February 26, 2006 - Last Sunday after Epiphany - Father Andrew Green

FIRST READING: 2 Kings 2: 1-12
PSALM: 50: 1-6
SECOND READING: 2 Corinthians 4: 3-6
GOSPEL: Mark 9: 2-9

There are a number of ways to think about this particular Gospel, and one of the ways kind of approaches it very intellectually by tearing apart the Scripture. I have to tell you, at different times, I have preached exactly that way - where we look at all of the various parts and break them down - and we have a sense of real control over what is really going on in that particular passage, or at least as far as we think we can. But, as I was reflecting on this particular Gospel passage this week (and, in fact, each of the Scriptures), it appeared to me that it really isn't so much about our ability to intellectually understand everything that is going on, but our ability to appreciate and to receive what is given to us. I think that is something that is difficult for us, because we like to be able to know that this is how this all fits together, or we like to know all these things, and then we can sit around and have a sense of maybe even a certain amount of intellectual superiority because we understand that this Transfiguration may be something like a prefigurement of the Resurrection. . . . and things like that . . . .

But we miss the point.

We miss the point of Jesus and His disciples experiencing something that, whether they understood it or not, changed them. It changed the nature of their relationship, and it prepared them for things later that they couldn't even have imagined at that very moment. In this particular Gospel, Jesus and His disciples, those representative disciples, Peter, James, and John, go away from the rest of the group. As I was thinking about it, I wondered if Jesus went up with a small group of disciples at different times, but this is the only one we happen to read about, for some reason - maybe because Peter got top-billing in a lot of things, so maybe, since Peter went on this trip, they recorded it for the Gospel eventually.

But Jesus took these disciples away from the rest of the group. They went apart, by themselves. They went up on that high mountain, and, as they were there, Jesus was transfigured before them. Jesus changed in some way that was noticeable to them. It talks about His clothes, that they were whiter than any bleach on earth could make them. I would imagine His face had a particular glow to it, but this Gospel doesn't describe it. And then they witnessed Elijah and Moses talking with Jesus, and, they moved into their, "Oh-I-know-how-to-handle-this-mode", when in fact they didn't know how to handle it. They decide they need to make little booths for each of them so they could all stay and share this moment together, and then the cloud overshadows them.

What is amazing about this is that all of us have probably seen some moment that we became aware of the beauty of God's creation or the greatness of God in a way that catches us by surprise and maybe even takes our breath away.

We have just had the Winter Olympics, and I guess there is maybe one event still. I don't know that anybody has had this experience with curling. I don't know that there are any of those breathtaking moments in curling, but I have to tell you, from time to time, when I have watched the Olympics, and I have seen an ice skater do something, it literally took my breath away. I know that I have seen folks jumping on the ski jump, and, basically, I am impressed by anybody that isn't killed at the bottom of the hill, because I know I certainly would be in a pile at the bottom! But, to see the person who really becomes a part of that whole moment and seems changed by it - we often witness those.

Here, the disciples witness that alongside Jesus, but then something else happens. The cloud covers all of them. The cloud overshadows them, and that cloud, in the Old Testament in particular, is always a symbol of what? A symbol of God's Presence. For the Israelites, the cloud led them by day and the fire by night, and, when Moses went up on the top of the mountain, and the Glory of God shone, the cloud descended; and it was only Moses who was allowed to be in that cloud.

But, in this experience, when Jesus is changed, transfigured - I like to use the line from Calvin and Hobbs, "He was transmogrified" - Jesus was transfigured before them, and then the cloud descended on all of them and included all of them in that moment. I think it means that, when we go away and apart to be with Jesus, we experience Jesus in a new way; and, as we see Jesus being changed before us, as we see those moments that take our breath away when the cloud overshadows us, we are included. I think that is something that is unique to our faith. Our faith isn't about us just watching those folks over there that do that, but we are included.

Now, I have to tell you that I believe that that inclusion is something that we celebrate on a more regular basis than we often think about, because that really is a part of worship. When the cloud of God's Presence overshadows us, and we are gathered together as the people of God, all we can offer to God is that gift of praise, the gift of thanksgiving, the gift of awe. That is all we really have to give back to God.

Now, that is what is supposed to happen every week. That is what is supposed to happen when we gather here for worship. Worship, itself, doesn't necessarily connect all the time. When we come full of so many of our own anxieties and concerns - when we come with a particular agenda of our own - it may be hard to connect with what God is doing with us in worship. But, if, for a time, we can seen this worship as a place apart with God, and with the community that God has gathered for us, we can get a foretaste of that Resurrection of Jesus; and we can get a sense of what it means to be included in those moments that take our breath away.

Our worship is our offering to God. I don't know about you, but I don't have enough money to impress God. There may be people who can impress me, but I don't think they even impress God. The thing that seems to impress God, and the thing that Scripture constantly reminds us that God desires and loves, is those of us who, from the gratitude of our hearts, are willing to offer to God, ourselves.

As we end this time of thinking about the Epiphany - kind of the outgrowth of Christmas - and prepare to enter into that desert of Lent, remember this. What we are doing is taking a time apart, a time apart from maybe all of the trappings that we are used to, so that we might, in a new way, appreciate that cloud of God's Presence that overshadows us, and binds us together, and inspires us to offer the one thing that no one else can offer on our behalf - our thanksgiving, our awe, and our wonder at being people who are sharing together in God's Presence.

And I pray that you would join me, Sunday by Sunday, in remembering this time apart and offering. As the ushers come around and collect money, remember the thing that you can't really put in a plate, but what is squarely in the center of the altar - our thanksgiving, our praise, our wonder - and, as it is lifted up, see it and ourselves changed - transmogrified, if you will - becoming more and more the people God has created us to be.

AMEN