Our Transfiguration

The following is a sermon I wrote as a final paper for my Bible II class that I just completed.  The guidelines for the paper was that I had to intertwine scriptures from the Old Testament that corresponded to the scripture that I used for the basis of my sermon.  I chose to do my sermon on the Transfiguration:

Today’s scripture comes from the Gospel of Mark chapter 9:2-10.  I chose to use the Gospel of Mark rather than the other gospels that discuss the Transfiguration simply because Mark’s account gives us a better narrative on the reaction of those who went up to the top of the mountain with Jesus: Peter, James and John.  Mark 9:2-10 says:

“And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud,“This is my beloved Son;  listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.  And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen,until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.”

After reading this scripture, the first thing that came to my mind was that Peter, James and John must have been really close with Jesus.  But why were they chosen over the other disciples to go to the mountaintop?  Why did Jesus pick those three to share this special experience with and not the others?  I can’t begin to imagine the jealousy that such an experience would create amongst the group... Or can I?  I can think of several examples of where jealousy has crept into my life when it comes to faith.  I had friends who were also called into the ministry but they went to seminary and followed their calling to the letter.  As I sat on the cusp of leaving for seminary, I couldn’t bring myself to go.  This experience brought to the surface very intense feelings of jealousy.  I continually thought to myself, why would God give his blessing to others to continue into the ministry and not me?  I had followed my calling just as they did, yet they found favor in the eyes of God and I felt that I hadn’t.  Come to find out, my calling was just different than many others’ callings but at one time I thought God had forgotten about me.  This is how I imagine the disciples who didn’t get to go up the mountain felt.  Sometimes we too can feel that we are left waiting for Jesus to take us to the mountaintop but we must remember that God may have something different in mind for us.  We cannot base God’s love for us on His relationship with others.  That would be like saying that the entire interior of my house is green simply because the living room is.  There is a similar experience to this found in the Old Testament as well.  In Exodus we see that Moses has a very unique relationship with God.  A relationship that very few others we able to experience with God at that time.  In Exodus 34 we see that when Moses comes down from the mountain after talking with God that his face is radiant.  This glow causes the Israelites to be afraid of Moses.  The change that was seen in both Jesus and Moses led those around them to fear what they had seen which leads me into the bulk of what I would like to talk about today.

Today’s scripture is Mark’s account of the Transfiguration.  You may be thinking, “Oh great, the pastor is showing off his education and I am about to tune out...” but I strongly encourage you to stay with me.  Transfiguration in short means transformation, change or conversion.  It may seem odd to us that the Israelites, Peter, James and John were scared and intimidated by what they saw but think about I encourage you to think about your own conversion.  When I accepted Christ into my heart, there were several people who were intimidated, they may not have come right out and said so but looking back on it, I can see that they were scared.  They were scared mostly because they did not understand the change that had taken place in my life and for that reason they chose to push me out of their lives.  When this happens, we are given two options: 1) we can either hide what we have become much like Moses who chose to veil his face; or 2) we can embrace it and tell those who are scared that it will be ok just as Christ did with the disciples.  In some circumstances, either option is ok but for the most part, I feel that God calls us to embrace the change that He makes in our lives.  When it comes to Moses in Exodus 34, I feel that it is too easy for us to put a veil over our face because we are too scared to show the world our true self.  I was very guilty of this when I first accepted Christ into my life.  I would “water down” the impact that Christ had me so that I would not scare or even offend those around me.  Looking back on it, this was just an easy way out.  Had I taken advantage of the opportunities given to me, maybe my calling would have been a little simpler to follow.  Maybe God would have called me to seminary like He did the others.  But like Moses, I chose to veil my face, I darkened the light God had set ablaze inside of me.  So my question to all of you is, what do you use to veil your faith?  As we get closer to ending our 2013 Lenten Season, I encourage to find your veil and throw it to the wayside.  Jesus made it very clear to us who he was, even though the disciples struggled to find meaning in a lot of what he said, but once he died and rose again, it was very clear the impact that Jesus had made on them.  God does not want us to hide who we are, there is no reason for us to water down our faith so not to offend anyone.  Chance are, those who seem angry are really just scared at the impact that God has made on us, more than that, they are scared to allow God to make similar changes in their lives.

In both Mark and Exodus, there were “mountaintop experiences.”  We often use this term to describe experiences where our faith is burning bright, where we feel really close to the will of God, and where we feel really confident that we can live a life that God has called us to live.  We call it a mountaintop because we know that we can’t always stay up there.  Just like the Moses, Peter, James and John, we eventually come down.  There will be times where it seems like the presence of God leaves us, but this is not the case.  If we feel this way it is only because we stumbled, walked or came running back down the mountain away from God.  God’s presence doesn’t leave us, we leave it.  In the course of my faith, I have had a few mountaintop experiences but I have also had a few dark valleys  that I walked through.  Through the course of Exodus, the Israelites were very close to the will of God but they too also faltered and fell away from His presence.  God did not leave them, they chose to turn away from Him by worshipping false idols and constantly thinking that God had forsaken them.  These mountaintop experiences are the high points that we remember in our faith but it is important to note that our faith is not based solely on these high points.  Our faith is defined by how we react in those valleys.  It is easy to have faith in times where God seems very near to us but it is much more difficult to stay strong in our faith in difficult times.  

The final verse of this morning’s scripture shows us just how the the three disciples responded to what they saw on the mountaintop.  They walked down the mountain wondering exactly what Jesus meant when he talked about rising from the dead.  Today, we have a much better understanding of what Jesus meant, but there is still a lot about the will of God that we do not understand.  In Philippians 3:13 Paul reminds us to forget about the past and to not strain toward what lies ahead.  This does not mean that we can sit idle and wait for heaven but it does mean that we must look toward the heavens and seek to know the will of God.  We do not fully understand the will of God, and we never will.  In knowing this, it may seem easy to give up hope but I challenge you to seek the exact opposite.  Our hope is found in each other, it is found in the Church, it is found in loving your neighbor.  

In closing, I encourage all of you to rid yourselves of the veils that keep you from sharing the love of Christ with the world.  I also encourage you to be as thankful for the valleys that you have come through as you are for the mountaintop experiences you have had.  Our faith is not formed after a good sermon, it is formed by helping those who need us most, it is found by seeking God in moments of weakness.  As you go out into the world this week, do so with the understanding that God’s spirit never leaves you even if you wish it has.  Know without a shadow of a doubt that God is always with you and constantly giving you opportunities to spread the message of the Christ.  The more attune you are to the spirit of God, the more you will take advantage of the the opportunities and blessings given to you by God.  Amen.