Tyndale Chapel Podcast

GEORGE SWEETMAN: So please welcome, Tyndale community, chapel, pulpit, McCair Tulloch. McCair and I met a few years ago as he was a student at our seminary. And through the course of the last few years, we've been in touch; me, encouraging him to come and preach in our chapel; he, rebuffing me constantly, saying, "I can't I've got other things to do. I live in Connecticut", you know, silly things like that. So we're finally glad that he's here, although he did make me a little anxious today, but he, in his defense, he was traveling from Windsor, Ontario today in the snow. So McCair, thank you so much for being here. As I've already indicated, he is a proud alumnus of Tyndale Seminary. He also has a degree from the University of Toronto, a sacred theology degree from Yale University, and he's currently doing a law degree at the University of Windsor, where he lives with his wife. McCair is going to be opening up Scriptures to us, talking as, continuing to talk to us about hope.

Hope is our theme through this entire year, and as Eli just prayed, we recognize that in our community, hope is something that is so deeply needed among us today. I think it's often easy for us to lament and to cry out and to complain to others, or to even to God. But the theme today that the Tyndale Singers sang about was faithfulness, and I want to invite us, before we move into a time of prayer, to reflect on God's faithfulness in your life, perhaps over the last week, the last month, over the course of the period of time. So, I will invite us into a moment of silence where you can think about that in your own life, that sense of faithfulness, of God's grace, and how you are thankful for that with gratitude. And then we'll move into prayer, and then McCair will come and share the Word with us. Let's pray together.

God, within this community of hope, in this sanctuary of grace, in these moments of light that You have given to us; in the midst of a darkening a darkening and dark world, a place of chaos, tumult and turmoil, a place where we think of the winter conflicts that continue in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, in the ICE'd streets of with the Twin Cities, or the cold squares in Tehran; we know that You are present. You are here. You have invited us into this moment of time to be thankful; to offer our gratitude for all that You have given, the gift of life itself, and all the promises that are to come. God, in Your faithfulness, we are, we are, we are so honored to be Your sons and daughters. We know that You are there and that You will never leave us or forsake us. Even in the darkness and even in that turmoil, we recognize that You are here. God, we have been called to be light; we would carry God's hope into the shadows of this world. And called to be salt; we would enhance the lives of those around us with joy. We have called to live in Your reality so, we would welcome everyone as brothers and sisters in faith. May You be with my brother, McCair, now as he opens Your scripture that You that he has offered and prepared for our hearts. And God, in turn, may we be open to those words, so that they will not only sink deep now, but they will inspire in us hope for the world as we go out into the messiness and get our hands dirty. God, we are so grateful for these moments together and for Your love. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen,

REV. MCCAIR TULLOCH: Good morning, everyone. It is such a pleasure to return. It feels like a bit of a homecoming. Not too many years ago that I was sitting where many of you are as a student. And I'm so grateful, Dean Sweetman and the Tyndale chapel planning committee, for the gracious invitation to return. Looking out, I see a few familiar faces, and it truly is a blessing to be in a place that God used not to only expose me to a deeper understanding of His word, but to form me into a a deeper embodiment of what it means to be a follower of Christ.

So if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to, we're going to be in Mark's gospel the ninth chapter. Mark chapter 9. I'll be reading from verses 9, verses 2 through 10, in the New International Version, but please feel free to follow along in whatever translation you have. Are we all there? And it reads, "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. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what 'rising from the dead' meant."

I invite you to bow your heads one more time. Heavenly Father, we're so grateful for this opportunity to receive of Your Word. We thank you that You do not only invite us to be witnesses, but You invite us to be formed, to be transformed and reformed by You. We pray that in this moment, that our ears would be open, that our hearts would be receptive, that our minds would understand, and that You would mobilize our hands and feet to live in light of this word. I ask You to speak through me. I've studied, not prepared, but I need Your Spirit to guide me as I endeavor to speak Your word to Your people. Be glorified in it through this moment, in Jesus' name, amen.

