In the name of God ☩
who is love. Amen.
We
do like to focus on those big moments, don’t we? You might not watch much
football, but you tune into the Super Bowl. You try to ignore politics, but the
State of the Union catches your attention. You don’t always make it to church,
but you’re sure to be here on Easter Sunday. It’s the mountaintop experiences
that grab us and make us pay attention. The Transfiguration of Jesus, which we
heard about in Luke this morning, is certainly one of those experiences. And
while mountain top experiences can be amazing and insightful, every single
mountaintop has a base, a foundation that the entire experience sits upon. While
the pinnacle is certainly wonderful, this
morning, I want to focus on that foundation of the Transfiguration.
As you all know, it’s
been a while since I’ve been in this pulpit – over a month. We were treated to
three sermons by Bishop Gregg and one by Bishop Sauls. I never planned to take a
month off of preaching – I had planned to take two weeks out of the pulpit to
focus on writing my doctoral thesis. But then the calendar worked out in such a
way that we had Foundation Sunday and Confirmation both scheduled in the same
month. The time out of the pulpit has given me a chance to really reflect on
what it is that I want to say this morning in conversation with the readings.
There’s a book group that
I am a part of in town and the book we’re reading right now is about the
relevance of theology to our daily lives. In the introduction, the author
comments that so often the things that the Church says are said in such a way
that there just isn’t any resonance with our lives. Sometimes sermons do the
same thing. On some Monday mornings, I’ll be thinking about the sermon I
preached the day before and wonder why I didn’t more simply and concretely say what
it was that I was hoping to convey. It’s an experience we’ve all had – after giving
a lecture, or teaching a seminar, or having an important conversation, we wish
that we would have focused on really what matters.
After a month out of the
pulpit, what I really long to tell you this morning are two things that really
matter. These two things are at the foundation of our faith and while we see
them in the Transfiguration of Jesus, they actually run all the way down the
mountain to the bedrock of our faith. The first is that we do not need to be
afraid and the second is that we need to focus on Jesus because in him we see
the love of God.
First, fear: as Peter,
James, and John are with Jesus on the mountaintop, Jesus’ appearance is changed
as he becomes dazzling white. And then two figures appear in conversation with
him: Moses and Elijah. Moses was dead and Elijah had been assumed into heaven,
so just seeing these two people in front of them would have been a shock. But
Moses and Elijah are a big deal. Moses was the great leader of the Jewish
people through whom God gave the Torah to the people. And Elijah was a prophet
who was mighty in word and deed. It would be like George Washington and Abraham
Lincoln showing up in the Oval Office or like Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle
showing up in the Yankees’ locker room. And Luke records that they were talking
about Jesus’ departure, which is the Greek word exodus. So it’s not that they were having a conversation about the
weather, but about the very salvation of God that was about to be accomplished.
It was a moment where the full glory of God was seen shining in Jesus and Luke
records that “they were terrified.”
Peter’s response to this
terror was to speak when he was “not knowing what he said.” Fear often does
that to us, doesn’t it? Fear makes us do things that don’t make much sense.
Fear though isn’t a thought, it’s an emotional response. We are never fearful
for no reason, there’s always something that causes the fear and that something is scarcity. We are afraid when we
perceive that there is a shortage or a lack of something. Sometimes it’s a fear
that we won’t be safe enough, or a fear that
we won’t live long enough, or that we don’t have enough of a reputation, or
money, or protection, or job security. Fear is always rooted in scarcity.
About a week ago, I
attended a two-day training with the Racial Equity Institute. It was a phenomenal
workshop that focuses not so much on how to deal with racism, but rather seeks to understand how and why racism has come
to be such a scourge on our society. After seeing a whiteboard filled with
dates and figures that told the story of race in America, the thing that jumped
out at me was that it is all a story of fear rooted in scarcity. And the more I’ve
thought about that over the past week, the more I see scarcity and the associated
fear at the root of the evils we experience. The things that are broken in our
political system are all because we are afraid. The things that are broken in
our city are rooted in fear. The things that are
broken in our own personal lives all about fear.
Fear enslaves us and
prevents us from loving God, our neighbors, and ourselves. Fear closes off
opportunities. Fear makes us hoard, and lie, and cheat. Fear makes us have our
defenses up instead of our arms and minds open. Fear makes us believe in the
lie of scarcity, when in reality we have
abundance. It’s no wonder, then, that one of the refrains throughout the Bible
is “do not be afraid.” That is the first thing that I really want to say this
morning – do not be afraid.
But that’s little more
than advice; and honestly, it’s advice that’s easy to say, but harder to heed.
Saying “do not be afraid” in the midst of a culture and economy that is built
upon fear rooted in scarcity is sort of like telling someone with dementia to
stop having dementia. It’s just not in our power to stop being afraid. So more
than telling you not to be afraid, I want to reframe this first message as “you
have no reason to be afraid.”
