This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!

Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday – March 3, 2019

Year C RCL

Exodus 34:29-35

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

Luke 9:28-36

Psalm 99

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.

Today is the last Sunday before we start the season of Lent.  `Wednesday is Ash Wednesday when we enter into a time of preparation for the feast of Easter.  It is a time we are called to listen to God in our lives and to prepare our hearts to go with Jesus to Calvary on Good Friday and to witness with the women the empty tomb on Easter.  The last Sunday before Easter we always read the story of the Transfiguration.  A story that the commentators always talk about being difficult to understand and difficult to preach.  I actually love the transfiguration.  In part that is due to it being the central theme to one of my practical theology classes in seminary. 

Up to this point in our Gospel narrative of Luke Jesus has been traveling through the country and healing the sick and casting out demons.  Except in Nazareth where the crowds almost throw Jesus off the cliff!  Jesus has sent the disciples out to also proclaim the good news and to heal the sick in the communities that Jesus would be passing through.  During his travels – and just before this part of the narrative Jesus asks the disciples who do people say he is, and they reply one of the prophets, perhaps John the Baptist come back to life – which would be strange since John was beheaded after Jesus started his ministry!  Then Jesus asks the disciples who do they say he is!  At which point Peter proclaims that Jesus is “God’s Messiah!”  Peter gets it… for now…

So now we have Jesus with Peter, James, and John up on mount Tabor - what we now call the Mount of the Transfiguration.  Jesus is withdrawing with his inner circle to pray – which we see Jesus doing regularly after a lot of healing ministry – Jesus is practicing what we would call today good “self-care”.  And something remarkable happens.

Jesus is transfigured – a strange word transfigured – Jesus is changed.  Suddenly he is glowing as he encounters the holy.  Just like Moses glowed after encountering God on the mountain as Moses received the Law so Jesus glows.  It is the same dazzling light emanating from Jesus that the women will encounter when they see the risen Christ on Easter Day.  And the disciples – although we are told they are weighed down with sleep – are awake and witness this amazing change.  They witness the glory of God shining forth through Jesus.  And they witness Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus about the next phase of his ministry.  A ministry that will set Jesus’ face toward Jerusalem where he will confront the rulers one too many times and finally be put to death.  The word Luke uses for departure is the same in the Greek for Exodus.  Moses and Elijah – two prophets that led people through an exodus away from pain and suffering into relationship with God talk about Jesus’ upcoming exodus.  An exodus where Jesus will show us the way from pain and suffering to a love that is indescribable.

Jesus exodus is not just about a journey of forgiveness.  David Lose, a preacher nary that I follow said “Yet it’s easy to forget that the cross is not simply, or perhaps even primarily, about making forgiveness possible (Jesus has already been doing a lot of forgiving up to this point), much less paying God off for our sin, but rather is about freedom, release from captivity, and establishing an open future.”^[1] 

Jesus is taking us on an exodus to turn our world right side up.  An exodus that challenges us to act at all times out of a place of love.  An exodus that leads us to operate out of an instinct that recognizes that our call is to provide healing to the sick, and to feed the hungry, as a primary motivation.  Jesus is leading us during lent on an Exodus away from the greed of the world to a place where all of God’s beloved creation is seen as good.  A journey that seems impossible to take at times – especially when we see the huge polarization that is happening in our society.  How are we to love those that refuse to love the immigrant, those who refuse to feed and clothe the naked? 

It is not easy, but Jesus is calling us to love all of God’s beloved creation.  Even to the point that we love our enemy and those we feel are doing wrong.  And we love them by modeling and showing that there is a better way.  A way that God calls us to model just as Jesus showed us a way of Love.  A love that will lead to the cross.  A love that will stretch out God’s arms of love and call God’s beloved children to God’s embrace – even on the cross.  And that is not easy, but God is there to help us and to remind us that we are God’s children and we are called to continue to bring about God’s dream of love to our communities and to the world.

[pause]

One of the parts of the transfiguration story that I love is the disciple’s reaction to seeing the Devine shine through Jesus and witnessing Moses and Elijah.  Peter wants to build three dwelling on the mountain so that they can preserve this moment.  Peter who just before this confessed Jesus as the Messiah – the one who is to bring about the work of God’s salvation – now wants to create a shrine to God.  Peter wants to freeze this amazing moment.  I can imagine Peter creating this place for Jesus, Moses and Elijah and putting up road side signs to come and see the spectacular transformation.  A little like driving up the coast of California and seeing the signs to see the mighty wonders in the redwoods.  And I always chuckle that now on the mount of the transfiguration, where tradition tells us that this event took place, there is a church building.  And in the church building there is a large Jesus chapel and two side chapels – one for Moses and one for Elijah.  The current church only daters from the 1920’s but it is built on the site of churches that go back to around the 4^th century.  So it only took 400 years or so for Peter to get his dwellings on the mountain! 

