Transfiguration

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Transfiguration
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 6, 2000


TEXT: Luke 9:28-36 - And while he (Jesus) was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure (exodus), which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. . . . . Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”

ISSUE: - The Transfiguration is a mystical experience. It involves the mountain top experience coupled with the dazzling garments and angel like appearances of Moses and Elijah, and the cloud of the presence. The mystical event proclaims Jesus is Lord, beloved or chosen of God. It is an epiphany and manifestation that brings the purpose and mission into focus. Modern people often find these mystical dreams and visions as strange or peculiar. We are scientifically oriented. Yet there is a yearning for mysticism that often gets perverted. We need to reclaim prayer, dreams, visions as a way in which God may be speaking and revealing himself to us, that our lives might be guided.
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There is a passage from the Hebrew Scriptures that has fascinated me. It comes from the Book of the Prophet Joel, 2:28. It reads: “Thereafter the day shall come when I will pour out my spirit on all mankind; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams and your young men see visions; I will pour out my spirit in those days even upon slaves and slave-girls.” Joel describes a time of great mysticism when people shall dream dreams and have visions. The will experience the spirit of God within themselves, and their lives as the people of God will be guided and their mission and purpose as the people of God will be clear. Their lives and purpose, and will be in focus in an age to come.
The scriptures, and especially the Hebrew Scriptures a full of mystical experiences of dreams and visions. In the Joseph Story, Joseph is a dreamer and an interpreter of dreams. The calling of the great prophets are often immersed in a vision or mystical experience. Isaiah (6:1-13) has a vision: In the year that King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the skirt of his robe filled the temple. About him were attendant seraphim and each had six wings; one pair covered his face, and one pair his feet, and one pair was spread in flight. They were calling ceaselessly to one another, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.’ . . . . . Then I heard the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for me? And I answered, Here am I; send me. He said, Go and tell . . .
Jeremiah the prophet (1:ll-19) has a vision in which God speaks to him and gives him of a vision of An Almond in early bloom, which is a sign of God’s early readiness to have Jeremiah speak God’s word to his people. There is a vision of a cauldron on fire, fanned by the wind, which is a sign of impending disaster for Israel which had become a nation burning sacrifices to other gods.
Ezekiel (1:4-2:8) also has a vision of God speaking to him in mysterious images: in wind and storm and lightning, in winged creatures, in wheels inside of wheels, and the voice of God says Man, stand up, and let me talk with you. As he spoke a spirit came into me and stood me on my feet, and I listened to him speaking. He said to me , Man, I am sending you to the Israelites, a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me.
In the Christian Scriptures, the Book of Revelation, is full of the visions and dreams: where God speaks through the trumpet, and calls John up to the top of high mountain to see the glory of God. (21:10) “The Spirit took control of me, and the angel carried me to the top of a very high mountain. He showed me Jerusalem, the Holy City, coming down out of heaven from God and shining with the Glory of God.”
Luke’s gospel account this morning is the story referred to as The Transfiguration. It is also a very mystical experience. Jesus goes to a mountain top to pray. He takes with him a select group of his disciples - Peter, James, and John - who share in a mysterious event. In something of a dream state they witness Jesus becoming changed. His face is changed, and his clothes become dazzling white. He appears to be conversing with Moses the law giver, whose face became radiant in the presence of God. He is also seen with the healing Elijah, the great prophet of Israel. They are discussing his departure, or more literally his exodus. The three gathered disciples are overwhelmed by the experience. They find themselves encompassed by a mysterious cloud. The cloud in Scripture is almost always associated with God’s presence. They hear the voice of God speaking to them: This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
Some scholars again, like the walking on water story, see the Transfiguration story as a post Easter story, which often pictures Jesus in white robes of glory. The two men surrounding him are like the two angels that Luke reports tell the women that Jesus has risen. But the story as it is placed in Luke is a mystical experience that marks the beginning of Jesus journey to Jerusalem, to the cross and crucifixion, and ultimately to his resurrection. Thus, the story sort of pre-figures the resurrection event. The story elevates the honor and place of Jesus. He is associated with two of Israel’s greatest leaders and heroes, Moses and Elijah. Moses had led God’s people out of bondage and gave them the law for their direction, and set them on their way to the promised land. Elijah was seen as God’s man, his name means “Yahweh is my God.” In this mystical occasion Jesus is held up in Glory and is revealed as God’s man, God’s Son, the Chosen, Listen to him. He too will lead his people out of fear, separation from God. The poor, the least and last are given hope and honor. He will die for them in love, and be raised up and make the whole creation new.
The voice of God had spoken when Jesus was baptized coming out the heavens when his ministry begins: “This is my beloved, my Son, with whom I am pleased.” Now prior to Jesus pilgrimage toward his crucifixion in Jerusalem, the voice is heard again: “This is my Son, my Chosen, Listen to him!” Jesus had by this time a number of friends and followers in his company. But he by this time he also had a significant number of enemies in high places. The mystical experience declares his glory and honor and remarkable status, and it also declares his authority to his friends, Listen to him! That is, stay obedient and faithful as you did for Moses and Elijah, for this is not merely a messengers, but God’s Son, the Chosen anointed Christ, Listen to him!
