Today, it is
the final Sunday of the Season of Epiphany – Lent begins this week on Ash
Wednesday. Annually it is our tradition that we remember Jesus’s
Transfiguration today. Listen to how
Mark records the event unfolding as we read the story of Jesus’ transfiguration
from Mark, chapter 9, verses two through nine:
Scripture: Mark
9:2-9
After six days Jesus took Peter, James and
John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone.
There he was transfigured before them.
His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than
anyone in the world could bleach them.
And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses,
who were talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us
to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for
Elijah.”
(He did not know what to say, they were so
frightened.)
Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice
came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer
saw anyone with them except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave
them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of
Man had risen from the dead.
They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what
“rising from the dead” meant.
And they asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law
say that Elijah must come first?”
Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come
first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of
Man must suffer much and be rejected?
But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have
done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”
Here
ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Message Compassionate
Community
Every winter, the story of the
Transfiguration is read and remembered. Despite our annual worship service
focused on this story, we still find it to be very weird. Even Biblical scholars and commentary writers
have trouble explaining what happened on the mountain that day.
For the writer of the book of Mark,
the Transfiguration was a turning point in Jesus’s ministry. Before this event,
Jesus’s ministry was preaching, teaching, healing, and proclaiming the
realm of God on earth as it is in heaven. After the transfiguration, Jesus
began the journey that led to his death on the cross. We hear this in the conversation Jesus had
with his followers after he was transfigured…Mark writes: “As they were coming
down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen
until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” The disciples then had a
conversation among themselves about what Jesus meant when he mentioned “rising
from the dead.” In the weeks and months leading up to Jesus’ death and
resurrection, Jesus told the disciples he was going to rise from the dead….but
the Disciples didn’t know what he meant.
They couldn’t hear and accept that Jesus would die….and they couldn’t
understand that after that death he would rise again.
Isn’t it interesting how sometimes,
even when we are explicitly told something, we have trouble understanding and
believing? If we have our minds made up that something will happen one way, and
everyone around us voices concerns and points out flaws in our plan, it is still
difficult for us to adjust and shift. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to experience
the failure of our idea or plan before
we accept our thinking was flawed.
The Disciples were believers. They
believed Jesus to be the Messiah. But, they had a lot of ideas about what that
meant that were not based on the reality of who Jesus was. They expected the
Messiah to lead them in overthrowing the Roman oppressors and to make Israel
into the preeminent country in the world – the Jewish people would rule over
all others.
Jesus didn’t come to earth to become a
king. Jesus didn’t come to earth to become a politician. Jesus didn’t come to
earth to be a general leading an army.
Jesus
came to change the world. Instead of winners and losers, rulers and
ruled, the playing field was neutralized. All people are invited to become part
of the family of God. All people are invited to
follow God, believe in the Good News, and be on the God-team. As Paul wrote to the Galatian church, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile,
neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all
one in Christ Jesus.” There is no longer Protestant or Catholic; American nor
Ukrainian nor Russian nor Palestinian nor Israeli; citizen nor immigrant; white
person or person of color; for we are all one in Christ Jesus.”
The Good News of the Transfiguration
event is that Jesus came to save us. All of us.
And, despite the disciples who witnessed the majesty and mystery of the
Transfiguration not really understanding what they saw on that day, and despite
them not understanding how the messiah would act and what the messiah would do,
Jesus came to save them, and Jesus came to save us. All of us. We all receive
new life in Jesus – Jesus came to save us, to give us new life, and to teach us
that we are all the children of God, all of us. As the children of our loving
God, we are called to work to make this world more and more the place God
created it to be – where we are working towards everyone hearing the Good News
of Jesus and everyone having access to life-giving resources. It is our work to
spread the Good News of Jesus to everyone and to share the blessings God has
bestowed on us with others.
Sometimes, we struggle to understand
things….even things that are happening right before our eyes. The disciples who
witnessed the Transfiguration maybe didn’t understand what they saw, or
understand what Jesus meant when he said he would rise again, but their lives
(and our lives) were and are immensely blessed by their relationship with Jesus
and their relationship with God. Let us work to share the Good News with
others, and work to help Jesus change the world.
Amen.
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