Transfiguration Sunday – Year C-RCL 2016
About eight days after Peter had acknowledged
Jesus as the Christ of God, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and
went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of
his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two
men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking
of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and
his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake,
they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were
leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here;
let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for
Elijah"--not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came
and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then
from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen
to him!" When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept
silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
[On the next day, when they had come down
from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd
shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child.
Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him
until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. I begged
your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." Jesus answered,
"You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you
and bear with you? Bring your son here." While he was coming, the demon
dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit,
healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astounded at the
greatness of God.]
Today
– the last Sunday before lent we celebrate the feast of the
Transfiguration. The story of the
mountain top experience that makes preachers wonder what we can say. A fellow priest and friend commented that
they are not fond of this day. It feels
too much like magical thinking in this age of enlightenment. They wondered how do we explain all this
magic to people in a way that does not make them think that the church is an
irrelevant place that engages in magical thinking. And that is a real issue. We talk in a language in our churches that is
foreign to most people. We talk about
transfiguration and the real presence of Christ in the sacraments, the
crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.
All concepts that are hard for a people of science to get our heads
around.
But
this scientist loves the story of the transfiguration. I don’t mind magical thinking – in as much as
it can lead us into the presence of the holy that is hard to explain. Perhaps that is why there is so much poetry
and song written about holy experiences.
They are hard to explain in a rational way. I certainly cannot rationally explain the
experience of ordination. Something
changed. Something physically happened
that was bigger than the Bishop and priests laying hands on me. It is in moments like my ordination that I
fall back into language of “it was like…”
It was like the hands of generations of priests all the way back kept
pilling on my body.” It was like a
powerful force pushing against me and enveloping me. It was perhaps aa moment of transfiguration.
This
Sunday we remember a story of the disciples glimpsing the change in Jesus that
ultimately occurs after his resurrection.
When Jesus earthly body is replaced with a spiritual body. Something we can’t rationally explain. I cannot rationally explain my experiences
with the Holy during my recent trip to the Holy Land. I can’t explain the sensations of walking the
streets Jerusalem or going up to the top of Mount Tabor – the mountain that is
celebrated as the site of the transfiguration.
Was it that exact mountain we don’t know. But the tradition dates back to around the
third century so by this time 2000 years later the mountaintop has been soaked
in prayer.
I
also love the disciple’s reaction to the transfiguration. They did not understand it but they knew it
was important so Peter proposes to build dwellings for Jesus, Moses and
Elijah. This transfigured neon glowing
Jesus is the Jesus that Peter wants. He
does not really want the Jesus that we get at the end of Lent on Good
Friday. Peter does not want the
crucified Christ but he wants this one.
As we all do.
And
now if you go up to the top of Mount Tabor you find a beautiful church that was
built in the 1920’s. Inside the main
church is a wonderful space with a depiction of the transfiguration and there
are two small chapels on either side.
And can you guess what these small dwellings are called? One is the
Moses Chapel and the other is the Elijah chapel. So now there are dwellings built on the mountain. Peter may have been told not to but it didn’t
stop the Franciscans!
So
what are we to make of this magical story today? Why should we care? We should care because we are called to be a
transfigured people. And that transfiguration
happens only in community. We are called
to be a people of metamorphosis – of radical change. Another preacher said “One of the lessons of
this text is that the glory of God is only possible if lived together, in
community. Nobody, not even Jesus, could shine alone! The work of that trinity
shows that only when we are together that God’s radiance can light each other’s lives.”[1] Now I am not saying that you can’t have
solitary mountaintop experiences and encounter the Holy. Certainly in our reading from Genesis we have
Moses going up the mountain to see God.
But it is when he returns back to the community that they see him
glowing.
I
have seen people shine and glow when they encounter the Holy and especially
when they share that encounter in community.
The first time I experienced Ashes to go and then talked with people
about their experiences I saw people glow.
When that same year we spent hours sitting in front of this church
washing feet on Maundy Thursday I saw faces glow from within. We were encountering the holy. So the description of Jesus in our Gospel
story as being dazzling white is not so hard for me to fathom because I have
seen the people of God glow with the radiance of the Holy. We may not glow like the Los Vegas neon strip
but we do glow.
Which
brings us to the second half of our reading – which some folk think should be
left out – and is optional in our lectionary.
But to me it is necessary. When
Jesus and the disciples leave the mountain they go back to work. They don’t just bask in the glory of God’s
presence. They do the hard work of
transforming the community. The very next story is Jesus encountering a crowd
and a man with a sick son – his only son- asking Jesus to toss out a demon, as
no one else had been able to cure the child.
And Jesus does just that. He
heals the boy. This is the point of the
transfiguration for our lives. We are to
work with Jesus to transform our societies.
And we can’t do it alone.
We
still have societies that crush people like the demon that inhabited the boy in
gospel reading. We have systems that
maintain great wealth for a few and crushing poverty for many. We have systems that encourage farmers
markets and good supermarkets with healthy food and decent prices only in good
neighborhoods. What about putting a good
market in a neighborhood where people don’t have cars – or don’t have the money for gas even if
they have a car.
We
are a transfigured people in Christ. As
a transfigured people we need to work to transform the places around us so that
the light can shine there too. It is not
easy work but I see many people here doing God’s work. Many churches would not think of opening up
their sanctuaries to people without shelter.
Oh sure perhaps the parish hall or the Gym but we have to keep the
sanctuary holy!
Not
you. You are opening up the sanctuary –
this holy space to people without shelter.
You are transforming this holy space into a truly Holy Space. And I am willing to bet that some people who
come here for Winter Sanctuary will be transformed in this place as well. That is the work of transfiguration.
Our
call as followers of the transfigured, crucified, risen and ascended Christ is
to find ways to change our society. To
reach out in love to the loveless. To
feed the hungry. And most importantly to
make decisions that challenge a society that keeps people hungry. To challenge our assumptions on how society
functions. In short we are to continue
to work as Jesus’ hands, feet and heart to transform a world of “me first” and
of hoarding our resources while destroying the resources of the planet into a
place where all people are loved and this fragile earth our home is cared for
and preserved.
Amen.
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