Have you ever had an experience in which you saw or learned something that forever changed your experience of that thing? For me, an example is the hymn “It is well with my soul.” To be honest, I used to think it was sappy and naïve. But then I learned about the history of the hymn’s text. The author, Horatio Spafford, wrote it after his four daughters died when their ship sank crossing the ocean in 1873. He took the next ship over to Europe and when they were a few days into the journey, the captain told him that they were at the spot where the other ship had sunk. According to one of his daughters who was born after this tragedy, it was at this moment that he came up with those famous words – “When sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, it is well with my soul.” I used to hear that hymn and roll my eyes, now it’s a mixture of teary eyes and goosebumps. Because I saw the truth behind that hymn, it was transfigured.
Transfiguration
is the term used to describe what happened to Jesus on the mountaintop – he appears
with Moses and Elijah and shone with the brightness of the sun. Those there to
witness it saw not some sort of miracle, but rather a revelation. They saw
deeper into the reality of who Jesus is. This was not a transformation – Jesus did
not change, rather he was transfigured, he was seen more clearly and fully.
Transfigurations happen when we see something as it really is instead of having
blinders on.
Another
transfiguring experience for a lot of people is attending a race equity
workshop. St. Luke’s is well represented on the board for Racial Equity Rowan –
Jim Greene, Edward Norvell, and I are all members of that leadership team. The
next workshop is Thursday, March 23 and Friday, March 24 at Hood Seminary. If you’ve
never attended a workshop like this before, I highly encourage it because it truly
is a transfiguring experience – when we are presented with a deeper truth about
race and racism. It’s something like seeing how the puzzle pieces all connect
and I’m sure you all have had those sorts of transfiguring experiences where you
have encountered a truth that had been hidden from you. Jesus is the truth, so anytime
we encounter those truths, as difficult as they may be, as much as they might
call into question, they are holy experiences because when we find the truth,
in any form, we encounter Jesus.
The
Transfiguration of Jesus is a very important event in the Gospels because it is
one of those places where we are given a deeper view of who Jesus is. That’s
one reason why when it came to adding icons of Christ to our worship space, the
Transfiguration was an easy choice. That icon is located between stained glass
windows of Easter morning and the Ascension – both events in which the power
and majesty of Jesus are on full display. It’s also important to name the fact
that the women in the Easter window, which goes by the title “The Holy Myrrh
Bearers,” is problematic. The women in that window are portrayed with stereotypical
Jewish facial features. So having an icon that clearly highlights and
celebrates the Jewish foundations of our faith in Moses and Elijah was also an
important move for us as we pray to become a more beloved community.
That
icon, along with the narrative in Matthew, really does help us to see Jesus
more fully. For one, Jesus appears with Moses who was God’s chosen agent of
salvation. It was Moses who led the people of Israel out of the bondage of
slavery in Egypt and into the land of promise through the waters of the Red
Sea. Well, Jesus leads us out of the bondage of Sin and Death and into the
promise of eternal life through the waters of Baptism. Moses is the one to whom
God gave the Torah and the laws, and Jesus is the one who perfectly fulfills
the law on behalf of us who cannot keep the law on our own.
We
also see Elijah, a mighty prophet of God who both called people to return to
God and also spoke of the hope of God’s redemption of all things. This hope is
perfected in Jesus. You might notice that in our icon Elijah is holding a loaf
of bread. Though you can find a lot of icons of the Transfiguration, you
probably won’t find another one with that detail in it. That’s because I asked
the iconographer, Kelly Latimore, to add that in. The reference comes from 1
Kings 17 – it’s a story about how Elijah is sent by God to a widow’s house in a
time of drought and famine. He asks her for some bread when he arrives, but she
says “I have none, just a handful of flour and a few drops of olive oil.” She
comments that she was planning to make a final meal with those ingredients for
her and her son before they die of starvation. Elijah tells her to go and make
that small loaf and bring it to him, and then make whatever is left for herself
and her son.
