In the name of God ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Do you remember the first time you looked through a microscope? You put something, like a butterfly wing or a flower petal, onto a slide, adjusted the light, and then peered through the lens and a whole new world was opened to you. What you saw was something that is normally hidden from us, but undergirds everything about our world. And though it’s the opposite scale, the first time you looked through a telescope lens you could see things that are much bigger than ourselves. I remember the spine-tingling sense of wonder that I was overcome with when I looked through a telescope and saw the awe-inducing rings of Saturn. Whether it’s a microscope or a telescope, these tools reveal to us beauty, wonder, and truths of which we are typically unaware. The event known as the Transfiguration, which we heard about in Mark this morning, is a Biblical story that is equivalent to looking through a microscope to see the deepest truths of our world and a telescope to be overwhelmed by the glory of it all.
About a month ago, on January 6, we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany and on these Sundays following the Epiphany, we have been seeing how this love of God made flesh is manifest in Jesus. On the last Sunday after the Epiphany, every year, we read a gospel account of the Transfiguration because it provides a bookend to understanding who Jesus is. He appears on the mountaintop with Moses and Elijah, signs of the Law and the Prophets of Israel. His appearance is transfigured in resplendent light, showing us the glory of his divinity.
A question that always comes up when we read the Bible is “what is this passage about?” Too often, we make the Bible a story about us instead of letting it be a story about God. It’s been drilled into us by our capitalistic society and the “Protestant work-ethic” that faith is about what we do. But that way of viewing Scripture is an aberration. The transformation and salvation of this world do not come from our actions, but rather from God’s.
Certainly, the Biblical narratives do compel us to respond, but that response is just that – a response to God’s grace. We do not respond to Jesus in order to earn anything, because grace has already been given. We do not respond to Jesus because it is mandated, but because through the grace of God, we are allowed to participate in the wonderful things that God is doing. One priest has said that Christianity should not lead us to ask “What do I have to do?” but rather should lead us to exclaim “Wow, look at what I get to do.” Today’s passage from Mark is one of those places where we read a Biblical story that is about the glory of God and turn it into our marching orders. But let’s instead, let’s keep our focus on God instead of ourselves.
I’ve heard many a sermon, I’ve even preached a few, that go something like this: “How wonderful that sight of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus must of have been. But we can’t live up on the mountaintop, we have to go down into the valleys of life and do God’s work.” There’s nothing inherently wrong with that sermon, but it skips over the glory of this story. Or maybe you’ve heard the sermon where we say “Poor Peter, he just never gets it. But if Peter missed the point and remained a disciple, then it means that you and I don’t need to beat ourselves up over not being perfect.” Again, that’s not a heretical sermon, but it focuses on the wrong place. It’s sort of like dining at 5-star restaurant and being captivated by the napkins instead of the food.
There is no reason for us to chastise Peter or to come away thinking that there is anything wrong with mountaintop experiences. Notice that neither Jesus nor the voice of the Father from heaven even hint at Peter being wrong in his suggestion that they should build three tabernacles for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. And you’ll remember, when Peter gets it wrong, Jesus isn’t shy about rebuking him by saying, “Get behind me, Satan.” Maybe Peter isn’t rebuked here because Peter isn’t actually wrong.
Peter says “It is good for us to be here.” And it is. It’s good to be in the presence of God. It is good to fix our eyes upon Jesus and be in his glory. I’ve noted in previous sermons on Mark that Mark uses the word “immediately” very often. But in this passage, there is no “immediately” to be found. When you are in the presence of God, there is no rush, there is no “next thing” to get to. Mark notes that Peter “did not know what to say.” Instead of reading that as Peter being nonsensical, it might actually be that none of us should know what to say when we are in God’s presence. When you’re face-to-face with the glory of God, there is nothing to say.
When Peter suggests that they make three dwellings, he may well not have known what else to say, but it doesn’t mean that he was wrong. Scholars tell us that Peter could have very well had in mind the booths that are made for the Jewish festival of Sukkot. There was a somewhat prevalent expectation in Jesus’ time that the Messiah would come during one of the great festivals of Judaism. Instead of seeing Peter as a clueless disciple, maybe he’s actually quite astute. He’s seeing Jesus alongside the symbols of God’s Law and Prophets, he’s seeing Jesus shining more brightly than the sun and he realizes – this is the Messiah.
