What Does Transfiguration sunday Have to do with Us Today?

Mark 9:2-9 Transfiguration 2018

My husband and I recently traveled to the Holy Land. We saw these amazing holy places related to the life of Jesus.  For Christians, the two most sacred of these sites are undoubtedly the Church of the Nativity, in Old Town Bethlehem, which marks the spot where Jesus was born, and, in the Christian quarter of Old City Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is the church built over the stones of Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified; through a hole in the floor, you can even reach down and touch the stone. At a lower level in the complex that makes up this site, there is a cave believed to be the empty tomb where Jesus was laid following his crucifixion, and from which he was raised in the resurrection on Easter morning.

The two churches that stand at these sites were erected over 15oo years and 1000 years ago respectively; each has experienced cycles of construction, conquest, destruction, reconstruction and holy pilgrimage. Today they are overseen and administered jointly by a constellation of ancient church bodies, among them several Orthodox expressions of Christ’s church.

If you’ve ever been to an Orthodox church, you know they are very ornate by our standards. It is typical to see a great deal of polished brass and silver, gilded icons and gold mosaics at any Orthodox place of worship, especially around and upon the altar and the chancel area. While we might consider this ostentatious, to the Orthodox, the finest textiles, silver and gold vessels, icons and adornments symbolize the glory of God, and give praise and adoration to God Most High.

As you might imagine, there, in the Holy Land, when it comes to these holiest of Christian sites, these sites connected with the pivotal moments of the life of Jesus, the adoration and therefore the amount of ornamentation placed by the Orthodox churches is incredible, with massive displays of precious metals and stones surrounding the areas devoted to Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection.

With lighting from modern-day fixtures shining down on them, the light reflecting off the shiny brass, gold and silver surrounding the places of holy attention is overwhelmingly brilliant - the effect quite stunning, and sometimes, at certain angles, quite blinding.

As I read the texts for today, especially the description of the sheer brilliance of Jesus’ clothing, I thought about the places we saw. I understood, for the first time, I think, what inspires such showy extravagance. It’s a lot like what God did for Jesus that day.

As Jesus was changed before Peter, James and John, high upon the mountaintop, the place traditionally considered the closest place to heaven the text says, “his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.”

Throughout Scripture mountains are places of divine revelation, and what happened on that mountaintop was God’s doing. God, who sent his Son to earth to save us from our sin, now, before these trusted disciples puts on a display the meaning of which there can be no question – the display reveals the divine glory which God himself ascribes to Jesus. In what is what is known as the Transfiguration of Jesus, God causes Jesus, sent to be the light of the world, to shine like the sun.

The sites throughout the Holy Land are preserved for people like my husband and me and the millions who have preceded us and the many who will follow us throughout the centuries to see and experience these places of holy significance. That’s what we, as finite human beings do. We attempt to capture or encapsulate special events, places and things that hold meaning for us, far various reasons.

We want to hold on to the special moments and places by capturing them, memorializing them, sharing them with people, and building monuments and keepsakes to our experience of them.

I wonder if that is what Peter was trying to do in our gospel text this morning. Perhaps he, too, was trying to hold on to, capture, encapsulate, or memorialize the moment and the experience. Maybe he even thought if he built dwellings there on that mountain it would preserve the moment and keep Moses and Elijah there too, and then he could bring people back here and share this experience with them, too. Because really, if we can’t share in that experience, what does this Transfiguration mean for us?

Today, each of our lessons reveals divine light. Together, they build to the climax of the gospel, where the glory and favor of God is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. The voice from the cloud comes – God’s own voice, declaring, “This is my Son, the Beloved,” and then, a command, “listen to him!”

As the clothes fade back to normal and the two heroes of the faith disappear, Jesus and his companions start back down the mountain. That’s the remarkable thing. In some ways, perhaps, the most remarkable thing – apart from the Transfiguration itself – that Jesus, moments after being revealed in divine glory upon the mountaintop chooses to return, to dwell among humans, knowing what will come of his earthly enterprise.

Because Jesus does know what is coming. After all, in the verses just before these, Jesus has just predicted his own passion and death, and delivered a teaching on the suffering path of true discipleship.

So, we need to ask ourselves, what does this Transfiguration Sunday have to do with us today?

Episcopal priest, Wil Gafney writes, “The worlds in which these texts are set include brutal wars, occupation, colonization, slavery, financial exploitation, and interpersonal violence. And yet God chooses to dwell among her people, accompanying them through the perils of a very broken world. These texts testify to God’s presence in our world as well; we are every bit as broken and God is every bit as present. In a world deluged by floods, shaken by architectural and economic collapses, and bruised by violence between persons and nations, the enduring presence and undimmed glory of God is a beacon of hope and comfort.”

