Scripture Lesson
From the Book of Psalms, Chapter 50:
A Psalm of Asaph.
1The mighty one, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
3Our God comes and does not keep silence,
before him is a devouring fire,
and a mighty tempest all around him.
4He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5‘Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!’
6The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge.
Selah
From the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 9:
2 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, 3and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5Then 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.’ 6He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ 8Suddenly 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.
"The Path of Discipleship"
A
Sermon Preached by
Mr. Steve Aucella
at
the First
Congregational Church of Stoughton
United
Church of Christ
The great twentieth-century philosopher, Groucho Marx, once said, “Time flies like an arrow, and fruit flies like a banana.” Just a month ago, we were talking about Jesus’ baptism. A month before that, it was Advent and Christmas. Now we’re preparing for Ash Wednesday. It’s the nature of the church calendar to take us straight from the beginning to the end first, and then fill in the rest of the story after that. Today’s reading stands as a transition between Epiphany and the Lenten season.
Today’s readings include a psalm that tells us that God will judge and God will act. The first line in the original Hebrew uses three different names for God – El; Elohim; and YHWH – in order to emphasize God’s authority to summon the heavens and the earth. God “calls to the heavens above and to the earth.”
This authority, this summoning, is echoed in our Mark reading today about the “Transfiguration” of Jesus; in Greek, “metamorphoses,” a change in form, a transformation.
Jesus leads his inner circle – Peter, James, and John – up a high mountain. During the moment of the transfiguration, Jesus and his clothes shine with an unearthly dazzling white light, a glimpse of the glory of God among humans.
Then the disciples see Jesus with Moses and Elijah in sort of a summit conference. Mark has already embodied Elijah in John the Baptist. Moses had to climb Mount Sinai twice to bring YHWH’s message to the people. Jesus meeting with these two prophets of the Old Testament provides continuity to the “old story.” They are all part of the heavenly realm. But the disciples don’t quite understand what they are seeing. Peter is mystified. He thinks they are there to say goodbye to Jesus and it makes sense to him that they should build three shelters, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Peter still did not know the truth about Jesus. But then a cloud – the grace of the Holy Spirit – overshadows them all, protects them all, and calls Jesus the Beloved Son. “Listen to Him” – because Jesus speaks for God.
The glory of God among humans. Seven verses that cover a lot of ground. In the eighth and final verse, they go back down the mountain and Jesus orders the disciples to tell no one what they have seen, “until after the Son of Man had risen from among the dead.” The disciples weren’t quite sure what “rise from the dead” might mean. They understood the concept of a general resurrection at the end of time, but could not understand that Jesus would be killed and raised from the dead. But now they all have a secret.
So what has really happened here? It’s a struggle to find meaning in this reading.
Everyone went up a mountain; Jesus reveals himself in the form of God; Jesus the Eternal One and the three disciples all see the eternal figures of Moses and Elijah; the Holy Spirit declares Jesus as the Beloved Son; and they all go back down the mountain. The revelation notwithstanding, Jesus, in the eyes of the disciples, remains Jesus. Where is the metamorphosis? Who is transformed?
Legend has it that when Columbus’ three tiny ships appeared off the coast of the New World in 1492, the indigenous peoples on land failed to register the reality of these alien vessels for three or four days. They just couldn’t “see” them. Nothing had ever prepared them for a sight like that and they just couldn’t process the information.
Modern day fighter pilots use dozens of different information systems during normal flight, but in battle, they turn everything off except for the one or two systems they really need in order to fight effectively. They can only take in so much.
What did the disciples see? Could they process, in just a few minutes, that they had seen God revealed in human form? Could any of us come to such an understanding so quickly? They were terrified. The disciples gain a glimpse of what is to come. It could be that that glimpse is what caused their terror.
And why did they go up the mountain in the first place? Mark doesn’t tell us. We can only imagine that the journey was part of a plan. Jesus was and remained Jesus. He needed no transformation just as He needed no baptism. But the disciples, perhaps, did. I believe they were the ones transformed; they were changed. They came down off that mountain with a new belief, a new understanding of who Jesus was and what would eventually befall Him. And they couldn’t say anything about it.
Jesus called people to Him. “Follow me,” he said. Peter, James, and John – the inner circle of discipleship – followed Jesus to the mountaintop. We have been invited into the story, to become new disciples, to go up that mountain too. The Holy Spirit tells us, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
The transfiguration links the whole of Jesus’ ministry from baptism to death and resurrection. That’s the path for Jesus, a path He invites us to walk with Him. Jesus’ way must become the disciple’s own way and our own way.
Can we go beyond what we know and truly live by faith and with a belief in the truth of Jesus? Are we prepared to walk the path of discipleship with open hearts and open minds? It’s not a secret any more. When we come down off the mountain, when we can see the ships offshore, so to speak, we will find ourselves transformed into a new life with Jesus.
Amen.
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