Feast of the Transfiguration
Last Tuesday evening, a few of us were gathered at
the lakefront for Lectionary at the Lakefront. Nothing unusual – it happens
every Tuesday: just a handful of people meeting to read the Gospel lesson for
the coming Sunday and to discuss the ways in which it speaks to us and to our
lives. And so this last Tuesday, a
member of our group was reading this passage from Luke’s gospel and just as
they read the verse that says, “And while he was praying, the appearance of his
face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white” – just as they finished
uttering that sentence, I heard people cheering and clapping and I looked
toward the sound to see a man riding a unicycle and juggling.[1] But cheering and clapping seems to be exactly
the kind of response that the transfiguration of Jesus should elicit, right? I
mean it’s like the best kind of magic trick there is. The only thing better might have been if he
had disappeared before their very eyes – but then, that’s the Ascension and a
topic for another day. So he doesn’t
disappear. Instead, his appearance changes and though Peter and John and James
didn’t break out into applause it is clear that at least one of them – Peter –
was duly impressed. Peter recognized
that this was something big, something different, something amazing. And so he pulled out his cell phone, took
some photos and was just about to post them on Instagram – he briefly thought
about using Snapchat but he wanted to create a memory that would really last. But just before he tapped the “share” button
on his phone, a voice from the cloud interrupted him to say, “This is my Son,
my Chosen; listen to him!”[2]
For those of you not quite up to speed on this technology, I’ll go back a few centuries: Peter saw this amazing sight and 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.”[3]
I don’t know about you, but I have a knack for missing
the forest for the trees – for seeing or hearing something, sometimes in great
detail, but still missing the point of what it is I am seeing or hearing. The Biblical witness tells us that the
disciples were like that too – even Peter upon whose rock the church would
ultimately be built frequently missed the point. Jesus has pulled aside just three of his
disciples – Peter, John and James – and invited them to join him on the
mountain to pray. I like to think that
Jesus knew exactly what it is that they would see and that this is precisely
why they were invited. And while it is
clear from Peter’s comments that at least he – if not all three of the
witnesses – didn’t understand what he was seeing and simply wanted to
commemorate it with a monument – an historical marker you might see along the
road on a summer vacation, what is also clear is that the moment is as life
changing for Peter as it is physically transformative for Jesus. Because what begins as an offer to build
monuments, ends with a decision to keep silent and to tell no one of what they
had seen.[4]
I imagine if Peter, John and James had shared their
witness with the other disciples later the same day or early the next, it would
have been met with much the same response as I heard coming from the eye
witnesses to the unicycle-riding juggler at the lakefront – oohs and aahs and
much applause for yet another amazing feat. They all would have focused on the
event and missed the meaning, they would have missed the forest for the
trees. For this event – the Transfiguration
of Jesus – like all of the events of Jesus’ life – the healings, the teachings,
the miracles – find their fullness of meaning in death and resurrection of
Jesus. Peter, John and James received a
clue from that voice from the cloud declaring, “This is my Son, my Chosen;
listen to him” but they needed yet to witness the rest of the story in order to
more fully understand its meaning.
Most biblical scholars agree that the author of the
Gospel of Luke is the same as the author of the Acts of the Apostles. And while Luke’s gospel ends and the
beginning of the Acts of the Apostles begins with the post-resurrection
ascension of Jesus, the book then continues with the story of what the disciples and early
apostles did after that. Specifically,
in the 2nd chapter of Acts, we have recorded what is perhaps the
first sermon of Peter:
“Listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you
by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among
you, as you yourselves know – this man, handed over to you according to the
definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands
of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because
it was impossible for him to be held in its power. . . he both died and was
buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. . . This Jesus God raised up, and
of that all of us are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of
God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has
poured out this that you both see and hear. . . Therefore let the entire house
of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah.”[5]
This same
Peter – awestruck at the sight of the Transfiguration, ready to build a
monument – now, in the days after the death, resurrection and ascension of
Jesus, sees the forest for the trees.
This same Peter ready to post photos on Facebook of Jesus in his
dazzling white robes now proclaims the Gospel and demands his listeners “Repent
and be baptized . . . so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit.”[6]
As
Jesus was physically transformed on the mountain with Peter, John and James as
his witness; so too each of us is transformed through the waters of baptism,
transformed into God’s chosen, God’s beloved.
Will we only take photos to memorialize that moment of transformation in
our lives or will we live fully into the promises we made when we entered the
waters of baptism to come fully alive “in the power of [Christ’s] resurrection”
– “confessing the faith of Christ crucified, proclaiming his resurrection, and
sharing” in “his eternal priesthood” through our words and our actions?[7]
I
am blessed to serve as your pastor, to serve alongside a people who through
your daily work demonstrate again and again your decision to live fully in the
power of Christ’s resurrection through your service to St. Mark’s as a part of
the team that makes worship happen – lectors, ushers, altar guild, choir
members – or as a volunteer in the office or through service on the vestry or
teaching our young people. You
demonstrate again and again your decision for being fully alive in the power of
Christ’s resurrection through your service to the community by raising more
than $1000 to ensure that Evanston school children go back to school equipped
with the supplies they need to succeed, by feeding our hungry neighbors, by hosting
the homeless in our parish house by your engagement with other agencies
throughout this city and beyond. It is a blessing to serve alongside a people
who are fully alive in Christ’s resurrection, a people who – more days than not
– have the vision to see the forest and the
trees.
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