Matthew 17:1-9
2 Peter 1:16-21
I like to see movies and I much prefer
seeing them in the movie theater. It may
be because I tie that experience to memories of my father. Growing up we went to movies a lot and we
developed certain routines. After we
purchased our tickets we’d enter the building and head straight to the
concession stand. There we would buy two
medium sodas and a large popcorn - plain, no butter. Then upon entering the theater we’d do a bit
of a Goldilocks routine. We tried to
find seats that were not too close to the screen, but not too far either. And then those seats needed to be as close to
the middle as possible. Once we sat down
to wait for the movie to begin because this was in an age before cell phones,
we’d actually talk to each other. My dad
had one unbreakable rule: no eating of the popcorn until the actual movie
started. Soda consumption was up to my
discretion, but hands off the popcorn.
Which was actually OK with me because previews lasted, what, 5, 10
minutes back then? Not like today when
you can set your watch to 20 minutes of previews - one after another, after
another, after another all aimed to peaked the audience’s interest in hopes
that some will come back to see more.
It seems to be that our reading today
about Jesus’ Transfiguration on the mountain top is like the biblical
equivalent to a movie preview. It
certainly has a lot of the same elements - it’s short, it has amazing visuals -
I mean it’s not every day that a man’s face becomes as brilliant as the sun and
two men return from the dead, plus the bright cloud that comes upon them with
the voice of God speaking clearly and loudly.
The disciples add the emotional drama of fear and awe. And then, it’s over. The story is left unfinished. Mystery abounds. And if you are curious, if you want to see
more, well then the preview has done its job.
However, there’s more to Jesus’
Transfiguration story than just an opportunity for us to get a glimpse of a
“coming attraction” where at a future time God’s light will shine with complete
radiance. It also provides us with a
type of lens through which to view our present reality so that we are able to
see God’s light shining right here, right now.
I mean we know that Jesus was shining
God’s light even when he wasn’t all lit up like the sun. The holy and sacred light was shining even
when the disciples couldn’t see it. And
that light of God was still shining even when Jesus was arrested and beaten and
hung on a cross to die. That light was
still shining even when the disciples felt that all was lost and found
themselves in a valley of deep darkness.
This is what we can see through the lens of the transfiguration - light
even in dark places.
You will do well, 2nd Peter tells us, you
will do well to be attentive to this light, the Light of the Transfiguration,
as to a lamp shining in a dark place.
It turns that finding really dark places
out of doors is actually a hard thing to do nowadays. The problem is light pollution. The lights we turn on to light streets,
parking lots, stadiums, homes, and office buildings - all of that adds up so
that those artificial lights are brightening up the night sky to the point that
we in the greater Charlottesville area do not see the same sky our grandparents
did. We miss the full array of the
heavenly lights - only the brightest stars are able to shine through.
Literal darkness is hard to find, but
darkness in the figurative sense, sadly that abounds. Violence, fear, hatred, injustice, sickness,
brokenness - all of that is easy for us to find. And when one experiences that kind of
darkness it’s really hard to see any light, let alone a heavenly one.
Yet 2nd Peter calls to us, you will do
well to be attentive to this light of the Transfiguration as to a lamp shining
in a dark place.
On this Sunday we do indeed do well to
pay attention to this sacred light. A
light, a lamp that is present and shining with God’s hope, God’s love, God’s
promise in all of life’s dark places.
And a lamp that lights our way as we journey into the season of Lent - a
season when we seek to address the problem of light pollution in a spiritual
sense and try to turn down the artificial lights of busy-ness, gadgets and
various distractions so that we might see God’s sacred light shining even more
brightly in the darkest of places.
Jesus’ Transfiguration is so much more
than a short and simple preview of things to come - something easily forgotten
as soon as we walk out the church doors or start what seems like the “Feature
Presentation”, Lent. Rather Jesus’
Transfiguration is an indispensable lamp - a light that shines not only for us,
but for the world that needs to see and experience God’s hope and God’s
love.
Now along with the movie theater
experience being linked to memories of my father, another reason I like it is
because it forces me and any movie-goer to carve out time from the demands of
life in order to willingly go to a place with others, and to pay attention to a
light...on the screen.
We are doing something like that this
morning, aren’t we? We have
intentionally put aside other activities or demands that may want to claim our
time and attention. We have come here to
this special place willingly (at least I hope that most of you have come here
willingly!) to be here in church with others so that together we might give our
attention to a light. In this case,
though, it is not an artificial or temporary light of a screen, but a light
that is enduring and eternal, God’s sacred and holy light, the Light of Christ
revealed in Jesus’ Transfiguration. And
we do well to be attentive to this light as to a lamp shining in a dark
place. The first chapter of the gospel
of John tells us that God’s light shone in the darkness and the darkness did
not overcome it. But with the lens of
the Transfiguration we know even more than that. Not only will darkness not overcome God’s
light, but that there will come a day when all manner of darkness will be
overcome by Light. Or as 2nd Peter puts
it, that the day will fully dawn and the morning star will rise in all of our
hearts.
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