Mark 9:2-10
Transfiguration
Sunday 2012
It was especially thrilling
when the first preview made its debut. We
had well-hewn visions in our heads for all the book characters, so we were keen
to know how well a big Hollywood casting director would honor our
imaginations. We also brought vivid visions
for the settings in the book and just had to know if this all was going to satisfactorily
translate to the big screen. Anticipation was high about how authentically
the written word would be adapted to a fuller vision of the author’s work.
I’m glad to say we
aren’t disappointed. It looks
fantastically well-done and true to the written narrative. It’s going to be epic. Were we surprised that one of the main characters,
a stylist named Cinna, is being played by rock star Lenny Kravitz? Sure … but Cinna is a very soulful figure in
the story’s very violent superficial world, and Kravitz certainly carries soul in
his manner, his music and his acting (for anyone who saw the movie Precious, he
played Nurse John). Generally,
everything we’ve seen in preview of this dramatic dystopian tale has served its
purpose extremely well – our excitement has been built up along with our
anticipation and impatience. We cannot
wait to experience the full release!
Today is
Transfiguration Sunday. For the
universal Church, this means the Magi-cal season of epiphany is ending and the soul-searching,
sin-wrestling season of Lent is quickly settling upon us. We are moving from awe to ash. We are entering is a designated time to
give extra prayerful attention to the human misery such as is highlighted by
The Hunger Games story. We do so while waiting
for the big, epic release of Easter. We’ve celebrated the birth of Jesus in the
world, celebrated His presence with gift giving, and now in Lent we are about
to walk even more intentionally beside Jesus in his ministry to sin-sick
souls. We will do so on through the
arduous end of his life and into the glorious Good News that will be released
on April 8th.
The transfiguration
account found in today’s lesson from Mark’s Gospel directly inaugurates our
shift into Lent in a very potent way – by giving us a preview.
As with all good
previews, we readers in the audience to this historic event are looking for
authenticity as well as a build-up of excitement for the full big picture. We are not disappointed, nor were the first
disciples.
What immediately strikes
us in this stunning, dramatic preview is Jesus’ appearance. We are told He had climbed a mountaintop
with Peter, James and John. Once there,
we are then informed that the entirety of his sweaty, dirty, simple garb
suddenly transformed into a vision of pure and dazzling white. In
case anyone ever asks you if the Bible mentions bleaching, point them to this
text, for we are told that his clothes were brighter than any bleach on earth
could accomplish!
The purpose of this
bizarre, brilliant display was to give Peter, James and John, and by extension,
to give us, hope. It’s a holy preview of
the coming climax of all history … the time beyond all sinful suffering when
all reality will be fully transformed by our Savior’s powerful, purifying
light. It’s a sneak peak of His ultimate
purpose and eternal glory … a resplendent revelation of resurrection … an
angelic adaptation of the Author of Life’s original plan.
Up to this
magnificent mountaintop point in time, God’s original plan for humanity was
primarily known through the historic, poetic, wise and prophetic writings of the
Old Testament. Those first followers of Jesus had been students
of this Scripture, and so they kept an ear open and kept watch for how His
story developed from God’s word as they knew it best. Given that they were under the oppressive
thumb of the Roman Empire and the agitating Temple authorities, they needed every
assurance that Jesus was authentically who He projected himself to be, that he
was indeed the long-hoped for Messiah.
They had put their entire lives on the line for Him and the hope He
represented.
Peter, James and
John received holy authentication on that day of Transfiguration. It
came not only in the form of the glorious glowing of Jesus, but also by both Moses
and Elijah being present in this miraculous preview. How exactly these two colossally important faith
figures appeared in this vision will always be a holy mystery to us. But
what it meant to Peter, James and John on that mountaintop couldn’t be any clearer. The presence of their greatness pointed the
way to Jesus indeed being the only One to follow on the path to the full
release of God’s plan of salvation. It’s
like they held a sign saying, “Pay attention to this preview, trust in its holy
authenticity, let it fill you with hope for the journey, and the glory will come!”
We read that this
all so overwhelmed Peter (terrified him, really) that he momentarily lapsed
into believing he could set up tents for Moses, Elijah and Jesus to camp out
atop that mountain. He got so lost in
the moment he forgot it was all vision, all preview. But when frightened, overwhelmed, and
confused, don’t we also try to scramble for some measure of security? Even if we some part of us knows it’s
irrational?
Peter had most
likely found himself clinging to the security of a ritual from of one the
Jewish Festivals, called the Feast of the Tabernacles. This was when men and their sons spent time
in temporary huts as a way of remembering the time Israel spent in the wilderness
before being delivered to a promised land.
Perhaps this was Peter’s way of hoping and coping with the fact that the
mountaintop experience wasn’t going to last … that it was going to be a wild,
perilous journey with Jesus before one day being delivered into glory after
Him.
One of the tough
truths about previews is that they are short.
My longed-for time in the futuristic world of The Hunger Games has so
far been limited to two minutes and thirty-six seconds. The preview of Christ’s final full release
also unfolds swiftly. Mark doesn’t give
us to time to linger in it. It quickly progresses from brilliant
brightness to the frightening yet authenticating presence of Moses and
Elijah. And then, just when everything
Peter, James and John ever hoped for was in view, it all got swiftly covered up
by a great cloud.
Fortunately, this
cloud was likely not at all ominous to them.
It was another big and necessary part of the preview, for just as in Old
Testament times, it was a reassuring manifestation of the Almighty that
appeared in a time of confusion and fear.
Through the cloud, and in faith, they somehow heard holy words
identifying Jesus as God’s Son, as the Beloved (the chosen one), whom they must
listen to. And then, just as suddenly as
Jesus was transfigured and they were in the company of faithful legends, they were
suddenly alone again with Jesus.
The preview ends
with Jesus descending from the mystical mountaintop experience. He knew well it was not yet His time to stay
aglow in glory. Vital life-giving
teaching, holy healing, and radical faith revolution had to take place during
the time between preview and full release.
So He descended back into the ash-shaded world. He
came down, as one Bible commentator has nicely stated it, “into the mundane
nature of everyday life … into the nitty-gritty details of misunderstanding,
squabbling, disbelieving disciples … into the religious and political quarrels
of the day … into the jealousies and rivals both petty and gigantic that color
our relationships … down into the poverty and pain that are part and parcel of
our life in this world.”[i] Jesus came down to finish offering the
preview to the Greatest Story Ever Told.
His disciples
descended by his side. After all of that overwhelming, mysterious
revelation, however, they did so with a fresh and powerfully sustaining
hope. The unforgettable memory of the transfiguration
would serve to sustain them as they learned from Jesus, obeyed his
commandments, endured their own suffering in His name, and awaited the full
release of resurrected life.
Where are we
today? We can’t stay atop the mystical mountain
with Jesus either. We who have been
baptized in His name and who commune together around His supper, have to watch
for and trust in and serve Jesus down here.
By grace and through our faith,
we’ll one day experience His full glory, be bathed in that
greater-than-bleached blessed life. Until
then, may our faith journeys be guided by and find great hope in His potent
mountaintop-projected preview. Amen.
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