“Down the Mountain”
By Caroline Dean
February 19, 2012
Mark 9: 2-10
[ Audio
(mp3, 7.4Mb) ]
x days later, Jesus took with him Peter, and James, and John, and he led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And Jesus 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. Peter did not know what to say for the disciples 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. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.”
Let
us pray:
God of Light, The kind of light that beckons us
The kind that warms and heals us
The kind of light that gives hope
The kind that sinks into our soul
May we radiate your light in this place
that you might draw us into moments of transfiguration
in this place and in your world. Amen.
Dramatic Reading:
Reader 1:
The disciples were having no strange vision,
nor the evangelist concocting a tableau
for the delight of Renaissance painters.
Reader 2:
It was simply this: for a moment
Jesus' friends were seeing truly,
seeing him as he was,
seeing a human being as we all truly are,
shining with the whole glory of Creation,
stardust that we are.
Reader 1:
They saw through the scruff and dirt
that this rough world leaves on us,
saw past the judgments and appearances,
the masks and costumes and shrouds
that we throw on each other:
they saw the heaven within a person,
the image of God.
Reader 2:
If only they hadn't been so shocked
they would have noticed it in themselves.
Jesus had to tell them later:
“You are light for the world.”
God shines in you,
gleams with the splendid light of heaven.
Beyond any smudge this world can put on you,
or any human word or deed can remove,
you are dazzling, radiant with newborn light.
Reader 1:
Right now, sitting there, hearing this,
you breathe God's light in and out.
Your nerves spark with life.
Your eyes light up the world.
Let this light fill you, the fire of God.
Reader 2:
Be mindful of this radiance.
Look for the light in all whom you meet.
Trust the light. Give thanks for the light.
Even in your sleep, the light closes its eye,
but breathes deeply, calmly, faithfully.
Transfiguration is a churchy word;
in the original language, the Greek word for “transfiguration” is “metamorphao” or metamorphosis, a rich and beautiful image. So one day Jesus goes on a hiking trip with
his best buds, Peter, James and John. And
after hours of hiking, leaving behind all of their to-do lists, and the crowds
of people that go with them, they finally reach the pinnacle. Once they reach the top, perhaps the air is a
bit lighter and it is harder to catch their breath. Suddenly Peter looks up and Jesus looks like
a rock star (a better image would probably be a rock star at the half time show
of the Super Bowl). Jesus is decked out
in glowing white robes and even his face seems to shimmer (think Twilight
vampires – yes I just that, I made a sermon reference to the Twilight movie
series…).
Then as if this isn't cool enough,
Moses (the father of Old Testament law) and Elijah (the first and greatest
prophet) show up. The Jewish tradition
claims that Moses and Elijah are both important for two reasons: First, they
saw the face of God (think Charlton Heston as Moses on Mount Sinai with the 10
commandments). And secondly, because
when they saw the face of God and they didn't die, in that moment or ever! (Think
about Elijah being carried up into the heavens on a chariot of fire.) And so Peter, maybe because he is worried
that Jesus will get sucked up into the heavens on some “rock star” chariot,
says to Jesus, “how about we pitch some tents and stay here since everyone
having such a lovely time?” (The
scriptures say that the disciples were terrified and Peter seems to have a
nervous tick of filling up empty space with his brilliant ideas). And then suddenly – a cloud comes (picture
one of those glorious clouds that envelope mountain peeks from time to
time). And from the cloud a voice (of
God) says, “This is my beloved son, listen to him!” And then as the cloud disappears only Jesus
and the disciples remain. And then just
like that they walk down the mountain together. As they descended the mountain, Jesus said to Peter, James and John, do
not tell anyone what happened until after the Son of Man dies and come back
from death. Now this is totally
confusing to the disciples!
In Peter's mind, the Messiah / The
Son of Man is supposed to be a rock star, like “transfigured Jesus.” It would make sense for them to hang out on
mountains, with white dazzling robes and other immortal dudes. And this portrait of a Messiah “works” for
the disciples. They are seeking someone
who will bring political stability and literally rule a kingdom on earth. But Jesus keeps talking about dying and
coming back from death, and this is the part that they do not get. Messiah's don't die. Think about Moses and Elijah – even they
didn't die. Instead, in Peter's mind,
Jesus should wear glowing robes all the time and take over armies and help Israel
become powerful.
So when Peter says, this is a good
spot, let's pitch a tent for the night, Peter shows us that he could get used
to this kind of Messiah. He wants the
portrait of glowing Jesus on the mount of glory who can shake things up and
throw some lightning bolts, but instead Peter finds a different portrait of
Christ.
Instead, Jesus walks back down the
mountain (which seems a bit anticlimactic!). Jesus comes down the mountain to heal people, to touch lepers, to
welcome children, to teach and feed the crowds…and eventually Jesus has to climb
another mountain. You see, Jesus' moment
of greatest transfiguration is not being taken up in a chariot of fire like
Elijah, or seeing the face of God like Moses, instead Jesus is transfigured on
the cross. Jesus' metamorphosis is the
terrifying and radical undoing of self for the redemption and metamorphosis of
all of creation.