Well,
this woman had tremendous faith and did as she was asked and that jar of flour
and jug of oil did not run out until the rains came and ended the drought. It’s
a story of abundant grace and the economy of God. It shows us the deeper truth
that no one becomes poor by giving. It reveals God to be one who cares about us
and ministers to us. And by placing a loaf of bread in Elijah’s hands at the Transfiguration,
it reveals to us that deepest truth that Jesus is the bread of life, that he is
the daily bread that sustains us.
And
then we have the disciples, all portrayed as they might have looked – as people
from the Middle East, not Europe. And their expressions are that of fear,
amazement, and wonder. This is why in the text from Matthew Jesus has to tell
them to “get up and do not be afraid.” There’s also a small detail in the
middle disciple – one of his sandals is flying off his foot. This is why religious
art is so powerful and important, it interprets and preaches the text just as
any sermon does. Because when we encounter the transfiguring truth of Jesus, we’re
going to lose our footing. Not only do we remove our shoes because we’re on
holy ground, but we are thrown off kilter and have to reevaluate everything else
in light of the truth of God which we have now seen. I wonder, given the mercy,
peace, and love of Jesus, what you might need to reconsider about yourself and
your neighbor?
The
central figure in the icon, in the narrative in Matthew, and in our faith is,
of course, Jesus. In our icon, he is depicted in radiant brightness, but
importantly, not whiteness. In our culture, we have come to associate white
with purity and black with dirtiness, and this is a way of thinking that we
need to get away from. Instead of Jesus being painted in white robes, they are
robes of silver leafing – intended to emit light and radiance just as Christ is
the light of the world and shines upon our path. CS Lewis once wrote, “I
believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I
see it, but because by it see everything else.” Well, that’s what the
transfigured Jesus does for us as well – allows us to more correctly see
ourselves and the world.
This
is why knowing Jesus is so important. The more see of Jesus, the more we see of
ourselves because Jesus is the perfection of humanity and the fulfillment of
God’s promises. In knowing Jesus, we come and see God’s call to each of us as
well. It is in knowing Jesus and seeing his mercy, his grace, his peace, his love
that we are able to imagine the possibility of those things in our lives. Being
drawn to the transfigured Jesus, we see the pattern and hope for humanity. And
so, in a very real sense, knowing Jesus is what enables us to be the parents,
neighbors, lovers, teachers, volunteers, and students that God calls us to be.
If we don’t know who Jesus is, neither do we truly know the depths of who we
are.
In
the Episcopal Church, today is Global Mission Sunday and at St. Luke’s it is
Foundation Sunday – a day on which we celebrate the fact that God has a mission
of making God’s love known as fully as the waters cover the sea. And the tool
that God is going to use to fulfill that mission is the Church. Fifty years
ago, the St. Luke’s Foundation was established and since then we have done our
best to let the light of Christ shine through us and into our community and
world. In the next fifty years, that remains our earnest prayer and hope – that
we continue to be messengers and vehicles of God’s glory to the world.
We
strive to be mirrors of this light, not producing the light ourselves, but
rather coming and seeing the gracious, loving, and transfiguring light of Jesus
and then reflecting that light into our schools, our community, our workplaces,
our homes. And, like any mirror, if we’re going to be faithful to this work, we
might need to make some changes. Sometimes a mirror gets a bit dirty and needs
to be cleaned up a bit. Sometimes a mirror gets misaligned and needs to be reoriented
toward the light. That is what the Foundation has been working on over the past
year – paying deeper attention to the call of Jesus and making sure that we are
set up to let that light shine in us. I am looking forward to celebrating the
Foundation further at today’s luncheon.
The
love of God is the grain of the universe, and when we are given blessed glimpses
of what is deepest and truest about our world and ourselves, we come and see
that love. It is our prayer that God helps us to experience that love flowing
in all things, and that when people see us, they also see the transfigured Christ
shining at our foundation.
