Who Was the One Transformed?

You know it is really hard to write a sermon when the week before I received so many wonderful comments about the previous sermon.  In fact in all honesty I don't think I really got across the point that I wanted to make with this sermon, I'm not even sure I can clearly state that point, but basically Jesus was transfigured for our sake.  The transfiguration occurred so that the disciple and us today would know that Jesus is the messiah in everything that we do, not just this great majestic moments.  


As you might have figured out thus far, yesterday was Transfiguration Sunday and the gospel text was Matthew 17:1-9.  


Enjoy the sermon, even if it is not my best. 

Today is Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday before Lent, when the church commemorated Jesus leading his disciples up the mountain and his is transfigured before them.  And as they head back down the mountain, Jesus and his disciples journey towards Jerusalem, towards the cross, and towards Jesus’ death and graciously also his resurrection. 

But really it is not Jesus who was transformed up on that mountain, it was Peter, James and John.  Jesus is not transfigured for his own sake.  Moses and Elijah did not come and hand out with Jesus so that they could discuss the best strategy for Jesus to take in order to upset as many Jewish and Roman leaders as he can.  Jesus’ face did not shine like the sun and his clothes become dazzling white so that Jesus could point to himself and say “This is pretty cool huh?  I must be the Son of God.”

All these things happened so that Peter, James and John would realize that Jesus is truly the Messiah, that he truly is the Son of God.  Peter had just confessed Jesus to be the Messiah and then renounced Jesus after Jesus foretold of his coming death.  So now Jesus is transfigured before them so that they would understand what it means to be the Messiah.  Jesus’ true identity was revealed to them so that they, Peter, James and John, will understand a little more what Jesus has to do.  God comes to them in this majestic display so that during Jesus’ crucifixion when it will seem like God has left them entirely, Peter, James and John will remember that God is still with them.  Jesus brought them up the mountain so that even when Peter, James and John were in the deepest valley, they would know that God is still with them.   

All these things happened in a way that smacked Peter, James and John upside the head so they realize what it was that they were confessing. It was God’s way of saying “This really is the Messiah, my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.  Listen to him.” 

But what about us?  Yes many of us can say that at some point in our lives we have had mountain top experiences.  Times that were so awesome, so incredible, that we just wanted to stay there.  Everything in life just seemed to fit together, there was no conflict, no worries, no cares.  Times when we have felt surrounded by love, when we have felt God’s presence and we didn’t want to return to real life.

But I doubt any of our mountain top experiences compare to Peter, James and John going up a mountain with Jesus and watching as his face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white.  None of our experiences compare to Moses and Elijah suddenly standing before us or a voice coming from a cloud telling us that Jesus truly is the Son of God. 

And yet God still comes to us.  In many ways God comes to us to show love, grace, and abundance.  We expect God to be at these high places, these mountain top experiences and God is.  But God is not just up there, both physically, a top mountain, and metaphorically, at the high points of life.  God is also down here.  God is here on earth, revealing God’s self to us in many different ways. 

God is in the majestic.  Many of us are easily able to see God in the extraordinary.  We see God in new lives being born.  We see God when someone who was once homeless is now able to give back to her community by volunteering at the shelter she once stayed in.  We see God in room filled with hundreds of people singing praises to God.  We see God in the extremes of nature, especially things like a perfect summer day with a slight cooling breeze, a forest filled with brilliant fall leaves, the snow lightly falling on a moon lit night, the vibrant flowers that peak out of the ground  in just a few weeks and a breathtaking sunrise or sunset. 

These are moments that we don’t experience everyday or every week and yet they are moments that we see God.  We see God in these things, these unordinary things, because they are moments when God lightly smacks us upside the head and we realize what it was that we confessing. It was God’s way of saying “I am the creator of heaven and earth.” 

God is also in the trying moments.  Many of us have seen God in the midst of despair, though sometimes it is not until we look back that we see that God was there with us.  We see God in the face and words of a friend who comforted us during the death of a loved one.  We see God in the new vocation, the new calling, which we have discovered after being laid off or failing out of school.  We see God the food brought to our home during an illness.  We see God when we are able to forgive someone after they have caused us hardship.

These too are moments that we thankfully do not experience everyday or every week.  And yet we see God in them.  We see God in these things, these unordinary things, because they are moments when God lightly smacks us upside the head and we realize what it is that we confess. It was God’s way of saying “I am the Holy Spirit who shepherds the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, and the forgiveness of sins.”

And yet God is also in the ordinary.  God is in the mundane.  God is in the plain moments of our lives.  God is with us when we get up in the morning, work out, take a shower, drive to work, work, go grocery shopping, do the laundry, cook a meal, clean the house, do the dishes, watch television and God is still with us when we get ready for bed.  God is constantly with us, on the mountain tops of life and in the valleys and God is with us in on the plains, the ordinary moments of life.  God in with us in our very being, in our breathing, in our abilities to do God’s work in this world, even if that work is just three loads of laundry. 

These are moments when God is not smacking us upside the head so that we might realize what it is that we confess to.  Because if God is constantly smacking us upside the head we will get used to it, and the extraordinary will become the ordinary.  But God is still there in them, leading us, guiding us, walking with us along the way.  Sometimes Jesus may lead us up the mountain, sometimes Jesus may help guide us out of the valley, but most of the time Jesus is walking beside us, in the ordinary, in the normal. God’s love is among us even in the most ordinary of times