February 23, 2020

 February 23, 2020            Matthew 17:1-9                Exodus 24:12-18               2 Peter 1:16-21

                Our family enjoys going camping almost every summer.  We have to be thinking ahead to be sure to get a reservation.  I have my camping checklist that we use and perfect every year.  We try to spend about 4 nights.  If we’re going to go through all the trouble to pack and travel and prepare, we might as well stay a few nights, but I find 5 is too many for me.  We car camp.  We pack our Subaru to the top and put the car carrier up top and fill it too.  We like our luxuries—our air mattress, our cheese grater, you get the idea.  Although our tent belonged to my husband’s family when he was a kid.  It is patched and we always bring a tarp, because it is bound to leak.  First thing, when we pull into our camping spot, we find a place without rocks or roots and get out the tent and start pounding the tent stakes in.

                Peter and James are having a surprise trip, this Sunday to the top of the mountain.  By mountain they don’t mean Mt. Rainier.  It’s more like a tall hill or butte—something that a team of 4 can climb in a half a day.  They aren’t as prepared as I like to be.  I’m not that fond of surprises, especially during vacation.  For example, when my husband tried to plan a surprise getaway for our 20^th wedding anniversary, I pestered him with questions to the point that he gave away the secret in complete disgust.  I still rave about our “surprise” anniversary trip—to Crater Lake in Oregon—a place I had never been before.  That’s exactly the amount of surprise I like on vacation, good or bad.

                So they are following Jesus.  Maybe they were proud to be picked out of the group of 12—just them.  Maybe the other disciples were jealous or maybe glad they didn’t have to climb that steep hill for hours on end.  Then, suddenly, Jesus’ appearance changed.  The Bible says Jesus was transfigured.  It is the same word for metamorphosis.  He was different.  But I wonder, was he always like that, but suddenly the disciples could see it?  Maybe it was the thin mountain air, or being closer to the sun.  I like to try to explain things.  Thousands of years before, another man had been transfigured on his trip on a mountain.  For him, it was proximity with God that made his face glow.  Of course, we’re talking about Moses.  Remember I mentioned in January that Matthew has a fixation with trying to tie Jesus’ story in with the Moses story?  Here is another alignment.  The two have glowing faces on a mountain. 

                Then Moses and Elijah appear!  Jesus is conversing with them.  He is communicating with them.  They seem to be friends—well acquainted.  This conversation assumes agreement, approval.  Jesus has the ear of Moses, who gave the law, and Elijah, the prophet who spoke God’s truths when people were going astray.  Or maybe Moses and Elijah have Jesus’ ear.  There is continuity between the past and the present.  This story is all one story of God’s people.

                Peter, as usual, is befuddled.  He starts interrupting.  He’s got a brilliant idea.  He’s going to set up some tents.  He’s going to start pounding in those tent stakes.  He’s found a good place for them to stop and stay and camp.

                I can totally relate to Peter.  When I find something good, I want to stay for a while.  I am currently looking for those favorite restaurants and friends and situations that make me feel comfortable and good.  I will find those people and places and I will start pounding in the tent stakes, because I want to stay.

                Churches pound in tent stakes, too.  We find ministries that seem to work, and we pound in the tent stakes.  We find songs we like and we pound in the tent stakes.  We find our people and we pound in the tent stakes.  We find our favorite seat and we pound in the tent stakes.  We find what we’re good at and we mark out our territory and we pound in the tent stakes.  Then we stay put.

                Peter’s plans were not God’s plans, however.  Peter wanted to define Jesus and Moses and Elijah and their ministry going forward.  He wanted to stay where it was amazing and safe and it seemed there was a lot of approval and Jesus was glowing and powerful.  Peter probably felt powerful, too, as shown by his enthusiasm and bright ideas for tents.

                Instead, God’s powerful voice thunders around them, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”  These are the words spoken at Jesus’ baptism.  They are bookend statements at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and now as we head into Lent, and as Jesus heads down the mountain and to Jerusalem and the cross.  Jesus is not someone to be kept on a mountain in a tent.  This is God’s Son—bigger than Peter’s happiness, unable to be contained.  This is God’s beloved—words that Jesus and the Disciples are going to need, words they are going to doubt as Jesus is betrayed and arrested and killed.  How many times as the Pharisees try to trap him, as people argue about who he is, as he predicts his death, as he suffers on the cross, do they think back to this moment and wonder how he got from here to there?  How many times do they rely on this vision to give them strength?  How many times do they compare their fear of the religious and political authorities to their fear at hearing this voice that is telling the truth about who Jesus is on the mountaintop? How many times do they wonder if they imagined this mountaintop moment, if it was just a dream?  Peter had been feeling powerful, next to the transfigured Christ.  Now he feels powerless and falls on his face at the powerful voice of God.

