Sermons
Things Happenin’ On The Mountain
BY THERESA MCCONNELL |
FEBRUARY 3 , 2008 (Transfiguration Sunday)
2 Peter 1:16-21 and Matthew 17:1-9
Gospel of Matthew (The Transfiguration)
17Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I* will make three dwellings* here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ 5While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved;* with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ 6When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’ 8And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, ‘Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’
We’ve seen it happen! She walks into the room; his countenance changes. Everything else in the room fades into the background. He only sees her. His eyes gaze upon her with adoration. Everyone in the room notices the glow upon his face. His love transfixes his gaze, transports him to another plane, and transfigures his expression. His absolute dedication is clear! Yet – even this sight gives us but a glimpse into what it must be like to be surrounded by the very presence of God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, who pours out all his love and energy onto Jesus. That moment was amazing – heaven had come to earth.
What a blessing for the disciples. Yet, what terror! In our minds we follow Matthew’s signposts and flip flop back and forth between the Exodus narrative, when Moses’ face is transformed by his encounter with God on the Mountain and the people pull away in fear, and Jesus and the disciples on the mountaintop. They cannot endure the Presence and Moses must veil his face before them. The disciples on the mountain top with Jesus, fall on their knees, covering their faces as the cloud envelops them and they encounter the very presence of God… they see Moses (giver of the law) and Elijah (the great prophet who is to return prior to the Messiah’s coming)—surely the law and prophets are fulfilled in this One, Jesus. We can only imagine what was clear to them: Heaven had come upon the earth in Jesus.
The disciples are told to listen to him…my son! Moses heard the voice of God and went back and forth between the people and the holy place where he met God’s presence. He removed the veil as he entered the tent of the presence and placed the veil back on his face in front of the people. Heaven had come to earth and when listening to the voice of God we approach with unveiled faces.
What do you think it would be like to be walking to the top of a mountain, for a time apart, a time to relax from all the stress of interacting with so many people requesting so much? You make your way around the bend and the next thing you know a bright light is hovering over you; you don’t know if it’s a space craft or what; it simply hovers. Your eyes are drawn to the brilliant, dazzling light. Your heart is pounding. What’s about to happen? Will you be transported somewhere else? What is this? Then you remember hearing something like this in Sunday School and you see Jesus – just like you thought he would look…brilliant, amazing love almost tangible. You do hear the voice: “My beloved Son, listen to him.” A mountain-top experience. You have had been touched in a way that does indeed transform your life. You understand why Peter wanted to mark the place – where heaven had touched the earth – a pivotal point.
Your experience may have been during a particularly moving time of worship when the music touched you or the time of quiet prayer allowed God to change your perspective. The experience may have been some time ago, but it has become a pivotal point in your life. From that time on you were different. From that time on you knew the love and joy of God had actually moved in your life in a way that gave you a new identity. You knew from that time that you were a BELOVED CHILD OF GOD.
Perhaps, the time you experienced the transforming power of God is when you were profoundly suffering like a friend shared with me. She learned that her 30-something year old daughter had cancer. She had a double mastectomy. The mother, my friend, cried for days; worrying; wondering about the fate of her young grandchildren; she just felt like she would go crazy. “Finally, I fell on my knees beside the bed and said, ‘Lord, you just have to take this from me…I cannot continue this way.’” Jesus did lift her burden and she is able to have the strength to do what is necessary each day: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Being lifted up on the mountain top of peace in the midst of the unknown, the frightening, the terrifying … is transfiguration.
The very Son of God has passed our way…pulled us up…given us new life. Don’t forget to live from the pivotal point in your life…that place that you know yourself as a forgiven, loved, blessed Child of the Almighty God.
Know that as we move into this season of Lent, this time of preparing our hearts to experience again the resurrected Christ, the mountain top experiences come to us in the everyday moments of life when we serve where ever God has called us.
When she called her minister to come to the hospital, she had just received the worst possible news from her physician. The cancer had returned with a vengeance, and there was nothing more that could be done. Her time was now a matter of weeks -- or days. When her minister arrived, she shared the sad news and made her request, "I want you and some of the elders of the church to come here and, like the Book of James says, to pray for me and to anoint my head with oil."
The minister, a Presbyterian and unaccustomed to the ritual of unction, was startled by this request. "I'm not sure I can do this," he hesitated. "It seems more like magic than ministry."
She gripped his hand, "No. I am going to die. I know I am going to die. The doctors have made that clear. I am never going to leave this hospital alive."
"Then why do you want me to anoint you with oil?"
"Because it will be a sign that death is not the last word about me, a sign that I belong to Christ, a sign that in the power of God I am already healed."
So, around her bedside gathered her minister and a few others from the church. Long ago, when she was an infant, another minister had prayed over her, laid his hand upon her head and said the ancient words, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." Now, prayer was offered for her anew, hands were laid on her head again and the sign of the Holy Spirit was traced in oil upon her forehead. Here in the depths of her pain was a moment of transfiguration discernment. She -- and everyone else in the room -- remembered her baptism and glimpsed, even in the midst of her suffering, the glory of her resurrection. (Thomas G. Long, A Sign That Death Is Not the Last Word, Whispering the Lyrics, CSS Publishing Company, esermons.com illustrations for Matthew17:1-13).
Might you be present at every opportunity we gather as Church so that in your openness to God and in your time of preparing your heart to receive God’s goodness, you might be transported to the mountaintop, that you might re-experience the transforming power of God, that the brilliant light might shine upon you and make you whole so that even in the midst of suffering and perplexity you might glimpse anew your own resurrection After all, on the mountain top a bit of heaven comes to earth.
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