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Transfiguration B
Feb. 14, 2021
Mark 9:2-9
INTRODUCTION
Always on this last Sunday before the beginning of Lent we celebrate Transfiguration Sunday, one of the church’s high holy days (you can always tell it’s important when we use white paraments!). It is the culmination of the season of Epiphany, the season of light, and we celebrate by hearing the story of Jesus on a mountaintop, shining brighter than anything we’ve ever seen on earth. It is also a turning point: in Mark’s Gospel, this is halfway through, and where the first half of the Gospel has been really fast-paced, now things will slow way down as we walk down the mountain with the disciples to enter into the end of Jesus’ life and the story of his passion, which for Mark is the really important part.
You’ll likely notice in the story of the Transfiguration that we get a mysterious visit from a few folks out of history: appearing with and chatting with Jesus on the mountaintop are Moses (whom I assume you all know – the guy who led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and to the Promised Land, and who brought them the 10 Commandments), and Elijah, who may be less known to you. So, the Old Testament reading today will tell us a bit about him, specifically about his fiery departure from earth. Notice he doesn’t die – he just disappears. His return was said to be a sign that the Messiah was coming. And Ta-da! There he is on the mountain.
As you listen to these texts today, just let them wash over you. They are colorful and dramatic texts, so rather than analyze them, just visualize them, and imagine you were there watching it happen. Let’s listen.
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Last week in the wonderful Bible study our intern Lisa led on the Gospel of Mark, we learned that the Transfiguration is one of three important moments in Mark’s Gospel where the narrative gives us a glimpse of Jesus’ true identity, along with his baptism and his crucifixion. Through all the rest of Mark, Jesus is all hush-hush about who he really is, but in these three moments, there is some meaningful connection between heaven and earth that gives both us, the reader, and the original witnesses, a sense that Jesus is more than he seems. In other words: this is a really important moment! So as we explore it today, keep this in mind, that this moment is a central one for helping us to understand who Jesus is, and our faith in him.
The first thing to notice about this story is the surprise of where it happens: on a mountain. We’ve not heard anything about a mountain in Mark until now – Jesus has been doing all of his healings and ministry in the lowlands, in the valley. Then suddenly they are heading up a mountain. Faith is like that. The valley is certainly a simpler place to be. Though it lacks topographical interest, it is at least predictable. Learning to drive a stick shift is certainly easier in Nebraska or Florida, for example, than it was in my hometown in the Sierra Nevada foothills!
But now Jesus and some of his disciples are walking uphill. We all have experienced uphill battles, haven’t we? We’re experiencing a collective one right now, of course, a continuous uphill trudge for the past year. But even apart from that, an uphill battle may look like a challenging class in school, or a difficult colleague or family member who can’t ever seem to understand your ideas or point of view, or an illness that doesn’t respond to treatment like it should… Walking up that hill is not easy. I remember going hiking once as a kid, and we kept going up and up and there seemed no end in sight and I was so tired, my water was running low, and my lips were so chapped… I eventually got to the destination, of course, but I refused to hike for many years after that because my memories of that challenging walk uphill were so negative. The valley was so much easier! So much more predictable! So much more comfortable! But sometimes our faith presents us with an uphill battle, a challenge that pulls us out of the simplicity of faith in a valley.
Ah, but then you get to the top of the mountain. Have you ever noticed how many significant things happen on mountaintops in the Bible? Moses receives the 10 Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the Transfiguration, and finally, the crucifixion. It seems that the top of the mountain is a very important and meaningful place to be. Why is that?
There are many reasons this could be the case. Maybe you feel closer to God when you’re that high up. Maybe a special experience is a sort of reward after having climbed that difficult climb. But the one I think of comes to mind because of its contrast with the valley – and that is, the view you get at the top of the mountain. Being down in the valley is comfortable and predictable, yes, but being on ground level also doesn’t allow you to see the big picture very well. One of my favorite things, when I lived in Slovakia, was the many castles you could visit all over the country – one castle for each region. The castles are always built on the highest mountain in the region, so that from that high perch, the occupants could see as much of the region as possible, and know what was going on.
