We Are Overcome

We Are Overcome

Luke 9:28-36

Hear the word of God, as we find it recorded in Acts 2:17 – “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”

This past week, I had a dream. It was a vivid dream, an exciting dream. When I woke up, it was all I could think about for a long time. It was a dream that may have been sent to me by the Spirit of God.

I dreamed that God was giving to me a way to make a million dollars, which could then be used for the work of the gospel. I would receive this money when I shared with the world “the magnifying potato.” This was a potato that could attract and magnify the internet waves in the air so that no one would ever have to deal with slow internet again.

To be honest, I am not sure why God would choose me to share the magnifying potato with the world. It must have been like when God called Isaiah to be a prophet. We read in Isaiah 6:1-11, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

I was overcome with the responsibility that this dream, this vision of a magnifying potato, had tasked me with doing for God. But then I remembered the advice offered by the Apostle John. He wrote in his first letter (1 John 4.1) – Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

So I tested the spirit. It occurred to me that I had been taking cold medication to help me sleep, and that can affect your dreams. The morning before this vision I had gotten up early to look at the five planets which could be seen in the southern horizon, but my binoculars didn’t provide enough magnification to see the rings of Saturn or four of the moons of Jupiter that were promised. And I had read an article online about someone who had bought a picture of a potato for a million dollars, since it was taken by a famous photographer who is now dead so this photo is considered a rare art piece.

Taken together, this would be pretty good evidence that a million-dollar dream of a magnifying potato is more likely due to the jumbled thoughts combined by cold medications than it is to the Spirit of God. But is a magnifying potato really that much more far-fetched than a six-winged seraph touching lips with a burning-hot coal in a smoke-filled throne room of God? Can you imagine what the friends of Isaiah thought when he told them about his vision?

But even if magnifying potatoes and winged seraphs made sense to us, is that enough for us to believe that this is a vison from God? Well, it turns out there is one more, and more important, test that can be done to see if a vision or dream is authentic. Does the dream or vision have anything to do with the revealed will of God?

In the book of Samuel, we read (3:1), “The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” When Larry Wagley, one of my doctoral advisors at Saint Paul, retired, he used this scripture to point out what it was like to teach in seminary. It may have been rare in the day of Samuel, he said, but it seemed that everyone in seminary is constantly receiving visions and dreams from God.

The challenge was helping these students test the spirits without crushing their faith. And while their visions and dreams may not have been as far-fetched as magnifying potatoes that can focus the power of the internet, many of their visions were little more than the excited and jumbled thoughts of their minds seeking their own glory, instead of the glory of God.

In those cases, it is always good to do one more, and more important, test: does the dream or vision have anything to do with the will of God?

We live in a time when people and groups are continually casting visions and dreams before us. There are visions for the country cast by politicians hoping to get elected. There are dreams for the church cast by church growth consultants hoping to get hired. There are futurists who cast visions of flying cars and wearable computers hoping to get funding for their projects.

They do a good job of casting their vision, and many accept their visions as true and real. But when tested, their visions are usually for something much less than the will and glory of God.

Even on much smaller scales, we are bombarded with visions and dreams. We are asked, “Can you see yourself in a new car, a new house, a better education? Can you see yourself with a bigger bank account, a new relationship, a more satisfying meal? Buy our product, use our services, and let us help you achieve your dream. Let us help you fulfill your vision of what your life can be.”

Advertisers do a good job of casting their vision, and many accept their visions as true and real. But when tested, their visions are usually for something much less than the will and glory of God.

There is an old song I was tempted to use as the framework for the sermon today. I echoed that song in the sermon title. I learned “We shall overcome” when it was popularized in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. The lyrics are simple to sing, simple to learn, and simple to adapt, as it casts its vision. The first verse is usually sung as:

We shall overcome, we shall overcome
We shall overcome someday
Here in my heart, I do believe
We shall overcome someday

Pete Seeger, one of the folk singers who popularized the song, said he learned it as "I'll be alright, I'll be alright, I'll be alright, someday... deep in my heart, I do not weep, I'll be alright someday." With a little checking, you can find probably hundreds of different versions of that verse.

For example, I learned that before the Civil Rights movement, it had been the song used to cast the vision of the United Mine Workers in the 1920’s. Before that, it was the song used to cast the vision of the slaves before the Civil War. They sang the last line as “no more auction block for me.”

In each case, and in many more lost to history, the song was used to cast a vision, and to help a people dream a dream. Sometimes, the vision was godly; sometimes, it was not. In each of those cases, it is always good to do one more, and more important, test: does the dream or vision have anything to do with the will of God?

I wanted us to consider all these things because today’s reading from the gospel is the transfiguration story. It is the story of the vision given to Peter, James, and John one day while they were praying with Jesus on a mountaintop.

In this vision, the clothing of Jesus begins to glow, becoming a dazzling white. This seems to echo the burning bush that was not consumed when Moses went up on a mountain to meet with God. Instead of a bush, Peter, James, and John get an on-fire Jesus as a sign that God is with them. Who is going to believe them if they told anyone about Jesus being the equivalent of the burning bush?

Jesus is then joined by Elijah and Moses – which is even more amazing than Jesus glowing. Moses had died about 1400 years earlier. Elijah had vanished about 900 years earlier. Who is going to believe that the two pillars of Judaism just happened to show up at the same time and in the same place to chat with Jesus about his departure from this earth?

As for those departures, the Bible says no one knows exactly where Moses was buried, and some traditions claimed this was because God did it himself. And Elijah was whisked off the earth in a chariot of fire, ascending directly into heaven. Who is going to believe that the son of a carpenter is getting special attention concerning how he will leave this earth?

Peter was trying to make sense of what he was seeing, overcome by glowing Jesus and Moses and Elijah, when he was interrupted by a cloud rolling in and a voice speaking. Who is going to believe them if they try to tell others that the voice of God told them that Jesus is the Beloved Son of God, and that even Moses and Elijah must listen to him?

I think this is why Luke’s version of this story ends with, “and they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.” Without the benefit of knowing what happens on Good Friday, at Easter, and at the Pentecost, their story would have sounded as believable as magnifying potatoes able to harness and concentrate the power of the internet.

Yet we have this story in the Bible because the vision was tested. We know that Jesus’ departure from this world was not like others because he was raised from the dead as the victor over sin and death. We know that Jesus is the one greater than Moses and Elijah by his resurrection appearances and his ascension into heaven. We know that Jesus is still with us through the gift of the Holy Spirit which was poured out on the Day of Pentecost.

But there is one more, and more important, test that we have to do – was this vision in keeping with the will of God? We know that everything Jesus did, everything Jesus taught, everything Jesus accomplished was in keeping with the will of God. We know that his miracles, his encounters with the outcasts, and his sacrifice on the cross brought glory to God. This is a test that we have done over and over again over the centuries. This is how we know this vision is true – not because it is written in a book we claim is from God, but because we have tested it and found it to be in keeping with the will of God as we have experienced in in our salvation through Jesus Christ.

People are still going to have dreams and visions. They may tell them at the top of their lungs, or in the rhythms of songs, or in the promises of campaigns. Some of these visions will be as easy to dismiss as the magnifying potatoes of the internet, but some will be visions that seem good and right to us. We will be looking at this a little more closely next week, when Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, and throughout the Lenten season. In each of those cases, it is always good to do one more, and more important, test: does the dream or vision have anything to do with the will of God?

We are overcome, and we know this vision of Jesus transfigured is true, so let us celebrate the transfiguration as we sing our new hymn.

The Mountain’s On Fire