I believe our first
impulse is to say, what does this mountain top experience mean? What is the
transfiguration all about? It is the
glowing story of a spiritual encounter, not only between God and God's Son but
as well Elijah & Moses whom are at the center of the story and those who
are watching, Peter, James and John
& of course us, viewing them all. Maybe this event isn’t so much about
explaining it and searching for meaning as it is experiencing the moment &
taking it all in.
Let us first trace our steps. Two months
ago we were in the season of Advent, the season of preparation of waiting.
Following New Years we found ourselves
not only in the deep cold of January but in the season of light, Epiphany which
includes the visit of the Maji guided by the light, Jesus baptism when the sky
opened & the spirit descended upon Jesus. Now we are on the eve of the
season of Lent. A season of reflection and preparation which concludes with the
light of Christ terminated at His crucifixion, the darkness, until Easter
Sunday, when light pierced the opening of Jesus grave. A grave found empty
& His risen spiritual presence alive for all to see and know that death had
been defeated once and for all. Today we
turn away from the twinkling stars of Christmas toward
the deep wilderness of Lent. As gloomy as that may sound, it is very good
news. Most of us can get so distracted by our gadgets, busy with our
work, and trenched in our commitments and projects, overwhelmed by the snow and
weather that a nice long spell in the
wilderness maybe just what we need.
First we must head up
to the mountaintop. If you've been looking for some way to trade in your
old certainties for new movement in your life, look no further. This is
your chance to enter the cloud of unknowing and listen for whatever it is that
God has to say to you.
Today we have reached the mountain peak,
and as we stand looking around the air is fresh, the breeze is cool, may be you
feel it on your face.
Six days before climbing this mountain
Jesus had spoken to them about His suffering and death that He must undergo.
Now as Jesus stands on the Mountain Peak His presence becomes a dazzling glow
of white such as no one on earth could ever bleach it. On either side of Him
stands Elijah & Moses, two of the greatest prophets. Off, to one side is
Peter, James & John. Soon a cloud
overshadowed the Peak & a voice was heard saying “This is my Son, the
beloved, listen to Him.”
Now the most commonly deciphered explanation of this experience
is that: Moses stands on one side of
Jesus representing the Law, Elijah stands on the other side of Jesus
representing the prophets, and Jesus, central is the Messiah. God, by
singling Jesus out saying "my Son, the Beloved," God places
the gospel over the law and the prophets. The Transfiguration is an
experience that speaks of the promise of a life beyond what is obvious to
earthly eyes a lot of the time. Moses and Elijah, are two
individuals whose deaths, who’s passing's were mysterious, & were believed
by many Jews to be God's forerunners of the end times. Because Elijah went
bodily into heaven (2 Kings 2:9-12) (we
heard read a moment ago) and Moses' grave was never found (believed to have been buried by God himself in Deuteronomy
34:4-7), these two men of the faith were thought to be available for God to
send back. God would send them to inform humankind that God's reign was at
hand. It is no accident that these two appear with Jesus on the mountain. They
may address that change already prophesied by Jesus (Mark 1:15 – The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good
news.”) and as the two messengers disappear into the cloud the voice of God
comes with the words to "This is my Son, the beloved, listen to Him,"
HE is the only one left. Now Jesus becomes the divinely chosen precursor of the
turn of the age. Sarah Henrich
The word from the cloud, "Listen to
him," is a reminder to pay attention to Jesus' words (including those
predictions in Mark 8:31 where He speaks of His suffering. Suffering is a part
of life and Christ willingly endured suffering for us in order to win eternal
life and forgiveness and freedom to live and worship God. God who sacrificed
His very own, that we all can gain life in greater fullness and freedom. A life
in which we no longer fear death for now it is not the end, but a whole new
spiritual beginning with Him. A Lord, God
Almighty who suffers and lays down his life and as a result opens glory to
many.
There are other dazzling glow experiences
in scripture that we remember today as you may see the connection.
In the Book of
Exodus, when Moses climbed Mount Sinai to fetch the tablets of the law, the
whole top of the mountain stayed socked in divine cloud cover for six whole
days and his glimpse of God’s backside (Exodus
33:7-23). In 1 Kings,
when Solomon dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem, a dense cloud filled up that
huge place so that the priests could not even see what they were supposed to be
doing. When Ezekiel had his vision of the four living creatures, he saw
them in the middle of "a great cloud with brightness around it and fire
flashing forth continually." Elijah’s encounter with
God in a strange “sound of sheer silence” (1 Kings 19:11-13). When one is so
close to God, everything changes. Impossibilities dissolve.
