The Necessity of Visibility

Sermon for February 22, 2009 Transfiguration Sunday Mark 9:2-9 A.  Do you remember Harry Potter's Cloak of Invisibility, which he received as a gift in the first movie?  He could throw that cloak over himself and become invisible at critical points in his magical adventures.  Well, science has now come up with a device that works much like Harry's Cloak of Invisibility.  Researchers have demonstrated that they are now able to cloak three-dimensional objects using artificially engineered materials that deflect light waves around the object they cover, like water flowing around a smooth rock in a stream. The key is to keep the light from bouncing back from the object to the human eye, thus keeping it from being seen.   We've all known times we wished we could become invisible.  Like the time we try to say something funny in a large group of people, and nobody laughs, or when our minds go blank in the middle of an oral report at school, or a sales pitch to a client, or when the ball is passed to us at a critical point in the game, and it goes right through our fingers.  Yep, that cloak would've been a nice thing to have at such times!    But alas, God didn't give us a cloak of invisibility!  Rather, God wants His Church and His disciples to wear a Cloak of Visibility, that is, a presence and perspective that reflects the Light of Christ to those around us.  And this morning's passage of Scripture gives us a clue as to our witness!   B.  Now you might be wondering why a passage such as this is read at the end of the Epiphany season.  I guess, if Light is one of the symbols of the season, then this passage certainly has a lot of light in it.  But this story also leads us into Lent, which begins on Wednesday.  What does this story have to do with Lent?   I'm glad you asked!   This morning's passage of Scripture finds Jesus and His disciples continuing their travels in Galilee, making a turn south that will eventually lead to Jerusalem, and there to His suffering and death on a cross.  The Twelve started out their call to follow with enthusiasm way back in chapter 1, but although the Master has performed many great miracles in their presence and taught them many truths about the Kingdom of God, the Twelve just don't seem to get it.  They are even a stumbling block to Jesus' mission at one point!  Earlier in chap. 8, Peter disputes with Jesus about His ultimate fate at the hands of the authorities, and as a result Jesus has to respond, "Get behind Me, Satan.  You do not have in mind the things of God!"  The Transfiguration story serves as a sort of signal flare in the midst of the disciples' clouded vision and yet, as the Gospel unfolds, they continue to misunderstand who Jesus really is and where He is really going.   The story opens with Jesus selecting out of the Twelve three special companions:  Peter, James, and John.  These are Jesus' closest followers, three of the first four called way back in chap. 1.   Here they follow Jesus up a high mountain, set apart from the others and from doing ministry in general.   Mountains in the OT are always places of special divine revelation, because the people of Israel always thought that mountains, being closer to Heaven, were also closer to God.   Ever since Moses received the Ten Commandments atop Mt. Sinai, mountains are the contemporary equivalent of a fax line straight to God. The fact that Jesus has taken them up a mountain would have stirred their anticipation for what would come next.   They didn't have to wait long.  Mark immediately reports that Jesus was "transfigured" before the Disciples.  His clothing became dazzlingly shiny and white.  Both Moses and Elijah appeared and talked with Jesus.  Moses represents the teaching of the Law.  Elijah represents the message of the prophets.  In the midst of all the excitement, a cloud appears and the voice of God comes from it.  Now in the OT, clouds always represent the presence of God; think of how when the Israelites were wandering in the Wilderness after leaving Egypt, they were led by a cloud during the day, symbolizing the presence of God.  "This is my Son, whom I love.  Listen to Him."  God calls Jesus His beloved Son both here and at His baptism in chap. 1.  The demons always recognize Jesus as the Son of God.  But in Mark, people have to experience the cross before they fully comprehend who Jesus is.  Remember, the first time a human being correctly and fully recognizes Jesus for who He is was by a centurion, who when Jesus died, said, "Truly, this man is the Son of God."   Peter's response to the appearance of Moses and Elijah is almost comical.  Peter is scared out of his wits, and you can't blame him for that!!  Stuttering and stammering, trying not to look stupid, Peter says, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.  Let us put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  Some scholars have speculated that Peter's comment might infer that the Transfiguration event occurred around one of the three major Jewish feast days, the Feast of Booths.  Traditionally on this holiday, the faithful Jew would construct crude "booths" and spend time in them, to remember the time God's people wandered in the Wilderness and lived in rudimentary constructions.  Perhaps Peter sought to do this for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, it has been speculated.  There is no way to tell.  But of one thing we can be certain – Peter wanted to prolong the time on the mountain.  It was an amazing experience – why not make this glory-fest last forever?!    But God had no such thing in mind.  As quickly as the commotion appeared, it vanished.  Peter, James and John see no one with them but Jesus.  If we had kept on reading we would have seen that on the trip down the mountain, Jesus underscores that his mission to Jerusalem is indeed an essential part of the glory that has been revealed about him on the Mount of Transfiguration. He orders them not to tell anyone what they have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.  In other words, the full meaning of His glory would not be known, and indeed, could not be understood, before he has been crucified, buried and risen.  Remember, no one in Mark really understands who Jesus is prior to the foot of the Cross.  To know that Jesus is truly the Son of God and Savior of the world, we have to first experience the power of the cross and the Resurrection for ourselves.   C.  Knowing the context of the story is vital for understanding the message Mark is trying to get across about Jesus.  Immediately after rejoining the disciples, Jesus finds the rest of the Disciples embroiled in a controversy.  A boy who is horribly afflicted with epilepsy has been brought to them, and they were unable to heal him.  The boy's father told Jesus that this affliction convulses the child, throwing him into the fire at times, or into the water, trying to kill him.  Jesus cures the child, chastising His disciples for their lack of faith and powerful prayer.  These stories are supposed to be read together.  The Transfiguration is not a glory that can be set apart and enjoyed forever.  