The importance of worship, of acknowledging the glory of God, cannot be overstated. Worship reminds us that God is God and we are not. Like a microscope, it sheds light on things that would be easy to overlook. Like a telescope, it allows us to see wondrous things that are bigger than ourselves. It puts us into a rhythm of holy living. It teaches us to be generous, to be repentant, to be hopeful. It reminds us of God’s love for us. It unites us to one another and to God. It allows us to participate in God’s justice and peace. I’d go so far as to say that worship is the most important thing that any Christian can do because all other charity and faith flows out of it. Worship might even be the solution to the ills of our society because worship attunes us to the grace of God which is the source of all of our growth and healing. So this passage reminds us that it is good to slow down and worship God.
But what we worship is so vitally important. You can worship an idol and it’s not going to get you anywhere that you want to end up. The voice of God in the passage says “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Now that might seem like an odd thing for God to say in this passage, especially because Jesus hasn’t said anything. The larger context of Mark though is important. Three times in chapters 8-10 of Mark, Jesus predicts his impending death. At the point of the Transfiguration, we’ve had the first prediction already happen. Jesus says “Take up your cross,” Peter rebukes him, and then Jesus rebukes Peter. After this epiphany on the mountaintop, Jesus again predicts his Passion and Mark records that the disciples are afraid to ask further about it. Then in chapter 10, Jesus says he will be condemned, mocked, and killed and James and John ask about sitting at his right hand.
What is clear through these Passion predictions is that the disciples aren’t understanding it. But then again, how could they? No one would have understood the Crucifixion and Resurrection on the previous side of those events. That’s the whole point of the Passion – it doesn’t follow the rules or expectations. It’s not about berating the disciples, but acknowledging how deeply startling and bewildering a Crucified Messiah would be. And so the voice of God says “Listen to him!” in reference to Jesus’ Passion.
Of course, there is a huge difference between hearing and listening. Whether it’s a spouse, boss, or parent, we’ve all been a part of this conversation – “Did you hear me?” “Yes.” “Well, were you listening?” I write my sermons on Wednesday mornings and then practice them on Fridays and Saturdays at home. So in that sense, my dogs have heard a lot of sermons, but they haven’t listened to a single one. The disciples were taking in the soundwaves, but they weren’t processing them. Again, it’s not that the disciples are any different than us. When we receive news that is bad or doesn’t comport with our ideas of the world, we dismiss or ignore that information.
There they are, on this mountaintop having a mountaintop experience. It’s an experience full of glory and the themes of suffering and Crucifixion just doesn’t seem to work with the Transfiguration. The Cross and the Resurrection, though, go together. Glory is accompanied by suffering. This doesn’t mean that we should pursue suffering for its own sake or end up with martyr complexes. But it does mean that the Messiah will not enter into glory before he is Crucified. And so we, like the disciples, need to be told “Listen to him!” We’d never have expected Good Friday, and we’d never get to Easter if we don’t realize that suffering and glory are both a part of Jesus’ story. So, again, worship is so important so that we not only hear, but might be better able to listen for this unexpected grace of God.
On Wednesday, we will enter into Lent, that season of the Church year that takes us from the mountaintop of the Transfiguration to the mountaintop of Golgotha and Crucifixion. The Cross is the ultimate symbol of our faith, because we understand that not only was it used to put the Lord of Life to death, but it also became his throne of love. Certainly, we’ve all heard this message before. But as we enter into Lent, may we work to listen to this message, to go into the depths of human sin, repenting of the evil that we are enslaved to. This transfiguring event shows us that the agony which we will see on Good Friday is the glory of Jesus, who is the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets. Epiphany has been a time of paying attention to how God is manifest in Jesus. Lent will be the time for us to look through the lens and see the glory and suffering of Jesus as the Messiah, so that we will be ready to shout all the more on Easter morning, Alleluia.
