Last Sunday after the Epiphany
February 15, 2015
Title: Living Out Loud with Transformation
Cross~Wind UMC
Going deeper
We have
been talking about living out loud in a variety of ways over the past few
weeks. I have been suggesting that in our culture, living out loud is simply a
way of making sure that our conversation and way of life is distinctive. As the
culture moves further away from biblical and Christian influence, it will call
upon us to remain firm.
At the same
time, I do not want anyone to misunderstand. Living out loud calls for
transformation. I want to discuss with you two ways in which we need to
consider transformation to take place.
First, our view of Jesus needs
transformation. To explore this notion, let us turn to a classic text in Mark
9:2-9. We call this the story of the transfiguration of Jesus. It anticipates
the resurrection of Jesus in that it discloses the meaning and goal of the life
of Jesus. The story is a crucial step in the revelation of the identity and
mission of Jesus. It offers a glimpse into the true nature of the Messiah.
Jesus and his disciples are making a bold turn that will lead them to Jerusalem
and the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. “2 Six days later,” that is, after Peter made his
affirmation that Jesus the Christ, “Jesus
took with him Peter and James and
John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves.” On a high
mountain, Moses received the legal code (Exodus 34:29ff); on a mountain Solomon
built the Jerusalem temple. Biblically speaking, mountains are the contemporary
equivalent of a fax line straight to God. The fact that Jesus has taken them up
a mountain should stir their anticipation for what will come next. “And he was transfigured before them, 3 and
his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4
And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with
Jesus.” In other words, Jesus' body is completely taken up into a vision.
Not only is Jesus' bodily presence radically transformed; there is the amazing
presence of both Moses and Elijah "talking with" the transfigured
Jesus. Moses and Elijah together
represent the testimony of all Scripture‑‑both the Law and the Prophets‑‑about
Jesus' true messianic identity. “5 Then 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.” 6 He did not know what to say,
for they were terrified.” Peter's response to the vision of Jesus, Moses,
and Elijah is yet another example of his incomplete understanding of who Jesus
is as the Christ. It is true that Peter's suggestion seems to imply that he
wished to sustain the magic of the moment by building shelters for the
transfigured Jesus and his two comrades, Moses and Elijah. It is possible
Peter’s response is related to Amos 9:11-12, where the booths of David refer to
the dwellings that would have been used by David’s armies when on a successful
campaign. Are Peter’s booths his
suggestion of temporary housing for some messianic army God will send, an army
headed by Jesus, Moses and Elijah? Of
course, the mission of Jesus could not be carried out from the
mountaintop. It had to be completed on a
cross on top of a garbage heap. However, it may be that we give Peter less
credit than he deserves. The Jewish people built booths during the festival of
booths or tabernacles. A family would live for eight days in these temporary
structures. It was the Jewish holiday of sukkot. If so, Peter would have known
that they could not live in this temporary structure on the mountain. Yet, if
they could stay just a little while and absorb it all. He simply wanted to do something
to commemorate this event. He wants to take it all in. “7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there
came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’” The voice that
descends on this mountaintop gathering is intended to be the same as that which
spoke at Jesus' baptism (Mark 1:11). At the baptism event, however, the voice
is directed only toward Jesus. Here the voice's message is clearly directed
toward the disciples. The message spoken by this heavenly voice has two parts. It
clearly articulates Jesus' divine identity‑‑"This is my Son, the
Beloved"‑‑but then goes on to give the disciple‑witnesses a precise
command: "Listen to him." “8
Suddenly 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.” In other words,
the full meaning of his glory will not be known before he has been crucified,
buried and risen. Jesus' mission as the Christ has a purpose, and that purpose
is the full manifestation of the power of God's love in the endurance of human
suffering and the defeat of the powers of sin and death through the cross and
resurrection.
God does not make the mountains in
order to be inhabited. God does not make the mountaintops for us to live on the
mountaintops. It is not God's desire that we live on the mountaintops. We only
ascend to the heights to catch a broader vision of the earthly surroundings below.
But we don't live there. We don't tarry there. The streams begin in the
uplands, but these streams descend quickly to gladden the valleys below.[1]
Application
Our popular
culture has seen 2014 be the year of the transformers, but they also came in
2007, 2009, and 2011. These are shape-shifting super robots. Four films made
3.6 Billion. Reviewers have not been thrilled, but people still go. Tractors
and cars become superhero machines.
But perhaps what intrigues us most
about Transformers is the transforming itself. There's magic and allure to the
idea of something so basic and familiar becoming something so powerful, so
mysterious and so downright awesome. It makes us see the world around us, just
for a second, as filled with new and exciting potential.
What if my car wasn't just a car?
What if my desk wasn't just a desk?
What if my toaster wasn't just a
toaster?
That would be an interesting world!
The tagline for the toys and films
is, "More than meets the eye."
Is that not
true of Jesus as well? What if my rabbi is not just a rabbi?
Maybe it is
good for us as well to revisit this passage. It might be that we as disciples
need this transfiguration of Jesus to occur in our lives.
Some of us
have transformed Jesus into a political trump card to support our ideas.
Some have
transformed Jesus into a “genie for the faithful.” If you just pray enough,
believe enough, or try hard enough, Jesus will grant your wish.
