By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
March 2, 2025
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Luke 9:28–43 (ESV)
28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. 37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38 And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. 40 And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” 41 Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 42 While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God.
“About eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.”
I speak a great deal about the rhythm of life Jesus exemplified and encouraged in his disciples. He made it his custom to worship with his community in the synagogues. He would with draw often to isolated places to pray. And he would minister to the needs of those within the community. I do not know when exactly I began noticing this in the gospels but once I did it changed many things within my own spiritual life.
All too often we can get caught up in the chaos of the day, at least I can. We get taken on the roller coaster of media emotions and thrown to and fro by the anxiety inducing trending culture wars. We get ensnared, or as our Faith and Practice states it in the first query we become, “unduly absorbed by temporal affairs.”
What does this accomplish in our lives? Log onto facebook, twitter, or blusky and you will see just what it accomplishes. We have friends and family at each other’s throats over differences of opinion. And yes these things are important, but are they more important than the person sitting next you you?
“About eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.”
As I sat this week reading over this passage, my mind was drawn to this first verse. Why does Luke say eight days? Why is the bookstore I could lose myself in when I lived in Wichita called Eighth Day? Is there something about the number eight that I am missing?
Ambrose the bishop of Milan and teacher of Augustine said this about this week’s passage:
You may know that Peter, James and John did not taste death and were worthy to see the glory of the resurrection. It says “about eight days after these words, he took those three alone and led them onto the mountain.” Why is it that he says “eight days after these words”? He that hears the words of Christ and believes will see the glory of Christ at the time of the resurrection. The resurrection happened on the eighth day, and most of the psalms were written “For the eighth.” It shows us that he said that he who because of the Word of God shall lose his own soul will save it, since he renews his promises at the resurrection.1
Ambrose lived during the forth century. For three hundred years the church of Christ was persecuted by the government and the regional religions. Then during a civil war within the Roman empire, a general by the name of Constantine had a vision and heard a voice within that vision that under this sign he would rule. The sign he saw in that vision was the Chi Rho, the first two letters of the word Christ. Which looks like the letter P placed within the letter X in English. According to legend, Constantine had his soldiers paint this symbol on their shields and the once persecuted church became the dominate religion of the empire.
Now that Church had acceptance they faced a new risk. Before everyone just wanted to survive. People of faith shared their testimonies, and they shared their food because often they would have to prove that they offered sacrifices to the emperor to be able to buy food so getting the things to survive was difficult. They shared life and they would often mourn the loss of their friends who faced death by the mobs and beasts. Now that their lives were not under threat, they began to develop different teaching and traditions.
They began to argue among themselves about what the true faith was and what should we do with those people that rejected Christ in the face of persecution? These debates became intense, so intense that Constantine began to fear that the religious debates would drive his newly reunited empire back into civil war. So he gathered the bishops together to one place and demanded that they talk through their problems and come to a conclusion as to what the one true faith, or Orthodoxy, is.
This council, the first council of Nicaea was convened in the spring of the year 325, and lasted three months. And at the end of this council they determined that Jesus and the Father, God the Son and God the Father were of the same essence and wrote a creed that Churches to this day will often recite every week. As Friends we do not recite the creed, we say we are non creedal which I find slightly funny because the word creed simply means I Believe.
Ambrose, was born a few years after that council met. They developed the framework of theology yet even after that creed was penned the church continued to argue and struggle with varying beliefs. Ambrose became known for his defense of the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Which was part of the creed, yet still people struggled to understand.
This is why Friends take the stance against creeds. We all have different understandings, we all have our own interpretation of what faith is. At times we might not fully be able to express what it is we believe, and there are times where we may not even know what we believe. This should not bar people from access to prayer or worship. Instead we should encourage them, share with them, tell them about our faith, and encourage them to continue to walk.
Ambrose, was not a Quaker, but because he is part of Church history we can learn from his life just as we learn from the lives of each other. And in his era of history, when they saw the word eight they believed that Luke was foreshadowing the new life that is guaranteed on the eighth day, the day of the resurrection. From this way of thinking the eight day would be Sunday, the day after the seventh day. And this eighth day is why the church began to worship on Sunday instead of keeping with the traditions of the Hebrew faith, because God restored life on the eighth day and we celebrate the new life in Christ.
There is more to the eighth day. The eighth day also held significance to the Hebrew faith. God created the world and all that is in it in six days and then rested on the seventh. The eighth day is when humanity was given the opportunity to participate in creation. We as the creatures created in the image of God were given our mission and purpose to go into the world to be fruitful and multiply, to bring all of creation under submission and make the entire earth like the Garden of Eden.
I want us to think about the eighth day. It is the day we are called to participate in creation, it is the day that we celebrate the restoration of creation and the hope we have in Christ.
For the people of Hebrew faith, that day was the day they were to get back to work. But Jesus had something else in mind. Instead of going back into the daily grind, Jesus went up onto the mountain to pray.
This tells us something.
The first of our Quaker queries asks, “Do you earnestly seek to maintain a life in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you practice the daily reading of the Scripture in your families, giving time for waiting upon the Lord? Are you watchful not to be unduly absorbed by temporal affairs? Are you careful to avoid places and activities inconsistent with a Christian character?” This is not a query Sunday, but for some reason this is on my mind. We labored for six days, and we rest on the seventh while we worship God within our community. The eighth day is when we are to go back to work, to get back into the daily grind. How does Jesus begin his eighth day? He withdraws to an isolated place to pray.
