1 The Transforming Power of Affirmation Transfiguration Sunday February 22, 2009 2 Kings 2:1-12 Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel." But Elisha said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel. 3 The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?" And he said, "Yes, I know; keep silent." 4 Elijah said to him, "Elisha, stay here; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho." But he said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they came to Jericho. 5 The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?" And he answered, "Yes, I know; be silent." 6 Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan." But he said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So the two of them went on. 7 Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. 8 Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground. 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha said, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit." 10 He responded, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not." 11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. 12 Elisha kept watching and crying out, "Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. Mark 9:2-9 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was
transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 2
3 Are you hungry for affirmation? Do you long for someone to affirm you, to declare without equivocation you are a person of infinite worth? Do you want to hear you are a good spouse, a good employee, a good manager, a good parent, a good child? Are you eager for a positive word declaring you are a good person and you ve done good things? At the end of the movie, Saving Private Ryan, the Ryan who was saved goes to the cemetery where some of the men who risked their lives for his safety and deliverance are buried. He stands amid the rows of white crosses, each cross standing at attention before him. It s been years since the war. Harrowing battle experiences play upon the screen as if we could look into his mind and see what he saw. He is far older now, aged by years and experiences; his wife silently stands with him, for she has nothing to say to augment or diminish the moment. Ryan is overcome, and tears well up and spill out. Tell me I ve been a good husband. Tell me I ve been a good father. Tell me I ve been a good man. Perhaps those aren t his exact words; it s been a while since I watched the film. Perhaps that s my paraphrase of what he said; perhaps it s what I wanted and remembered him saying. Maybe that s what I would have wondered or said if I had been Private Ryan. Perhaps that s what I say, what we say, even when we don t say anything at all. To say those words is to invite a response that might be more disappointing than I can bear or we can bear. Asking the question is an expression of our need; hearing the answer is wonderful, awful and fearful. Sometimes we ask the question by just standing here or there. Will there be anything else? is a bellman s request for a tip as much or more than it is a question about what other services can be performed. Would you care to reimburse me for my time and trouble? Would you care to tell me I have been a good bellman? My livelihood depends upon your affirmation. Would you care to make that affirmation in currency? We stand here or there waiting for affirmation. Teens hope a certain person will notice them and ask them out or ask them something. Older adults trust eharmony will turn up a match and affirmation can and will be found through the internet. We come into the boss office hoping he or she will have something positive to say. We come into the offices of co-workers
4 and trust Home on the Range will be true, where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day. We want our children, our spouse, our parents spontaneously to tell us they love us without having to ask to hear those three little words. Preachers stand at the back of the church after the service and sometimes our hunger, my hunger for affirmation is palpable. I suspect there are moments when each of us stands with our heart extended waiting for a gratuity, for a bit of grace and graciousness. Is there anything else you need? we ask, though we are the ones in need of affirmation. Professors want to profess well; preachers want to preach well. Plumbers want to plumb well. Carpenters want to build well. Lawyers want to argue well. Politicians want to serve well. Doctors and nurses want their patients to get well. Administrators want to administrate well. Sons and daughters want to be good children; mothers and dads want to parent well. Disciples want to disciple well, and Messiahs want to messiah well. In part, that s what the transfiguration is about. It is an affirmation experience for Peter, James, John and Jesus. It came at a time when they needed to hear words of encouragement, words of support and hope. It came when they needed to see more than what was right before their eyes. Look at what took place before the quartet climbed the mountain. In the preceding chapter Jesus asked the disciples what they heard others say about him. Perhaps the inquiry was to test the disciples, or perhaps the inquiry was a request for affirmation. Perhaps Jesus stood before the people who left their own professions and families to follow him and asked what they had heard because he hoped they heard good things, because he hoped folks were beginning to get caught up in this Kingdom of God. Perhaps their answers pleased Jesus since he was associated with the great figures of Judaism Elijah, or another of the prophets, or even a resurrected John the Baptist. Then Jesus took a risk and asked them what they thought of him, asked the disciples who they believed he was. Peter answered immediately, and he affirmed Jesus with his response, You are the Messiah.