God’s final word in this text is a word of command – listen to him. That’s God’s final word to us on this Transfiguration Sunday. Listen to Jesus.

To listen to Jesus is to hear his word, to follow his call to serve as his disciples. To listen to Jesus involves picking up our crosses to follow wherever he leads, knowing that the road may not be easy, but that he does not leave us alone.

To listen to Jesus is to know that in him, God pours out God’s heart and love into the world to transform you and me and all who believe in Jesus so that we can follow him, for the life of the world. To listen to Jesus means to be transformed by his presence in our lives –transformed into disciples who live our lives like his, caring about what he cares about, and persisting against the injustices and sin Jesus himself persisted in speaking out and acting against. Listening to Jesus involves shaping our lives into cruciform witness to his glory and his love.

God, in Jesus, sees all people as worthwhile, and worthy of love and dignity and respect. Through Jesus, God intends to use the gifts God has given us to care for each other and the world.

My friends, the reality is that brutal wars, occupation, colonization, slavery, financial exploitation, and interpersonal violence still exist in our world. We are both part of the brokenness, and part of the healing. Acknowledging our need for a savior, God still transforms us into servants of the world, sent to listen to Jesus by reflecting the light of his love in our lives. 

While the kingdom of God has broken into the world in Jesus, the fulfillment of the kingdom will not come until Jesus comes again in all his glory.

And yet, even now, God chooses to dwell among her people, not in tents built upon a mountaintop, but here among us, accompanying us through the perils of a very broken world.

What does Transfiguration Sunday have to do with us today?

Transfiguration Sunday leads us toward the season of Lent. It leaves us with a transforming command – listen to Jesus, and do as he does.

As Jesus and the disciples will leave the mountain and its glory behind and descend into the brokenness of the world to live out their callings, the church heeds the call to Lenten disciplines amid the troubles of the world.

At the end of today’s service we “leave our alleluias” behind, and we pledge to focus not on the dazzle and shine of the light of Christ, but on what it means that he not only descended from heaven to live among us, but that he came down from that mountain that he might complete his journey to the cross.

Transfiguration Sunday serves not only as a bridge between Epiphany and Lent, but as a reminder that in Jesus, God not only bridges the place between heaven and earth but eradicates it, filling us with possibility, love, and the hope of the ages.

Amen.

It is Good for Us to be Here!

Matthew 17:1-9 Transfiguration of Our Lord.

It is good for us to be here.

Peter’s words, spoken on the top of the mountain that day; they are our words today as well. It is good for us to be here.

            To be honest, however, I’m not sure what Peter meant when he spoke those words. Was it good – for the church - that they be there because they had witnessed this transfiguration of Jesus – and three witnesses are better than one?

Was it good – for them - that they be there because it set the three of them, Peter, James and John apart from the other disciples and gave them special insight, even authority in the church? After all, aren’t these the same disciples who argued over which one was greater?

Or, was it good that they be there because now, Peter’s confession of Jesus’ divinity had been divinely, mystically affirmed?

The truth is, the disciples’ witness of the Transfiguration of Jesus wasn’t for their own benefit, or even for their “now,” rather, it was for what was to come. Jesus is preparing them for the time when he will no longer with them, following events that will confound, frighten and even paralyze them. They need to know, believe and trust, as do we, who Jesus is, and Jesus is preparing them to lead the church confidently, knowing exactly who he is.

It was not long before this, as the disciples and Jesus were hanging out in Caesarea Philippi, where they were surrounded by pagan temples and idols, that Jesus asked his disciples the question, “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter had made the bold confession, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

            That had been a watershed moment; An exciting moment; an exhilarating moment. And Peter had been rewarded by Jesus’ confirmation that this was not only true but that God himself had blessed Simon Peter, with this knowledge. This simple fisherman-turned-disciple, who would now be simply called, ‘Peter.’

            And yet, in the days that had followed, Peter’s confession, the high exhilaration of knowing that they were in the presence of the Messiah, had given way to frustration and devastation, confusion and darkness as Jesus began making predictions of his coming passion and death. Peter had been so disturbed by Jesus’ predictions that he had tried to shush Jesus, earning himself a harsh rebuke from Our Lord.

            And now, six days later, six being the number considered necessary to prepare for a holy event in Israel, when Jesus leads these three disciples up the mountain. And there they witness just such a holy event when Jesus is transfigured before them. The divine confirmation and full knowledge of Jesus’ deity is made complete.

