Luke 9: 28-43

Last Sunday in Epiphany / Transfiguration Sunday / Year C

February 18, 2007

The Church of the Good Shepherd

Wareham, Massachusetts

Preached by Dr. Johnna L. Fredrickson

SEEING THE LIGHT

As I looked over our passages this past week, preparing for today, two conversations came to mind. One recent, the other took place over ten years ago.

When I still in seminary, I had a certain man in one of my classes. The more I got to know him, the less I wanted to know him. He did not believe women should be leaders in the church. He peppered his speech with Latin words, mostly terms used in physics or mathematical theory. He did this not to help others learn new things, but to make others feel ignorant. When someone disagreed with his firmly held opinions, he would throw those big words out into the air. At mealtimes he often sat alone. He seemed very unhappy. When his name came up in conversation, many wondered what he was doing in seminary. He didn't seem interested in church work and clearly did not enjoy true conversation about his beliefs - or the beliefs of others. One day during a discussion about women's ordination, we found out why.

He came because God spoke to him. Literally. A voice from the heavens, even if there were no flashes of lightning and parting of clouds. God spoke, he heard. The discussion of women being worthy of leading in the church was a closed matter to him because when God spoke, God spoke in a male voice. Since God was male, it seemed only reasonable that God's ministers should all be male, too. End of discussion.

The second conversation was just a couple of weeks ago at our diocesan resource center. Several of us were sitting around the table talking about Lent. One of the people there thought that it wasn't necessary to dwell on the negative side of things, for when we die we will all realize that everyone was right to some extent. The divine spark in the soul of every person knows what is right and will be affirmed in everyone, even those vastly different from us. That's what penance is all about, recognizing the good and right in others as equal to the good and right in ourselves. Isn't that why Jesus told us to love our neighbors?

Now there isn't just one way to understand such things. Those who believe that humans are innately good might say that in eternity we will see just how right we all were - and how right those we disagreed with were. We each have a bit of the truth that we can put with the truth of others, filling in the whole picture of God's love for us.

Those who believe that at the very base humans are sinful don't see how this could be true. For them, we will all be in the same boat in eternity. This isn't because we were all of us right, but because we were all of us profoundly wrong. Everyone got it wrong. The puzzle pieces don't fit together. It is God's love for us that brings us to heaven and reveals just how limited and wrong we were. This is not about divine eternal punishment, but about knowing that we can never comprehend the holiness of God without God's help. So are we bound together in our common humanity because we are all right to a degree, or because we are all wrong? God knows.

Peter, James, and John had an experience of God. Sleepy but keeping awake - something they won't manage to do in Gethsemane - they see Jesus transfigured. His clothes are purest white. Light emanates from him. Moses and Elijah, bringers of law and prophecy come back from the dead to converse with him. There are no veils to hide the holy light of Jesus. It is a fearful, wonderful sight. Peter, James, and John know without a doubt, in great joy and awesome fear, that Jesus is God's own.

Seeing Jesus in his true holiness, in Godliness, says something about Peter, James, and John - and about us, too. Created by God, we are capable of seeing God's transfiguring light in this world. We can know without a doubt that God is with us and that Jesus is Emmanuel, truly God with us. Our eyes are opened to a whole new truth about who God is and who we are. This old world and our ordinary everyday selves can behold the glory of God. Surely we are God-related in some way to be capable of seeing Jesus for who he is, the one sent from God and clothed in blinding glory.

But then comes the rest of the story. Peter, bubbling over with religious zeal, says what is foremost in his mind and treasured in the depths of his heart. “This is great! Let's build three tents right here - one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah!” Now things begin to go downhill. Luke understates the whole thing by writing that Peter didn't know what he said. It's a polite way to say that Peter missed the whole point. James and John missed it, too - they just weren't as quick to show their ignorance. Even after seeing Christ revealed in glory, talking with the dead, they still thought that Jesus was just another prophet. They also seemed to think that they could just stay on that mountaintop and revel in glory. Things were going to be wonderful from now on! They could not have been more wrong.

Then comes the correction, from God no less. The clouds come down and envelope them. They are terrified. Then God speaks. “This is my Son, the Chosen; listen to him! Listen to him when he tells you that death is coming. Listen to him when he teaches you to love others. Listen so that you get the whole picture, so that you know he is how God is in the world. God is revealed in glory. God is not limited to this lifetime. Death cannot separate us from God. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you understand everything about God and God's Son at a glance.” The voice is silenced and they see only Jesus standing there. They come off the mountain, keeping silent about the whole thing for a long time. Wouldn't you?

So what does this tell us today, about Jesus, about ourselves, and about my two conversations? First, that there are times when the veil of our blindness is removed and we see Jesus as he truly is. That God speaks to us, commanding us to listen to his son. That we are created to be with God, to behold in this place and in our living the radiance of God in Christ. In awe and wonder we live, open to the possibility that God will be revealed, that we will see Christ Jesus clothed in splendor and radiance. We refrain from discounting such experiences of others just because we have not had them ourselves. That's the easy part.

Now, the tough part: not assuming that we understand all there is to know at first glance, because our first glances can be terribly short-sighted. Yes, we can see the glory of Christ. Yes, we will surely misunderstand Jesus if we take a mountaintop vision as the last word on everything. To believe that we can understand God's revelation in full is to try to capture the ocean in a thimble. How right we are and how very wrong we are about God. As we descend into the valley that is Lent, moving toward death and glory, let's take to heart God's commandment: Listen to Jesus! Believe in your experiences of God, for they are holy. Believe in the experiences of others, for theirs are equally holy. Don't for a second think we can know it all. Pray for eyes to see and ears to hear, hearts to love, and courage to follow. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.