Transfiguration

February 20, 2003
Expository Preaching: Yale Divinity School
The Transfiguration: Mark 9


Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

I have lived in Boston, Rhode Island, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, and New Haven. I have done a fair amount of moving. Moving can often be an extraordinary event. In many ways it can be a life-changing event. When we move we leave behind our old homes, many of our friends, and most importantly we leave behind many of the things that make us comfortable. When I have moved, I only feel comfortable again when I have spent a fair amount of time arranging everything just as it should be (or sometimes as it used to be). In this sense, moving can be a great adventure. It can be scary and it can be hard, so we do as much as we can to make it easier. In the past four years alone I have moved four times. I am very familiar with boxes. The last time I moved from Ansonia to New Haven, I had the entire thing down to a system. I boxed everything up and enlisted the help of three friends, one jeep, one minivan, and my station wagon. Everything was about as organized as it could be. I boxed up everything and labeled all of the boxes and it really made my life much easier because I was in control.

Today’s Gospel passage speaks of a very different type of extraordinary event. Surely the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ on the mountain is one of the more amazing scenes in the entire Bible. In a short passage we learn that Jesus took with him only three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John up to a high mountain. There he was transfigured or transformed before them. We are told that the clothes that Jesus was wearing became whiter than any bleach can make them. We are also told that Jesus talked with Elijah and with Moses, the two most important intermediaries with God in the entire Old Testament. After this, Peter suggested making three booths or tents so that they could remain there. The evangelist tells us that Peter suggested this because all of the disciples present were terrified. Finally we are told that a cloud formed over them and a voice came out of the cloud and said: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” And then, as quickly as it had all begun, it was over and Peter, James, and John were again alone with Jesus on the mountain. As the scene ends with the four of them returning to the others Jesus tells them to tell no one what they had seen until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Peter, James, and John probably felt honored to be taken apart from the group and brought up the mountain. They had already witnessed many amazing things that Jesus had done. They had heard him say many amazing things. In fact, Peter only a few verses before this scene had made his own confession that Jesus was “the Christ”. However, this feeling of honor rapidly turned into terror. The Christ that Peter had confessed had turned out to be a little more real than the apostles bargained for. A trip up the mountain had turned into an event of such extraordinary nature that it had really put a scare into all of them. They must have all wondered who Jesus really was, because at this point he is surely more than a teacher or even anything that they might think a messiah might be.

The transfiguration of our Lord is a preview of what is to come. Up until that point in the Gospel, Jesus has only hinted at who he is. In fact, just as he does when he returns with the disciples from the mountain, he adamantly tells people not to reveal who he his. When Jesus is transfigured on the mountain he is seen for the first time in some form of heavenly glory. He is seen with the two most important figures in Israel’s history. For the disciples who were there, the revealing of the truth must have been awesome. Not only awesome in the sense that it was a really wonderful thing, but also in the sense this is was a very terrifying thing. Peter, James, and John had literally just witnessed God on earth. Whether or not they knew that at the time is doubtful, but one thing is fore sure. The event they were witnessing was stranger than anything they had seen and it was something that was completely out of their control.

When Peter suggested that maybe they should build some tents or booths for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses, he trying to in some way organize what he was seeing. Just like when we move we try to organize everything so that we are more in control, Peter was trying to organize what he saw so he could feel a little more in control. He was in effect trying to build three boxes. One labeled “Moses”, one labeled “Elijah” and finally a box labeled “Jesus”.

Peter’s response to this exciting and scary revelation was to try his best to bring some order to the situation. He proposed three shelters for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Exactly what order he would have brought about by building shelters is kind of hard to imagine, but in the end it didn’t matter. Peter wanted to organize in a human way and make more permanent a scene that could not be organized in a human way. Even though he had confessed that Jesus was the Christ, he was not yet able to fully grasp what that meant. He didn’t understand yet that Jesus was God on earth. In his attempt build three shelters he was trying to organize and contain the situation. To put it bluntly, Peter was trying to put God into a box. Not only that, but Peter was trying to put God into a box that was equal to the boxes he wanted to put Moses and Elijah into.

This is not anything that Peter alone is guilty of. In our own ways we try to put God into our own little boxes. Every week we divide up our time, we divide up what we devote ourselves to, and very often God gets only a small piece of the action. Along with the rest of the boxes in our lives, God is put into a box. God is reserved for Sunday. The rest of the week is my time. Or maybe God only gets Sunday morning. Football or ice-skating takes up the rest of Sunday. The week is for work, family, and maybe Joe Millionaire or the West Wing on TV. By treating our own lives like this, we are doing exactly what Peter has suggested. We are trying to organize God to fit our own realities.