And we can say that there
is no reason to be afraid because, very often, when we encounter the phrase “do
not be afraid” in the Bible, there is a second half to the sentence which is “for
I am with you.” At the Transfiguration, the voice from heaven proclaims “This
is my son, my chosen; listen to him!” and we read that the cloud enveloped
them. My brother and sisters, this is the truest thing that can be said: we are
enveloped by God’s abundant grace, peace, and love, and so we really have no
reason to be afraid.
The reason why the
Transfiguration is such an important event is that the veil of our unknowing is
lifted and see what God is really like, and what we see is Jesus. Because if
God is like Jesus then even if it all is not easy, or comfortable, or as we
would like it to be, all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.
The Transfiguration is not only a fulcrum for us as we are about the begin the
season of Lent, a season which culminates on another mountaintop where the glory
of God is fully seen on Good Friday, it’s also the turning point in Jesus’ life
and ministry. After this event, Jesus heads towards Jerusalem on a collision course
with the powers that be.
And so we are told, “listen
to him.” Ordinarily, we’d reject a crucified criminal as the bearer of any good
news. But on the Cross, we see in Jesus the steadfast love of God. And so we have
to be told “listen to him,” “pay attention to him.” And when we fix our gaze on
Jesus, we come face to face with all that truly matters.
I was having a
conversation with someone recently about faith, about what’s really at the
foundation of faith, about what it means to believe in God. What I said was
that faith isn’t about what you think or even what you do. Christianity
probably should affect what you think and do, but it isn’t primarily about
those things. Instead, faith is about trust. Faith is about trusting that love
is the most real thing in the world. And faith is about trusting that this love
is your source; you come from love and you exist not as a random accident of
science, but rather you are because you are loved. But not only is faith about
trusting that you are lovingly created, but it’s also about trusting that this
love out of which you came is also your purpose and destination.
Now, it’s one thing to
believe that love is the source and the end of all things in an abstract sort
of way. But our Christian faith tells us to focus on Jesus because in Jesus we
see that love is not a concept, love is not an idea, love is not a philosophical
approach. You are not loved in an abstract sort of way. The love which ungirds
all things is personal. God loves you, the unique and wonderful and flawed you.
This is what it means to have a personal relationship with God – to know that
you are individually loved by the source and the end of all things.
Michael Gerson, who was
one of George W. Bush’s chief speechwriters, preached at the National Cathedral
two Sundays ago. Instead of paraphrasing what he said, I’m just going to quote
it because it’s so good – “At the end of all our striving and longing we find, not a force, but a face. All
language about God is metaphorical. But the metaphor became flesh and dwelt
among us.”
This is the foundation
upon which the Transfiguration is built – that love is not an emotion, it is
not a force, but instead, love is God because God is love. And so at the root
of our deepest desires, in those moments of our darkest fears, what we find is
love. Gerson continued in his sermon, “Many pray for a strength they do not
possess. But God’s promise is somewhat different: that even when strength
fails, there is perseverance. And even when perseverance fails, there is hope.
And even when hope fails, there is love. And love never fails.” That’s
the second thing that I want to say this morning – that love never fails. Love
never fails because God is love and that means there is no shortage of love,
there are no restrictions on love, there are no requirements on love. And that’s
why in 1 John we read, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out
fear.”
How gracious of God to
respond to our fear of scarcity with a love that is limitless! This is why we
have no reason to be afraid, because God is love and God personally, fully, and
without reservation loves you. That’s what our faith is all about, trusting
that you are loved by nothing less than the
Alpha and the Omega. And not only are you
loved this way, but God loves your neighbor with that very same love.
And God loves your enemy with that very same love. And so the way we relate to
our ourselves, our neighbors, and our enemies is
transfigured by this shining love of God.
At
the foundation of our lives and our world is fear, the fear that there isn’t
enough. And out of that fear, we do and think many evil and unfortunate things.
But also at the foundation of our lives and our faith is the truth that the God
of love that was manifest in Jesus is the God who creates, redeems, sustains,
and perfects all things in love, including you and me. And so we do not need to
be afraid because love never fails.
Today and this coming
week, I encourage you to sit with that. Repeat to yourself “I do not need to be afraid, because I am loved.” You might let
praise, and thanksgiving, and service flow through you in response to this
love. You might want to talk with me about ways to go deeper into the awareness
of God’s love. I hope that each of you basks
in God’s abundant love for you.
One day, we shall all be
at that mountaintop, face to face with God and we will come to know fully just
how much we are loved. But even now, that mountaintop rests on the foundation
of God’s love for us all, and so we have no reason to be afraid.
