Sermon from February 11, 2024 by the Rev. Brett Gudeman
MARK 9:2-8
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 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.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
Who is Jesus? This fundamental question is one we must meditate on every day and as we prepare for the Lenten season it becomes more pertinent than ever. Who is Jesus? And why does Jesus matter in my life? The disciples are asking that question even being with Jesus. Throughout Scripture, we are given stories, revelations, truths, and moments of understanding about who Jesus is: We are told, and we are shown that he is our Lord and Savior, he is the light of the world, he comes bringing peace and Good News, he is the resurrection and the life, he is hope, that he is grace. But all of the teachings in Scripture become unimportant if we cannot answer the question, who is Jesus, and what does this mean for my life?
In the transfiguration, we are given another powerful glimpse into who Jesus Christ is. The writer of Mark places this transfiguration story at the halfway point in the gospel. It is in the very middle of the book. It is as if the writer of Mark is telling the story of Jesus, and he pauses here halfway through, and says, let’s make sure everyone listening gets what is happening. Peter, James, and John are taken up onto the Holy Mountain, Mt Sinai also called Mt. Horeb; it is the mountain where God was revealed to the Israelites through giving the law to Moses; it is the place where God spoke to the prophet Elijah when Elijah was terrified for his life, and he needed guidance, the Holy mountain holds a special place in the culture of Israel for it is a place where God reveals Godself to both communities as well as individuals.
The four friends ascend the mountain, and it must have been with expectation. Expectation for God’s revelation. And they were not disappointed because on the top of the mountain something terribly magnificent happens. Jesus glows and shines, a cloud envelopes them, visions or spectors of people from the past- great patriarchs of the faith appear, it’s a truly terrifying scene that we need to grasp the full power of it... Has anyone ever been caught in a coming thunderstorm? Where the sky turns dark and you don’t have adequate shelter? The clouds move at such a rapid pace, the winds howl in your ears, and rain comes down with such ferocity that you feel the power of nature around you. Picture all that happening, and then you look, and your friend is glowing white in the midst of it; it is a terrifying, confusing scene; this is what the disciples were seeing, it is why Peter speaks without knowing what to say. But, we usually assuage or ease the scene to make it more palatable, to fit into the world we have constructed. Kathy Gilmore, our Christian education director, told me that once when she was telling this story to some of our kids, and one little boy said, woah, ms kathy you need to slow down because you are freaking me out. And they get it! That little boy understands that something magnificent is happening in the transfiguration!
Jesus is being revealed as the bridge, the connection, the point where heaven and earth meet. Often we think of heaven as in the sky and earth is this thing we walk around on, but heaven is where God resides, and in Jesus Christ, we have heaven, God’s presence breaking into the world, all joy, wonder, power, might, love, grace, they burst into the world through Jesus Christ.
The transfiguration is a stunning scene, it's what we want our Jesus to look like, powerful and shining, magnificent up on the mountaintop. But, there is a call not just to observe Jesus, to not only worship him in his radiance but to listen to him. This is the command from heaven breaking into the world, affirming Jesus as the Beloved Son of God, but also with a command for all of us to listen to what Jesus tells us. And so we ask the question, what does Jesus tell us?
Right before this passage, and also immediately after, Jesus tells us he will die, that he will suffer, and that his disciples must take up their crosses and follow him. It is quite a terrible contrast. We have Jesus, the beautiful, powerful, Son of the King standing on the mountaintop, and we have Jesus at the foot of the mountain, telling us he must die, that he must suffer, and we must follow him in this suffering. I don’t know about the rest of you but I prefer the Jesus in glory on the mountaintop.
But Jesus, Jesus is both, the Son of God and the suffering servant. He his the King of the world and a carpenter’s son. Jesus Christ is the intersection of the Holiness of God and the profane of the earth, the worldly and the heavenly, the divine and the human, Jesus is that the connection between us and all that is good— meaning God. God is love, and love is incarnate in the world through the person of Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus? Jesus Christ is love incarnate in our lives and we have been commanded by God to follow the voice of Love, and to follow Jesus Christ means we will experience suffering, that we must bear our own crosses because to love is to open ourselves up to the vulnerability of being hurt.
The moments I have known love are so closely tied to difficulty. I think about moments in a hospice room, praying with a family, praying for comfort, and sharing words of gratitude for the life of the mother, or father, or even child in the hospice bed. There is a heaviness of the world— the heaviness of death, but there is also the lightness of love, the lift of resurrection, the hope of God’s love in the world.
I think about the time my child was born and it is a whirl of all the feels- anxiety, fear, for myself- helplessness, for my wife pain; it is a torrent of emotions- most of them negative until that child comes and relief, joy, and love flooded out of myself. Love exists in the crucible of life, and to follow Jesus Christ up the mountain and back down again, to listen to him, means we must engage in the scandalous work of love at all times.
To love someone means you are opening yourself up to the pain of loss if they move away, or if they die. To love others means to give up time to yourself so that you can be present with others when they are experiencing pain. To love a community means you will put the benefit of the whole before your own wants and desires. Just as we minimize the terror of the transfiguration, sometimes we minimize the terror to love and to be loved. For to be loved means to be intimately known, to allow someone else to help you; love is such a powerful force, and there is no better example of love than Jesus Christ.
Who is Jesus? Jesus Christ is love born into the world. Love for us to follow, love for us to experience and love for us to participate in. Thanks be to God. Amen.