            What happened on that mountain was not a simple visual transformation, where Jesus’ appearance was altered or morphed into something else. We are very familiar with that kind of transformation thanks to the assistance of computer-generated imaging so popular in the entertainment world these days. And Jesus didn’t turn into something or someone else and then turn back to himself.

Rather, Jesus himself took on a brilliant luminescence unlike anything we might imagine. Transfiguration is defined as a complete change in form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state. When Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James and John that day, his appearance changed in such a way that they recognized their Lord, and in that moment fully comprehended his heavenly glory. It is the only time in his earthly career the Jesus’ dignity and deity were made gloriously – even spectacularly clear. They could not doubt for a moment exactly who Jesus was.

            And then he was joined by Moses and Elijah – the two historic and religious figures of Judaism who represented the law and the prophets. Jesus already said he did not come to abolish the importance of their witness of God’s majesty, but whose message and work he has come to fulfill. As the Son of God, his Word has authority to interpret what Moses and Elijah have brought and done for the people of Israel.

            Lord, it is good for us to be here.

            What follows is what makes it especially good for us to be here today, to hear the divine words that were spoken on that mountain that day.

The disciples were overwhelmed at what was happening and what they were hearing on the mountain. And in our world and in our lives today, so often, we, too, are overwhelmed.

            But as Jesus literally shines and glows before them, God’s voice is heard, declaring God’s verdict on Jesus’ identity. “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased.” And finally, the first of three instructions coming to us from this gospel text today: Listen to him. Listen to Jesus, who is God’s Word incarnate. And God has much to say.

You see, despite what some might say, God is not silent in our world. God is not silent in our pain. God is not silent in the face of injustice. God is not silent in the face of our confusion, our doubt, our questioning. God is not silent in the face of evil. God is not silent in the face of sin.

The fact is, God talks quite a lot! If only we have ears to listen. God invites us to listen now, to the Word of God present, speaking, teaching and living in Jesus Christ. Listen to Him God commands. This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. Now, listen to him!

God speaks to us first and foremost in Jesus. God has given Jesus the authority to speak and to teach, to heal and forgive. As God once communicated and worked through Moses, ultimately blessing the people with life-giving law, and then spoke and worked through Elijah and the prophets, both warning of judgment and passing along God’s promises, God now speaks through His incarnated Word, making it possible for us to know God’s grace and mercy.

Lord, it is good to be here.

We gather today to hear God’s Word and to learn from and with one another how God is active in our lives. We gather to discern what God is calling us to as a community of Christ, dedicated to listening to, hearing and then following God’s will. Jesus comes to us through the Holy Spirit and helps us as we listen to the scriptures, as we observe what Jesus says and does, as we notice those to whom Jesus reaches out, pays attention, and gives a healing, helping hand. Lord, it is good to be here.

Next thing in today’s text, when the disciples were overcome with fear from the luminescent experience of the divine, what did Jesus do? He touched them. He said to them, “get up.” Only, the word used here is not just “get up,” but instead is the same word the angels use at the empty tomb on Easter morning: “He is not here; he has been raised!” (28:6)

Jesus touches his quaking disciples and tells them to “be raised up.” To be resurrected, even. And God has given Jesus the authority to make this happen. The good news for us is that even when we feel overwhelmed by the chaos in the world, and the challenge of the task before us, Jesus touches us; Jesus tells us, “be raised up.” Listen to him.

Today we might hear Jesus’ words as a call to action that energizes us, gives us the will to act and to make a difference in the lives of those we are called to serve. Listening to Jesus gives us the ability to be about the works of mercy and kindness, compassion and love to which God always calls us. Lord, it is good for us to be here.

Finally, Jesus delivers a promise when he says to the disciples, “Do not be afraid.” How often have we heard those words in the stories from the bible, usually at times when only an insane person would not be afraid? And yet here is Jesus, shown in his glory upon that mountain, yet already having presented a picture of his future passion, death, and resurrection, and he says to his disciples, to us, “do not be afraid”.

We haven’t seen this heavenly, overwhelming, confusing vision, but there are many things of which we are afraid. The things that frighten us might be things like terrorism, the threat of nuclear attack, the threat or reality of illness and disease, the potentially diminishing future for our children, the devastating effects of global warming, and unexpected death – the list seems inexhaustible. You can make up your own list. And yet, into this, Jesus says, “do not be afraid.”

The gospel good news for us today is that God is God of the past, the present and the future. For this reason alone we need not be afraid. Despite the problems, hardship and suffering that are part of human life, despite our own brokenness and the tension in our world, Jesus invites us to trust God to be God, always present and always speaking into our world for our individual and communal good. And God says, Listen to him.