It's fine for a time, but eventually we have to go back down into the valley, where the demons dwell, and where illness and pain can be found in abundance.    We started out talking about Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility.   I stated that there are times when we wish we could disappear, so others can't see us.  But as I also said, Jesus wants us to wear a cloak of visibility, a cloak that reflects the love of God into the lives of others.  'A lamp is put on a stand, so it can give light to everyone in the house', Jesus said.  In other words, we are the witness of God's transforming power in a human life.  What God has done for us, God can do for others.   Proof of this is the Resurrection, in which death is overcome, as well as anything in life that opposes the Will of God.  Jesus' transfiguration was a foretaste of what was to come.  Peter, James, and John saw a glimpse of His Resurrection glory.  That is why this passage is a hinge between Epiphany and Lent.  At the Resurrection, each one of these former fishermen would see Christ as Lord and Savior, and it would change their lives.  They stopped fishing for fish.  They started fishing for people.  They lost their lives fishing for people.  But Christ changed the world through them.    So one big area where this passage contacts our lives is that just as Jesus was transfigured into a new form, so our lives can be transformed into new Creations as well.   The Apostle Paul makes this clear:  He calls us "New Creations" of God.  "Behold, the old is past, the new has come."  The power of God is ready and able to change us, right here, right now, if we but give our lives over to Him.  It won't happen all at once, but it will happen.    I for one have seen this in my own life in so many different ways, and I'm sure you have as well.  Sometimes it takes the Divine Two-by-Four to get our attention!  Sometimes the Lord has to knock us off our high horse, so we will allow His changing love into our lives.  But I could tell you story after story after story of one person after another whose life has been changed because of the Resurrection power of Jesus.  I bet you could as well.  And even when trials and tribulations set in, even when God seems to be the furthest away, He is right there, closer than ever.  Sometimes these trials and tribulations that we blame on the inaction or inattention of God are actually levers He uses to open our hearts and let His transforming love in.  You see, when all is well, we tend to pay less attention to God than when all is not well.  Those times where all is not well can be used by God to help us pay more attention to our relationship with Him during the good times.   It has been said that when a Cherokee youth has to go through the rite of passage from boyhood into adulthood, his father would take him into the forest, blindfold him and tell him to sit on a stump and remain there for the whole night, not removing the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shined through it. The youth could not cry out for help to anyone. Once he survived the night, he would be deemed a man. He could not tell the other boys of this experience because all young Cherokee males had to come into manhood on their own in the same manner.  The boy, naturally, would be terrified.  He could hear noises of all sorts. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. A human might even come along to do him harm. The wind would blow the grass and earth, and shake his stump, but the boy would sit stoically, not removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!  Finally, after a horrific night, the sun would appear and the young man could remove his blindfold. Only then would he discover that his father was sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.   We need to notice that the glory of the Lord didn't last forever for the members of the kitchen cabinet.  The same is true of us.  I love to go on retreat – the problems of the day- to-day world are left behind.  I can relax and refresh and not worry.  And don't get me wrong, we all need times like this, to recharge our spiritual batteries.  But eventually, the retreat ends.  Sooner or later, we have to come off the mountain and go back down into the valley.  And as we see in this morning's passage of Scripture, there are no epileptic demons on the mountaintop, but there sure are in the valley.  The valley is where a hungry and hurting world lives.   And so as the transformed people of God, we are called to go back down into the valley.  We may not want to be there all the time (I'd be surprised if we did!), but that is where life is lived, warts and all.  We are called to reflect God's transforming light down in the valley.  It is in the valley that we are called to be Jesus to others.  It is in the valley that our words and our deeds reflect the love of God in Jesus Christ.  We don't have to be magnificent missionaries or powerful preachers!  We simply have to be us, in our own situation, with our own gifts, telling our own story whenever the Lord brings someone to us who needs to hear it.   The founder of the Central City Mission in Jacksonville, Florida, Robert Bateman, was a minister who was not afraid to get his hands dirty in the service of Christ.  Bateman came from England to personally lay the bricks of the mission in the city where drunken sailors poured into bars and houses of ill repute.   While sharing the Gospel, he provided thousands of meals, clothed the needy, visited those in jail and housed the homeless.  He was called "the man who distributed more human sunshine than any other in Jacksonville."  Early in the 20th century, Bateman went to England to study innovations in Christian social work.  On the return voyage to America, he conducted the only religious service aboard a ship of 2,207 people, concluding with his favorite hymn, "Nearer my God to Thee."  That night at 11:45 p.m. the ship Titanic struck an iceberg.  As Bateman escorted his sister-in-law to a lifeboat he said, "Don't be nervous, Annie. This will test our faith. I must stay and let the women go.   If we never meet again on this earth, we will meet again in Heaven." He threw his handkerchief into the descending lifeboat saying, "Put that around your throat. You'll catch cold."  Dr. Bateman collected about 50 men on the stern of the ship and told them to prepare for death. He led them in saying the Lord's Prayer and as the band played his favorite hymn, "Nearer my God to Thee," the great ship slid underwater.   Usually our acts of heroism are less epic, but no less important.  I'm witnessing to the love of God when I pitch a ball with my children, or I listen to a co-worker whose spouse has just left him.  I'm witnessing to the love of God by volunteering in a soup kitchen, or going on a mission trip, or being kind to someone who is not very kind to me.  The Resurrection Power of God is with us always, even in the valley, even in the depths of trouble.  And we are called not only to experience the glory, but to go down into the valley, where the glory is needed.  Amen.           Keith Almond P.O. Box 4388 Leesburg, VA  20177 703-344-3569 almond_keith@yahoo.com