“And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.”
This is a fascinating story. While Jesus was praying he was transformed before the eyes of his three closest friends. They saw him in the fullness of his nature. In that time of prayer he was transported through time and space and was in conversation with the law giver and the father of the prophets. In prayers Jesus brought the law and the prophets the totality of the Hebrew faith together into himself. And he spoke with the law giver and the wonder worker who did not taste death.
I have often wondered how the disciples knew who was on that mountain with Jesus. It is a mystery to me, but it is significant. Moses represents the law, and Elijah represents the prophets. All of scripture is standing together on that mountain. Think about that for a moment. Consider the work that these men were given in their lifetime. Moses was to bring the people of God out of bondage in Egypt and escort them into the land of Promise. Moses was to build the nation, to bring the people together under the rule of God. Then there is Elijah. After generations of life, within the land, the people of God started to lust after the gods they did not know. They built temples and high places to worship the gods of the world, turning their back on the God of their fathers. We get a glimpse of the cycles of life. Bondage, redemption, prosperity, rejection, and back into bondage. We see the efforts of humanity striving for greatness and missing the mark. And what are they discussing? The words that were spoken about eight days prior.
Peter proclaimed that day that Jesus was the son of the Living God, and Jesus said that he did not say this of his own accord but that it was inspired by God. And that day Peter had his name changed from Simon to Peter, a name that meant rock. And Jesus said upon this rock he will build his church. Tradition has said that the Rock was Peter, I do not believe that Jesus would build his church on one man, but on the testimony that man proclaimed. Jesus is the Christ the son of the Living God. It is that testimony that has power. And shortly after Peter said those words, Jesus began to tell them what would happen. They would leave that region and go to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, that city of Peace, Jesus would be handed over to the religious leaders, and the religious leaders would hand him over to the authorities, and he would be unjustly tried, convicted and killed. He said it plainly.
In that moment Peter again spoke out, “This will never happen.” And Jesus looked his friend in the eyes and rebuked him saying, “Get behind me Satan.” Peter went from speaking the words of God to the words of Satan in a matter of minutes. And for eight days he had to sit with that hanging over him. We can speak the words of God in one moment and in the next be instruments of Satan. We can bring people and damn people within the same breath.
And Peter, John and James stood there with Jesus in prayer and they saw hope and judgment, the blessing and the curse talking with Jesus discussing the very thing Jesus had spoken to them about just a few days before.
Peter cried out to Jesus and the two men, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Peter in his great desire to be close to God, once again failed to fully comprehend what was right there before him. He wanted to stay in that place, to remain in the glory. He wanted to build tents to remain in that place of rest and worship. As he said these things a cloud came and overshadowed them and they were afraid.
The mystics of our faith speak often of the cloud. They speak of the dark night, and the dark tower. We can look at these mystics and wonder why they speak of God in such a fearful manner, but there is a mystery to God. Something that is fearful. Even the prophet Isaiah cried out in terror when he found himself in the presence of God, because he was a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips. God can be a source of fear and mystery, because we often do not know exactly where we stand in his holy presence because in one moment we can be conduits of his words and in the next speak the words of his enemies. The cloud of God’s mysterious presence surrounded them, and they knew who they were and what they were capable of. And a voice come out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” And as soon as they caught their breath, they were standing alone with Jesus on the mountain.
This was the eighth day. Jesus went out to an isolated place on the day that humanity was called to begin their participation in creation to pray. And after he prayed, he come down from the mountain and met with the crowd. It was only after prayer, that Jesus again engaged in the work set before him, the work of bringing all of creation into submission to God.
Prayer is central to the life and lifestyle of Jesus. It is central to the faith of a believer. We cannot participate in the life of Christ if we do not join with Christ in prayer. As Jesus was on that mountain, the law and the prophets joined together in prayer. In prayer does the hope and the curse of a nation or people come together uniting in one directive.
It is in prayer that we find our path through the cloud of unknowing. It is in prayers that we find the light on our dark night’s journey. It is in prayer, where we come to meet with God in true communion of the saints of history and the saints yet to come, and unite as one and receive our true vocation. “This is my Son, my Chosen One; Listen to him!”
We cannot participate in the work of Christ without prayer, because it is in prayer that we hear God’s voice. We cannot participate in the life of Christ without prayer because prayer is central to Jesus’s discipline and rhythm. We need prayer, because it is in prayer that we will know the will of God, and be able to join with him and participate in creation.
Jesus prayed on the eighth day, the day that we return to work. Jesus rose on the eighth day to accomplish the work for which he come. And on the eighth day we are called to join with Christ in prayer, so that we listen to his voice, and respond to his leading. Let us become a people that Loves God in worship, Embraces the Spirit in prayer, and Lives the love of Christ with others as we respond to the spirit’s guidance and participate in the work Jesus has called us to.
1 Just, Arthur A., editor. Luke. InterVarsity Press, 2005, p. 159.
Previous Messages:
Endure
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By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
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