So perhaps the disciples wondered on
the mountain that day “is Jesus going to float off into immortality like
Elijah?” And instead the disciples
witness his hike DOWN the mountain – into the heart of humanity – the spaces of
suffering – the dirt – the brokenness – and eventually the epitome of pain and
terror. But why did Jesus come down the
mountain? Why didn't he operate in the
world with glowing robes and immortal heroic sidekicks?
I want to share a clip that I think
gives us a vision of why Jesus came down the mountain that day and how we can
participate in Jesus' vision of transfiguration on the ground, in the valley,
down the mountain. This is a clip of
Jean Vanier who is the founder of L'Arche Communities,
which are houses of welcome and communities that support individuals with developmental
disability within familial settings. In
this clip Jean Vanier comments on “the long road of growth” – the road to metamorphosis
–and the question that opens this scene is “what does the word ‘grow' mean to
you?”
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At this point in the sermon the opening seven-minute segment of this video was shown:
www.theworkofthepeople.com/index.php?ct=store.details&pid=V01043, however that link appears to9 be gone now.
|
After watching this clip, it is easy
for me to put myself in the role of caregiver, the role of the one with the
answers, the one who goes around like Jesus and Jean Vanier transfiguring
others with radical healing love…and here's the thing – this is not a bad
impulse towards compassion and healing in the world. But the problem is when we forget that we are
in need of sacramental meetings, in need of growth and metamorphosis, that we
are in need of discovery and we are in need of radical love that sinks down
deep into our soul and heals our own humiliation and shame.
It's easy for me to give – to care –
to serve – but it is actually a very important spiritual discipline for all of
us to receive care, to be the one who is in need, to be the one is reminded of
God's love. It is important for all of
us to receive God's transfiguration in our broken spaces.
So the first part of transfiguration
in Christ is receiving this care. Jean
Vanier calls this process “sacramental meetings.” The church is one of the sacred places that
gives us an opportunity to meet together in real life-changing
relationships.
I think that often, when we use the
word “church” – we think of a location – or an event that happens once a week. We think of “attending” church and running in
just in time and running out to the next thing. But what if our idea of church was purely “relational” what if “church”
is really about BEING TOGETHER in a deep and meaningful way. How good are we at this at Christ
Church? How difficult it is to achieve
rich, life-changing sacred community in one hour a week? It is a pretty good hour – don't get me
wrong! But it is simply not enough
time! And so in our culture that is so
time sensitive and impoverished in our sense of work life balance - it's seems counter-intuitive
– to say it will be life-giving for you to take on one more meeting or one more
commitment. But what about taking on a
commitment to a life-giving community, a small group, to love and care for
spiritual friends like they are family?
L'arche
communities are a perfect metaphor; they live together, eat together, help each
other get dressed, they take out the trash together. What if we ate together more often? What if we helped each other when things were
hard and confusing and lonely? What if
we did simple things like take out the trash, when a friend's life is spiraling
out of control? What if we simply meet
together enough to really know each other; to grow and experience
transfiguration in Christ?
Other Rabbis, or teachers, of this
practice of “sacramental meetings” are our children. There is a group kids at the church who have
come up with “club” – they run around together exploring the church basement,
they find ways to break into candy stashes, they check up on each other when
one of them is sick, sometimes they drag their parents to church because they
don't want to miss time with their friends. For these kids, church isn't a place or an event, its group of friends
that they care about, they have fun with, that they explore life and faith with...Sometimes
we get so caught up in caring for our children, for our family, for our
friends, for our co-workers, that we forget to care for ourselves by committing
to sacred community, in long, deep, spiritual friendship. So transfiguration is
about receiving spiritual friendship.
But, the second path of
transfiguration is participating in radical grace and welcome.
Why did Jesus come down the mountain
that day? He came down to welcome those
who were humiliated. He came to touch
the leper, to welcome children, to embrace the adulteress, to heal the
untouchables. Jesus came to transfigure
those around him.
On this transformation path of
radical welcome, we experience the power of reaching out to the leper, the
widow, the humiliated one, and seeing them with respect and compassion. Now
this is not always easy, I think of those who are on the outskirts of our society,
kids who are bullied because of their sexual orientation, those who struggle
with mental and developmental disability, those who are in prison, those who
suffer with addiction, those who do not know English as a first language – and
the list goes on and on…But the question is simply how can our communities within
Christ Church commit to one of these groups? How can we partner with a group that is on the margins of our
society? And here is the danger in that
scenario: to assume that WE are the ones with all of the knowledge and
experience about God and transformation. Because the trick is that when you reach out into these marginalized
places everyone is transformed. Each
person is both student and teacher. Each
person is both friend and mentor.
So, this is my dream that our
relationships between these pews would be life changing and spiritually
formational. And that those
relationships would pull us out into the world into the darkest, loneliness,
most burdened places, and that in those places we would all experience the
light of God, the transfiguration of Christ. I dream that we might reach out into the darkest places and find ourselves
and these holy dear ones that Christ called the “least of these” shining with
the glory and power and divine love. So,
the secret is that transfiguration doesn't just happen on the mountaintop, it
happens here in these walls, in your homes and in the spaces where our society
hides our untouchables. And so let us
have a vision of the light of God transfiguring, transforming each of us by the
power and grace of divine love. Amen.