Dean Sweetman, is it okay if I take the mic off? Thank you. So for those of you who like me are food connoisseurs, one of the privileges that at times accompanies being lovers of food is being invited into moments of taste testing. Anybody know what I'm talking about? It's the tap on the shoulder, the "psst" the, "Hey, come here for a minute. Taste this." And there are a few moments, I'll be honest with you, few moments that I appreciate more than being chosen to taste that which is being prepared. But I don't know if any of you are like me, but the challenge that I often find myself in is, after I taste a little bit, I always want more, and as I make this request for more, my request is not met immediately with more, but it's met with these words, "Wait, not yet." And the taste is not the meal, but it grounds expectation in the reality of what has been experienced, what you have experienced for yourself. Your palate has forever been altered through a taste of what's to come. And for our time together this morning, I want to speak from this thought as God's spiritual guide, "Transfigured by hope, a taste of what's to come". Somebody say "a taste of what's to come".

Our text, it opens with Jesus and He is with three of His closest disciples, Peter, James and John. And Jesus, He invites them into an encounter where He provides them with a glimpse, with a taste of what's to come. While our text begins in Mark 9, I think in order to understand it within the fullness of what is being expressed, we have to eavesdrop on the conversations that occurred prior to this chapter in Mark 8. And in Mark chapter 8, Jesus has a conversation with His disciples in a village in Caesarea, Philippi, where He asks them two questions.

The first question is a little more general in nature, He says, "Who do men say that I am?" To which the disciples respond that, "Some say that you are John the Baptist. Others say that you are Elijah. Some still say that you are one of the prophets." But He takes what starts as a general question, and He makes it more personal in nature. He says, "Who do you say that I am?" To which Peter then responds that, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are the Messiah." And Jesus, after hearing Peter's answer, He does not proceed to celebrate, but within this Markan account of the text, He instructs the disciples to tell no one of this.

Revelation, as we find within Mark's gospel, it is often it is seldom released without instruction. Instruction often revolves around waiting in order for understanding to catch up, because it's possible for us to know a thing yet not fully understand it. You can identify an issue, know a formula, know enough to pass the exam, to pass the test, but still not understand the principle that it's meant to teach. Or in other words, it's possible to know the correct answer long before understanding what it will cost to truly live in light of that revelation; such was the case with Peter. Shortly after proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is the Messiah, as Jesus begins to articulate to His disciples what it would cost Him based on the calling that is on His life; as He has this conversation with them, speaking about suffering, speaking about the death that was inevitable; Peter pulls Jesus aside and says, "Jesus, this isn't this is not going to happen to you." He attempts to rebuke Jesus but while his intention was well meaning, his knowledge of Christ while it was enough to identify Jesus as the Messiah, his definition of what it meant to be the Christ was too narrow to encompass suffering and death, because understanding had not yet caught up. But Jesus like a good teacher, He offers a very stern correction to Peter, and He rebukes the demonic influence that had limited His perspective, and proceeds to inform Peter and the rest of the disciples, as I believe, He also extends this information to us that; if we are to follow Christ, if we are to name the name of Jesus, it will cost us something. Peter, he perceives what he does not yet understand, because God often reveals things in the present that cannot fully be understood until the future. Somebody say, " It takes time."

Now as we turn our attention to Mark chapter 9, what Peter perceives in Mark 8, Jesus invites Peter, James and John to now receive a preview of this perception; a preview that is so powerful, that is so transformative, that it changes the way that they see Christ. As they ascend up this mountain with Jesus, what they witness is distinctly different than anything that they've witnessed before. The text says that Jesus was transfigured before them, and while the exact location, while the Mountain of Transfiguration, is not known to us, it remains unnamed, the disciples, they carry both revelation and unanswered questions with them for six days leading up to this moment. And upon this mountain, it is where they witness Jesus change form.

That word transfiguration, it's the same word that we get, metamorphosis, transfigured, transformed, and what was contained is now revealed; what was hidden is now seen; what was suspected is now evident. That the Christ of God, the Anointed One, He is now being beheld in the fullness of His glory. And not only is this moment transformative, but Jesus, the Bible says that His clothes, they radiate in a way that not even bleach could make them so white. It radiates the glory of the Son of God, the glory of the only begotten of the Father. But the disciples, as they witness Jesus, radiating in the fullness of His glory, they see Moses and Elijah, representative of the law and the prophets. And what was declared and prophesied of in the days of old, what was declared and prophesied of within the Old Testament is being made manifest in this moment of transfiguration.