When we encounter the Holy we too want to preserve the moment.  We want to capture it so that we can find in again when our lives are difficult.  I have experienced some amazing breakthrough s of God’s love.  I have experienced them in some unlikely places with some unlikely people.  I experienced God’s love breakthrough when I was a hospice chaplain and had people who had for most purposes lost their voices to Alzheimer’s or dementia suddenly speak coherently just before they passed away.  I have experienced the joy of God’s love when a homeless member of this congregation brought me a sandwich when I was studying for finals in the clergy office while I was in seminary.  And I certainly experienced it when I was ordained here in this space.  All moments that I would love to encase in amber so that I can return to them over and over again.

The last thing that happens during the transfiguration is that the heavens open and the voice of God is heard.  It should sound familiar this time as it echoes the voice we heard at the time of Jesus baptism in the River Jordan by John.  This time God says to us "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"  God’s voice was not for the benefit of Jesus.  It was for Peter, James, John… and us.  Because like Peter we sometimes listen to God, we sometimes get why Jesus walked among us in human form and sometimes we don’t. 

Just like Peter who at one moment declares that Jesus is “God’s Messiah” and in almost the next breath cannot believe that Jesus will go to Jerusalem and will be crucified.  Like Peter we cannot understand how Jesus willingly set his face to Jerusalem.  We cannot understand how the love that was born in human flesh on Christmas Day would be hung on a cross and seemingly die.  We cannot see those outstretched arms on the cross for what they are – the arms of love outstretched and desiring nothing more than to draw us into the love that would not die.  Calling us to turn around.  Metanoia – to repent – to turn around.  Calling us to work to change our world into one that operated from an economy of love instead of from an economy of greed.

This lent we are called to listen to Jesus.   We are called to set some time aside so that we will be able to hear God calling us into love. 

One way is to join a Lenten study group.  Loreen Kleinschmidt and Anne Slakey will be leading a Lenten Study Group that will meet on Saturday March  9, 10-noon in the church.  Next Saturday’s topic will be Sacramental Rites. The book they have been using is Walk in Love: Episcopal Beliefs and Practices by Scott Gunn and Melody Wilson Shobe, which is available at the Cathedral bookstore or online.

This is the second half of our 2 part study. If you weren’t part of the first half but would like to participate, now is the time to join.

On this transfiguration Sunday and during lent I invite you to find ways to listen to Jesus.  Find some time to listen to his call to love.  To listen to Jesus’ call to us to be partners in bringing about a love that is indescribable. A love that refuses to die – even on the cross.

Amen.

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^[1] http://www.davidlose.net/2019/03/transfiguration-c-listen-to-him/  accessed March 2, 2019

Transfiguration!

Last Sunday after Epiphany

Year A RCL

Exodus 24:12-18

Psalm 2

or Psalm 99

2 Peter 1:16-21

Matthew 17:1-9

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Today is the last Sunday before lent.  And as is the tradition of the church we end the season of the Epiphany with the story of the transfiguration.  A story that is so familiar to me that I can tell it – in my own words – without opening a bible.  A story that in many ways I love because it speaks to me about both the divinity of Jesus but also about the humanity of the disciples – especially Peter. 

But I also struggle a little with how it makes sense for us today.  Do we need a mountaintop transfiguration?  Do we need to have a vision of Jesus both as human – walking down the road with this disciples, sharing meals, teaching – and as divine – with the light of God shining in and through him as on the mountain top?  Do we need to hear the message from God on that mountain top now?

This story takes place 6 days after Jesus asked the disciples who do people say that he is and then follows up with asking the disciples who they think he is.  It is six days after Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah – the Son of God.  Jesus has been telling the disciples that he is going to be a very different messiah from the one they were expecting.  That this messiah is going to willing walk into Jerusalem, will be arrested, killed, and will rise after three days.  And Peter is having none of it.  So off to the mountain top they go.  And when Jesus is transfigured and Moses and Elijah appear Peter wants to freeze the scene.  Peter and the other two, James and John, have just had the heavens open and caught a glimpse of what is to come.  A world transfigured.  A world changed. 

 Peter doesn’t want the moment to end.  He wants to build three shelters for these great people.  One for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah.  He wants to enshrine God, the Law and the Prophets and sit at their feet for eternity.

When we capture a glimpse of the divine we most likely have the same reaction.  Let us sit here for awhile – a long while.  Let us revel in our thin places and spend time with God. 

Last year when I, along with Deacon Sonya and other soon to be ordained or newly ordained folk where on pilgrimage there where many thin places that seemed to demand that I stay.  The site where we remember Jesus feeding the 5,000 on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, the Mount of the Transfiguration – where this event is remembered – and where there is now a lovely church with three chapels – one to Jesus, One commemorating, Moses and one commemorating Elijah! 

And the one site that was nearly impossible to leave was the site of the crucifixion in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  All places where the veil between human and divine seemed so so thin.  Places that caught me up short and made me want to stay.  I wanted to build a tent and to literally let the holy wash over me.  But that is not what God asked of me. And it is not what God asked of the Disciples and it is not what God is asking of all of us.

