Psalm
99, Matthew 17:1-9
Transfiguration
Sunday
I think the disciple Peter wanted to
avoid experiencing what a Princeton seminary professor has identified as “Ascension
Deficit Disorder.”[i] I said, “ascension” not “attention.” I’m not referring to the psychological
condition in which a person becomes very easily distracted and is thus unable
to pay attention to details that help organize and prioritize their life activities. I’m
referring to the other side of Lent and Easter, to the report of our Risen Lord’s
body being lifted up into the clouds.
What would it have been like to stand there in
that moment? I imagine mouths gaped
wide open in wonder as all eyes gazed upward.
I believe this likely went along with an undercurrent of anxiety about
what was to happen next. But if you or
I had been there, we also would have received a holy message calling on us to
have complete trust that Jesus was still going to be present with all his
disciples through the Holy Spirit, that the promised future with him was firmly
set in place and divinely guaranteed. We’d have been told to get on with being witnesses
to his redeeming love to the ends of the earth.
So paying undivided attention to
the ascension is all about being disciples free to faithfully concentrate on
the here and now no matter what we are living through.
But throughout the centuries countless
disciples have instead experienced a deficit in their attention to the
ascension. They’ve been unable to hold
fast to the anchoring, empowering vision of God’s promised future in Jesus
Christ. Instead of living faithfully
courageous lives trusting in that this is real and in the process of happening,
they have instead lived anxiously. They’ve
felt lost and alone, without hope, “stymied and stressed, straining to make
sense of the future’s cloudy uncertainty.”[ii]
I believe there are many times we
can count ourselves in this crowd. Afflicted
with this spiritual ADD, we succumb to the tendency to act as though the future
God has planned and promised in Jesus Christ is more a “fairy tale.” The ascension therefore can seem “more like
the floaty exit of Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz” than the holy view
of our Lord’s redeeming reign over and upon the earth as it is in heaven.
This brings me back around to Peter
as he stood atop the mountain on the day of the Transfiguration, on the day
when the ultimate vision about the glorious, victorious power of Jesus as Lord
of all the past, present and future was on full, radiant display. This was a holy preview of life beyond the
resurrection and ascension. It was meant
to prepare and give Peter courage and confidence for the very tough journey with
Jesus that lay ahead, the journey of coming down off the mountain, the journey
of sacrifice and suffering on the way to the salvation of the world.
It seems, however, Peter’s initial
inclination was to stay put and keep his head in the clouds … to stay camped
out in the comfort and security of this resplendent vision of Jesus’
power. It seems he wanted to prolong avoiding
what was necessarily going to happen after coming down the mountain. It’s
helpful here to recall how Matthew’s Gospel recounts that Peter had been right
to confess Jesus as the Messiah, but very wrong in his panicked resistance to
Jesus’ telling him how this was to be fulfilled. He likely wanted to dodge having to deal
with the inner and outer sinful conflict to come, especially with his being
unable to stay faithfully focused on trusting in the transfigured, transcendent
glory of Jesus.
But then the voice of God the Father
boomed from beyond the clouds saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I
am well pleased. Listen to him!” And then this was followed by the carpenter’s
son from Nazareth -- all changed back to sand-covered clothes -- giving a
reassuring touch to Peter, James and John in their state of panic while
commanding them to, “Get up, do not be afraid.” They knew it was time to go. There would be no getting to the glory
without first trudging through the trenches of sin. And they knew they were expected to have steadfast
hope, courage, and radical trust in Jesus every step of the way, to hold fast
to the vision of God’s peaceful, beautiful future in Jesus even as the world
actively worked to kill it.
And as they were descending, Jesus,
in effect, told his closest disciples – “Now, don’t go telling everyone about
how you got a glimpse of my glory. They
won’t understand until after Easter. I’ve
got to first show the world what my kingdom is about.” And that he did on down the mountain,
showing himself again and again as the ultimate lover of justice, establisher
of equity, forgiver of sins.
As we enter this holy season of
Lent, we need to be reminded that Jesus is absolutely Lord of all. It’s healthy
to move ahead through the next forty days with a mountaintop vision before us. Where there is no prophetic vision we people
perish, right? (Proverbs 29:18) And by all means, Lent should be a time to
hold any Ascension Deficit Disorder within us in check – by doing so we can
securely enter this season of delving ever more deeply into and repenting from
the sin within ourselves and across this world.
Yet, like Peter, isn’t our first
inclination to want to delay or even totally skip this part? Aren’t we more comfortable camping out with
the Easter Jesus than struggling to walk with the Cross-heavy weight of sin alongside
the Lenten Jesus? With singing “Jesus
Christ is Risen Today” without having to hum along with “Jesus Walked This
Lonesome Valley”?
Yes, I believe so. This is all the more reason to pay serious,
close, prayerful attention to the sacred, somber journey ahead. Greater understanding of all that Jesus
rescues us and the all of Creation from builds our hope and trust in the vision
of how he transfigures it all and keeps transforming the world with his redeeming
love. We’ll gain a broader perspective
of why we are Christians and what it means to be a congregation. Here in worship, especially through special
candle lighting litanies, we will do so by exploring themes of resistance,
trust, responsibility, repentance and forgiveness.
Today we begin this descent from the
mountaintop by sharing in our most holy meal together, hosted by our Lord
dressed in pure, dazzling white. Our
sharing in his Supper will strengthen us for our Lenten journey. It will fill us with a tangible reminder
that we not only walk with Jesus, but through the Holy Spirit we are his body
and blood on earth. So let’s come on
down the mountain together. Glorious
vision is before us to secure us in our sojourn to Easter morning. Amen.
2 comments:
Thank you for making your sermons available for re-reading and for times when we can't attend service.
Thank you for making your sermons available for re-reading and for times when we can't attend service.
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