Uh. Oh. Something special is happening. No more green altar hangings. Brian is wearing a different stole. What’s happening? In case you have been distracted by world events, we are about to change seasons. We are leaving the season of Epiphany, where we rightly focus on the manifestation of God’s love and mercy in our lives and through our faithful obedience, and entering the season of Lent, where we remind ourselves, as a former professor and now retired Bishop of Ethiopia loved to remind us, we are miserable sinners in need of God’s grace. That’s right! Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday. I will call us all to the observance of a Holy Lent and remind us all that we are dust.
Before we
get to Wednesday, though, we have this wonderful story we call the
Transfiguration. Some years we read
about it twice, which is to say we are well steeped in what happens. Maybe we are a bit too familiar with it. Jesus goes up the mountain to pray. While there, Peter and the others witness the
change in appearance and clothing of Jesus.
Then, Moses and Elijah appear and speak with Jesus about His
soon-to-be-accomplished departure. Peter
makes the offer to build a tent for all of them, though he does not know what
he is saying. The cloud descends,
terrifying the Apostles with Jesus, and the voice commands them to listen to
Jesus, His Son, His Chosen. Once the
voice finishes speaking, everything is back to normal. Why is this scene important to us?
Part of the
reason for its importance is its place in our Gospel lesson today. Jesus has already told His disciples that He
must go to Jerusalem and there be killed and raised on the third day. His disciples clearly do not understand His
teaching. We might wonder how they can
be so dense, but His teaching would make little sense to us in the 21st
Century, if we did not have the Resurrection in our history. Rome excelled at killing people. One did not rise from the dead. It was beyond the experience of the
disciples, just like it is beyond the experience of most of us. It seems a fantastical claim to make. It seems delusional. I mean, we have all been watching the war in
Ukraine on our televisions. How would we
respond if a soldier got up after three days of death? We’d be shocked! And we have the Easter story to help us
understand. They do not have that,
yet. So why do we read the story and
what is its purpose in our lives today, some 2000 years later and 9000 miles
distant?
First, we
need to understand that the lesson is intended for us, every bit as much as it
was for our spiritual ancestors who experienced the event and told followers
about it. You and I are Episcopalians,
which means we are Anglicans. We
approach Scripture as God-breathed. That
means we think God is involved in the writing, editing, and collecting of the
works we recognize as Scripture. There
is an interesting word choice by Luke and an translation decision made on our behalf
that diminishes the story, I think, in our modern eyes. The Greek word Luke chose was idou. No, it is not the vow at a marriage. It is a Greek irregular verb which has two
meanings. It can literally mean “they
saw,” as our translators rendered it in the version we read today. In this case, the passage is simply a recount
of what the Apostles saw.
We can
well-imagine how this came to be recorded.
Luke spent years, according to those in the early Church and, later, the
Tradition of the Church, interviewing the major players in the formation of
Christianity. Luke served as a secretary
for Paul, where he learned a great deal about the torah, no doubt, but gained
admittance and acceptance into the circle of Jesus’ friends and family. I have shared before how, according to
Orthodox tradition, Luke interviewed Mary the Mother of Jesus and drew His
likeness. Luke was able to interview the
bulk of the major players in the gathering of the early Church, and he recorded
it for all who love God, Theophilus, and wanted to know about those events.
Interestingly, though, out of all the words he could have chosen to express
merely “they saw,” he chose an irregular verb.
I will not bore you with your constant use of irregular verbs, but we
have regular and irregular verbs in English.
They are easy for native speakers to pick up, for the most part, but
they drive those learning English as a second or third language nuts. You see the nods. Ask those born outside this country to share
their efforts to learn English. Luke
chose a word that can mean either “they saw” or “Behold.” Is the Transfiguration a history lesson? Is it an experience which we simply take on
faith because we trust the Apostles? Or
is it something else? If we are reading
the story as if “ they saw this then they saw that then they heard that and
they saw that,” it is a simple history lesson or experience. But Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, chose
a word that has two meanings. One
meaning allows the history and experience, but the other demands our
attention. It is as if the Holy Spirit
nudged Luke to write to all who love God “Pay attention!” Why?
I think
this year there are a couple teachings about the Transfiguration we would do
well to remember. They are obvious in
Luke, but a bit too obvious for us to really pay attention. Paul, though, really hammers it home for us
on this day. Where do we see the
manifestation of God’s grace in our lives?
If I asked you where you saw the manifestation of God’s grace in Luke’s
narrative today, everyone would say Jesus, right? But is that the only place we see God’s
glory?
That’s
right! We see God’s glory in both Elijah
and Moses. Both Moses and Elijah are
participating in the economy of the Trinity.
They are conversing with Jesus about His upcoming torture, death, Resurrection,
and Ascension. Never mind the fact that
both have been dead for centuries! The
really cool part of this story is that they are conversing with God about His
plan of salvation history! It is an
intimate discussion which the Apostles witness, but cannot participate in . . .
yet. They are observers and do not yet
understand the words they hear. But we
witness Moses and Elijah in an intimate relationship with God. We behold the glory of God emanating from
them!
Of course,
most of us think of them as superheroes of the faith, right? They are special. Moses led Israel out of Egypt and did great
miracles. Elijah did some pretty
incredible miracles, too, and even raised a dead boy. They are not like us ordinary mortals,
right? Read Paul again this morning. All of us gathered here today, who have
turned to the Lord, have had the veil lifted.
