Lighthouse: GET SOME GLORY!

Transcription

1 Lighthouse: GET SOME GLORY! Matthew 17:1-9 The Transfiguration can be a mountaintop experience for our faith. A sermon preached by Rev. Dr. William O. (Bud) Reeves First United Methodist Church Fort Smith, Arkansas February 26, 2017

2 It only takes a few mountaintop experiences to sustain your life. Most of the time we are muddling through life, just trying to do the best we can. Sometimes we are trying just to get by and hopefully survive. Occasionally we are clinging by our fingernails to the last ledge of hope and sanity. But every once in a while we have a mountaintop experience, a moment or an event that convinces us of the reality and the presence of God. Something happens, and we know that God loves us. We know that God is with us; we know that God will keep us and that we will be victorious. Sometimes this mountaintop experience is a call to go and do something. Sometimes it is a reassurance of a direction we re already headed. Or maybe it is just a glimpse of God s incredible glory. I ve had a few mountaintop experiences. It only takes a few. As a teenager, I was called to ministry through a church camp experience. I had a mountaintop experience of grace at an Emmaus Walk. I heard the voice of my deceased father reassuring me about heaven. Most of the time I m trudging through the valley. But every once in a while, there s the mountaintop, and it is unforgettable. It s like a lighthouse shining in the dark to illuminate your past, present, and future. For Peter and James and John, that night on the mountain with Jesus was a literal and spiritual mountaintop experience. Some disturbing things had been happening, like Jesus telling them that he was headed to Jerusalem to be arrested, beaten and killed. There was an atmosphere of anxiety all around. Then Jesus took them up the mountain, and suddenly, he was shining with supernatural light. Moses and Elijah were there. Then the holy cloud of God s presence overshadowed the mountain and the voice spoke. Can you imagine what it must have been like? It was an unforgettable experience. Late in his life, nearing death, Peter still remembered that night. In Second Peter, the last book of the Bible written, he writes, For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been

3 eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 1 Indeed, we would do well to pay attention to the Transfiguration. What does it teach us? What light does it shine on our path of discipleship? How can this glory day become a mountaintop for our faith? The Transfiguration gives us a glimpse into the transforming power and glory of God. Again we are reminded that this is not a set of principles we are following. This is not a philosophical system. This is God, the same God who gave Moses the Law on Mt. Sinai in a cloud of glory, the same God who appeared to Elijah and called him to action. This is Jesus, the Son of God, who was the Word before time and became incarnate in the carpenter of Nazareth, who died and rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father. This is personal. So we are part of God s plan. We are witnesses; we are disciples; we have a role to play in the story of salvation. This power and glory can transform us and others and churches and communities and the world. The Christian rock group Newsboys put together a book a few years ago with the title of one of their songs. It was called Shine, Make Them Wonder What You've Got. They are known outside of their music for being a pretty conservative group of guys, but I thought one of their statements was prophetic: "We will start being effective when we stop trying to change other people and instead change ourselves. To shine, you have to fill yourself with Christ. This means you first have to empty yourself, just as Jesus emptied himself of his heavenly glory to come into the world. It's not as if we're going to rally a bunch

4 of Christians together, get out the vote, put our man in as president, and that will solve everything. We could do all that and still not have changed anyone in the process. If we haven't seen people transformed from the inside out, we haven't really done anything that's lasting." 2 The Transfiguration reminds us that we are connected to a power and glory that is beyond any power and glory in the things of the world, any human power, or any rational thought. This is awesome! The Transfiguration helps us keep the dream of the Kingdom of God alive. This is what mountaintop experiences do. Most of the time, we are not on the mountain. But if we have had a mountaintop experience, we can remember that glory, remember that vision, and keep the dream alive. It keeps us going through the times that are not so glorious. From the mountain of Transfiguration, Jesus and the disciples traveled on toward Jerusalem, and everything he had predicted came true. He was arrested, beaten, ridiculed, convicted, and crucified. Then he rose again from the dead. He told the three disciples at the Transfiguration not to tell anyone about what they had seen until he would rise from the dead. So they kept it to themselves. But the vision on the mountain kept them putting one foot in front of the other during the hard days ahead. And, as we saw with Peter, it became a memory that sustained him throughout his life. Sometimes all you have to go on is the dream, but it is enough. Monty Roberts was a very successful rancher out in California who often loaned his ranch out for various retreats and conferences. He always told his guests the story of a young man who grew up as the son of an itinerant horse trainer. The family moved from ranch to ranch, horse track to horse track, and the boy went to a different school every year, never really fitting in. When the boy was a senior in high school, he had to write a paper about what he wanted to do with his life. He envisioned the time when he would own his own horse ranch, at least 200 acres. He even