That’s not unlike being at the top of a mountain in our faith – this high vantage point allows us an entirely new perspective even on the toughest parts of faith and life! Maybe that’s why Jesus often goes off to the mountains to pray. How useful this is when trying to make a difficult decision, one that is complicated and has many different elements to consider. Sometimes we can get stuck in one issue or another – the cost, the time, the potential for growth, or the potential for burn out. I am certainly guilty of this. One of the first worship services I ever planned, back in seminary, I was so caught up in the details of the thing – who was supposed to say what when and how, what music happened when and how – that as things started to not go as I’d planned, I got frustrated, and was unable to worship at all myself. When I told my mom about it later, she gently asked, “Johanna, did you remember to invite the Holy Spirit?” Oops, I knew I forgot something! How easy it is to do that, to get so caught up in the details that we forget to simply have faith, to invite the Holy Spirit! But being on the top of the mountain, above those details and able to see the beauty and magnitude of what God does in our lives, we are prepared to let the Spirit make important decisions for us, to move us toward God’s will.
And then… then we shall see the glory of God! The next thing that happens in this story, of course, is the transfiguration itself. While the three disciples there had so far only seen Jesus in his utter humanity, getting down and dirty with the people God, now they see him in all the glory of God, along with Moses and Elijah, glimmering brightly, shining like the heavens. They are blown away! Indeed, they are terrified. Compared to what they had seen and known at the bottom of the mountain, this was an entirely new sort of experience. And this is the sort of experience one can have at the top of a mountain, away from the dirt and grime, away from the details of life. It can be terrifying, yes – the top of the mountain and the subsequent experience of God’s glory may be unfamiliar and unknown. But bathed in the light of Christ, we also are reminded of the eternal life and light of Christ, the promise that Christ is with us to the end of the age. And see the words God says to those terrified disciples? “This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him!” Listen to him! I know you are terrified, but this is my Son – listen to him! I know you don’t know what to do or say, but this is my Son – listen to him! And when Elijah and Moses and the cloud and the dazzling white clothes all go away, what are they left with? “Only Jesus,” Mark tells us. Only Jesus.
And then they go back down the mountain. I can imagine their stunned silence, as Jesus warns them not to tell anyone about this until later, after the resurrection. Surely there remains some fear about what they had just witnessed. If it were me, I might also be afraid of what I was going back to, down there at the bottom of the mountain. Here they had seen a vision of glory, experienced what it was like to glow in the light of Christ at the top of a mountain, and now they are walking back down the mountain, back into the dirt and details of everyday life. Indeed, immediately upon their return to town, Jesus is approached with a sick boy in need of healing, and more sickness after that. And it is not too long after that that Jesus walks into Jerusalem, and eventually walks back up a mountain with a cross on his back, and is crucified.
And this is where we are left, as well. Today we experience the glory of God in Jesus’ transfiguration. In three days, we begin Lent, and the journey to the cross. We will follow Jesus back down that mountain and into the dirty details of life. We will reflect on our bondage to sin, and inability to free ourselves. We will put away the “alleluias” for 6 weeks, and prepare ourselves to experience once again the suffering, death, and yes finally the resurrection of Christ. Will we view life down here in the valley differently, having seen the glory of Christ? I hope so! For even as we enter this Lenten time of penitence and repentance, we carry with us the knowledge and memory of Christ’s glory. We carry with us down that mountain and into everyday life the promise that this is God’s son, the beloved, that we are to listen to him, and that through him, we are forgiven. May we glory in that promise forever.
Let us pray… Glorious God, when we are in a valley, unable to see the whole picture, bring us to a mountain for a bigger view. Strengthen us in the climb, and comfort us in our descent, so that we will have what it takes to live the life of faith to which you call us. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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