One of the most paradoxical aspects, if I can be honest in this moment, is that Jesus gives them a glimpse of divine glory, but He does not dismiss the reality of suffering. The glory that they see is real, but it is carried in the life of a body that is still moving toward the cross, and the cross, as counter cultural as it is, could not be fathomed before the death of Jesus occurred. It could not generate appreciation until after the resurrection. As this was a significant moment, as with any significant moment, knowledge, how many of you know that it often gives way to two instincts? The instincts that we often receive, as seen through Peter's life, in his response to what Jesus allows them to witness, is the instinct to either build or tell. Have you ever been there before?

Have you ever had a moment, a moment of prayer, a moment as you're reading the scriptures, a moment as you're meditating on God's word, where God speaks something to you that is so undeniably clear, something that is so vivid that you feel like you would be doing God a disservice to not move in light of it? That you feel that it is so it is so significant, it is so transformative, it is so incredible, that everyone has to know? I've been there myself, and if I'm honest with you, more than once. But there are some moments, some deposits from God that is clear as they are, that as vivid as they are, that as transformative as they are; though our reasonable response, our reasonable instinct, would be to either build something in order to to to display or to reflect what it is that God showed us; or to testify and declare what it is that we heard, what it is that we saw, what it is that we now know; none of these are bad responses, but at times, the responses, the instinct to either build or tell, are premature. Because sometimes we lack the full picture, and while our impulse is to rush ahead and share with everyone that we know; or to build something that can adequately capture and reflect what we've witnessed; sometimes, God's instruction is to hold it. Somebody say, "Hold it, hold it".

Because there are some things that are not meant to be housed, but it is God's desire for them to be held and for us to carry them in our hearts, carry them in our minds, until the time is right for it to be shared with others. Peter, he finds himself in a similar place. He finds himself in a place where he is grateful. "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here", but his gratitude does not lead him to ask Jesus what this means, but it leads him to instinctively propose building something in light of this magnificent moment of transfiguration. Fear did not cause him to freeze, but the reception of the revelation led to a response informed by rushing, not from a bad place, but from a desire to capture, to contain and to house what he saw; lest he forget, lest others may not believe him, but somebody say,"Understanding takes time".

Consequent to the preview is an invitation to submit to God's pacing. Peter's response is met by interruption. The text says that a voice emerges from a cloud, a cloud that covers and consumes them, declaring, "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him." And while the Transfiguration, it expands what they see, the cloud grounds their vision in instruction, "Listen to Him." Theologian and pastor, Justin Dillehay, he highlights that, "The Transfiguration, it was a glimpse behind the veil at the glory that Christ continued to immutably possess despite having hidden it beneath the humble form of a servant." To put it differently, friends, the disciples are realizing that what is new to them is not in fact new, but revealing of what has been housed within the Son from before the foundation of the world. And what comes next is not heightened clarity, but temporary confusion. When the moment passes, no one in sight but Jesus. They now are required, instructed to descend from this mountain with deepened perspective, with a fuller picture, yet still limited answers and more questions. This is the beautiful anomaly of divine revelation. Peter, his proposal to build not only is it interrupted, but any impulse to testify of this experience prematurely is restrained until the resurrection, because God often reveals things in the present that can only be understood in the future.

One of the hardest things is to have to silently carry something that you know has the power to change the world; and it's understandable if what you're carrying is all about you. But when you've encountered God in an undeniable way, and you desire to share this with others in such a way that you know will reframe the way that they see Christ, will reframe the way that they see faith, will reframe the way that they see life, waiting can feel more like punishment than preparation. But, in the genius of Jesus, He knows that there is a weight connected to the testimony that has survived suffering. Clarity does not equate to depth. Seeing does not equate to understanding. Depth is developed through walking out what God has revealed over time. And there are considerations that our limited purview fail to include in our analysis, because we often hurry to paint the picture based on what most make sense to our minds in the moment that we see, or in the moment that we receive the understanding of what God has shown, or the knowledge of what God has shown rather, rather than allowing time to reveal the contours that we've missed in our haste. But glory, it is not allergic to suffering, and life through Christ, it is not a yielding to death. But in fact, death itself becomes the pathway, a pathway to life everlasting.

