Transfigured Before Them
Sermon text for February 22, 2009:
Mark 9:2-9
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Lakewood, Colorado
He was about eighteen or nineteen years old when he went to visit a mission station where someone from his home church was serving. Even though he was young, many in the congregation considered him a leader. So it seemed natural that he was chosen to visit the mission and then come home and tell the story.
The young man smiled inwardly when the session chose him, because he had a secret that he could never share with the others. How would they ever understand that his faith was very shaky? In fact he was no longer sure that he believed at all.
He knew the story of Christianity well and even taught Sunday School. But something was missing for him. He could no longer connect the dots. He experienced a disconnect between the Bible story and the experiences of his own life. When he looked at his role models within the church, he couldn’t see Jesus in them either. How could he ever let them know that Jesus no longer seemed real? The people around him seemed to have settled into a comfortable pattern, but reflecting the impatience of youth he needed more. If he was ever going to really believe he needed to see Jesus.
He mulled the problem over in his mind as he traveled by train toward the mission. He felt guilty even thinking these kinds of thoughts. What he really wanted was some kind of sign – something that would help him know definitively that Jesus was real and that faith meant something in the real world. And he was traveling to the mission high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains hoping for some reason to keep believing.
He had only been at the mission for a few days when almost imperceptibly his heart began a transformation. The missionaries dealt with violence, illness, hunger and poverty every day, and they seemed to him to be the voice and hands of Jesus. They were both tough and tender at the same time. They could visit families living in filth and squalor without judging and they were able to embrace even the most unlovable people. They rarely used “church talk” yet they expressed Christian faith with real conviction. As he followed the missionaries around, the image of Jesus in his mind was literally transfigured by what he saw the missionaries do. And when he went home he started to see Jesus at work in the lives of people whose faith he doubted only a few days before.
I believe that God provides us with experiences of transfiguration, in which we begin to see Jesus in a new way. And the transfiguration of Jesus within us ultimately brings about our own transformation. If we take time to look, the transfiguration is a continuing process that helps us become more open to the Jesus within others.
Transfiguration! It is a strange story which is told in each of the synoptic gospels as well as in First Peter. The Bible story says that Jesus led Peter, James and John up a high mountain by themselves. There on top of the mountain Jesus was “transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.”
While the disciples struggled to understand what was happening, they realized that they were not alone. Elijah and Moses appeared with Jesus and the three spoke with one another as if they were old friends. The disciples were literally dumbstruck by what they saw, and they could not speak. Peter was the first to find his voice. “Lord, it is good for us to be here,” he said. “If you wish I will make three dwellings here; one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”. Peter wanted to live in this awesome, holy moment, for as long as possible. It must have seemed to him and his friends as if they could reach out and touch the face of God. Peter wanted to control this experience. He offered to build a dwelling for each of the Holy Men. “Perhaps they will want to stay”, he reasoned, “if I can make them comfortable.” Peter had not yet learned that faithfulness is measured by what we do down the mountain, among the people, and not by how long our special holy moments last.
But we can understand Peter’s yearning. He was a part of something amazing, holy, and glorious and he did not want the experience to end. We also have had moments like this. Maybe the experience relates to faith like when we are on a church retreat. But it might be a special time with family, or even a vacation. These peak experiences are wonderful and painful all at the same time, because we know that we can’t stay there. We know that the moment will end. And like Peter, James, John, and Jesus we have to go back down the mountain to face the realities of life. What we do down the mountain helps us define the validity of our experience of transfiguration.
The Bible says that while Peter was still speaking a “bright cloud overshadowed them” and they heard a voice speaking from the cloud. The voice said, “This is my Son, the beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him.”
In that moment the disciples knew for certain that Jesus was the Messiah. Before they heard the voice of God, they might have speculated, but now his identity was confirmed. Jesus is the Messiah! Jesus is the Messiah! Imagine that, Jesus whose feet became dirty after a long day of walking on the dusty roads; Jesus who at times grew weary of the crowds; Jesus who suffered from hunger and thirst just like the disciples; Jesus stands transfigured and holy before them. And now they know that he is uniquely God’s beloved Son, the long awaited Messiah.
Scholars debate the meaning of this story. But the simplest interpretation might be the best. Jesus who is so genuinely human is also genuinely divine. In the person of Jesus we catch a glimpse of God, and I believe that God understands us differently as well. Because of Jesus, God understands hunger, longing, loneliness, temptation, and discouragement. In the experience of the transfiguration Jesus brings humans close to God and God close to humanity. And that is enough reason to continue telling this story to new generations of Christians.
As we prepare to move into Lent, let us ponder the God who loves us so much that staying in some far away heaven is not enough. Neither is staying in the world’s most beautiful cathedral good enough. God chose to become Emmanuel, which means “God with us”. As we ponder the nature of Jesus in the weeks leading up to Easter, the transfiguration story teaches us about his true nature. While Jesus is completely human, he is also uniquely the Son of God. He is the One of whom God spoke out of the cloud, saying, “This is my son, the beloved, I am well pleased with him.”
