Sermon
Can you believe that Lent begins in just three days? Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday already! We will be having an adult education class on zoom, on the six Monday evenings in Lent. (See how I'm knocking out one of my announcements here?) We will be covering six spiritual disciplines, which are fasting, embracing simplicity, praying, unplugging, listening to God, and the final week we will be trying different practices.
I'm not sure if “unplugging” is a biblical spiritual practice. But praying certainly is. So many times we read in scripture about Jesus praying, just like here in today's text. Centering this transfiguration experience within the act of praying only happens in the Lukan version of this story. Both Matthew and Mark say that Jesus took them up on the mountain and he was transfigured before them. Luke tells us that Jesus went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying his face and clothes changed. Luke doesn't even use the word transfigured. Often when we read a text we try to find a moment in our own lives that was similar to the experience described in the text. If anyone has ever had a dazzling experience involving a shining face and dazzling white clothing while praying, I'd love to hear about it! Being Jewish, Peter, James and John would have seen the dazzling white clothes and the shining face of Jesus and immediately be reminded of the Moses scripture we also read this morning. It's no wonder that heavy with sleep, the scene that they saw included Moses and Elijah, the two greatest prophets in Israel's history, along with Jesus. The three of them were discussing Jesus' departure – the word used here is “exodus” and appears nowhere else in any of the gospel stories. The exodus of Jesus, we are told, was about to be accomplished in Jerusalem. It is important to notice that this is an early indication of where Jesus' journey is taking him. We share that journey in word and symbols during lent. Here in the scripture on this Sunday of transition between epiphany and lent, we're given that hint of what is to come.
Another important part of our Luke text for today is the voice in the cloud that the three disciples hear. “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” These words would have taken the hearers back to the voice they heard at Jesus' baptism, “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am pleased.”
I think that our entire Christian journey takes place between those two things – baptism and death and resurrection. In a way, we could see this transfiguration as the moment of realization. The moment when the disciples got a hint of how transformed they themselves might become as they followed this guy Jesus. The moment we might have if we had a mountain top experience like the disciples had.
In the secular world a mountain top experience might be an awe-inspired climb to the top of a mighty peak, and the moment at the top when we took in the glory of the nature around us, and the moment we feel a part of it all!
In the same way a spiritual mountain top experience might be a moment when we were in the presence of the glory of God, and realized it. Maybe it was when a child was born. Or a time when you were in the presence of death. The beginning and ending of life itself is certainly a glory-filled moment. Not necessarily the glory we think of after a triumph. But the glory that we see when the enormity of a time fills us beyond our capacity. In the book Mr. God, This is Anna, little Anna calls this experience being “full up.” I'm sure we can think of those times. Maybe it was a time you really knew God's presence as an answer to a long-term question. Or a change of direction in life suddenly feels like the next thing for you. Maybe it came at a time when beauty, love and joy all collided! What might you consider a mountain top experience like this transfiguration?
What are we to do in the face of transfiguration? Maybe it feels so special that you just want to keep it to yourself – your private and personal piece of God. Like the disciples, you told no one of your experience.
I have had two experiences like that in my life. I know that I didn't tell anyone, for various non-spectacular reasons. I thought other people would think I was trying to sound holy, or special. I thought other people would think I was weird. I thought other people would judge me. I also knew that when you say something out loud, there's a different kind of accountability, either to ourselves or to those around us. For example, if I say out loud that I'm going to quit drinking diet coke, everyone might be watching every time I fell off the wagon. Or I'm going to practice flute more, people might expect to hear results. Or go on a diet. It's hard enough to share things like the interest in finding a new job, exploring an entirely new career path, or a new life direction with our friends and loved ones, worrying that we'd be open for criticism. Imagine if you added the fact that God was telling you to do the thing? The scariest person to tell about a serious life change that will come with consequences, is ourself. If I admit to myself that God is calling me to something new, I might actually have to change! The longer I can hold God's message at a distance, the longer I can put off doing anything about it.
The disciples in today's Luke text have had a truly strange new experience that they recognize as something to pay attention to, and to keep close. Maybe even ponder, like Mary did.
The message of the transfiguration today is positioned to transition our epiphany question from “What does the birth of Christ reveal for me this year, in this time and place?” to “What does it mean to follow Christ knowing the suffering that he will undergo, especially during his last days?” We know there is an Easter message of resurrection, but in the transfiguration scene here in Luke, there is no knowledge of that, no idea of what is to come. The disciples just have a hint. By not telling anyone they wouldn't have to explain something that they couldn't explain.
I invite us today then to put ourselves right where the disciples are at the end of the text. What about the transfiguration will you continue to ponder, be confused by, marvel at? What can come to us during prayer? What kind of a change is ahead for us? This is a time for us to ask, while we are surrounded by our community, supported by friends who worship together, pray together, ask questions together.
The transfiguration experience doesn't offer any answers. Just as any mountain top experience is the beginning of something new. All we can do is ask our questions together. The comfort is, Jesus is with us, God is listening, and the Spirit will carry us on.
Let us pray,