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Today to preach on the glory of Jesus, the transfiguration of the Christ is hard. The events of this past week with the Methodist denomination has been a difficult journey to watch and I know many people are heartbroken, to say the least.
For those of you who do not know. I did my master’s studies at Claremont school of theology. While I was Attending the Marriage equality debate was on the rise. The question of how to address the sacredness of the LGBTQI community and how to include rather than exclude was the bend of most conversations.
While I was there, we would engage in open and loving conversations around human sexuality. We offered theological resources and brought in teachers and speakers. When it came time for Bob’s and Mine wedding, we invited the whole school. We felt it was an educational opportunity.
I have a T-shirt from the UCC that says it is Just love. Meaning it is love, simple and pure or it could be interpreted as meaning it is justified, correct and proper Love…either way it is Just love. Yet Love once again was literally put on trial this week. It is interesting that todays Gospel should be about the transfiguration. Literally the appearance of Christ changing.
Today’s Gospel reading comes after a few questions. The introduction of this chapter in Luke has an interlude after the first paragraph where Herod has heard rumors and stories of Jesus some are saying he is Elijah others saying John the Baptist returned from the dead. Herod asks; “But who is this about whom I hear such things?”
Then shortly after feeding the 5000, still in this chapter, we Find Jesus praying on his own and asks of the twelve, who evidently are right there with him but not praying, “who do the crowds say I am?” they told him some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others say one of the prophets of old.
Then he asks but who do you say I am and Peter answers “The messiah of God” of which Jesus scolds them and tells them not to tell anyone of that.
So now we find ourselves eight days later and in the literal translation that I like says; “and it happened as he prayed that the appearance of his face was different; and his clothing was white, gleaming like lightening. And look! Two men were speaking with him who were Moses and Elijah. They appeared in splendor and were speaking of his departure [or exodus] which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem.”[1]
“The emphasis throughout the episode is on the dazzling attestation of Jesus’ identity. We are first given the description of his transformed appearance (verse 29). The change in the appearance of his face is reminiscent of Moses’ face becoming radiant upon experiencing the presence of God in Exodus 34:29-35. But the description of the change in Jesus’ clothes distinguishes him from Moses significantly: Jesus’ clothes become “dazzling white,” words Luke uses to describe the appearance of angelic figures in Luke 24:4 and Acts 1:10. Jesus’ transformed appearance is thus not merely because he is experiencing God’s glory (like Moses) but rather because he is the very source of divine glory. The point is made explicit when the three disciples are said to see Jesus’ glory in verse 32.”[2]
It is interesting that in Marks version the disciples are commanded to silence and not speak of this to anyone however after Luke’s account “they were silent; and in those days they reported to nobody of the things they had seen.” It is as if the glory might have been too much for them…but I will get to that.
This mountain top moment when the disciples witness the Glory of Jesus it is said that he is alongside the Law and the prophets.
The appearance of Moses and Elijah in verse 30 adds to the confirmation of Jesus’ identity. Scott Shauf associate professor of religious studies at Gardner-Webb university points out that; “The two are commonly interpreted as embodying “the Law and the Prophets,” which is no doubt a significant point. The risen Jesus himself will later assert that Moses and the prophets point toward him (Luke 24:25-27, 44-46). Luke tells us in our scene that Moses and Elijah “were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (verse 31), surely meant to anticipate Jesus’ teaching that he is the ultimate fulfillment of scripture.
Yet this is not the only significance of Moses and Elijah. That Jesus was the “prophet like Moses” predicted by Moses himself is emphasized throughout Luke and Acts (seen most clearly in Acts 3:22-23, interpreting Deuteronomy 18:15). And Elijah’s appearance was associated with the coming of the day of the Lord (Malachi 4:5).
Their appearance thus points to Jesus fulfilling specific prophecies associated with them as well as the more general notion of Jesus as the fulfillment of all of scripture.”[3]All these things are pointing towards Jesus as messiah and savior and Jesus has already told Peter and the others to be quiet about this.
But why be quiet about this? Why not tell people that Jesus is the Messiah? Why not tell people That Jesus is about to bring about the Kindom of Heaven?
I believe Jesus did not want them telling people that he was the Messiah. Because people had one kind of Messiah in their head and Jesus was not that kind of messiah. People get it wrong all the time. The Disciples get it wrong all the time…heck I might have it wrong now!
We Christians are still learning, developing, trying to understand what it means to be Christian. I mean look at how many times Christianity has shifted and evolved over the centuries. Especially here in the united states. One needs only look at the United Church of Christ, there is a webpage filled with historical firsts.
