Introduction:
This is the Pastor’s Blog for the Service on Sunday Feb 15th at 10:45AM. Included here is the primary Scripture of this message and the Pastor’s notes. Prior to the service it will include an excerpt of the Pastor’s notes and following the service the complete notes will be added. Also following the service a link will be provided at the bottom to Replay this service. We hope you will join us in Worship on Sunday.
Scripture Matthew 17: 1-9
The Transfiguration
17 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Pastor’s Message:
My daughter, Eva, was an avid camper when she was younger. Girl Scout camp, junior high and high school youth camps at Bridgeport, mission trips with the youth group at various churches I’ve served. She loved those experiences and would animatedly share stories about the week in the car as we drove home. And then, at bedtime, the tears would start. She had been up on the mountain all week with the Holy Spirit and her friends, and now she had come down the mountain and back into ordinary life.
Spiritual experiences that bring us up onto the mountain top are special; we can feel our hearts, minds, and spirits expand and soar. If these mountaintop experiences happen in community, then all the better. It’s all too human to want to freeze the moment and just stay up on the mountain, basking in the glow of the Spirit, singing songs, holding hands and praying together.
I can’t help but see this dynamic in Peter. He wants to freeze the moment by building three dwellings, one each for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Just stay put, basking in the glory before him.It’s all too human, wanting to freeze the good moments in life and avoid the bad stuff.
Peter, James and John aren’t paying attention to the conversation taking place between Jesus, Moses and Elijah – or maybe they’re practicing selective hearing because the conversation is difficult. The holy men on that mountain top may have been talking about what’s going to take place in Jerusalem: Jesus’ suffering and death.
Then the cloud comes, overshadowing the mountaintop and terrifying Peter, James and John. The voice from the cloud redirects their attention to Jesus, the Beloved, to whom they must listen.
In a flash the mysterious, glorious light fades back to the ordinary, and Jesus is standing before them alone, no shimmering light or overshadowing cloud – just Jesus himself, as they have known him. And as they come down the mountain, Jesus tells them to not share what they have just experienced with anyone.
Jesus’ command to keep what has just happened secret is a bit of a puzzle. His presence and actions aren’t very secret, are they? Jesus’ life and ministry call attention to the presence of the kingdom of God even as the Roman Empire asserts its would-be dominance. Jesus has already caught the attention of the religious authorities. Maybe Jesus telling his disciples to keep mum about what they’ve witnessed on that mountain top is because they don’t understand what they’ve witnessed. Matthew doesn’t give us a reason, though. He leaves the question hanging out there for disciples through the ages to contemplate.
At the end of this story, that mountaintop glory has faded to ordinary gray. But the divine glory emanating from Jesus doesn’t stop and can’t be bottled up. He comes down the mountain and re-engages with the pain of the world. A crowd awaits at the bottom of the mountain, and a father shouts for Jesus’ attention. His little boy is possessed by a spirit that tortures him, and the father begs for relief and healing. The dad has been seeking relief for his son from Jesus’ disciples, but they haven’t been able to exorcise the evil spirit.
Jesus’ response here is startling and harsh. He calls the disciples out, calling them “perverse and faithless.” He then casts the evil spirit out and heals the father’s son.
I wonder what makes the disciples “perverse and faithless”? Maybe, just maybe, the desire to freeze the moment up on that mountain top has something to do with it. Maybe their failure to connect what Jesus has been telling them – that he will suffer and die – with the glory they experienced on the mountaintop clouded their vision to see that Jesus’ transfiguration offered an opportunity for them to be transfigured as well. Maybe this disconnect hampered their ability to see and experience Divine glory running through their own bodies, shining forth and bearing witness to God’s presence.
Elsewhere in the gospels Jesus tells his disciples that they will do even greater things than he has. The all-too-human response of wanting to freeze the glorious moment we’re watching as spectators inhibits that glory from shining forth and having free rein in the world. When we try to freeze a moment, it pulls us out of the next moment that follows and we wind up pining for an experience that is past tense. Here’s the thing: God’s glory is always present tense, whether the circumstances are mysterious and glittering or drab and ordinary.
One commentator states it this way: “The transfiguration of Jesus offers a glimpse of what is possible, not only for Jesus, but for all humanity. […] The transfigured Jesus is changed, not in essence, but in the way he is seen; he acts in and for the world … Seeing Jesus differently means seeing oneself and others differently too. […] Transfiguration was never meant as a private experience of spirituality removed from the public square.” (FOTW YrC2, 455-456)
Can we trust what Christ has promised disciples of the Way through the centuries? That we can be channels of divine glory?
There is a story that comes from the Hasidic tradition – a story I was reminded of awhile back when I listened to an interview with Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, a physician and author. In that interview, Dr. Remen shared the ancient story behind the Jewish ethical imperative to “repair the world.” {Tikkun Olam] In the beginning of creation, the light of the universe was shattered into a million million pieces, which lodged as shards inside everything and everyone. Our calling, as human beings, is to look for the light from where we stand, to call it out, to gather it up — and in so doing, to help repair the world.
God’s glory cannot be separated from creation – both the beautiful parts and the wounded parts. Jesus’ Transfiguration calls us to not only bear witness to the beauty of God’s glory, but also into the pain that exists in creation. The Light of the Divine is lodged everywhere, begging us to gather it up and scatter it further, bearing witness to the presence of the Holy One, now and forever. In so doing, the world is one step closer to healing and wholeness, one glorious shard of light at a time.
Loving Spirit of Christ: sometimes our world can look so grimy and troubled. There is so much suffering and woundedness. and yet, you call us to see deeper, to hone our sight to see your glory moving everywhere. Your glorious presence calls us to your way of peace and compassion, grace and mercy, healing and wholeness. Pull us ever more deeply into your glorious work. May your grace run through our bodies, hearts, and spirits so that the world may be healed and whole, bearing witness to your glory and love. Amen.
