(By Dave, 10-15 min)
Scripture
Mark 9: 2-8
The Transfiguration
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. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
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.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
Tell me about the good old days
The country music duo “The Judds” released “Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Old Days)” in January 1986. It quickly rose in popularity to number one on the country music charts. It won Grammy awards for both the Judds and the song’s author, Jamie O’Hara. According to Wikipedia, Billboard’s US digital song downloads had the tune holding a peak position of 10 during 2022. Even though Naomi Judd passed away in 2022, to be the 10th most downloaded song anytime 26 years after being released is remarkable.
The song has a lovely melody, but today’s country music doesn’t depend as much on strong melody as it did in 1986. Rhythm, repetition, and alliteration more characterize contemporary popular country today. Why then does this melodious song with soft harmonies endure?
It’s the words. The opening verse laments the world has gone crazy by abandoning traditional ideas of right and wrong. The second verse challenges the idea that progress is always good. The world of 1986 was so different from the previous generation that the imaginary person singing wonders if what she heard about the past is true. In the chorus of the song, she turns to Grandpa and asks these poignant questions:
“Did lovers really fall in love to stay and stand beside each other come what may? Was a promise really somethin’ people kept not just somethin’ they would say? Did families really bow their heads to pray? Did daddies really never go away? Whoa-oh, Grandpa, tell me ’bout the good old days.”
The Judds’ lyrics capture a very persistent human desire. Consciously or unconsciously, people long for biblical truths including committed marriage, never lying, and devotion to God. The more society slides away from these things, the more God’s creation groans for their restoration. The truths of God shine so brightly that we will desire a past where they are found even if they coexisted with societal foibles and sin. God’s truth simply outshines the negative in our memory.
Peter would like the Judds
I suspect Peter would resonate with this song. The things he knows and is experiencing about his faith are about to radically change. Just prior to today’s Scripture verse, the disciples are informed that Jesus will be rejected, suffer, die and rise from the dead (Mark 8:31-32). As their leader describes a very different future from their past, Peter likely believed the world was going awry. This was not his vision for the messianic culmination of his faith.
Then, suddenly, Peter finds himself immersed in the foundations of his beliefs. Moses the lawgiver, Elijah who is to restore all things and the Messiah all stand before him glowing brightly. In his mind, this was far preferable to predictions from Jesus about the future.
He responds by wanting to freeze the moment in place just as the singer looks to Grandpa’s past for comfort. Perhaps remembering either the tent of meeting in which God dwelt or the Festival of Tabernacles the future rock of the church wants to build a shelter. In them, God’s glory, Moses, Elijah and Jesus could all pause and just be in the world.
Looking back
Beyond wanting to remain in the presence of holiness, why does Peter find comfort and want this to last? For the same reason the Judds’ song is appealing. The thought of God’s principles alive and well in society is attractive. Seeing God’s values implemented and how that affects people is a good thing to remember. In essence, Peter stepped back into the past as he gazed at Moses, Elijah and Jesus (God) and he wants to preserve it.
But there is a hazard in looking to the past. Very quickly a comparison between then and now can move from finding and embracing the principles of God to wanting to live in the past. Forgotten will be a desire to use the comparison for enlightenment now. Once this happens, seeing the hand of God in the present and future is very hard to do. God’s hand only seems present in the past and there is a real desire to stay there and ignore the fact that we have a living, active God.
Peter experienced this very hazard. When Jesus informs the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and be rejected, suffer and die, Peter tells him it will never happen. Can you imagine? The son of God is telling you what “must” happen, and you tell him no. That’s how much Peter did not want things to change and maybe why he was so eager to build a shelter to capture his past faith even if only for a short while.
Peter’s not alone
We are no different than our religious ancestor. When my father was alive, I talked to him every week for several hours. He was in many ways distressed at what he saw in society. To my Dad, the same godly values the singer sought to hear from Grandpa were slipping away. During every conversation he would lament their passing and long for the times when they were present. If he could have, my father would have built a shelter and placed the biblical values of his youth into the shelter so that time would stop eroding them.
My father passed away in 2013. I don’t think he could find words to describe how far we’ve come today from the values he embraced. The urge to live in the past and freeze time grows with age. The older we get, the more we long for the Godly things of our past which is why so many old people, including me, can be heard saying: well, in my day…
The past it is nowhere to live
When our observations about the past focus on the things of God, how can we be faulted for wanting them once again? If the review of the past is used to remember the things of God, there is no fault. But when progress and change move us from remembering and reinforcing the principles of God to lament and remorse about today, then God’s hand in today is hard to see.
The past is indeed nowhere to live. For we have an active, living God who is at work regardless of what society does. The Lord has answers for Peter when he rejects the future Jesus described and wants to build shelters to pause God’s progress. For the former, Jesus responds this way: “Get behind me Satan! he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Mark 8:33). In response to his desire to build a shelter, God responds: “This is my son, whom I love. Listen to him!”.
The message is clear. The future is every bit as much God’s as is the past. How then do we resist the temptation to live in the past with no hope for a godly future? How do we resist bitterly complaining to one another about how bad things are and losing sleep wondering about what the future holds for the societies in which we live? Peter is given the solution in John 21. Jesus reinstates him by three times asking if Peter loves him. As Peter declares his love, Jesus instructs him to take care of and feed his sheep. All we need do when we grieve the loss of the past is to turn our eyes on Jesus and to love him by serving each other.
The results of this kind of devotion always play out positively in an individual life. The joy that comes from caring for other people because we are Christian reveals the hand of God and how powerfully it can affect the lives of individuals. Because societies are comprised of individuals, Jesus had provided a roadmap of how we can live in the future with confidence that God is always in control.
If you are old like me and find yourself shaking your head at our societal foibles saying the proverbial “in my day”, just turn your attention to feeding God’s sheep. Then watch as God’s hand works its magic for both you and the people you serve. Let that evidence speak loudly to you that God is alive and well and very much present in this world no matter how derailed from his presence we may seem. If we can learn the same lessons Peter learned, then the lovely song from the Judds will be exclusively a reminder of how well God’s principles work and not an invitation for hopeless lament.
There is nothing wrong with identifying the sins of our present society. There is nothing wrong with looking to the past and extracting from it the principles of God we see. But today’s Scripture suggests that living in the past is not where God wants us to be. We are to build no shelters to capture the spirit of God. He is moving and working for the good no matter how dark it may seem. Peter could not envision the death of Jesus as a good thing, but it was. We may not believe the current times in which we live are a good thing, but God can make them so. We can help by remembering Jesus’s instructions: feed my sheep.
I hope this take on the Scripture verse may give you some solace and jubilant hope if you are worried about the times in which we live. Worry not and be joyful, for God is in control now and always. May he be with you this and every day in your faith journey.
Dave
Leave a Reply