Luke 6:12-19 | Exodus 19:2b-8
In Matthew, we read Jesus’ deliverance of his great teaching from on top a mountain. This is usually called his sermon on the mount. Here in Luke, Jesus prays with God on top of a mountain, then descends to name the twelve disciples before teaching the people in much the same way.
Either way, the imagery is strong of Moses on the mountain of Sinai in Exodus. The twelve apostles resemble the twelve tribes of Israel. And Jesus meeting with God the Father on the mountain surely calls to mind Moses’ time spent with God.
What is to follow tomorrow and in the days to come re-presents the Israel story. But there will be notable and important differences.
Luke 6:12-19
During that time, Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night long. At daybreak, he called together his disciples. He chose twelve of them whom he called apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter; his brother Andrew; James; John; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus; Simon, who was called a zealot; Judas the son of James; and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Jesus came down from the mountain with them and stood on a large area of level ground. A great company of his disciples and a huge crowd of people from all around Judea and Jerusalem and the area around Tyre and Sidon joined him there. They came to hear him and to be healed from their diseases, and those bothered by unclean spirits were healed. The whole crowd wanted to touch him, because power was going out from him and he was healing everyone.
Exodus 19:2b-8
Israel camped there in front of the mountain while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him from the mountain, “This is what you should say to Jacob’s household and declare to the Israelites: You saw what I did to the Egyptians, and how I lifted you up on eagles’ wings and brought you to me. So now, if you faithfully obey me and stay true to my covenant, you will be my most precious possession out of all the peoples, since the whole earth belongs to me. You will be a kingdom of priests for me and a holy nation. These are the words you should say to the Israelites.”
So Moses came down, called together the people’s elders, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. The people all responded with one voice: “Everything that the Lord has said we will do.” Moses reported to the Lord what the people said.
Prayer
God,
Frankly, I’m not a huge fan of law. But I do love Jesus.
So help me know his law: both the inward and outward particularities of its essence. Help me not simply to rely on the words he said as written on the paper of the Bible I read or the screen of my phone. But move me to the tops of mountains - real and figurative - that I might commune with you myself.
…by his spirit and in his name,
Amen.