5 drew a floor plan for his 4,000 square foot ranch house sitting in the middle of his spread. When he got his paper back, it was marked with a big red F and a note to see the teacher after class. The teacher told the boy to re-do his paper. He said, This is an unrealistic dream for a boy like you. You have no money, no resources. Your family is an itinerant labor family. There s no way you could ever achieve this dream. If you ll re-write your paper with a more realistic goal, I ll reconsider your grade. The boy went home, talked it over with his dad, and brought his paper back in a few days. It was the same paper. He handed it to the teacher and said, You can keep the F, and I will keep my dream. The boy, of course, was Monty Roberts, now the rancher welcoming groups to his 200-acre horse ranch and giving them the use of the 4,000 square foot ranch house that he designed in high school. He still has the paper with the big red F framed and hanging on his mantel. A few years ago, he welcomed a group of kids from a local high school, and his former teacher was one of chaperones. During the day, the teacher cornered Monty and apologized for his words. He said, I stole a lot of kids dreams in those days. I m glad you had enough gumption to hang on to yours. 3 There are always forces that will try to rob you of your dreams. There are negative voices that will tell you you re incapable and that your dream is impossible. Somebody is always willing to tell you you re a fool to believe. But remember the mountaintop. Remember the vision, the glory, the reality of what you have seen. You are a disciple of Jesus Christ, and the Kingdom of God is your birthright. Don t ever give up your dream. The Transfiguration can be a mountaintop for our own faith because it gives us a glimpse of eternal life. That night on the mountain Peter and James and John saw beyond the veil of the physical into the realm of the supernatural. They got a glimpse of

6 Jesus in his eternal glory. They saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. They were covered in the cloud of God and heard his voice, This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him! 4 It was a foreshadowing of the resurrection of Jesus yet to come. The experience knocked them to the ground in fear. When they looked up, it was just Jesus, looking normal. He reached out his hand and said, Get up, and do not be afraid. 5 If you have an experience like that, it s hard not to be afraid a little bit, or at least awestruck. Eternal life is a future thing, but it is also in some measure here and now. We can get a glimpse now of what heaven will be like. We can sense a little bit of what the glory of God must be like when we have one of those moments, and God is so close, and you feel God near, and you just know. Hours before he was cut down by an assassin s bullet, Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke these transfiguring words in Memphis: I don t know what will happen now. We ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn t matter to me now. Because I ve been to the mountaintop, I won t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God s will. And He s allowed me to go up the mountain. And I ve looked over, and I ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. So I m happy tonight. I m not worried about anything. I m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord! 6 A few hours later, King was dead. A few weeks after the Transfiguration, Jesus hung on the cross and died. Living as a disciple is no guarantee that you won t get killed or crucified. But the good news is it really doesn t matter, because when you have been to the mountaintop and seen the promised land, you know where your true home is. You know what you believe. You have seen a glimpse of eternal life. And you have no fear.

7 So what does all this mean? We ve been talking about the Lighthouse for several weeks now. We ve been trying to outline the path of the disciple. We ve talked about rekindling your flame, loving God and neighbor, being salt and light, using our talents, taking care of the least of these, and making more disciples of Jesus. But what does it all mean? Is there an image that will bring this all together? One week we asked the broad philosophical question, What is the meaning of life? Robert Fulghum, a former Episcopal priest, went to a Greek Orthodox retreat center on the island of Crete. The center was built by a man named Alexander Papaderos. After World War II, Papaderos became disturbed by the hatred his people still had for the Germans. So he built a meeting place where people could come to make peace, to talk, to try to understand one another. He built this center on the site where Nazi soldiers had brutally murdered thousands of Cretan civilians. For years, people had come from all over the world to share in the love and grace of Dr. Papaderos and to learn a better way. At the end of this particular seminar, Papaderos said the routine thing, Are there any questions? Fulghum raised his hand and asked, Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life? The class chuckled, but when Alexander could see that this American writer was serious, he said, I will answer your question. Taking his billfold out of his pocket, he brought out a small round mirror, about the size of a quarter. He told about growing up poor in a small village on Crete. One day during the war, a German motorcycle wrecked near his home, and Alexander picked up a piece of the broken mirror from the motorcycle. He scratched it on a stone to round off the edges, and then he began to play with the mirror as a toy. He became fascinated that he could use the mirror to reflect sunlight into places where light would never shine. It became a game to get the light into dark places.

8 Then, as he grew into a man, Papaderos began to realize that this was more than a child s game. It was a metaphor for what he wanted to do with his life. He was not the source of the light, but the light was there the light of truth, understanding, knowledge and it would only shine in the dark places if he reflected it. Papaderos said, I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world into the black places in the hearts of men and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life. 7 What is the meaning of your life? Finally, that is something you have to decide. But if you choose to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, I believe at least part of it will have to do with shining the light of Christ into the dark places of the world where people are hungry, homeless, hopeless, lost, broken, fearful, lonely, sick and dying. It s not your light you re shining; it s the light of Christ. On this Transfiguration Sunday, as Peter himself said, you will do well to pay attention to this. Pay attention, because this is the power to transform. Pay attention, and you can keep your dream alive. Pay attention, and you will see the glory of eternity. This is the life you ve been looking for! 1 2 Peter 1: Newsboys, Shine, Make them Wonder What You've Got (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2002), p Jack Canfield, Follow Your Dream, in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen, eds. (Deerfield Beach FL: Health Communications, Inc., 1993), 207f. 4 Matthew 17:5. 5 Matthew 17:7. 6 Martin Luther King, Jr., April 3, 1968, Why We Can t Wait (New York: New American Library, 1964), back cover. 7 Robert Fulghum, It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It (New York:Regal Books, 1989), pp. 171ff.