And this paradox of glory, the glory of Christ being revealed, is a testament of what the Apostle Paul will later pen in 2 Corinthians 12 and 9, that Christ's power is made perfect in weakness; because Jesus models a different way and His instruction to submit to His pacing does not mean that the preview was not significant. It does not mean that the moment of transfiguration was not real, but rather that the fullness of Christ's power would only be realized and understood on the other side of the crucifixion, they must hold what they see. They must hold what they do not yet understand, and carry this preview, submitting to Christ's pacing, in order to better grasp the fullness of His power.

If I could paint a picture myself, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, between the years 1930 and 1931, he left Germany, his country, his home, his place of origin, to spend a year studying abroad in New York. Bonhoeffer, as he was in New York, through the introduction of a classmate of his, Albert Frank Fisher, he became acquainted with the work of Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Sr., and the historic African American Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York, where Bonhoeffer eventually became part of the congregation. And what struck him, it was not the worship, it was not the rhythm or the stylistic idiosyncrasies of the black church tradition, but it was a vision of faith, where love for Christ and public witness meaningfully converged. Where devotion did not turn away from suffering, but it leaned into it. And he did not yet know what these years, what this year of formation in New York would mean for him. But what was undeniable is that he received something that forever changed the way that he saw faith and public life. And it was something that did not, that could not remain housed in Harlem, but that he held with him as he returned to Germany. Because what he captured, it gave him not only a preview, but a praxis for how he would later respond to Hitler's Nazi regime some years later in Germany. When faith would cost him more than his words, but it would cost him his very life.

And the hope that we have friends, is not only in what we wait for in Christ's return, but it is the assurance of the hope that we wait in; that even through the pain of dying bodies, that even through political uncertainty, that even through the challenges and the strain that comes with serving God in the present moment, Christ's power is made perfect in weakness. Christ's glory is displayed through weakness, and as we carry the hope that has been planted within us, we will realize that even though planting is akin to burial, and waiting can be painful to endure, can be painful to embrace, can be painful to submit to, Jesus demonstrates that the hope that has been deposited will rise in His time. The glory that is to be revealed in full measure will require no explanation, but it will arrive with clarity and with completion.

And the Transfiguration, it was not only a moment that displayed the glory of Jesus, inviting Peter, James and John into a divine preview, but a moment that forever changed their lives, and a moment that I believe has the power to change our lives. For from preview, to pacing, to power, we will realize that what was released was not the full course, but a taste of what's to come, and as African American composer, Charles Albert Tindley, penned, "We will understand it better by and by".

Can we bow our heads? God, we thank you for the way that You demonstrated power and glory in a way that challenged the notion of the empire of the day, in a way that challenged the perception of the disciples, in a way that even pushes against our own preferential desire as to what Your glory should look like, as to how Your power should be experienced. You take the foolish things, the things that man call foolish, to display some of Your greatest revelatory truth. You take weakness and suffering to display divine power and glory. And God as we are here today, carrying different things, different questions, different concerns, different thoughts, different frustrations, different hopes, different expectations, I thank you that we can all look to Your example, look to Your demonstration, and look to what You did through the moment of Transfiguration in allowing the disciples to get a preview as to what would ultimately be revealed in full measure after the resurrection. I pray that in moments where waiting feels like punishment, where carrying what You've entrusted causes us to question whether or not it will ever spring forth. I pray that we would rest assured in the fact that not only are You returning, coming back again, but You are with us in the midst of the questions that we have, in the midst of the concerns that we have, in the midst of the hope that we are waiting with, because ultimately we are not just waiting for something, we are waiting in Someone.

And we thank you and pray that as we depart from this place, we would not leave hopeless, but we would leave as carriers of a hope that has reframed and transformed our perspective as we wait on You, as we wait with You, as we wait in You. Thank you for allowing us to behold of a taste of what's to come. Be glorified we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Can we rise to our feet, friends? As Jesus has allowed the disciples and allowed us, through our reading and hearing of this passage, to behold a preview a picture of His glory, may we not wait in anxious thoughts, may we not wait as those who do not know the One in whom we hope. Questions will come, concerns will arise, situations will come across your desk that cause you to question at times, whether or not the hope that you are anchored in is truly powerful enough to sustain. But, as Peter, James, and John would witness after the resurrection, pray that we would also trust in the hope that God has given, that we too will see Him in the fullness of who He is. Let us go in peace and in the strength that only Christ can provide, Amen.