"Listen to Him" - Sermon, February 23, 2020
Community UMC, Quincy
“Listen to Him”
February 23, 2020
Rev. Andrew Davis
2 Peter 1: 16-21
Matthew 17: 1-9
This morning, we stand at the threshold of another liturgical season. Since January 5th, we have been in the season of Epiphany, or Ordinary Time as Jesus grows up and is revealed to the people and revealed to us as the Son of God, the true light. Epiphany began with the Magi finding the toddler Jesus by following the light of a star, then we fast-forward to Jesus’s baptism in God’s voice comes out of the cloud saying, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I’m well-pleased.” This year, we have taken a little more unconventional approach, focusing on the Epistle lessons and Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians which has shed light on who Jesus is to the Church in Corinth and to us today, whether we approaching God for the first time, or whether we’ve heard these stories all throughout our lives.
As we stand at this threshold between seasons, we once again return to the light and this time, we join Jesus on the mountaintop with three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John. During that time, a theophany, or physical manifestation of God happens, Jesus is illuminated in a bright light with his clothes dazzling white, and two other superheroes of our faith, Moses and Elijah appear on the mountain. Like last Sunday’s illustration about itinerancy that scared the you-know-what out of half the congregation, the disciples on the mountain have a similar reaction, cowering down in fear and trembling from the vision. Probably not the best place to sing, “Blinded by the Light…” Although knowing Peter, he probably would since he was Jesus’ brown-noser, yet also the “rock Jesus would build his church upon” (Matthew 16: 18).
Let’s back up a little here, as I find Peter intriguing, especially since he wants to remain on the mountain and build dwellings for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, even though Jesus foretells his death and resurrection. Six days before this moment, in chapter 16: 16-17, we get Peter revealing Jesus as the Messiah, yet Peter is horrified that Jesus has foretold his death and resurrection and in a well-meaning gesture of trying to protect Jesus, gets rebuked and called “Satan” in verses 21-23. Fast-forward back to this moment on the mountaintop after seeing Jesus’ figure change, or transfigure, we hear God not just say “this is my son whom I am well-pleased,” but “listen to him.” That goes for Peter, James, John, and all of us. Listen to Jesus, the Light of the World, sent to earth to save us because humanity didn’t get it each time God spared humanity from sin and evil. It’s a threshold when Peter, James, and John see the full Glory of Christ revealed on that mountaintop, which is wondrous and scary. As we imagine ourselves joining Jesus on that mountaintop with Peter, James, and John, this threshold moment
provides a chance to mark a step from one reality into another. When change happens, we often miss it. All of a sudden, we look around and think to ourselves, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we aren’t in Kansas anymore!” And we aren’t. The colors are different; the sounds are different; the feel is different. How did we get here? Who knows? But we’re here, in this not-Kansas place and time. And somehow we missed the doorway from that to this, the threshold from one life to another. It is the way of things, it seems.[i]
That’s a lot like how Peter sees it, even though God says to listen to Jesus. Trust in Jesus. Even as Jesus is heading toward Jerusalem, knowing that he is going to be arrested, charged, executed, buried, only to rise to new life. This morning, we stand at that threshold between Christmas and Easter, the birth of Christ who came to save humanity from sin and evil and will accomplish that task when he rises to new life.
Like Peter, we are so quick to want to preserve that moment like the moment on the mountaintop, although we know in reality, that doesn’t necessarily happen. Like standing at the threshold of a new season in the church or crossing the threshold of a door, we can sometimes trip over the threshold too. As we follow the Christian calendar, we stand at the threshold between Epiphany and Lent,
We move from an adoration of the light into an encounter with our own personal darkness. And if we pay attention, we will discover we are not as alone as we sometimes feel when we examine our darkness. The light that sustained us before and now lives in us is not quite obscured by our own failings. If we stay alert, we can navigate even the broken pavement of our own sinfulness because we walk in the path of the one who goes before, carrying our cross. At its best, most significant and most helpful, Lent is a di"cult journey. It involves a willingness to be honest, which is a di"cult task at the best of times. But this honesty is self-directed. We have to be honest with ourselves. We have to be honest in our assessment, honest in our helplessness, honest in our commitment to the path that rises before us and our utter inability to walk that path on our own. That kind of honesty is rare, to say the least. So what did the framers of the Christian liturgical year tell us we needed for this? Transfiguration.[ii]
Just as God says to listen to Jesus while Peter, James, and John are on the mountaintop with him, we will soon have the reminder that we can’t always stay in the same moment. Moses and Elijah had their own mountaintop experiences back in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, yet they didn’t stay on the mountaintop forever, as they ultimately had to come down; Moses with the Law/Ten Commandments, and Elijah to continue prophesying. Likewise, Jesus is heading to Jerusalem, as he will once again have to go down to the valley as he journeys towards the cross (just like the song, “Jesus Walked, this Lonesome Valley.”
