The Feast of the Transfiguration August 05, 2006 Rev. Nathaniel R. Elliott, Jr.

Transcription

1 The Feast of the Transfiguration displaces the regular Sunday lections for this weekend because this sacred event holds such a unique place in the life of Jesus and in the lives of the disciples who follow Jesus as Lord. Why is this pattern of remembrance so crucial? First, the Transfiguration (Lk. 9:28-36) confirms Peter s confession at Caesarea Philippi a week earlier, that Jesus is the Christ the messiah of God (Lk. 9:20). The whole sacred event of the Transfiguration declares that Jesus is not simply a carpenter from Nazareth, nor is he John the Baptist, nor Elijah, nor one of the ancient prophets. Jesus is the unique Anointed One of God, the one who, in his divine mission to rescue the universe from the power of sin and death, must undergo great suffering, be rejected, killed and raised on the third day. And so, the Transfiguration stands at the pinnacle of those events that disclose the Godliness and sacrificial love of Jesus

2 And second, The Transfiguration fulfills a purpose as practical as it is mystical. The event gives supernatural strength to Jesus and the disciples to face, and then to withstand, the trauma of the Passion. What lies ahead for all of them in Jerusalem is too much to endure without a profound vision of hope to sustain them. The Transfiguration tells us that experience of the Holy is the root of all religion. Let me offer two suggestions on where and how to experience the transfiguring power of God in our lives. The first is prayer. I spoke at some length a couple of weeks ago about prayer, but Luke is the one Evangelist who emphasizes that the only thing Jesus intends as he climbs the mountain with Peter, James and John, is to pray (v. 28) and as someone has said, when Jesus goes to pray, big things happen. Luke also writes that Jesus is praying when he experiences the - 2 -

3 Transfiguration (v. 29). Luke, by making this distinction, shows that prayer is the context within which God s transfiguring power happens. Prayer is the human posture of openness to God in which heaven and earth unite the essence of the Transfiguration. Prayer is that place through which we open ourselves to the sacred, the means through which the sacred transfigures the secular. Prayer is the channel through which we find light in our darkness. It is the key to divine illumination, healing and wholeness. Through prayer, the Evangelist is telling us, we can go to the Mountain, and we can follow Jesus to the Source, and be transfused ourselves. By opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit through prayer, we not only go to the mountain, but the mountain comes to us. Prayer serves as a kind of portable mountain to which we go to experience, intimately, the love of God. And the more we go to the mountain in prayer, the more transformed we become

4 The second suggestion on where and how to experience the transfiguring power of God in our lives is in foot washing service. It s interesting to note that immediately after the mystical experience he just witnessed, Peter, in typical human fashion, wants to capture the event by building memorials to Jesus, Moses and Elijah (v. 33). Peter s edifice complex wants to concretize the event, but Jesus wants nothing to do with such a plan. He moves off the mountain, taking the disciples with him, down into the valley and directly into the world s pain. In this case, the world s pain is a father s only son who is attacked by a demonic force, an evil being that seizes and convulses and mauls the child (Lk. 9:37-43). Those who have witnessed the pain and powerlessness of their own children, or of any child for that matter, know that there is hardly any greater pain in the world. So the pattern is complete. From the mountaintop of spiritual experience to the depths of human suffering, the Gospel takes place. Each experience needs the other

5 For Luke, this going down the mountain and into the world s pain means that the Transfiguration finds its consummation in sacrificial service. The Holy Spirit wants no memorials simply because the grace of our Lord Jesus seeks only to be given away. You received without payment, give without payment (Mt. 10:8), Jesus told the disciples in another setting, and the way we give is by serving those whom God gives us, freely, regardless of merit or worth. This act of unqualified self-expenditure becomes a transforming source for the giver. In Jesus, the service of God and the service of the least of the brethren were one. Rather than being a hardship, foot-washing service is part of that perfect freedom Christ promises to those who follow the Way of the Cross. It s not the easy way, but it is the way of blessedness. To be deprived of being such a servant of Gospel love, or to miss it out of neglect, greatly diminishes our chances of being - 5 -

6 transformed. Our religion unspent for others, atrophies. There is a modern parable. at least it was modern when I read it some years ago a parable that shows just how necessary service is, not only for transfiguration, but for our health and salvation. It goes something like this: There was a man who died and found himself in a beautiful place surrounded by every conceivable comfort. A white-jacketed man came to him and said, You may have anything you choose, any food, any pleasure, any kind of entertainment. The man was delighted, and for days and days he sampled all the delicacies and experiences of which he had dreamed on earth. But one day he grew bored with it all and called the attendant to him and said, I m tired of all this. I need something to do. What kind of work can you give me? The attendant sadly shook his head and replied, I m sorry, sir. There is no work here for you. The man answered, - 6 -

7 That s a fine thing. I might as well be in hell. The attendant said softly, Sir, where do you think you are? Wouldn t that be tragic? Nothing of the Lord s work to do. EVER. AMEN