John Robinson the chaplain to the early settlers reminds them to keep their Minds and hearts open to new ways. In the 1700’s it was a congregationalist minister who wrote the first pamphlet against slavery titled “The selling of Joseph” remember slavery was biblically justified for centuries.
It is out of the old south church in Boston that civil disobedience arises against an unfair tax.
The first ordained African American pastor came out of the congregationalist churches.
The story of the Amistad slave ship and the rebellion of its cargo is part of our history. It was “Josiah W. Gibbs…a Congregational minister and Yale professor, who learned to count from one to 10 in Mende -- the language of the African captives -- then spent days walking the New York City waterfront, chanting the cadence aloud. In time, he was heard by an African who became translator for the Amistad defendants.
Two Congregational pastors and a businessman from the church headed the committee of abolitionists who supported the Amistad captives. Later, while the Africans were free pending their Supreme Court appeal, they were housed, taught English and introduced to Christianity by church families in Farmington.”[4]
Thank God we have stopped using bible verses to justify slavery, we fight slavery then and continue to do so today.
It was only 166 years ago that we ordained the first woman pastor.
In the 1920’s three churches decided they could better serve their community as one, the congregationalist, the Methodist and the UU that is your history. Then in 1957 the congregationalist, the evangelical and the reformed church all came together to be the United Church of Christ.[5]
It was just in 2016 that this church joined the ONA movement.
The face of Christ changed “the appearance of his face was different.” It is going to be different, the face of Christ is each and every one we encounter, and it is rarely the same. It is rarely, well, me!
Jesus the Messiah as something the disciples believed they understood was wrong, that is why Jesus did not want them to proclaim him as messiah. Instead of making proclamations and capturing High moments of spirituality God says; “this is my son the chosen one listen to him.”
The lesson form todays gospel, the lesson I truly want to carry with me, Is that the face of Christ appeared different and so we are called to seek out the different, the marginalized, the stranger in our midst. The second message is we must keep praying and listening. Why? Because, God is still speaking.
We still do not understand fully what the kindom of God is…or is to be…we still do not understand what the Gospel message is or what it is meant to be, at least not fully, for our faith has grown and changed and evolved and is evolving still.
In the UU world magazine there is an article titled “Nothing we do will be perfect.” Wait, what, ohhh
Nancy McDonald says this of her own church; “we are learning and struggling at the intersections of class, race, gender, and ethnicity. We are multiracial (though still predominately white), we are committed, and we are steadily advancing both in our own consciousness and our capacity to combat the injustice of the world. And still, even knowing that we are assembled and self-selected as people called to bring one liberal church closer to living out its own values, we have to be reminded that the way forward sure isn’t a straight path.”[6]
It is interesting that we can say the exact same thing of what it means to be a Christian and to be growing into the kindom of God as Jesus proclaimed it. She goes on to remind us that; “Most of the time when the work is at its most essential, you will not personally be having a great deal of fun. It will break you open if you’re paying attention, and your heartbreak will not always be directed “out there,” but sometimes right at home, into the very deepest recesses of your soul, where you and I and all of us will come to the dawning realization that we are not now and have never been innocent or perfect or pure…We are going to stay in it, even when it’s hard. For as long as we can, to the extent that our hearts can bear, we are going to stay in this together.”[7]
That is transfiguration. It is the call to gentle growth, slow understanding, taking one step forward and sometimes two steps back. As we seek to become true followers of Christ, we dare not proclaim Christ as the messiah of our understanding, but as the messiah we are seeking to understand. The messiah we seek to follow and imitate and throughout history we have learned that we get it wrong now and then. We have learned that the spiritual growth of the church is painful.
So today we stand as a federated church, UCC UMC and UU, that is alphabetical order by the way. We stand as a Open and affirming congregation of the UCC, a reconciling congregation of the UMC, we stand as a welcoming congregation of the UU and so we stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters and ourselves as the transfigured and transfiguring body of Christ.
I know we will seek out the transfigured face of Christ, the chosen one and as commanded by God on that mountain top, listen, listen, listen.
Amen.
[2]http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1572
[3]Ditto
[4]https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1998-01-17-9801170078-story.html
[5]http://www.ucc.org/about-us_ucc-firsts
[6]McDonald Ladd, Nancy. "To Work for Justice, Religious Liberals Should Et Perfection Go." UUWorld, Spring 2019, 25-29.
[7]ditto
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