It can be a little bit disconcerting when thinking about going from light to darkness, from the mountain to the valley, although the good news is that we are journeying along with Christ as he makes his way to Jerusalem. We go from the light to the darkness with Christ, along with going from the mountaintop to the valley with Christ, or in the case of our Lenten journey here, the dark wood. Transfiguration Sunday is that threshold where we stand between the light and darkness, the season of Epiphany and Lent. We will begin the season of Lent here this Wednesday evening as we take some time to pray, examine ourselves from the inside out, take a long look in the mirror at ourselves, and to mourn the ways that we miss the mark. While Lent sounds like it’s a dour and somber time, I find more meaning in it the older I get. Similar to Advent, Lent gives us that time to pause, to add spiritual practices, fast a day or give up something we enjoy so that we can allow God to fill that void. But we begin by entering into the wilderness or dark wood, a reminder that we are mortal, that we were created to dust and that we will ultimately return to dust. It is a time where we come face to face with our sins, yet have the opportunity to accept the amazing grace that God offers us, that we don’t have to work for either, but simply accept that grace with faith. Listen to Jesus.
Transfiguration is the threshold we stand at, step over, maybe even trip over. Similar to Peter, James, and John, we may not fully understand the meaning of Jesus’s transfiguration, which is where we can embrace the mystery of how God works, just like the Paschal mystery, which is the mystery behind Jesus’ death and resurrection, all out of God’s love for humankind. Nevertheless, God says listen to Christ, God’s only son, our Lord. Our Lenten journey will give us the opportunity to listen to Christ, to join him on his journey to Jerusalem. We can journey with him if we don’t understand why, just as Peter didn’t exactly understand why and even after Peter wanted to stay in that moment on the mountain or wanted to keep Jesus from going to Jerusalem. As we talked about before, nothing ever stays the same and this new journey we take once we come off the mountaintop will be a journey where I hope we will be changed as individuals, so that we can rise to rise to new life, the same resurrection that Jesus tells the disciples who journeyed with him will happen. For Peter, the disciples, and for us today, the transfiguration “is change for moving, not for staying the same, not for settling in but for moving on. And it’s certainly not for going back to the good old days. Nothing remains the same after the mount of transfiguration.”[iii] And yet in reality, change is very hard. After all, Peter would keep putting his foot in his mouth and even deny knowing Jesus, yet in time would be the one Jesus would extend grace to and still build his church on. It took Peter a little longer, and it may take some of us longer as well, yet Jesus extends the same grace to us as well, no matter how many times we’ve screwed up in our lives. We can still change our hearts for God.
As we stand at the threshold of the season of Lent, as we come off the mountain and back into the valley and into the dark wood, What needs to change in your life? How are you seeking God’s help to change your heart? On the other hand, what makes you resistant to change and hard of heart? Or in other words, where do you find yourself tripping over the threshold? During the season of Lent, let’s listen to Jesus. Let’s fully embody the teachings and love of Jesus in everything we do, not just today, but every day. Let us listen to Jesus as we walk with him to Jerusalem, to the cross, the grave, so we can rise to something new on Easter. While we may want to stay on the mountain, it’s not meant to be.
[i] Derek Weber, “Listen to Him” in Preaching Notes (Nashville: Discipleship Ministries of The United Methodist Church), accessed 20 February 2020, https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/transfiguration-sunday/transfiguration-sunday-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes/transfiguration-sunday-year-a-preaching-notes
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Ibid.
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