much of life is beyond our control. But what we can control—and what Jesus expects of us—is to respond to every challenge
as people of faith, daily taking up the crosses that may block our path to the Promised Land. And with that faith and each
other, we will get there, looking more and more like Christ each day. Although our lives here may be one crisis or sadness or
struggle after another, all of that will pass away. All that “one thing after another” will lead at last to that mountaintop where we
will hear the voice of God, saying “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and share your master’s happiness.” And
then and only then will it be time to put up shelters and settle down and live on the mountaintop forever.
Let us pray.
