"One thing" -- Sermon for Transfiguration of Our Lord 2019
SERMON FOR SUNDAY 3 MARCH 2019
Transfiguration of Our Lord
The Rev. Carrie Ballenger
“One thing”
Grace and peace to you from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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| Icons in progress at Anafora Retreat Center near Cairo |
“You can
choose one thing.”
This is what
my parents told 10 year-old me in the gift shop at Disneyland on our last day
of vacation, just as the park was closing. I remember standing in front of a massive
display of stuffed animals—Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald Duck, Bambi—and
thinking “How can I ever choose? How can I pick just one thing to
represent the whole Magic Kingdom?!” I agonized over the decision far
past my family’s patience, until they said with exasperation, “Come on, Carrie,
it’s time to go!” In desperation, I quickly grabbed a Mickey Mouse, hoping his
iconic red pants and giant black ears would preserve all my memories of our Disney
vacation forever.
Two weeks
ago, I found myself in a similar situation, except this time it was at a desert
retreat center in Egypt, not Disneyland. On the last day, I was standing before
a display of icons, debating which one to bring home.
Now listen: I
had traveled to Egypt fully intending to bring home an icon. I had money set
aside to spend on one. I had even watched the religious sisters of the retreat center
writing these icons! And still, I found myself agonizing over the decision. The
thing is, I didn’t really want to leave the retreat center. I wasn’t ready to go
back to the hustle and bustle of Cairo. I wanted to stay in the peace and quiet
of the desert! And I wanted to stay near to Jesus, who had so faithfully walked
with me while I was there. Could any of those images—as beautiful as they were—truly
capture that experience?
This time,
there were no exasperated parents to step in and demand I end the deliberation.
I was about to just grab an icon, any one, when I noticed a small rock sitting
on the same shelf. It was marked with a tiny Coptic cross, painted in the same style
as the icons. I picked it up and noticed it fit just in the palm of my hand. It
probably wasn’t intended to be for sale, but I took it to the checkout counter anyway.
The cashier just looked at the rock (and me) with amusement and handed it back,
a free gift with my other purchases. I stuck it in my pocket, where it remained
for the rest of my trip.
Now Peter, James, and John were on a high mountain with Jesus. They were weighed down with sleep, but because they stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men (Moses and Elijah) who stood with him.
Then Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it
is good for us to be here; let’s build three little houses, one for you,
one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. While he was
saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as
they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my
Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found
alone.
The story of
Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain is both one of the strangest stories in
the Gospels and one of the few we hear twice a year! Come August 6, we
will hear it again…and I suppose that makes sense, as it was most certainly something
to remember.
It’s tough
to know what to do with mountaintop religious experiences. How do you commemorate
such moments? Do you write a poem—or maybe even a Gospel? Do you compose a
piece of music, or create a work of art? You may want a souvenir to take home, a
small rock from the mountain where it happened, for example.
Or maybe you
would want to build a little house in that exact spot, because it feels so good
to be there, where the world (and Jesus) make sense.
When we experience
profound or mystical moments, it is certainly tempting to try and hang out
there forever. This feeling keeps us coming back to the Holy Land, or visiting
a favorite vacation spot, or it makes us try and recreate that perfect dinner
party time and again.
But I think
this feeling—this wanting-to-stay-on-the-mountaintop feeling—is also the same
impulse that causes well-meaning, Christian people, to try and preserve the
church the way we remember it, the way it was when we were young, the way it
was when the world (and Jesus) made sense.
The problem
is, that feeling of wanting to protect and preserve mountaintop experiences means
we spend our precious time building little boxes and attempting to keep Jesus
in there—except Jesus didn’t ask us to build him a shrine on the mountain.
But he does
ask us to follow him.
I’m sure it was
a day for Jesus to remember, too, on that mountain. But instead of lingering
there, Jesus took Peter and the other disciples with him off the mountain
as soon as possible.
He took them
down the mountain, where he got busy proclaiming release to the captives,
recovery of sight to the blind, letting the oppressed go free, and proclaiming
the year of the Lord’s favor—starting with the healing of one boy possessed by
a spirit.
Jesus took
the disciples down the mountain and into the streets, where he asked
them to join in this work of life transformation and transfiguration, and where
he continued to prepare them for the next stage of their journey, which was to
be Jerusalem, and the cross.
Dear siblings
in Christ, there’s nothing wrong with mystical mountaintop experiences – in fact,
on Wednesday evenings during this Lenten season we’re going to spend some time
with a few of the most famous Christian mystics: Julian of Norwich, Thomas
Merton, Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, and Antony of Egypt.
However, mountaintops
are not where disciples of Jesus are called to stay.
Mountaintops
are not where we even come to know Jesus in the deepest way!
“This is my
Son, my Chosen. Listen to him!” says the voice from the cloud.
But it turns
out that the glory of God is made manifest not only through mysterious clouds
and mystical voices from heaven,
But even
more so when a boy possessed by a spirit is restored to wholeness and returned
to his family,
and when the lost
and excluded are restored to community,
and when the oppressed
and occupied are liberated,
and when our broken
hearts are made whole once again,
and when our
own lives are transformed and transfigured.
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| Image of Jesus at Linkoping Cathedral, Sweden |
The glory of
God is not housed on any high mountain,
Or in any church
building,
Nor can it
be contained or controlled by any church institution
Because through
Jesus God’s glory is on the loose in the world, active in every interaction
Jesus has with the broken, the sinful, the grieving, and the oppressed. Amen!
“OK, you can
take one thing” I imagine Jesus saying to the disciples, after the cloud dissipated
and the magic kingdom was fading into the distance.
“We’re not
staying here on this mountain, and we’re not building any houses, but you can
take one thing with you.”
You can’t very
well take a cloud down the mountain in your pocket, can you?
But the one
thing the disciples could take with them from their mountaintop experience was a
profound experience of who Jesus is…not only a
teacher, not only a prophet, but God’s Son, the Chosen one, the one the world
had been waiting for.
This is the
value of any mystical experience, after all—and of any Holy Land pilgrimage,
for that matter—in that it gives us a deeper knowledge of who Jesus is.
Thanks be to
God that on the mountain, in the desert, in the bread and the wine, and especially
on the cross,
Jesus is again
and again revealed to us as love, perfect love.
Friends, we can’t
stay on the mountain. Not many of
you can stay here in Jerusalem! And I
promise, you won’t be able to find the perfect souvenir on the last day.
But we can
take Jesus’ radical, self-giving love with us wherever we go--
We can take
it to the streets.
We can take
it to the hospital.
We can take
it to the halls of power
We can take
it into our darkest hours.
We can take
this love all the way to the cross with him—for there we find the deepest understanding
of who Jesus is.
May the
peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus. Amen.
"Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds
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