O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Today we stand as onlookers with Peter and John and James on a special experience - a mysterious experience.
Jesus and three of his disciples had gone to a mountain to pray. The weary disciples at some point fall asleep - but Jesus continues in prayer, he continues to prepare himself for the events that lie just before him, his trip up the road to Jerusalem, his trip towards the cross that he has
told his disciples awaits him in the Holy City.
As Jesus prays something we cannot explain happens to him - his countenance, and even the robe he is wearing, begins to glow until it is a dazzling white.
As the disciples struggle back to consciousness they see Jesus shining, and with him they see two men - Moses the law-giver, and Elijah the prophet - talking with him, and they are full of fright, full of awe, full of joy at what they see.
Peter tries to capture the moment - "Master," he says, "It is good for us to be here, let us make three booths for you and for Moses and Elijah - three tents..." but even as he says this a heavy cloud sweeps over the mountain, obscuring his view - and the view of the other disciples - and
plunging them into fear once more.
And in this cloud - in the midst of this roiling obscurity, this damp and forbidding darkness, Peter and James and John hear a voice; a voice as clear as the light that had just moments before filled the mountain top; a voice as awesome as the thunder that shook Sinai when Moses went to receive the Torah:
"This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him"
And then the moment is over. The cloud vanishes. The sun shines. The birds sing. Jesus stands alone - near to them. The valley below where the other disciples are waiting for them is once more visible...
The scriptures record that the disciples - that James and John and Peter - are told by Jesus not to speak of this experience until after he has been raised from the dead - and presumably they did not.
But the experience that they witnessed, the experience that they were part of, remained with them, until eventually it was recorded in three of the four gospels. It remained with them - and it shaped them - and it became part of them, part of their testimony -part of their witness to who Christ was - to who Christ is.
In the Second Letter of Peter - Peter writes these words:
"We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you
the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been
eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from
God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic
Glory saying, "This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well
pleased." We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we
were with him on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic
message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to
this as to a lamp shining in a dark place - until the day dawns and
the morning star rises in your hearts."
As we come into the season of Lent,- the season where we consider the temptations that assail us, - the season where we contemplate the suffering that we, with Christ, undergo,- the season where we gaze upon both the good and the evil that is in this world -and in our own hearts, I think that we do well to be attentive to this vision, to this experience, in the manner that Peter suggests.
WE do well to attend to the fact that Jesus is more than the person from next door, more than a good friend with whom we can walk and talk, more than a good example for our children and our grandchildren to emulate.
Jesus is the Son of God - the chosen one - the one whom we are commanded to listen to.
Jesus is the Chosen One
- the one who is able to carry us into the presence of God - the one who gives peace
- the one who gives joy
- the one who gives victory over sin and death.
Sometimes I think we forget this.
Sometimes I think we fall into our daily routines without a thought about the divinity that surrounds us, without any real awareness of the power that surrounds us and holds us up. We have business to do, we have people to see, we have kids to move from A to B to C and back again.
And in the bustle - in the hurry - in the work that we do we lose track of where we are going; we lose track of whose we are and what has been promised to those who are attentive to him.
I dare say that everyone here today takes time to talk to God
- that everyone here prays to God on a regular basis,
- that everyone here asks God for his help - if not for yourselves - then
for others.
That is good.
But how many of us here today actually listen to God?
How many of us here in our time of prayer stop talking,
- stop reading,
- stop thinking about what concerns us and simply listen,
- listen to the point where you can hear your pulse beating in your ears
and feel the air moving steadily and strongly in and out of your lungs.
- listen to the point where images began to dance on the back of your
eyelids and the spirit begins to put words upon your hearts,
words that you do not think about -
words that come from somewhere within you -
words of praise and of assurance,
words of guidance and of comfort.
How many of us wait upon the Lord until he answers - until he speaks - until he graces us with a dream or a vision - or a set of words - or an experience wherein his will is revealed to us.
How many of us go apart for a while as did Jesus and as did his disciples - and listen to the wind and the rain - and gaze upon the moon and the stars - and enter into the silence that lies within these things – the silence where the words of Christ are not only remembered - but rise fresh
and new?
A friend of mine some years ago asked the question - how many people actually have the kind of experience or vision like that which is described in today's gospel? And if we do - so what?
I can't say I have had an experience like that of Jesus or the disciples.
My robe has never shone any whiter than it is today, yes, I do have white robes, although I rarely use them - a voice from heaven has never come forth from a cloud in my presence.
But I know my friends from the things that I occasionally see when I stop what I am doing and look and listen to what is happening around me deep within me - that there is a vast and great power operating in this world - an invisible power that manifests itself in startling expressions of love and care - and upon occasion in vivid demonstrations of beauty and of raw power. It is a healing power - a sustaining power – a giving power - one able to bear one through the most horrible of times - one that weeps with me when I sorrow - and holds me when I feel close to despair.
This is my Son, my chosen one, listen to him...
Listen to him - listen to what he said to his disciples the night he was betrayed - "The advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."
Are you afraid today?
Are you troubled?
Then today is a time to step aside for a while, to find the quiet space in which you can pour out your heart to God, to climb the mountain of transfiguration and to fix your eyes upon the fire and the cloud of God's presence, and to pray - and to listen.
Today is the time to allow the ordinary bread and wine of our existence to be held up before God and transformed by his love to become symbol of the body and blood of Christ.
Today is the time to allow the liturgy and the message to be the work and word of God in our hearts.
It is God's will that the glory that came upon Moses as he entered the tabernacle of God's presence in the desert of Sinai be seen by all.
It is God's will that the glory that came upon Jesus as he communed with Moses and Elijah upon the mountain, be known by all.
Each one of us is invited into the tabernacle, each one of us is invited to climb the mountain, each one of us is invited to enter the holy of holies, into the place where God abides and to then carry the light that shines upon us in these places into the world - into the place where not only we see it - but others may see it as well.
As Paul writes in today's epistle reading:
"Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the
Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's
glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
There is a mystery involved in entering into the presence of God, of turning aside and of praying and listening to what he says.
That mystery is not contained in what God says and does, that is meant for all to hear and see, rather it is contained in what God does to us, with us and thru us, as we make ourselves available to him through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Listen to my Son, who I have chosen. Listen to the one whose face not only shone - but his entire being, for in listening we ourselves will be transformed, and God's perfect light will cast out the darkness of sin and death.
Blessed be the God of Moses and Elijah, and Blessed be the name of his Son, Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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