This profound experience, this vision, this dream state for Peter, James, and John, this mysterious ethereal vision for the early church proclaimed in a wonderful way the glory and authority of Jesus Christ as Lord. Jesus and the disciples, then leave the mountain top and carry on with the ministry and what must be done.
The question for us, I suppose, is how do we deal with mysticism in our modern world. Bible stories such as the Transfiguration are hard to accept in a serious way. Did Jesus really glisten and have Elijah and Moses return from the dead? It is just weird by modern standards.
People who claim to have some kind of mystical experience, vision or dream, are often deemed as suspicious or demented. We try to explain away the phenomenon of vision and dreams, as psychotic, or at least bordering on the strange or bizarre, or as a person trying to get attention. Mystics in our time are often discounted.
I have heard people refer to what happens in the church, at least in the more catholic-like churches, to be dabbling in mumbo - jumbo. We listen to these strange mysterious stories, and claim to believe in them, as we respect the Bible. The priest and liturgical participants dress in white robes and mysterious chasubles on the part of the priest. We come forward to the altar rail with the claim that we are eating the body of Jesus Christ, and drinking his blood. Our music is led with the pipe organ, which has now become a very foreign instrument to may people. They whole setting surrounded in stained glass and light with candles and sometimes immersed in the smell of incense has all become suspect and strange to much of the world, and especially to our world culture today.
Our age is one in which is locked into science, proof. We say that we trust only that which is real. We don’t trust dreams and visions. Hard science is that in which we put our ultimate trust. Now, I for one, am very happy with what science has brought to us. It brings us many many significant blessing. Vaccinations have both thwarted and ended many diseases. We can cure and prevent many serious illnesses. We can fly across the country in hours, around the world for that matter in record time. We can communicate around the world in our own homes by pressing a few buttons. We can communicate with cellular phones anywhere we want to for that matter. We also have an extraordinary amount of information and education through the Internet, which is not without its problems, but still in all, a remarkable scientific instrument and tool.
Even the church has been and is becoming quite entranced with science. We set the organ aside for more modern instruments and high-tech sound systems. Preachers and biblical scholars speak of Jesus as having walked beside the water rather than on the water. We think of the healing stories of Jesus as psychosomatic events, giving them a kind of Freudian interpretation. That is, when Jesus forgives someone their paralysis is relieved because their guilt is taken away. Many churches have moved away - cost being surely a factor - from the stone gothic structures to more functional contemporary theater like styles.
Yet have you noticed that in spite of the acceptance of science and technology, there is still a very real and peculiar yearning for the mystic. I’ve noticed an increasing interest in oriental mysticism, like Buddhism. A significant number of people have become infatuated with New Age Music, which is a kind of ethereal wandering music. There has been a curious development of people interested in witchcraft. Halloween has become a really big holiday, with the purchase of decorations that rival Christmas. The drug culture of recent decades has been for some people an experimentation with an effort to have a psychedelic mystical feel-good religious experience. These things seem to suggest that in the scientific technological world we live in there is still a deep spiritual need that is part of the human experience that often goes lacking in our culture.
The mystical events in the Bible, like the Transfiguration, were revelations, epiphanies, that somehow they could reach out and experience God. In the Transfiguration experience, Peter, James, and John, relate a profound wonderful experience of seeing into the depths of the meaning and purpose of Jesus Christ. In him with him, they become surrounded with the mystical presence of God in the cloud. The love, forgiveness, the sacrifice of the Savior surrounds them in a way that an intellectual experience could never do. They just feel it, sense it know it profound. This is the Son, the Chose, the one to be listened to and embraced.
Good and beautiful music touches the human soul. Poetry says things and provides sensations and feelings, and knowledge, mysterious understands that prose and other mediums of expression cannot. A beautiful painting can inspire mystery, wonder, and expressive feelings. Did you ever notice that when you are in a gothic cathedral that you cannot look down. The architecture always keeps you looking up, longing and yearning for the wonder of God’s presence in his creation.
The development of and the acceptance of our spiritual life and dimension is an imperative. Today we gather in the subtle hues of stained glass.. We stand and sing praise accompanied by an instrument driven by the wind, by the breath, by the spirit. We hear mystically strange miracle stories that make us wonder and stand in awe of an awesome power we call God. We kneel in prayer that strangely and boldly we are worthy to approach the presence of God and make our needs concerns known. We reach out to the presence to be fed with the body and blood, the mysterious essence of God, to empower us and commission us to deal with the world around us. For some it’s only mumbo - jumbo. For some it is the completion or fulfillment of our lives. For us it is a deep and profound awareness that God is with us and that we are his sons and daughters who dream dreams and who are never without visions of God, God’s love, grace, and hope, of resurrection and renewal, of everlasting quality of life now and in the world to come.