It may seem a bit
weird that we jump ahead some seven chapters from last week and focus our
attention this week on the Transfiguration just as we are about to enter the
season of Lent. After all, we have spent
five weeks reminding ourselves that we are called to pray during the season of
Epiphany that Christ will be manifest in our own lives so that we will be a
light to the world. Wednesday, I will call us all to observe
a holy Lent through fasting, prayer, and the practice of additional spiritual
disciplines. What did the lectionary editors have in mind when they put the
Transfiguration here? Why on earth do we
pay attention to it now of all times?
There is a day in August when we celebrate the Transfiguration, so why
do we need to remind ourselves of it now?
Our Collect might give us a bit of insight as to why we focus our
attention on the Transfiguration before plunging into Lent.
O God, who before the passion of Your
only-begotten Son revealed His glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that
we, beholding by faith the light of His countenance, may be strengthened to
bear our cross, and be changed into His likeness from glory to glory . . . Does
the prayer of Archbishop Cranmer give you more insight as to what is going on
today? We have spent five weeks
reminding ourselves that we are called to manifest Christ’s glory in the world
around us, that all those in our daily life and work will be drawn into His
saving embrace. Beginning Wednesday, of
course, we will begin a holy Lent. We
will spend a season of the church reminding ourselves of our individual and
corporate sins, our individual and corporate need of forgiveness, and of our
Lord’s willingness to atone for our sins, that we might have eternal life. In the vernacular of the 60’s and 70’s,
things are about to get “heavy,” culminating in our Lord’s death on the Cross
and the seeming victory of evil over good, of darkness over light, and of death
over life.
Who does not like
mountaintop experiences? How many of us
would prefer to live our lives of faith without suffering, obviously blessed,
and secure in the knowledge of our redemption?
Perhaps you have been blessed to have a disease that doctors could not
solve mysteriously leave your body.
Perhaps, when you were struggling with questions of provision, you
received a timely refund check, a bank error in your favor, or a gift that met
the need. Maybe you were told you were
unable to conceive children of your own, only to find yourself blessed with a
baby. Maybe you longed for a convenient
parking place and, just as you prayed to God, the driver of the car in the
perfect spot ran out to leave and give you that long-for spot. Perhaps you have been the instrument for
someone else. Maybe you have prayed for
someone sick and seen them healed. Maybe
you have prayed for provision for someone close to you, and you have seen their
need met. Perhaps you have prayed for
the softening of hearts in a loved one’s relationship and have seen the Holy
Spirit work in ways no less miraculous than the chariots and horses of fire
from our OT reading today. I see a few
nods. We love it, don’t we, when God
answers prayers in ways that match our desire?
We love it even more when the one being prayed for, the one being
blessed, is ourselves. We love the
mountain top experiences of our faith.
You know, in many
ways we are not at all unlike the Apostles whom Jesus chose. In many ways, we are not unlike those men
whom Christ selected to be the first bishops, the first overseers, of the
Church. Peter, James, and John wanted to
stay on that mountain. Peter is given
the voice to utter what they desire, but make no mistake. They wanted to stay on that mountaintop with
their Rabbi, with the Lawgiver, and with the Prophet. They were in the company of the spiritual
Hall of Fame. Only Father Abraham could
possibly add any value to this experience in their eyes. So terrified are they in the presence of
these spiritual elites that they ask to erect a tent. They ask to make three dwellings because it
was good to be there, on the mountaintop, basking in the glory and blessings of
the Lord!
Their life and
questions will teach us later that they are much like us. We do not read the next verse, but it tells
us that the disciples did not understand what Jesus meant by the words “rising
from the dead.” Upon their descent back
into the valley, we see their failure to cast out a demon in Christ’s
name. We see them arguing over who is
the greatest disciple. We see them
trying to forbid one outside their group from casting out demons in Jesus’
name. We see them rebuking parents for bringing
their children to Jesus for a blessing.
We see them reminding Jesus they gave up everything to follow Him, as if
He was unaware of what they had done, walking away from net-minding or lounging
under a tree, when He called. We even
see them asking to sit at His right hand and at His left, thinking to earn some
temporal reward and power for their willingness to follow. The love the mountaintops, but have no desrie
to labor in the valleys.
The problem, at
least from the human perspective, is that God’s glory is best demonstrated in
suffering. The Apostles and early
disciples, just like us, want so hard to get to the glory and power part. Who wants to suffer? Who wants to pick up a cross? And yet, with God, suffering is the path that
leads to glory. We see it in the work in
person of our Lord Christ, in the work of His Apostles, and even in our own
lives. Put a different way: when do we,
when do you best manifest God’s glory to the world around you? When do people ask you for an accounting of
your faith? When things are going great
in our lives, do people ever challenge us about our faith? No. It
is in the trials of life that our faith seems most vulnerable and most
appealing to those around us. How can you believe in God if He gave you
cancer? How can you believe in God if
you are hungry? How can you believe in
God if you are poor? We believe
precisely because we understand how God works.
God uses our suffering to teach others about Him, just as He used our
Lord’s suffering to redeem us.
We love to remind
ourselves that we are His adopted children, that we are entitled to the
first-born double share of inheritance.
But, and here is the heavy “but” that confuses the world, ought we not
expect to share, to inherit as it were, a portion of suffering in our
lives? After all, if His blessed Son
suffered for our sakes, does it not make sense that God might use our suffering
to reach into the lives of others? Might
He not use our struggles with disease, with privation, with hurt, with death,
or with anything against which we seem powerless to fight on our own to
manifest His healing grace, His power to redeem, in the world? Prosperity gospellers love to proclaim the
glory of God and our share in them. The
problem is that God leads us back down into the valleys from the mountaintops
and calls us to pick up our crosses and follow Him. Put in the words of Paul, before we can share
in His glory, we must share in His death and suffering.
Over the season
of Lent we will focus a great deal on our sins, on our suffering, and on our
need for a Redeemer. We will speak of
how Jesus atones for our sins, redeems our suffering, and reconciles us to
God. But before we head into those
“heavy” discussions, we remind ourselves of the end. For just a moment, before we head into the
shadows and sufferings and valley of life, we bask in the glory and radiance of
our Lord. We remind ourselves that one
day, one glorious day in the future when all of this has passed, we might well
share in His glory, and be changed into His likeness, transfigured, and
conversing with the saints who have come before and after, and dwelling with
Him for all eternity! For just a moment,
we remind ourselves that the end makes the journey worth any hardship, so long
as we bear it and share in it to His glory, mindful of the promise He has made.
Peace,
Brian†
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