Yet we, like Peter, must sometimes stop for a moment, stop trying to fit God into our lives in a way that works for us. We must listen to God. What is God saying? God is saying the same thing he said to Peter and the others on the mountain: “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.” Listen to him. Listen to Jesus. The voice from heaven didn’t say listen to him only when and in whatever way is most convenient or best for you. Listen to him, don’t put him in a shelter because God is easier to deal with that way. Don’t try to box up God so that you can put him in the closet and open him up at your own convenience. To do that is to put God on a human level. God is everywhere, God knows everything, and God can do anything. To try to negotiate with God or to control God is impossible, and to think that one can do it at all is to misunderstand God.

As Christians we are called every day, every hour, to listen to God. This week take a few moments out of your day to pray or give thanks to God. God does not wait here at the church for us to come to him on Sundays, he is present with us every day. God is present in our lives all the time. Let us pray.

Lord God, we have experienced your love through the gift of your Son our Lord, Jesus Christ. Send us out into the world with confidence that you are with us every hour of every day. Bless us this day and every day as we give thinks to you for your wonderful creation. Help us to listen to you. We ask this through your son our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Equal before God

Epiphany 6, Year B, 2003
2 Kings 5:1-15 – Healing of Naaman
(Mark 1:40-45)

Sermon Preached by Matthew Mead
Saint James Church, Fair Haven, Connecticut
February 16, 2003

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.

My great-grandfather loved to sing hymns in church and he loved to sing loudly. The only problem was that he was a terrible singer; he couldn’t hold a note to save his life. One time when he was asked why he sang so loudly, even though he was not a good singer, he replied that he loved to sing hymns because he loved to praise God. “After all”, he said, “God doesn’t care how I sing, He loves my singing just as much as he loves when someone sings really well.” His point was that God’s love for us all is the same, whether we are good singers or bad singers, whether we are the “haves” or the “have-nots” of the world. God loves us all equally.

What do today’s readings from Scripture tell us about our own worth to God? There were two readings today that speak to us about our own worth to God. If we turn to the second book of Kings, chapter 5, we can take a look at the first. This is the story of Elisha the prophet and Naaman the commander of the army of the land of Aram. Naaman was a very important and powerful man but he had a problem. He had leprosy, a serious skin disease that would have been very hard for him to deal with.

One day, Naaman heard that there was a prophet in Israel who might be able to heal him. So, he went down to Israel and was directed to Elisha, the prophet. Naaman came with ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing, not to mention his entire entourage of horses and chariots over to Elisha’s house.

When I lived in New York City the President would come to town every now and again. For ten blocks in every direction the roads were closed. I was in my car once and I had to wait at 66th street for fifteen minutes while the President drove by. Whatever I was doing, wherever I was going, whomever I was going to see could wait because someone very important – more important than anyone else in New York that day – was driving by and had to get where he was going.

This was about the same treatment that Naaman was used to getting. He expected a big deal to be made out of his arrival in the town where Elisha lived. But Elisha didn’t make a big deal out of his arrival. In fact, Elisha didn’t even bother to go out to speak to Naaman himself; he sent a servant with a simple message: “go and wash in the Jordan River seven times, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed”.

It isn’t surprising that at this point Naaman got angry. What good was it for him to come all the way down to Israel with lots of money and people if he couldn’t even get some respect and a good old fashion miracle from the prophet? Luckily, one of his servants told Naaman: “if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?” So Naaman gave the suggestion a chance, went down to the river and washed seven times and was healed. He then returned to Elisha and said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.” His pride nearly got the best of him but in the end he was shown the mercy and grace of God because he sought out God. Neither Elisha nor God was impressed with Naaman’s display of importance. His money didn’t do him any good. His entourage didn’t earn him the type of healing that he had hoped for. He was made to humble himself and lose his pride; only then was he healed.

Now, Naaman was rich and he got healed despite his money. But he wasn’t the only leper who was healed that we heard about today. If we turn to today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, we read of another leper. This leper was an unnamed man who had no money to give and no large entourage. He was a man who had nothing, and on top of having nothing he had leprosy. For Naaman leprosy was an inconvenience, for this man, it was a life sentence as an outcast. The difference between the two men is remarkable. Naaman had everything and he expected healing, his way or not at all. Naaman even brought lots of money to pay for his cure. The unnamed leper in the Gospel had nothing and so brought nothing to Jesus. He could offer nothing at all so he got on his knees and begged Jesus.

We are given the examples of two people who are at different ends of the spectrum. One is wealthy beyond all imagination. The other has nothing at all except a debilitating disease. Yet even with all of their differences they both sought out God and experienced God’s love and mercy.

We are all of equal worth, in fact infinite worth to God. As Christians we know that we are all worth the same to God. We know this because it was for us that God gave his only Son to die on the cross. Jesus died for everyone, from the famous general to the unnamed leper. Today’s Bible readings give us two examples of people who received the mercy of God. Let these readings today give you new confidence in your own faith. God’s mercy and grace are available to everyone. Pray to him with faith. Draw near to him with bold expectation. And know that God is with you.