Transfiguration 2013- August 6 - Luke 9:28-43 (NRSV)
The Reverend Kirk Alan Kubicek
Chaplain, Saint Timothy’s School for Girls, Stevenson,
Maryland
Those Who Give Back
Immediately leading into this story of the Transfiguration
is Peter’s Confession, followed by Jesus telling the disciples he is going to
Jerusalem where he will confront all religious and political authorities and be
crucified, and an important teaching on what it means to be a disciple of
Jesus: pick up your cross and follow me.
If we were watching a movie of Luke’s gospel, directed by
Luke the evangelist himself, he might come up behind us, tap us on the shoulder
and say, “Now pay attention to this next scene! This is the heart of the
matter.”
Indeed, this episode on a mountain top is at the very
dividing line of Luke’s gospel. It is nearly dead center. Up until now there
has been activity up and around Galilee. From here on it is a march to the
scaffold: the journey to Jerusalem and the cross.
What we find on this mountain top is a massive appeal to our
corporate memory as a people of God. Moses went up to a mountain top to receive
direction and instructions from God and to even argue with God. When he would
return to the people, his facing would be shining bright, so bright he would
have to veil it. Elijah hid in a crevice on a mountain top, withstanding wind,
fire and earthquake until he heard the “still small voice” of God. Whereupon he
immediately covered his face as he came out of the crevice to face the Lord,
the God of Israel.
So as Jesus heads up a mountain to pray, we are already
remembering what goes on up in these regions closer to the heavens, what some
refer to as “the thin places”: places where people encounter the Holy and
listen to God. And just in case our corporate memory is failing us, Luke paints
the picture more precisely by putting Moses and Elijah there with Jesus, all
three dazzling in glory, dazzling white, shining like the Sun.
If you were Peter, James or John, I suspect at the very least
there is an audible, “Gasp!” If up to this point there has been any question at
all about who this fellow Jesus is, imagine what is going through their minds
now! It is like a return to the forty years in the wilderness, the defining
period of what it means to be a people of God - days of wandering, living in
tents, living on manna, bread that is given daily.
It is like a return to the age of prophets like Elijah who
regularly challenged the domestic and foreign policies of the politicians and
religious authorities in charge. Elijah, who lived in the wilderness, at the
margins of society, who mingled with foreigners and resident aliens, living in
tents, booths, accepting the hospitality of total strangers, living on bread
that is given daily.
Once a year every year for the eight day Feast of the
Tabernacles Peter and his people would build booths and sleep in them for eight
nights to remember the years of tenting on the land. To remember the days
of Moses and Elijah. No wonder he wants
to build some booths. No wonder he feels the need to do something to celebrate
their corporate memory among such revered guests.
Quickly, however, the one in charge of the narrative speaks
from off-stage to remind one and all that this is not a story about Peter,
James and John, and it is not about us or our experiences of the Holy. “This is
My Son, my Chosen; listen to him.”
It is about the Son. The Chosen. And about listening:
listening to God’s Son.
It is worth pondering that when the one in charge of the
story speaks and names the dazzling one, we do not hear the words, “Jesus,
Christ, Messiah, Rabbi, Master or even Lord.” The primary name given to the
dazzling one is “Son.” More specifically, “My Son.”
Those of us who are there are told to listen to “My Son.” My
Son says, “Bear your cross and follow me.” And as we follow him down into the
valley what do we find? Another man’s son. The father is bereft. The son is
possessed. The son convulses and foams at the mouth. The disciples have been of
no use at all. We are his disciples. Evidently we have been of no help at all.
My Son says, “Bring your son here.” The demon makes one last
attempt to conquer the boy, throwing him down on the ground. My Son puts an end
to the demon. The boy is restored to his father. The text says My Son “gave him
back to his father.” The demon had taken the boy. Then My Son gave him back.
Demons take. My Son gives back.
The crowd is astounded. We are astounded. All were astounded
– there was not one person who was not astounded “at the greatness of God.” Do
we allow ourselves to be astounded? Astonished? Amazed?
Note how subtly My Son becomes God. One could almost miss it
altogether for sake of being so astounded and all. It would be several hundred
years for the church to wrestle with this insight.
We cannot even begin to know who Jesus is if we separate
these stories out. What happens on the mountain top is important, and does have
meaning. But that meaning is inextricably bound to both the question Jesus puts
to the disciples before going up the mountain, “Who do you say that I
am?”, and to what happens down in the
valley.
Jesus will not be known any other way. Not through any
clever novelization or cinematic inventiveness. Not through reading and
discussing books about him. Not through watching movies and debating the merits
of the movies about him. He will be known in our listening to him and following
him. And in the breaking of bread that is given.
That’s why we are here. To listen to him, to follow him, and
to eat our daily bread, so we might complete his work in the valley of this
world. To be those people who do not take, but those who give back. How often
do we take the time to be still, be silent, and listen to him?
Perhaps this is what Transfiguration means: listening to him
and following him so that we may be transfigured, so that those around us may
be transfigured, so that the whole world might one day be transfigured just
like God’s Son. We do this by becoming those people who do not take. We are to
become those who give – those who give back. Amen.
Kirk,
ReplyDeleteI have been reading and learning from your sermons for some time now through STW, and I am thrilled when I see your by-line. This one blew me away-- a home run.
I was pulled completely into the story by the way you connected it to what came before, and most powerfully with Jesus' healing of the man's son afterwards. Additionally, your conclusion of how are to know Jesus by following Him is such a precise and beautiful summary of our response to The Transfiguration.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Those girls at St. Tim's are lucky to have you there.
Pentecost blessings,
Scott Christian
Scott
DeleteThank you for your thoughtful and heartfelt response. It's been a long haul with STW! It is a blessing to receive feedback, connection, and to know one heart has been touched. I post here almost every week. And on my Facebook page.
Yours In Christ,
Kirk