Mark 9:5-6
Have
you ever noticed in the movies that when there is a really scary part that one
person feels the need to talk? Of course talking is exactly what shouldn’t be
happening at that moment, so the other people try to get them to be quiet. It usually
happens with a “Shhhh” and a look. That is because there are times when silence
is appropriate.
Appropriate
silence is one of those culturally assimilated skills. It has been fun to
travel to other parts of the world and see the differences. You can always pick
out those from the United States because we are the loudest in public places.
In restaurants, we will be laughing and carrying on, and everyone else will be
talking quietly and eating. The one exception is during sporting events.
Everyone gets carried away during Soccer!
Jesus
is standing with Moses and Elijah, shining like the sun, and Peter feels the
need to talk. And of course what he has to say is totally inappropriate. His
fear has turn on the “speak” switch, but fear has turned off the “think”
switch. This is what happens in the brain. When fear strikes there is no real
need to have higher order thinking. It is all about survival. Grunts will
usually do.
There
is a tendency in us to try to ‘freeze frame’ our positive experiences and make
them last forever. The early church tried to keep things the same, but the LORD
sent persecution in order to get them out of their comfort zone and carrying
out His mission. They would have been content to stay in Jerusalem instead of spreading
the Good News across the world.
Peter
wanted to make this encounter between the three permanent. Or at least make it
last longer than he knew it would. He wanted to set up tents, I guess for
inclement weather. Remember, his fear is driving his speech. He really didn’t
know what he was saying.
Sometimes
churches try to hold onto mountaintop experiences and make them permanent. God
calls for a season of intense prayer and we build special prayer rooms to try
to make the season permanent. A particular song ignites the congregation and
then we sing it into the ground, trying desperately to hold onto the previous
experience. A particular sales campaign at work brings in lots of new
customers, so we try running the same campaign again in hopes of gaining some
new customers. But we already got all the customers that would respond to that
particular angle.
The
LORD does not want us to try to hold onto the former experiences we had with
Him. His presence is new every morning. What He wanted to use yesterday is not
what will meet the need today. Having a monotone preacher in a dimly lit church
will not reach our generations. Times have changed. People learn differently
now than they did back then. We must change the method of delivery to meet the
people in a way they can hear without changing the content of the message.
We
must move forward with the same message of Truth. We can’t set up tents. We can’t
capture and preserve the past. No refrigeration system can keep God’s moving
fresh.