We are able to see, yes, very dimly most of the time, the glory of the
Lord in one another. When I look at you or
you look at one another, Paul reminds us, we are beginning to see the glory of the
Lord in everyone who is redeemed by Christ Jesus. Now, admittedly, that glory is not yet
complete, as it was for Moses and Elijah.
You and I are not dead and returned to our Father. But we testify to His redemptive grace in our
lives! As we gather for worship and
fellowship, we begin to hear one another’s stories. We begin to inwardly digest the fact that
each of us has a wonderfully unique and God-glorifying story to tell.
Looking
around the room, of course, I may know the very most. But I push back against that assumption a
bit. I have only watched you, known you,
for seven years. Y’all can make up stories
or forget details, and I have no way of knowing, unless another Adventer tells
me. And so much of God’s work is in the
little details. Some of you have known
each other for decades. Decades. You have stories to tell how you ended up in
these pews, grabbed by another Adventer or God and not allowed to leave. You have witnessed each other dealing with
the problems of being a parent, a spouse, a worker, an owner. You have watched one another deal with
disease and death. You have done your
best to support one another, to encourage one another, to love one
another. And, so, some of you know those
stories far better than I. And you each
know the mercy and power of God’s love.
You see it radiated in the brother or sister in Christ who sits besides
you, behind you, or in front of you.
Is this all
that there is? Of course not! Paul remind us we see this dimly through a
mirror. One day, either we will die or
our Lord will return. On that day, we
will see Him face to face. And our
hearts, our minds, our everything will be re-created in the way that He
intended from the beginning, before our sins distorted everything. And then, like Moses and Elijah and the
throng that has gone before us, we will truly share in His glory! We will bask in His love and protection and
wisdom and all those “things” for which our souls and bodies and minds and
hearts long! We will behold Him as He
is, and rejoice what He did for each one us, despite ourselves. And then we will party like the most amazing Wedding
Feast that none of us can imagine!
Of course,
there is a second lesson upon which I need to focus this morning. We have recounted the glory to which we are
all called. We have reminded ourselves of
its cost to Jesus. But there is more, so
long as we draw breath. Continue reading
Luke. Behold. In the midst of this event which confirms
Jesus role as God’s Chosen, in the midst of this instruction where the voice of
God tells us to listen to Him, in the midst of this event which represents a
pivot in Jesus’ ministry on earth an unwavering commitment to God plan of
salvation history, what happens next?
The next
day, Jesus and the three are down the mountain.
A crowd approaches, and a man begs Jesus to heal at his son. Modern commentators argue whether this is
demonic control, epilepsy, or some other issue.
In reality, the father does not care.
He believes it a demonic spirit and asks Jesus to have mercy on him and
heal his son. We are given one more
detail. The father has asked the
disciples to do this, and they failed.
What does Jesus do? He rebukes
the demon in the midst of a series of convulsions, healed the boy, and restored
him to his father.
Think about
this story with the events of cosmic and salvation history in the background. Jesus has instructed His disciples what has
to happen. He has gone up the mountain
to pray and be with His Father. Moses
and Elijah have appeared and conversed with Him about what is about to
happen. To accomplish God’s plan His Will
will need to be focused on God’s Will as He is tortured, ridiculed, mocked and
rejected by the crowd He came to save, and killed. And in the midst of all that, the weight which
you and I cannot even begin to fathom, what do we see? We behold Jesus stopping, healing a boy, and
restoring the boy to a father. In the
grand scheme of salvation history, in the grand scheme of the redemption of the
cosmos, Jesus is focused on the one in need before Him. Behold!
Is it the
Will of the Father that Jesus go to the Cross and die? Yes.
Yet it is equally the Will of the Father that all might turn, that none
should die! And in the midst of the
great cosmic event, we see His attention on the need of the individual. You see, far better than we, He understands
the glory for which every single human being was created and the glory to which
it is called. So, even as He sets His
eyes on Jerusalem, He is ever alert to those in need in His midst.
The lesson
for us, of course, is a reminder of our responsibility to those we meet in our
daily life, work, entertainment, service, and wherever else we meet them. Yes, we have an incredible hope in the
Gospel. Yes, we are promised glory. But with that hope comes incredible
responsibility! Like our Lord, whose
life is a pattern for holy living, you and I are called to see the potential
glory in every human being we encounter.
We are called to serve them in His Name, minister to them in His Name,
love them in His Name. To be sure, many
are prickly; many will argue they are unlovable. But we serve and minister and love them
repeatedly, because we know what we were.
We were like they are now. But we
remember what God did for each one of us.
We look around and see the other prickly pears in our lives, the others who
thought themselves forgotten and unloved, and we bear those little crosses
trusting He will use us to reach them, certain that all who accept His
invitation will begin to radiate that same glory we see in each other who have
been saved by His grace and experienced His forgiveness.
Brothers
and sister, make no mistake; hear me clearly.
This is not an easy life we are called to live. We bear crosses for the One who bore the
Cross for us, not because we owe Him, not because we can ever pay Him back, but
because we are thankful and amazed at the love and mercy He first showed
us. Like the crowds who witnessed this
event, we are astounded at the greatness of God, and want others to experience
for themselves. In some ways, my
friends, we have been to the mountaintop yet again today. We have beheld the Transfiguration of our
Lord, just as Luke, inspired by the Holy Spirit, encouraged and instructed
us. But now, reminded of that promise,
reminded of that hope that we will all one day share in that glory and those
intimate conversations as His friend, we go forth into the shadows of the world
inviting others to join us and Him. For
all eternity!
In Christ’s Peace,
Brian†
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