We should also note that both prophets,
Moses & Elijah like Jesus, labored to help the people of God remain
faithful as they were enticed by idolatrous religious ideas. All of them sought
to keep the people of God hopeful as they suffered the burdens of abusive
political systems. That is, Moses’ and Elijah’s closeness to God wasn’t
something to be hoarded; it energized them in their service to others,
equipping them to know and pursue the Lord.
At the Transfiguration, then, Jesus stands
in impressive company, sharing the moment with two others who know what it is
to share close communion with God and to frustrate that pesky and seemingly
unyielding boundary between life and death.
When Jesus lit up right in front of him, Peter knew what
he was seeing. The Bible calls it "God's glory"--the shining
cloud that is the sure sign of God's capital P Presence. He catches
a glimpse of his reality as Son of Man, God's chosen messenger of God's reign.
We to every once in sometime see glimpses, brief
epiphanies that we cannot fully grasp or
explain. Epiphanies
aren’t always subtle.
Even with us
something like that happens once in a while. The face of a man walking with his
child in the park, of a woman baking bread, of sometimes even the unlikeliest
person listening to a concert, say, or standing barefoot in the sand watching
the waves roll in, or just having a beer at a Saturday baseball game in July.
Every once and so often, something so touching, so incandescent, so alive
transfigures the human face that it's almost beyond bearing.
Putting all this together, we have a story
that reassures Jesus' core disciples and Mark's readers: Jesus'
predictions of betrayal, death, and resurrection are to be trusted. The
struggles yet to come for Jesus should in no way diminish confidence in his
promises or his predictions of resurrection. As Mark's gospel drives toward the
bitterness of the passion and the uncertainty of an ending without a
resurrection appearance, when all seemed hopeless after Good Friday, this story
itself shines as a beacon of hope in all things.
Put yourself in Peter, James & John’s
place and what would you be thinking?
Recall that James and John believe in that
glory and try to claim a place at Jesus' side there (10:35-37). 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to
him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to
do for you?” he asked. 37 They
replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your
glory.” They don't understand the price of that glory, even when Jesus
tries to remind them. Even glory can be misunderstood. Everybody wants a
piece of it, but no one thinks of the cost involved.
Throughout these passages, there is a
theme of God's faithfulness. God has not left God's people without guidance,
without help, without hope ever. From Moses to Elijah to Daniel to Jesus,
perhaps to Mark writer of this "good news" (Mark 1:1), and including many
more persons of faith, we continually are helped to see the way of God in the
world, as well as the promise for God's future for all of us. Perhaps we have
to trust the glimpse that others have had: all the twelve, for instance, were
not part of this experience and Peter, James, and John did not talk about it,
as they were instructed, until after the resurrection. But the glimpse, even of
others, is a gift to all of us from God.
Next Sunday we will come to our Lord’s
Table for Communion. We will be reminded of glory in the elements of bread and
wine that point both to Jesus alive and Jesus whose life was lived with and for
us, who ate the simplest meal with his disciples as promise of a future glory.
As we share in that sacrament we too share an experience and promise of that
glory.
Listen to him, says
God’s voice from the cloud.
The purpose of such a mountaintop experience may be to strengthen us for the
journey back down to the valley of the shadow of death, where our real work
remains to be done. BBT
Today you have heard
a story you can take with you when you go. It tells you that no one has
to go up the mountain alone, it tells you that sometimes things get really
scary before they get holy. Above all, it tells you that there is someone
standing in the center of the cloud with you, shining so brightly that you may
never be able to wrap your mind around Him, but who is worth listening to all
the same. When we return and enter the valleys of life because he is God's
beloved, and you are His, and whatever comes next, you are not alone, for the
Lord God is with you. Amen. BBT
The Bright Cloud of Unknowing - sermon by Barbara Brown Taylor
Matt Skinner Working Preacher Mark 9:2-9
Sarah
Henrich Working Preacher Mark 9:2-9
Matt Skinner Working
Preacher Mark 9:2-9
James Boyce
Working Preacher Mark 9:2-9
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