Do You Know?
Transfiguration b15, February 15, 2015 (Mark 9:2-9 with II Corinthians 4:3-6 in b.g.
Today is the day that stands as a hinge between Epiphany and Lent – between being shown repeatedly who Jesus is and being called to follow Him in all the stuff of life – the muck and guck- the wonder and beauty. Today is the day that we "get to hear" this amazing Transfiguration text.
Jesus takes his inner circle of Peter, James and John high up a mountain. There they are, apart, BY THEMSELVES. For the Bible mountains are frequently "thin" places. "Thin" places are locales where the separation between God and people isn't as great as usual. Thin places are places where people can actually hear or even see God. There, on that mountain, Jesus is transfigured. His clothes are dazzling, nearly blinding white. Two of the great heroes of the Bible, long since past, now appear. They converse with Jesus. Moses, whose own face had glowed reflecting God's splendor after receiving the law and Elijah, he who himself had been swept up into the heavens without dying. These two are here, with Jesus.
What are to do with any of this? How are we to understand it, learn from it or comprehend it? It's so foreign! Not only that but in the midst of all this, Peter, James and John are terrified. Suddenly (how Mark loves suddenly or immediately) the three look up and see, ONLY Jesus. On their way down the mountain, Jesus tells them not to tell anyone about his, "until after the Son of Man has risen from the dead". They are, I suspect, literally stunned into silence. . .
Perhaps our question isn't so much of what we are to do with the text, but rather, what this text will do with us!
How does God show God's self to you or speak to you? ...
I have not heard God's voice directly (i.e. audibly). But I have heard and do hear God's mediated voice. This hasn't occurred for me so much on mountains but more frequently in the "valleys" of my life.
God speaks to us regularly and in various ways. My guess is that this is because we need to frequently hear God. We need to regularly be rescued from losing our way – from being convinced that we are alone – that God doesn't or couldn't care - that death, violence, anger, hatred, fear are the great and lasting forces of life, of our lives. So, God keeps speaking to us in ways that are incredible, ever miraculous.
Rodney was just 3 years old the day that his pastor came to his door. At first the pastor didn't notice him because the pastor was self absorbed. A number of people in the congregation had been ill. He had just journeyed with a family through suffering and death. His own heart was shattered. That day the Pastor wasn't expecting to hear the mediated voice of God.
It was spring. Little Rodney had been playing in the garden plot had become a muddy morass. The snow had melted. The ice rink which for 5 months had covered the garden, now had disappeared. For that 3 year old boy who had escaped the caring gaze of his mother, the wonders of such mud were a heavenly delight. As the Pastor arrived, Rodney had migrated from the garden's mud to the house's doorstep. As the Pastor sprung out of the car up onto the step Rodney spoke. All that was visible of Rodney were his white teeth and the whites of his eyes. The rest of him was one wonderful, beautiful, nearly mystical muddy mass. Rodney's diction was less than perfect but he said unmistakably, "Pator, DO YOU KNOW THAT GOD MADE EVERYTHING? Do you know that!"
On that day, in what was a kairotic moment, and likely for the very first time, that Pator knew that God made everything! God had spoken, cutting through his self-absorption in that little boy! Do you know what I mean? Are you hearing God?
Years later that same Pastor was again self-absorbed. He was racing down a mountain road, high above a lake in yet another spring. He was driving TOO FAST, attempting to get to a hospital on time, after finishing a meeting in a neighboring city. On the downhill slope he passed three semi-trailer trucks. Attempting to navigate around a turn his Minivan began to spin out of control. Sliding towards the oncoming traffic and filled with panic he overcorrected and arched now towards a 3 foot high cement retaining wall. It was seemingly all that could prevent him from careening over the adjacent cliff 350 feet into the deep icy cold lake below. His van miraculously twirled around 3-5 times, not striking the wall, not hitting any of the approaching or following traffic. Not only that but when his van slowed enough so that he could control it, it was still heading in the right direction. Shakily he then much more slowly made his way to the hospital. Refusing to inform anyone of his potentially deadly foolishness, nor his miraculous delivery from certain multiple deaths or traumatic injuries he completed his scheduled visit. Upon leaving the hospital room another patient, one he had never met before motioned the pastor over to his bedside. At the patient's urging the pastor came closer and closer until they could feel each other's breath. Then that man spoke. The words were slow, deliberate, powerful, unmistakable. "Be careful reverend. The Lord can call his servants home at any time." The small hairs on the Pastor's back stood erect.
That might even be more stupid than foolish. What does matter is that we listen to what God is saying.
On this Transfiguration Sunday God is speaking to us! Just as Peter, James and John came to know that Jesus is God's own Son, so also can we. On the one hand this may see self evident to us in our distancing kind of way. But note what Jesus does. He takes those Peter, James and John and us down off that mountain. He calls all who will hear to follow him into all the stuff of life - the wonder, the beauty, the mystery, the ugliness, the pain, the suffering, the death, the horror.
Sometimes in the throes of life, we lose our way. We are terrified by the overwhelming stuff. But ---- and this is so important, we can know that we are not alone. God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit accompanies us. They speak. They send others into our orbit. They send us into other people's orbits, calling us to follow Jesus through thick and thin.
We must know. We don't understand so much of life or death, let alone God.
But we do know this - Jesus comes down from that mountain of Transfiguration. Jesus refuses to give up on Peter, James and John though they "got" very little if any of this Jesus until after they had completely abandoned him, until after he had suffered and died and been raised. In Him is our hope!
He doesn't give up on us either. Jesus is with us in our suffering and death, in the suffering and death of this world. Somehow even out of death He is working for new life, love.
Dear people, as we kneel, stand, totter, run or rest on the edge of Lent are we listening for God speaking to us through Jesus? Even now in the midst of all of life and death we are being called to follow Him, God's beloved Son. Following him, we too will sometimes suffer and in many ways die. But following Him we will also be led through pain, suffering and joy to new life. God does make everything and everyone including us. And someday God will call us home. For now, it's so good to listen to the Son. Amen.