Changed Before Your Eyes

Rev. Debbie Cato
2 Kings 2:1-12 and Mark 9:2-9
Fairfield Community Church
February 11, 2024

God Who Speaks, we hear the stories in Scripture, the words of the prophets, the tales of our ancestors, the songs of the psalmists and the proverbs of the poets. Help us to listen to the words You have given us, and to listen to the Word that became flesh and dwelled among us, Jesus Christ our Lord. When we hear God say, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” may we stop and listen. May we humble ourselves instead of thinking we’ve heard it all before. Speak to us so we might listen in a new way, to know Your love in new ways and to share that love with the world. Invite us into this time and space that is Yours, so we might draw closer to You. Amen.

 

Changed Before Your Eyes

 

 

I remember being at a board meeting years ago when the chairperson asked another member of the board for some information . 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 board member 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 understand 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 today from the scriptures - 

   Many of us hear about of water being parted to reveal a path across a river,    

             visions of chariots of fire,

     and of a man being taken up into heaven -

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

 Something beyond our comprehension. 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, great prophets - long dead,    

and they say to themselves that's all very nice, but what does it have to do with me? Then they go on about their 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 – after all Transfiguration Sunday comes every year! Usually, I focus on the mountain top experiences we have with God and how just like Peter, we want to stay on the mountaintop.  Yet, just as Peter and James and John learn, it’s necessary to come down off the mountain and serve in the valley below.  I think they’ve been decent sermons; faithful to the text.  But we aren’t going to go there today.

Today we are going to focus on the wonder of the experience.  Jesus chose Peter and James and John to travel up the mountain with him.  He does a lot with those three disciples.  As a result, Peter, James and John watch as Jesus undergoes a transfiguration – a complete 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.  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 as it happened, it was over.  Moses and Elijah are gone.  Jesus’ appearance is back to normal and they are all headed back down the mountain.  But I doubt that Peter or James or John were the same.  I doubt things were “back to normal” for them. What do  you think?

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 saw the vision of who Jesus truly was – the divine nature 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; 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 serving others.

       And it is - this is what our faith is about. This is how Jesus taught us to be.

But our faith is also 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 should not do each day.

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 ending up settling for less than the real thing, for a portion - instead of for the whole, all because we either do not believe in what God can do, or because we do not look at nor 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 (with a capital C) is not 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 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 of the faithful 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.

Friends - I can't explain to you what a holy moment is to you;  nor can I tell you just how special and sacred events come to pass, nor can I even promise you that you will have such a moment if you only do this or do that.

But I will tell you this: these moments are real, and they come to us most often 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 and saw first-hand Jesus’ divine nature, after they climbed the mountain with him as he went to pray.

The sacred experiences that are recounted in the bible, the experiences of the divine that are recorded there, are still needed - and they 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 in Psalm 84: 

 

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