Copyright © 2009 by Dwight R. Blackstock
Mark 9:2-9
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Lakewood, Colorado
He was about eighteen or nineteen years old when he went to visit a mission station where someone from his home church was serving. Even though he was young, many in the congregation considered him a leader. So it seemed natural that he was chosen to visit the mission and then come home and tell the story.
The young man smiled inwardly when the session chose him, because he had a secret that he could never share with the others. How would they ever understand that his faith was very shaky? In fact he was no longer sure that he believed at all.
He knew the story of Christianity well and even taught Sunday School. But something was missing for him. He could no longer connect the dots. He experienced a disconnect between the Bible story and the experiences of his own life. When he looked at his role models within the church, he couldn’t see Jesus in them either. How could he ever let them know that Jesus no longer seemed real? The people around him seemed to have settled into a comfortable pattern, but reflecting the impatience of youth he needed more. If he was ever going to really believe he needed to see Jesus.
He mulled the problem over in his mind as he traveled by train toward the mission. He felt guilty even thinking these kinds of thoughts. What he really wanted was some kind of sign – something that would help him know definitively that Jesus was real and that faith meant something in the real world. And he was traveling to the mission high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains hoping for some reason to keep believing.
He had only been at the mission for a few days when almost imperceptibly his heart began a transformation. The missionaries dealt with violence, illness, hunger and poverty every day, and they seemed to him to be the voice and hands of Jesus. They were both tough and tender at the same time. They could visit families living in filth and squalor without judging and they were able to embrace even the most unlovable people. They rarely used “church talk” yet they expressed Christian faith with real conviction. As he followed the missionaries around, the image of Jesus in his mind was literally transfigured by what he saw the missionaries do. And when he went home he started to see Jesus at work in the lives of people whose faith he doubted only a few days before.
I believe that God provides us with experiences of transfiguration, in which we begin to see Jesus in a new way. And the transfiguration of Jesus within us ultimately brings about our own transformation. If we take time to look, the transfiguration is a continuing process that helps us become more open to the Jesus within others.
Transfiguration! It is a strange story which is told in each of the synoptic gospels as well as in First Peter. The Bible story says that Jesus led Peter, James and John up a high mountain by themselves. There on top of the mountain Jesus was “transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.”
While the disciples struggled to understand what was happening, they realized that they were not alone. Elijah and Moses appeared with Jesus and the three spoke with one another as if they were old friends. The disciples were literally dumbstruck by what they saw, and they could not speak. Peter was the first to find his voice. “Lord, it is good for us to be here,” he said. “If you wish I will make three dwellings here; one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”. Peter wanted to live in this awesome, holy moment, for as long as possible. It must have seemed to him and his friends as if they could reach out and touch the face of God. Peter wanted to control this experience. He offered to build a dwelling for each of the Holy Men. “Perhaps they will want to stay”, he reasoned, “if I can make them comfortable.” Peter had not yet learned that faithfulness is measured by what we do down the mountain, among the people, and not by how long our special holy moments last.
But we can understand Peter’s yearning. He was a part of something amazing, holy, and glorious and he did not want the experience to end. We also have had moments like this. Maybe the experience relates to faith like when we are on a church retreat. But it might be a special time with family, or even a vacation. These peak experiences are wonderful and painful all at the same time, because we know that we can’t stay there. We know that the moment will end. And like Peter, James, John, and Jesus we have to go back down the mountain to face the realities of life. What we do down the mountain helps us define the validity of our experience of transfiguration.
The Bible says that while Peter was still speaking a “bright cloud overshadowed them” and they heard a voice speaking from the cloud. The voice said, “This is my Son, the beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him.”
In that moment the disciples knew for certain that Jesus was the Messiah. Before they heard the voice of God, they might have speculated, but now his identity was confirmed. Jesus is the Messiah! Jesus is the Messiah! Imagine that, Jesus whose feet became dirty after a long day of walking on the dusty roads; Jesus who at times grew weary of the crowds; Jesus who suffered from hunger and thirst just like the disciples; Jesus stands transfigured and holy before them. And now they know that he is uniquely God’s beloved Son, the long awaited Messiah.
Scholars debate the meaning of this story. But the simplest interpretation might be the best. Jesus who is so genuinely human is also genuinely divine. In the person of Jesus we catch a glimpse of God, and I believe that God understands us differently as well. Because of Jesus, God understands hunger, longing, loneliness, temptation, and discouragement. In the experience of the transfiguration Jesus brings humans close to God and God close to humanity. And that is enough reason to continue telling this story to new generations of Christians.
As we prepare to move into Lent, let us ponder the God who loves us so much that staying in some far away heaven is not enough. Neither is staying in the world’s most beautiful cathedral good enough. God chose to become Emmanuel, which means “God with us”. As we ponder the nature of Jesus in the weeks leading up to Easter, the transfiguration story teaches us about his true nature. While Jesus is completely human, he is also uniquely the Son of God. He is the One of whom God spoke out of the cloud, saying, “This is my son, the beloved, I am well pleased with him.”
Copyright © 2009 by Dwight R. Blackstock
posted by Dwight Blackstock | 7:09 AM
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