Listen to what God actually said on that mountain.  This is my son.  Listen to him.  Be raised up. And, Do not be afraid. 

Listen.  Something that I sometimes find hard to do.  I am so busy that I don’t make enough time just to listen to God.  What is God asking me to do? What is God asking the church to do?  There is certainly change afoot – just as Jesus was trying to tell the disciples in their time.  And we need to figure out what it means.  How do we respond as a community?  David Lose – another preacher who I follow said, “And while we may disagree on just what we hear – that’s the challenge of communal discernment, after all; we actually are a community, not a monolith – yet we agree that the best way to understand God is to look to Jesus and listen to him. To pay attention to what Jesus says and does, to whom he reaches out, to those he gives attention and help. Yes, we may not all agree, but we might also confess that if we all keep trying to listen to Jesus together – and trust that is what even the people who disagree with us are doing – we will get closer to what God intends for us.”^[1]

We may not agree on what the change means – whether it is good or bad.  But there will be change and how we respond is what matters.  Can we find it on our heart to follow the great commandment to Love others?  Especially when we don’t agree with them.  Can we find ways to not demonize those who are creating change? Change that we may not like?  Can we find a way to see the transfigured Glory of God in our world?  Now?  Because I know deep in my heart that the thin places where Gods glory shines through are all around me.  I know that we can and will find it.  We need to take the time to listen for God’s presence and to figure out – in community where we are called to act.

The Second thing we hear is that we need to get up – or better to be raised up.  That God is going to raise us up and that we need to not get lost in just the listening but we need to take action.  We need to hear what God asks us to do and then to get out of our tabernacles, our churches, our safe places and go do ministry.  What ministry depends on what God is asking us to do.  And it is different for each person and community.  We are not all asked by God to do the same things – thanks be to God! In my secular position as a scientist I believe God is calling me to come up with ways to protect the environment.  To care for this fragile earth our island home.  I also believe that God has called me to be a priest.  To provide the sacraments to folk and to hopefully be a guide to the thin places where we can listen to God. 

It can be a challenge to do the things God asks us to do. Because in many cases we are called to leave our comfort zones.  To talk to people we don’t like – or perhaps just don’t understand.  We are called as Christians to help bring about God’s transfigured presence of Love into this world.  We know it’s here now but also not here now.  There are times and places where we see the love of God but there are also places where we see the need to spread that love.  And that does not happen when we are sitting in comfort.  We need to get up.  Get out.  And do what God is calling us to do. 

Which brings me to the final thing – that we hear from Jesus – and which is a recurring message from God in the scriptures.  Be not afraid.  When we are doing the ministry that we are called to do God knows that we will be called out of our comfort zones.  Let me tell you going to seminary in my 50’s was outside my comfort zone.  It had been a quarter of a century sense I was in college.  I know that opening up the sacraments to people is a gift and a privilege – and sometimes is outside of my comfort zone.  And in these places we are reminded – do not be afraid.

When we follow Jesus commands – when we listen to him – we will be called to feed the hungry, both physically and spiritually, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and those in prison.  All actions that will take us places where we will be fearful. But God tells us “Do not be afraid”  God is with us in those situations and will comfort and heal us.  This is not a reason to go out and put ourselves in absolute danger – God is not going to suddenly makes us super-beings that can withstand bullets.  But God is going to be with us.  By our sides.  Comforting those fears so that we can do ministry.  And some people are called to do ministry is places of violence and danger.  And I am awed by those people.  Some of us are called to accompany the dying – a thing that our society is afraid of – to see death as a continuation and not an end. 

What ever our ministry God reminds us to not be afraid.  Because when we listen and get up and do ministry our eyes will be opened to the transfigured presence of God and we too will be transfigured.

The story of the transfiguration is a perfect way to move from the season of Epiphany to the season of Lent.  The season of lent is a journey that many times we don’t want to go on.  The journey from the top of the mountain that leads to confrontation with powers that demean people.  A confrontation that leads to the death of Christ.  It is a part of our faith that many struggle with.  But it is a story where we know the ending.  It is ultimately not a story of death but of life.  But to get to life we have to go through the hard places.  The places where we might not see God.  To travel with Jesus through the hardships and betrayals allows us not to be afraid when we face hardship and betrayal.  To know that whatever journey we are on right now that God is with us.  That God understands because we see that God takes the same journeys.  That the journey never really ends in absolute death but in resurrection.  That is a promise that our world doesn’t understand.  But it is real.

So as we enter into the season of lent  - Listen to God.  Get up – be raised up for ministry.  And be not afraid.  Try on new ministries – perhaps read a daily office that you don’t’ normally read.  Perhaps go visit people and listen to people who are not like us.  Perhaps try to see the transfigured joy that really does exist in this world – no matter what the pundits or the naysayers tell you.  Because we know the ending and it is all about Love. It is all about the great feast that God promises us is always around us and where we always have a seat at Gods abundant table.

Amen.

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^[1] http://www.davidlose.net/2017/02/transfiguration-a-timely-words/