                God tells Peter and us, to listen to Jesus.  If we do, we put aside our own wishes and dreams of who Jesus might be.  We put aside our expectations that he will destroy all our enemies.  We put aside our ideas of Jesus as the one who is going to ensure our material success.  We put aside the Jesus who lets us pound in our tent stakes and stay on the mountain away from all our troubles.  We put aside the Jesus who lets us stay in our comfortable ministries and comfortable church building.

                And Jesus understands our fears at the prospect of heading back down that mountain.  He goes to Peter and touches him.  It is a very comforting touch.  This touch tells him that Jesus is with him.  It grounds them in reality.  More than the vision and the words, I bet Peter takes that comforting touch of Jesus with him as they descend the mountain.  We, too, receive the touch of Jesus, when we shake each other’s hands at the sharing of the peace, and when we receive his body and blood in Holy Communion.  Touch is so important.  Before we can see very well, we have the sensation of touch.  When people are dying, they may not hear or see or taste so well, but the touch of a hand can be comforting.  Touch is important all our lives long.  To back up this touch, Jesus uses a phrase used often in the scriptures, “Do not be afraid.”  With his words and touch, he’s communicating that there is nothing to fear.  Peter is not alone.  We are not alone.  Jesus is with us, we don’t have anything to fear.

                The other thing Jesus says is, “Get up.”  Another way to say this is, “Be raised. Be resurrected.”  Peter and James and John will never be the same after this encounter with God and this vision of Jesus as he really is.  They have fallen on their faces in fear.  Now they are invited to be resurrected.  They are invited to live a resurrection life.  Life is different now that they see how things really are.  That doesn’t mean life will be easy.  They go down to the foot of the mountain and immediately the other disciples are upset because they haven’t been able to heal anyone, but some strangers have been able to provide healing.  Jesus is annoyed.  As they head to Jerusalem, they will be questioned.  They will question each other.  Lazarus is about to die and Jesus will be called a failure for not showing up in time.  Life is going to get harder and harder, leading to the crucifixion of the one they hoped would save them and their people.  Life is different after the transfiguration.  They are living the resurrection life.  But it is so disorienting that the forces that defy God are gathering strength, it seems.  They haven’t slowed down one bit.

                Now Jesus and the disciples head down the mountain.  Maybe it feels like a let down.  They hoped to stay.  Now they are moving on.  They will go out healing.  They will go about sharing the good news.  And Jesus tells them they can’t even brag to their brothers that they had this amazing experience.  I really feel for these guys.

                Yet, we are them and they are us.  We have our mountaintop experiences.  Sometimes we feel so inspired.  We feel so happy.  We feel God is so close.  But we have to keep moving.  We can’t stay in that safe happy place.  We’ve got life to live and lessons to learn from making mistakes, darn it all anyway.  God will put people in our path that annoy and challenge us to grow.  We’ve got our own crosses to bear.  The side trip may give us strength.  We can call on our memories, on the energy we got from that experience when we are groping around in the dark.  But the journey continues.  The good news is that Jesus goes with us, or we go with him.  God’s beloved is right here.  We know the truth about him.  We’ve seen his glory.  We have that truth to hold on to no matter what life brings.  We are invited now into the resurrected life, changed life, life with purpose and meaning and direction.  Our purpose is to help others know they are God’s beloved.  The meaning is to live a life of love for God and each other and especially God’s little ones.  Our direction is toward the cross, though the path is difficult.  And we follow, even to our deaths.  But that is not the end of the story.  Jesus transfigured is him in his glory, beloved of God, close to God, beautiful and bright, shining a light that reveals everything for what it is.  We will see him in all his glory.  We will hear God’s voice communicating what we need to know.  We will feel Jesus’ hand on us in comfort.  We will taste and smell the feast he shares with all people.  And we will know true, unending love and joy in God’s presence.