And he was transfigured before them… Matthew 17:1-9
Each week Confirmation begins with a question. For the 7th and 8th graders it is, “What’s your high and what’s your low for the past week?” Highs include getting a better grade than expected in a pop quiz, having a day off, going to the movies. Lows, well they’re more complicated to share, you have to be vulnerable and to trust the group. They might be a sick grandparent, a bad grade, being grounded. Through the sharing, our youth learn balance – that life is full of highs and lows; trust – you can tell others what you’re feeling; and faith – God is with you no matter what! What was your high and low this past week?
In 9th grade the question changes to “Where did you see God this week?” Now this is harder because they need to keep their eyes open in a different way and think theologically, that is to think about God, while seeing. When they do so, they experience, what the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote: that “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.”[i] Where did you see, hear, experience, God this past week?
I suspect if we asked the disciples and specifically Peter about their highs and lows in the week before today’s Gospel, the high would have been, Peter’s faith-filled answer to Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?”, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” This leads Jesus to bless Simon Peter and declare that he is the rock upon which Jesus will build his church. Wow! Such affirmation – this had to be as high as a high could be! But quickly the lowest of the lows follows – for then Jesus tells them about the suffering that is to come and about his death. Peter, the rock, objects, “No way. This can’t happen.” Jesus calls Peter a stumbling block, an obstruction. For the only way forward is one of suffering, of losing one’s life.
Six days later, it’s retreat time. Jesus needs it. God knows, Peter, James and John need it too. A break, a time away to re-group, to heal, to mend relationships, to experience God, to be! Imagine the three disciples’ response to the question, “Where did you see God this week?” They reply, “In Jesus, in our Master, our teacher, our friend. Slowly we walked up the mountain with him leading the way. When we reached the peak, he changed right before eyes. Sunlight poured from his face. His clothes glowed with light. Moses was there, Elijah too. It was amazing. Where did we see God? All of it was God.” Peter tells how when he offered to set up camp, pitch some tents, help everyone get comfortable, when a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice declared, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased; LISTEN to him!” John continued, “Scared to death, we fell flat on our faces. Jesus came over and touched us and said, ‘GET UP, RISE UP, DON’T BE AFRAID.’” Then he led us back down the mountain and told us, “Don’t tell anyone what you’ve seen until after the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” Where did they see God? All of it was God!
The grandeur of this moves us beyond ourselves, beyond our limited understanding, our provincial theologies into glory. One of my favorite preachers, Fred Craddock said of this, “Christ is as we are, and therefore will help. (But in Matthew when Jesus walks on the sea, is transfigured on the mountain and his resurrection self appears in Galilee), we are reminded that he is not as we are, and therefore can help.”[ii] Christ is always more – more than we can imagine, more than we can understand, more than we expect, more – beyond us in mercy and grace, in wonder and light, beyond us and yet always with us.
“Listen to him” we are told by the voice from the cloud. Listen to the one who calls us blessed, says we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Listen to him who takes us so seriously he draws us into the heart of God through his preaching and stories, healings and miracles. Listen to him and not the voices inside our heads telling us we are not good enough, strong enough, smart enough. He calls us his friends and when we are full of fear reaches down, touches us and tells us to get up.
Get up – actually the Greek here is not just “get up,” it’s “be raised.” It is the same word used by Jesus when he told his disciples about his suffering and will be used again to describe his resurrection. Note Jesus doesn’t say “rise” as if we are to muster up resurrection on our own, but “be raised,” be transformed, indeed, be transfigured so that God’s light may shine through our words and deeds.
Next, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” He tells this to his disciples even though he knows that when they come down off the mountain and head to Jerusalem, betrayal and death awaits him. “Do not be afraid,” he tells us even though there are those who want us to forget the light and hide in darkness, want us to want us to abandon faith and live in fear.
There’s more. For as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus says, “Do not tell anyone about the heavenly vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” They are to keep a secret. They are, but not us. You see, he has been raised from the dead. No more secrets, instead good news, wonderful new, full of hope, for you and me to share. Listen! Be Raised! Do not be afraid! Tell the secret!
A story.
Years ago, on a morning in late February, the sun was shining for the
first time in a week of dreary days. John and our four-year old son, Todd were
sitting at the kitchen table. A prism
hung in one of the windows made rainbows that danced around the room. John looked up from his newspaper to see Todd
reaching out both hands opening and closing them as if he was catching flies
and throwing them down on the table.
“What are you doing, Todd?” he asked.
Todd replied, “I’m catching sunbeams and putting them on my cereal so I
can eat them.” Sunbeams. Let us catch our Lord’s “Son beams” and toss
them into relationships in need of healing, into places and people caught in
fear, into prayers for peace in Syria, into healing and hope where epidemics
threaten, where truth is denied and children live in fear, into works for
justice and acts of mercy. And yes, let
us eat them too – for Son-beams have been tossed into the bread and wine, the
body and blood of the Beloved Son of God.
We are invited to the table of grace and glory. Amen.
Pastor
Cynthia Krommes
[i]Gerard Manley Hopkins, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44395/gods-grandeur
[ii] Fred Craddock, Christ is Not as We Are (Matt. 17: 1-9) www.religion-online.org/article/christ-is-not-as-we-are-matt-171-9/