Maybe we
have transformed Jesus into a first century philosopher or religious guru.
For good
reason, then, we revisit this familiar passage. We might need to consider the
false pictures of Jesus we have developed.
On this day, a Sunday in the church
year we call Transfiguration Sunday, we remind ourselves of who Jesus is. Every
once in a while we need him to bust out of whatever box we have placed him
into, transform into his glorious self, and remind us that he is the one true
God.
Going deeper
II Corinthians 4:3-6 offers another
dimension of the transformation involved in living out loud. This scripture is a small part of an
extensive defense of the ministry of Paul that extends from Chapter 3-7:1. “3
And even if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing. The clause in Greek is “concessive,” which means something like, “For
the sake of argument, let us assume …” Paul confronts
the reader with what must seem a quite unexpected admission, namely, “our
gospel is veiled.” 4 In
their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to
keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God. [It
reminds us of the argument in Ephesians 6:12, where we do not struggle against
enemies of blood and flesh, but the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers of this
present darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
places. Further, the likeness of God in the human form found manifestation only
in Jesus Christ. In Christ alone we see that our destiny of fellowship with God
is the point of the divine likeness. Christian theology must read the Old
Testament about our divine likeness in the light of such statements in which
Paul calls Jesus Christ is the image of God. Such a statement that Christ is
the image of God has in view a closeness to God that goes beyond the divine
likeness grounded in creation.[2]] 5 For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ
as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.” The church is not always a clear sign and
representation of what has already dawned in Jesus Christ. The divine rule of
the church is often distorted to the point of unrecognizability. One may find
justifiable grounds on which to remain aloof from the church. Some who remain
aloof do so out of disenchanted longing for the kingdom of God that they no longer
see in the life of the church.[3]
Further, one might have expected, in keeping with the spirit of this age, that
a glorious gospel would have marvelous benefits for those who receive it.
Rather than power, prestige, perhaps even wealth and the like, Paul’s ministry
is as “slaves for Jesus’ sake,” that is, continuing the ministry
of servanthood rather than lordly domination that Christ himself had
already begun.
“6 For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has
shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ.” The
true God, as opposed to the false god of this world, is the one “who said, ‘Let
shine out of darkness.’” Although not a direct quotation of either the Hebrew
or Greek Septuagint of Genesis 1:3, the particular expression “out of” as
contrasted to a possible “let light shine in darkness.” One might compare other
passages.
Isaiah 9:2
The people who walked in darkness have
seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness-- on them light
has shined.
Isaiah 58:10
if you offer your food to the hungry and
satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
Micah 7:8
Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; when I
fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.
The phrase
alludes to the creation story. What one needs to lift the veil and allow the
light to reach those who are perishing is a new creation, a new age that will
free them from the influence of this world-age. So it is that the God who
brought light to the primordial darkness has shined in our hearts. Those whom
God enables to see the light of divine glory shining through the human Jesus
and his ministry have the veil lifted from their eyes that would obscure the
truth of the gospel, and so are saved from perishing.
Application
The point here, of course, is that you
and I may need transformation.
Laypersons as well as preachers at times suffer from
ecclesiastical burnout. The boredom of endless meetings, the routine of
the same old faces and the same old conversations, the feeling of not being
needed (or of being too heavily depended on), the changing configuration of
their families, and a weariness with years of struggling push parishioners into
sabbatical leaves. This text, first, gives a realistic appraisal of the
mission of the church. It faces real opposition. Paul follows this
by a reaffirmation of the church's message and believers' place in it.
Lastly, Paul brings the rationale for hope to the level of personal
experience. It is precisely in the midst of life, at times routine and at
times fragile, that one knows the divine splendor.
The British writer and humorist,
Maximillian Beerbohm (1872-1956), has a story called “The Happy Hypocrite.” It
is a sort of parable. The main character is a notoriously self-centered
individual, named — appropriately enough — Lord George Hell. After many years
of overindulgence in pleasures of the flesh, Lord George is a wreck of a man —
as can be seen most clearly in his face, which is bloated and unhealthy
looking. Something happens one day that changes George’s life forever. He sees
a beautiful young woman and falls in love. It is a singularly pure attraction
for such a corrupt and degenerate man. With every good intention, he wants to
make her his wife — but he knows she would never accept his offer if she knew
what he really was like. There is an element of magic to this story. Lord
George Hell puts on the mask of a saint to hide his sinner’s face. As far as
anyone knows, he is a kind and virtuous man. He courts the young woman and
marries her. They live happily together. That is, until a woman shows up from
George’s past. The mask does not fool her. She knows the man underneath it (or
thinks she does). One day, in the presence of George’s wife, she confronts him
and tears off his mask, expecting to reveal the bloated, pockmarked face of the
old degenerate. What she reveals is something quite different. The mask was
magical in many ways. Behind the mask of a saint is now the face of a true
saint — the saint Lord George Hell has become, by wearing the mask.
Conclusion
If we are going to live out loud for
Jesus, we may well need to look again who Jesus is. The season of Lent is a
time when we will do that in a variety of ways. Who is Jesus in your life? If
we are going to live out loud for Jesus, our lives may need to undergo a
transformation.
I am inviting you to read the Gospel
of Mark this week. It will not take long. Familiarize yourself with whole story
of Jesus.
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