We gather here this morning to remember and rejoice that God is always with us. We come to hear God’s Word. God did not create us for fear and death but for life in his name, sending Jesus and granting him full authority over our lives so that we might learn to move forward with courage and confidence, even in uncertain times.

Listen. Be raised up. Do not be afraid. Jesus delivers these words then starts down the mountain. The brilliance of Jesus’ Transfiguration glory balances the suffering and devastation of the Cross to come, as he sets his face toward Jerusalem.

The reflected light and Epiphany revelation are over. The work of Lent begins this week as we, too, set our faces toward Jerusalem. Glory be to God for this Transfiguration and the promise inherent in God’s definitive declaration, This is my Son, the Beloved, Listen to Him!

Let us Listen, may we be raised up, and may we not be afraid, for the glorious Word of God is with us.

Intelligence Assisting and The Meaning of Life

Luke 9:28-36

I don’t own an iPhone, - a smartphone, yes – but not the Apple iPhone. But I know many people who do have iPhones, and a favorite pass-time among them seems to be to pull out their phones and ask ‘Siri’ all kinds of questions.

In case you’re wondering, “What or who the heck is “Siri?”, ‘Siri’ is a software application or app, which the Apple company, makers of the iPhone, refers to as a “built-in “intelligent assistant.”

This “app,” ‘Siri,’ enables users of the devices on which it is installed, to use voice commands to ask for information and carry out certain tasks.  You can ask ‘Siri’ questions practical, profound, or mundane, and you will receive an answer.

For instance, you can ask ‘Siri’ “will I need an umbrella tomorrow?” And she might say, “There is a 40 percent probability of rain in your area tomorrow,” or, she might answer, “You can forget the umbrella tomorrow. All sun, all day long is forecast for Easton, Maryland.”

Some people I know (you know who you are) like to ask Siri existential, tough, or silly questions, just for the fun of it. For this reason, I know that if you ask Siri a question like, “When will the world end?” one of the responses she might give is, “I don’t know, but maybe we should put bags over our heads or something.” Siri has a sense of humor.

I was reading the blog of a pastor recently, who she wrote that she had inquired several times of Siri, “What is the meaning of life?” and received different answers each time.

“As you can imagine,” she writes, “[Siri’s] answers ranged from the ridiculous to the humorous to the surprisingly profoundly practical. For instance, these are some of the responses Siri gave her to this question:

“Life: a principle or force that is considered to underlie the quality of animate beings. I guess that includes me.”

“And then, contradicting 'herself' [Siri answered]: ‘I find it odd that you would ask this of an inanimate object.’

This was my favorite answer to the meaning of life question: ‘All evidence to date suggests it's chocolate.’

She has also advised: ‘I don't know, but I think there's an app for that.’

“Finally, in an entirely practical vein, [Siri] seems to offer advice to give content or texture to life's 'meaning:” ‘Try and be nice to people. Avoid eating fat. Read a good book every now and then. Get some walking in. And try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.’

“Perhaps if you ask, you'll get different answers,” the pastor continues. “Either way, it is a universal quest, this trying to make sense of it all.”

Trying to make sense of it all may be a little of what the disciples did on that mountaintop so long ago, as it is what we try to do when we read this beautiful, wonderful, complex, mysterious, and puzzling story. Existential questions like this underlie much of our searching, seeking, and questioning.

What the disciples witnessed at the transfiguration was no doubt surprising, confusing and alarming to them. There had been and would continue to be so many questions for them about how God was answering their own search for meaning. How could they make sense of this wondrous vision they beheld, when Jesus was transfigured – transformed before them, entirely changed, from the clothing he wore to the appearance of his face?

While they were still digesting the sight of the transformed Jesus and what it meant, two men appeared with Jesus, and they talked to him, and then a mysterious cloud descended on them all as the whole vision is swallowed up by the cloud. The disciples clearly heard a voice then, God’s voice, speaking clearly to them out of the cloud, instructing them, “This is my Son, my chosen. Listen to him.” What does this mean?

What are they to make of this whole event? I am not even sure Siri would have an answer to that question.

The text tells us the disciples were sleepy, and it is no wonder that they were exhausted. Consider what has come before this passage, in the 9^th chapter of Luke’s writings. Imagine that you were one of those disciples who, within a short bit of time have been commissioned by Jesus and sent out to proclaim the kingdom of God, which you have done all over the Galilean countryside in fact, traveling from village to village and healing people everywhere.

