Sermon for the 11th of February - Sunday before Lent
Lectionary Readings for the Sunday Before Lent
II Kings 2: 1-12
Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here; for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.’ But Elisha said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So they went down to Bethel. The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, ‘Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I know; keep silent.’
Elijah said to him, ‘Elisha, stay here; for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.’ But he said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So they came to Jericho. The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, ‘Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?’ And he answered, ‘Yes, I know; be silent.’
Then Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.’ But he said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.
When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.’ Elisha said, ‘Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.’ He responded, ‘You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.’ As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, ‘Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.
Mark 9: 2-9
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. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
Sermon for the Sunday Before Lent
This puzzling vision is hard to understand, much less to relate to ourselves. What does this strange vision have to do with us?
The Transfiguration is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, almost word for word the same account. Scholars think it goes back to the earliest layer of the tradition about Jesus, what came from the lips of these three disciples: Peter, James, and John. They were the closest to Jesus. They were the innermost circle of those whom he loved and trusted. They were the ones privileged to witness this vision.
This vision is placed immediately after Jesus's first prediction of his necessary suffering and death, his first Passion prediction. Remember what has just happened. Jesus has asked all the disciples who people say that he is. And they answer: some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others say one of the prophets. But then Jesus confronts them directly with the only important question, But who do you say that I am? And the answer is what Peter bursts out with, and it is this---his forthright, dramatic, astonishing declaration of faith: You are the Messiah!
But Jesus follows this exchange by telling the disciples what this means: that he will have to suffer and die. He is the Messiah, yes, but a Messiah who will go on to fulfil a destiny from God that cannot be separated from pain, suffering, crucifixion, and death.
And they are appalled.
And they do not understand.
And they reject this unthinkable idea, because Messiahs by definition cannot do this, do not do this.
It is Peter, again, who answers him, who protests so violently that Jesus has to rebuke him with the shocking words, Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.
So this is the occasion for what follows: Jesus begins to teach them what it means--- what is has to mean, to be a disciple. They will have to take up their own crosses if they are to follow him. He sets them a paradox: if they want to save their lives they have to lose them, but if they lose their lives for Jesus's sake and for the sake of the Gospel they will save them. If they are ashamed of him, then he will be ashamed of them when he comes again in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
And so Mark the Gospel writer places this scene immediately next---of what this glory is going to look like. This scene, of The Transfiguration.
Transfiguration--Resurrection/Resurrection--Transfiguration.
These are linked together, and they cannot be un-linked.
But only the path of suffering will lead to the glory at the end---a clear path---the path of Crucifixion/Resurrection.
For devout Jews, this was a new idea, one incomprehensible to them. And it is interesting that even for Peter, James, and John, the witnessing of this transcendent vision does them no good when the time comes for Jesus to undergo the events this Transfiguration prefigures--they are no clearer as to what it all means.
A little more about what this Transfiguration vision involves:
Moses and Elijah are present with Jesus. Only three figures in the Old Testament were understood, in Jesus's day, not to have died, but as the phrase is, gone directly to heaven: Moses, Elijah, and Enoch, whom you may not remember was one of the patriarchs in the days before Noah. In the book of Genesis Enoch was the father of Methuselah and lived for three hundred and sixty-five years. The verses that tell about him end by stating this:
he walked with God: and he was no more; for God took him.
These obscure verses were taken to mean that Enoch didn't die.
It is all about interpretation. But the point here is that Moses and Elijah were other figures in the tradition of Israel who were taken up to heaven in glory, and here is Jesus with them. But in the Transfiguration vision, Jesus is not their equal, but is glorified above them, even---Moses and Elijah are talking with him, but only Jesus is clothed in dazzling white, and to him only does the voice from heaven say,
This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!
Peter, James, and John are terrified. Like the women who are the first to confront the empty tomb on the Resurrection Day, they are simply terrified. Awe and fear are proper human responses to such a scene, but they are not enlightened by it all--they emerge as, only, bewildered.
And it will not be until after the Resurrection and Ascension that they will begin to understand.
Where are we in this scene?
We are Peter.
It is only in Matthew's version of this event that the words from Jesus to Peter after Peter's confession of faith are added:
Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven....
We all are the descendants of Peter. We still seem to stumble at the realisation that the way of discipleship has to involve suffering. Like King Lear on the desolate heath, as human creatures we must be with all those other human creatures who suffer, as in Shakespeare's famous passage:
Poor naked wretches, whereso'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you From seasons such as these? O, I have ta'en
Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp; Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel....
We must be with them.
We are preparing ourselves to begin a period of preparation.
In three days' time it will once again be Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.
Year after year, Christians have set aside this season as a time for deeper self-examination.
A consideration of who we are and what we are doing here. A time to ask the question, who do I say that Jesus is?
And if our answer, like Peter's, is: you are the Messiah! then it means that we take a long and hard look at what it means to be a faithful disciple.
Life is hard. Life is often long. It is unequal, in rewards and in the proportion of suffering. Whatever life brings us---and we may not feel that we have been allotted much suffering---whatever our own lives are like, we are always, each day, given the opportunity, as followers of Jesus, to stand with those who do suffer.
We can pray more, love more, give more.
Always, every day---more.
May God give us grace to enter into this Lenten season with open eyes and clear sight. And may our response be one of joyful affirmation!
Amen.