"Changed Before Your Eyes"

Rev. Debbie Cato

2 Kings 2:1-12 and Mark 9:2-9

Peace Presbyterian Church

February 15, 2015

Changed Before Your Eyes

I was at a meeting recently when the moderator asked someone for some information - but he replied that he didn't have it. The chairperson said, “Well, I know you do because I sent it to you in an e-mail yesterday afternoon.”

The person smiled sheepishly and replied, "Oh, I didn't realize that’s what it was and so I just deleted it.”

Everyone laughed - including me - but I was struck at the time by just how normal his actions were. Often when we encounter something we don’t know or under-stand we throw it away; or at the very least - we ignore it - we put it on hold - we neglect it.

So it is with stories like those we heard from today's scripture passages -

     Many of us hear about visions of chariots of fire,

          of water being parted to reveal a path across a river,

               of a man being taken up into heaven -

                  and mentally shrug our shoulders and dismiss the matter as an idle tale.

Others hear about how Jesus was transformed on a mountaintop, that he shone as bright as the sun, how he was visited by two men - long dead, and they say to themselves that's all very nice, but what does it have to do with me. Then we go on about our lives as if these things had never happened, as if they never can or never will happen again.

I’ve preached sermons on these scripture passages before. These are typical 
passages for Transfiguration Sunday; the last Sunday before Lent. Usually I focus on the mountain top experiences we have with God and how just like Peter, we would like to stay on the mountaintop. But just as Peter and James and John learn, it’s necessary to come down off the mountain and serve in the valley below. So,we aren’t going to do go there today.

Today we are going to focus on the wonder of the whole experience. Jesus chose Peter and James and John to travel up the mountain with him and as a result, they watch as Jesus undergoes a transfiguration – a change in appearance. They witness Jesus’ appearance become overwhelmingly bright – so bright their eyes can’t take it. Peter and James and John see Moses and Elijah talking with Christ. Imagine! Two of the greatest prophets; long-dead, talking with their teacher, their friend, their Lord. Peter and James and John hear a voice boom from heaven, "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" (Mark 9:7b)

And then, just as quickly, it was over. Moses and Elijah are gone. Jesus' appearance is back to normal and they are heading back down the mountain. Same old, same old. But I doubt that Peter or James or John were the same. I doubt things were “back to normal” for them.

Peter and James and John saw the greatest prophets of old; prophets they had been raised to admire; whose teachings they revered. It was Peter and James and John who caught the vision of who Jesus was. They saw the divinity of their earthly teacher. It was Peter and James and John who heard the voice of God.

Although it was Jesus who was transfigured; Jesus whose appearance changed; it was Peter and James and John who were transformed. It was those three men who were changed by their experience. They had encountered the divine and they would never be the same again.

Most of us are convinced that our faith is about doing good things,

     about showing love and care for one another;

          about “doing” ministry.

                 And it is - this is how we are to live out our faith.

But our faith is about yearning to see God and experience his power.

     It is about being touched by His Spirit.

          It is about being moved by the voice of the Lord whispering in our ears.

Our faith is so rich - our God is so good - that it makes no sense at all to limit what is possible for us to the dry bones of what we should or shouldnot do each day. Or the dry bones of what we have done for years.

Our faith is about entertaining angels, every bit as much as it is about seeking to comfort the afflicted and to heal the sick. It is about seeing visions of a new heaven and a new earth, every bit as much as it is about seeking justice and resisting evil.

Our faith is about being refreshed by God,

     as much as it is about refreshing others in God's name.

The biggest mistake we can make in our spiritual lives is settling for less than the real thing, for a portion - instead of the whole, and all because we either do not believe in what God can do, or because we do not look at or understand what we have been given. “I didn’t realize what it was, so I ignored it. I deleted it.”

I believe the most common problem faced by members of the Church is not the fact that we spend too much time seeking spiritual visions and revelations - thereby neglecting the important truths and duties of everyday life in Christ. Rather it is the fact that we do not believe in and thus are not open to the special moments, the special touches, that only God can give us.

Some say that people have no energy for living the Christian life because they do not get fed by the church. I say, some people are out of energy because they fail to recognize the food that is before them – because they fail to take and eat what God seeks to give them.

When I lived in Washington, there was a weekly prayer meeting held at our church. Of the nine hundred or so adults that attended church every week, only about 15 or so attended the weekly prayer meeting. Those that came, sought spiritual food for their daily journey in the Lord. They found it by praying for one another and with one another and for the needs of those they love and those in the larger community.

We prayed for one another with the laying on of hands, we prayed for healings, for people to have the power to overcome grief or suffering in their lives, for others to discover what God wants them to do in a particular situation.

Finally my turn came to be prayed for – and I asked that they might pray that God would fill me with his Spirit - that he might make my faith come even more alive.

When the hands came down on my head and shoulders and the people gathered around me began to pray - I felt an energy go through my body like electricity, and I began to shake in my chair as the words of prayer washed over me, and then, in a moment of sudden silence, a word came to me very strongly - a word came straight from God - "You shall be used to do great things in my service."

To this day those words have stayed with me and shaped my thoughts, making me wonder what the greatness is - making me wonder

- is it the power and glory like that of great evangelist or theologian,

       - or is it the greatness that was revealed by Christ as he went about as

          the servant of all, stooping down even to wash his own disciple's feet?

It was a moment that fed me and still feeds me. It was a profoundly spiritual moment.

That particular prayer meeting was a turning point for me; possibly as much as the experience of Jesus and his disciples on the mount of transfiguration was a turning point - as much as Elisha crossing the Jordan with Elijah was a turning point.

Friends - I can't explain to you what a holy moment is for you; nor can I tell you just how special and sacred events come to pass. I also cannot even promise you that you will have such a moment if you only do this or that, but I will tell you this: these moments are real. They come to us most often when we put ourselves in the way of them; when we open ourselves up to letting God work in our lives.

You can't have a mountain top experience if you don't climb the mountain.

Elisha followed his teacher Elijah around the country despite Elijah telling him not to when he had his experience; he actively sought a double portion of the spirit that filled Elijah and was patient to receive it.

Peter, James, and John were obeying Jesus when they witnessed his transfiguration. They climbed the mountain with him as he went to pray.

I was seeking to be open to the Lord when I asked for prayers at that prayer meeting; when I heard God speak the message that he had chosen me for his service.

The sacred experiences that are recounted in the bible, the experiences of the divine that are recorded there, are still occur today.

Some of us catch sight of God in the beauty around us,

     some glimpse him during a close encounter with death,

           some meet him in a special way during a period of suffering,

                   others while they are praying at special gatherings or at worship.

Don't throw away those strange and mysterious experiences that have happened in your lives. Don't let go of those things that you do not understand or cannot explain. Instead, meditate on them, delight in them, and use them as a source of strength for your time of service in the valleys below. It’s through these experiences that we are transformed; that we are changed.

As the psalmist sings:

Oh how lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts!

My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the Living God. Amen