Tired yet exhilarated from your travels, you returned to report to Jesus all that happened on your mission trip. Together you took off for Bethsaida, a quiet little place where you can get some R & R and where you might unpack all that you have experienced and explore what it means for the ministry you are engaged in, but in the end, there is no time for that – because crowds follow you there.

It is the demands and questions and needs of the crowds that Jesus then addressed and where more healing took place until finally, you and your fellow disciples had to prevail on Jesus to send the crowd away, for it is too large, and you are in too remote a place to be able to feed and care for all these people. “C’mon Jesus, give us a break!” Jesus, of course, had other ideas, and with just five loaves and two fish, at Jesus’ command you fed that great crowd, with plenty left over.

After that, as Peter spoke up on behalf of all the disciples and confessed that Jesus is God’s Messiah, Jesus made the prediction that soon he would be rejected, killed, and would rise again; to be his disciple, he said, would mean picking up his cross and following him.

Peter, James and John, along with the other disciples, must not only be exhausted, they must be reeling. How could Jesus die? God can’t die. The messiah is to come to bring victory and vindication – the messiah can’t die!

Then, just a week later, this.

The transfiguration bears witness to the identity of Jesus Christ. The disciples heard the declaration, “Listen to him!” God’s voice pronounces the definitive word about Jesus’ identity in the account of the transfiguration: “This is my Son, my Chosen.” This is God making sense of it all. This journey of Jesus’, this mountaintop experience, the healings and teaching the disciples have been witness to, and what is to come.

This transfiguration episode marks a transition point in the life of Jesus and in the lives of his disciples – including us. This mystical moment, when the curtain of the divine is pulled back and we get a glimpse of something holy, can change the way we see and experience the world around us.

Moses’ presence makes the connection unavoidable; he led the People of Israel on the first exodus. Now Jesus will accomplish a second exodus, leading people safely through the waters of death, even as his own flesh is parted in waves of pain on the cross.

While this talk of exodus and death in the midst of transfiguration may be lost on the disciples, it is not lost on us. Today as we make ready to put aside our alleluias, we acknowledge that the remarkable epiphany of Jesus, the revelation of God with us as the light that marks our way takes a different form.

As Jesus is praying, something remarkable happens to his divine face. As the face of Moses was transfigured on Mount Sinai, Jesus’ own face takes on a luminescence. It shines with the light of glory.

As we mark the end of epiphany, we remember that as Jesus’ authority and divinity have been revealed in varying ways at his birth, in the temple, at the waters of the Jordan, and now on the mountaintop, the revelation is for us. It is for our sake. It is a sign of God’s love that extends itself into a world of hunger, and pain, of searching for meaning, and for existential wandering.

The journey Jesus leads us on is the one true answer for any of our seeking or questioning, hungering and thirsting, struggling and doubting. This is my Son. This is my Son. This is my Son. My chosen. Listen to him!

It is as we listen to him, as we follow his teachings, his example, his life – it is as we take our learning from Jesus and make it a way of life; loving, caring, healing, forgiving, and wrapping all of this in prayer as did Jesus himself (note that in the gospel of Luke Jesus prays a lot – and that this transfiguration occurred as he was praying) – that we ourselves are transformed as children of God and recipients of God’s grace and mercy, into disciples of Christ, whose entire lives have shifted, altered, and been transformed in remarkable ways.

 “Two men” appear miraculously three times in Luke’s gospel accounts: to these disciples at the transfiguration, to the women at the tomb on Easter morning, and again to the men in Galilee on the day of the Ascension of Jesus.

In the words spoken during these three encounters, we discover valuable lessons, for our mountaintop experiences and for the day-to-day lives which can be so exhausting. May the words of Jesus' teachings and the modeling of Jesus’ actions be the ultimate guide for our decision making and our interactions with other people. Listen to him, for in his words lie the secrets to justice among peoples and the peace that passes understanding.

At the resurrection, the two men ask the women, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here; he is risen." The message for us is, be prepared to be surprised by God. Do not dwell on the things that make for death, but seek the way of Jesus Christ among the hustle and bustle of daily life, and the opportunities for discovering new meaning in life through discipleship.

And on the Day of Ascension, they asked the men of Galilee, "Why do you stand here, looking up?" The same may be asked of us as Jesus bids us to look forward. It does us no good to stand rooted to the ground gazing into the skies. Rather, we need to look one another in the eye and move forward together, across lines of difference, so that the world can be a better place. And in so doing, experience the eternal in the present, the transcendent in the mundane, the mountaintop at the intersection. May it be so for you this day and every day.

Illustrations used by permission, www.freebibleimages.org.

 

 

iPhone image courtesy of Wikipedia.