5 Jesus then told the disciples what he understood it meant to be the Messiah. He spoke of suffering, death and resurrection. Peter let Jesus know his affirmation didn t include all of that, implying or stating Jesus was mistaken. Peter withdrew his affirmation if that what being the Messiah meant. In response Jesus told Peter he was an impediment to Jesus and his ministry. He called Peter Satan, and told him to get out of the way. Peter s wonderful affirmation became Peter s curse, and Peter wasn t affirmed at all. Jesus spoke to the disciples and crowd and told them being a follower meant taking up a cross and following him. I suspect everyone knew about the cross used to crucify criminals, and no one who heard Jesus words could have mistaken the notion that participating in this Kingdom of God meant holding tightly to the cross and turning loose of one s tight hold on life. We don t know what happened for a few days following this exchange near the villages at Caesarea Philippi. The biblical text is silent until the events which take place six days later. Six days for Peter to think about what he had said and what Jesus had said. Six days for the disciples to think about taking up a cross. Six days to contemplate what it meant to turn loose of life to find life. Six days is not so long a time, and yet it was long enough to set the world in motion and set the hearts and lives of the disciples spinning. Six days is not an eternity, and yet it is an eternity if your heart is not at ease. I wonder what Peter thought when Jesus asked him to go up the mountain. What did James and John think about their invitation to be part of this intimate delegation? I wonder if they remembered Abraham asked Isaac to go with him up a mountain. When the transfiguration occurred they didn t know what to say or think or do. Jesus was changed somehow, became brilliant white, and it was more than they could see or comprehend. Elijah and Moses were talking to Jesus. The conversation isn t recorded, though I imagine their presence was symbolic more than anything else. Moses represented the law and Elijah the prophets; Jesus is the one who literally outshines the law and the prophets; he is more than what the law and prophets can say or do alone. Peter speaks because he doesn t know what else to do. He speaks though he doesn t know what to
6 say, a situation I suspect we all have found ourselves in from time to time. Let s make this semi-permanent by building a tabernacle, a dwelling place for the three of you. After the words fell from his lips he probably wondered why he said anything at all and kicked himself for always having to say something. An answer comes not from Jesus but from a cloud containing the voice of God. This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him. This may have been a way of telling Peter that in the midst of transfiguration experiences it is far better to listen than speak? The quartet descended from the mountain and Jesus told the other three not to share what they have seen until after he arose from the dead. The trio wondered what rising from the dead meant. In a few more days they would know. Peter, reeling from Jesus rebuke, has a once in a lifetime experience affirming him as a follower of Jesus. I think he needed some experience, something he could hold onto, something to stem the spiritual bleeding he suffered after the get behind me, Satan reprimand. Later in the unfolding story of Jesus and the disciples Peter will deny knowing Jesus. When he understands what his denial has done to himself and Jesus Peter becomes depressed and despondent. He seeks solace in his old trade, fishing, and there the resurrected Jesus comes and reminds him of the denial and affirms him. Feed my sheep, Jesus tells him. You are worthy of an important task. I know your mistakes and I know your heart. Take care of my lambs. Peter is affirmed. James and John later ask Jesus for positions of favor in the coming kingdom. Jesus asks if they are able to drink the cup from which he will drink; are they able to undergo what he must undergo. The brothers swear their allegiance, and Jesus tells them he is not the one who hands out tickets for the reserved seats. Perhaps they thought their transfiguration experience warranted something more than a cross, or at least something beyond the cross. Affirmation is not a declaration of privilege; it is the recognition of worth. Affirmation is not an entitlement; it is an expression of trust and responsibility. I think Jesus needed affirmation on his way to Jerusalem. His ministry began with affirmation, a voice sounding forth and a dove
