Last Epiphany, 2005

An old fellow from down home, along with his wife, had to make their first trip to Roanoke to visit a relative who was hospitalized at Roanoke Memorial.  They stood in front of the bank of elevators and watched as a rather large and beyond middle-age woman got on an elevator.  The doors closed and they watched as the flashing lights went from 1 to 10 and then started back down.  The old fellow reacted with astonishment as the doors opened and a slender and beautiful young woman emerged.  The old man grabbed his wife by the arm and said, “Go on, Ma, get in that thing.  I’ll be standing right here when you come back down!”

She may well have wished to put him on first.  I suppose we all have our dreams of transfigurations.

Peter, James, and John may have had their dreams of transfiguration as well.  The light that had been manifested in a brilliant new guiding star stands before them on a mountain and is made even more dazzling.  Starlight had been transfigured into blazing stardust before their very eyes and they were almost blinded by it.  We would have been, too.

On this final Sunday of the Epiphany season, also called the Sunday of the Transfiguration, folk are offered the opportunity to see life in a new way, to better understand what life is about, and to respond to life’s challenges in from a transfigured point of view.

The Transfiguration allows us to see life through a telescope.  We are enabled to see life from long range in such a way that the present becomes more meaningful in the light of the future.  Peter, James, and John, indeed all the disciples then and now, sometimes find themselves bound by life’s difficulties.  The perplexing reality of the Master’s announcement of his impending suffering and death placed blinders over the eyes of his followers.  That present problem overwhelmed them until this brief glimpse of future triumph and glory.  Peter reacted in characteristic fashion to this mountaintop experience.  “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  Peter wanted to institutionalize the moment.  It was and is a natural reaction.  Staying on the mountaintop, with ready access to the law, the prophets, and bathing in transfigured glory is a tempting place to want to stay.  Of course, that would mean little need would exist for faith and trust and any involvement in the world could be minimized.  Peter forgot, as we so often do, that his teacher, the one he called Lord, spent much of his time tearing down monuments and idols, and reminding his followers to sit easy in the institutional saddle.

As they gazed upon this marvelous, nearly blinding, event a strange thing happened.  Peter, James, and John looked up and saw Jesus standing alone.  The authoritative voice pierced the silence and went straight to the heart.  “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” 

Now remember that just prior to this Jesus had said, “If anyone would come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever would save their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for my sake and the sake of the Gospel will save it.”  Life in a fallen world calls for risky, loving service that is always vulnerable to crucifixion and yet that is God’s way to redemption and final victory.  Peter wanted to build a monument to house a single event.  The Transfiguration is meant to be the means by which all other events are seen.  The reality of transfigured living raises our gaze and would have us look at beautiful things.  I’ve shared with you before that little ditty that might be the theme song of this technological age:  “If your nose is close to the grindstone rough, and you leave it down there long enough, in time you’ll say there’s no such thing as brooks that babble or birds that sing.  These three will your world compose; just you, the stone, and your old nose.”  Raise your eyes and see the beauty in serving in Christ’s name.

The Transfiguration is also like stethoscope that enables us to listen to the inner pulse of life and to know how vital it is to us.  Our contemporary culture teaches, amid the noise and clamor, to have ones ears attuned only to the surface sounds.  Silence is to be avoided at all cost; so we pipe in music everywhere we can.  We even have music on the telephone when we’re placed on hold.  I suppose that’s to keep us from thinking about switching providers!  Without the Transfiguration selfish living carries the day and people become objects and life becomes depersonalized.  That can never be the case for the Christian person who is, after all, a believer in the One who loved humanity so much that incarnating that reality would be the primary means for showing how much the world is loved.

God said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”  It is as we practice the art of spiritually listening to him that we hear the inner pulse of life that is healthy and true.

Finally, the Transfiguration is like a gyroscope that enables us to have stability and calmness to our lives.  Large machines that defy gravity were equipped with gyroscopes that would prevent too much shaking from turbulence and would counteract the forces of gravity.  With a gyroscope these huge planes and ocean-going vessel moved with poise and stability toward their destinations.

We will not make it through life without our share of upsetting events and experiences that tend to throw us off course and put us out of balance.  Personal problems worry and nag us.  Massive world tragedies and madness leave us shaking our heads.  Attempting to respond to tsunamis that kill hundreds of thousands or terrorists who bomb buildings with passenger planes may leave us feeling impotent and lost.  Uncontrollable events closer to home very often make “Be prepared,” and “Semper fi” hollow sounding phrases.  It is during those times that we are called to remember that God in and through Jesus the Christ has equipped us with something like a gyroscope that provides guidance and stability and sure direction.  We may find that in scripture, but we have to look up and see Jesus alone.

As Peter, James, and John lay face down out of fear from being in the presence of the living God, Jesus does the most characteristic thing about his whole life and ministry.  He reaches down and touches them and says, “Get up and do not be afraid.”

When we are face down, for whatever reason, Jesus does the same thing for us.  He reaches down with the Word and Sacraments and his spiritual presence and says, “Get up and do not be afraid.”

The road from the mountaintop to the valley is not the heavily traveled one but it is the one used by the Lord of this life and the life that is to come. This week we will be invited again to travel with him through the Lenten season, to Palm Sunday, to Holy Week, to Maundy Thursday, to Good Friday, to Easter.  If we take him up on the invitation we will embark on a journey that will make all the difference to us personally and to the world in which we live.  Starlight will become stardust in us and Transfiguration will be amazing.  Amen.