7 descending as he was baptized in the Jordan. You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased. Those words may have been heard only by Jesus, according to Mark s gospel. Perhaps only Jesus needed to hear them. As Jesus began his journey of faith and ministry the words rang in his ears, offering him encouragement as he faced temptations and trying people, offered him strength when he was weak, and refreshed him when he was worn out. With you I am well pleased will take you a long way when you think you can t go any farther. It will enable you to lift your head and your eyes when you have been brought low. It will help you put one foot in front of the other, help you hold tight to a cross, help you turn loose of life to find it. Jesus climbs the mountain with the ones who best understand and don t understand at all who he is and what he is about. He may have climbed in discouragement; he may have climbed with a heavy heart. Then he heard those words, This is my son the beloved. Listen to him. He heard the words; Peter, James and John heard the words. You should listen to what my son has to say. It was an affirmation of Jesus providing strength for the quartet for the days ahead. Transfiguration Sunday is always the Sunday prior to the beginning of Lent. Perhaps that s because we need a word of affirmation, hope and help as we begin our journey to the cross. Lent is a time of selfexamination, a reminder of our willful sinfulness and imperfections, as well as a reminder of God s grace, love and compassion. During the Lenten season we offer words of confession taken from the scriptures, as well as scriptural words of assurance offering God s affirmation for all who have sinned and fallen short of God s glory. When we recognize we have said the wrong thing, done the wrong thing, or just gotten in the way of the Kingdom of God we are offered forgiveness and assurance. We are affirmed by God s grace, mercy and love. I suspect all of us need affirmation. Elisha certainly did. Elisha was Elijah s protégé, a prophet in training. As Elijah neared the end of his ministry and his time on this earth Elisha longed to be like him. Elijah asked him what exactly he desired, and Elisha requested a double portion of Elijah s spirit and strength. When Elijah was swept into the heavens Elisha received and put on Elijah s mantle, his cloak. Perhaps he could
8 have been a great prophet without the cloak. Maybe he didn t need the mantle at all. But he was convinced he did. He hungered for an affirmation to give him strength, courage, conviction and power to be who he was called to be. I have wondered about my own hunger, sometimes near insatiable, for affirmation. I ve never witnessed a transfiguration on a mountaintop, never heard God say God was well-pleased with me. I never saw a prophet taken into the heavens who left his mantle and his blessing for me. I know God s grace and love are God s affirmations, and though God is not well-pleased with all I say and do God is gracious and forgiving. Well done good and faithful servant are words one longs to hear when one enters fully into life, though I suspect we sometimes hear echoes here and now when our hearts and minds are still and our spirits are right. I find affirmation in my office. It s hanging on my walls. There s a diploma there, in recognition of academic achievement, though that isn t what affirms me. Above it, intentionally above it, is my ordination certificate signed by Samuel Hovey Jones, a great man of God who organized the group that affirmed me and said they believed God had called me. Next to it is a print by Norman Rockwell in which people of all ages, races, shapes and sizes stand and look at me. Across the bottom portion written in words that are translucent is the admonition of the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It is a reminder to me to affirm all with God s grace and love, a love and grace not contingent upon their response. Across from my desk is a copy of Rembrandt s depiction of the return of the prodigal son. In subtle shades of color and with the interplay of light Rembrandt tells the story of the return of the wayward son, the disapproval of the homebound son, and the gracious love of the father. Though I have sometimes been the younger and sometimes the older son, I know I am called to be like the father who offers grace and mercy. I am affirmed each time I see the gnarled hands of the father upon the son who is convinced he is not worthy to be there. Above my desk, over my computer is the newest affirmation in my office. It s the picture Lindsay took from the church balcony after Erin and
9 Matt s wedding ceremony. Almost every person who attended the wedding is in the glorious picture. Erin and Matt are in the bottom center kissing. I am at the far end of the aisle, near the pulpit area, a tiny smiling countenance in a sea of happy faces. It is a photograph, a moment captured forever reminding me how great the power of love truly can be. It is an affirmation, a positive declaration of compassion and joy that stirs my heart each time I see it. In a way it is my transfiguration experience, and like the disciples I catch a glimpse of the dazzling light of God s unbounded love. In a time of great economic uncertainty, when the things we have used to measure our worth and importance have been shown to be empty and inaccurate, I think we need affirmation. It will not be found in bank statements, or in houses, or lands, or cars or possessions. We will not discover our net worth by examining our assets and liabilities, our profit and loss statements. When we downsize we are not downsized, not without our permission. Help us find ways to offer critique without becoming critical and negative. Help us remember empty praise is not a substitute for heartfelt support. May we be affirmed by the grace and love of God. May we find affirmation through the love, compassion, mercy and grace offered by others. May we discover offering affirmation to others is affirming, too. Amen.