Vicar Josiah
R. Armstrong
Zion
Lutheran Church and St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Transfiguration
of Our Lord
2 March 2014
Warts and All
The Gospel of St. Matthew 17.1-9
Grace, Mercy, and Peace are yours in
the Name of the Triune God. Amen.
Today is
Transfiguration of Our Lord Sunday. So, let’s talk about that word,
“transfiguration.” I did some digging on a wonderful online worship resource called
The Work of the People (workofthepeople.com), and those folks have some really
great information to share from the Ancient Greek: The word “transfigure” is an
interesting word. It comes from the Greek word metamorpho, which we recognize as the root of the word
METAMORPHOSIS, that “thing” which happens to a caterpillar when it becomes a
butterfly. It is one of the great wonders of God’s good creation, isn’t it? That
small, creepy crawly caterpillar spends a GREAT deal of its time building a
small home to hide away in, what we call a “cocoon.” After the cocoon is
successfully constructed, the creepy, crawly caterpillar hides itself away
until that majestic time of appointment! That time when the caterpillar will
emerge as a BEAUTIFUL butterfly! FINALLY, the caterpillar has “sprouted” wings
and has come to the world in ALL of its great glory! Pretty incredible, isn’t
it? That word, metamorpho,
means, simply, “to transform.” As a verb, it means “to change into another
form.” In the case of Jesus in our story from the Gospel, the word metamorpho
is used to say “the reality of the outside matches the reality of the inside.”
Now, we can
use science to explain the Metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly, can’t
we? But, we cannot use science to explain the metamorphosis, the
transfiguration, of Jesus Christ on the mountaintop. We can’t really use
ANYTHING to explain this event. Not even our deepest convictions and intimately
studied and known theologies can offer us anything, really. We Lutherans draw
from the tradition of the Greek Orthodox when we say, “It’s all part of the
great mystery.” Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest, professor at
Piedmont College in Georgia, a rural chicken farmer, AND one of the most gifted
preachers known to humankind, preached a sermon on today’s Gospel text
recently. She says in her sermon, “Most of US [are] laboring under the illusion
that our job is to figure out what the story MEANS. I am not sure where we got
this idea, but it seems to dominate the way many of us read the Bible.”
So, this
morning, I would like to give you permission, as Barbara gave me permission, to
NOT figure it out.
We do not NEED to figure out EXACTLY what happened in the
transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ on the mountaintop that day.
So, just let it go, folks.
….just let it go.
We recognize
the players: Peter, James, and John watch Jesus, Moses, and Elijah in an
indescribable moment of metamorpho. We forget that the SAME THING, whatever
that “THING” is, happened to Moses when he came down from Mt. Sinai. In Exodus
ch. 34, Moses comes down the mountain, after having received the Ten
Commandments from the Lord and the text says that his face “shone” and he
didn’t even realize it! Experiencing the FULL glory of God is indescribable,
but when God comes into contact with Peter, James, John, and Moses in ALL of
God’s glory, they are changed.
Maybe the “transfiguration” of Jesus is ALSO the
“transfiguration” of Peter, James, and John? Remember, from the Exodus story,
it is MOSES who is changed.
I think an
important ANNOUNCEMENT is being made in this story. I think the announcement
has less to do with what Jesus experiences and MORE to do with what WE
experience BECAUSE of what Jesus experiences. First, God makes God’s
announcement to the disciples. God says to them, “This is My Son, the Beloved;
with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” But, the announcement I’m talking
about is REVEALED in one very special moment in the text AFTER God makes God’s
announcement.
It is such a small part of the story, if we were to blink, we
would miss it.
And HERE is the Grand Announcement!
Get Ready for It!
“But Jesus came and touched them.”
But…Jesus…came…and touched them.
SO WHAT, Jesus touched them!?
But, in the simple touch of Jesus, something is announced and
revealed.
In all of
the other Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration, Jesus keeps his distance from
Peter, James, and John. Jesus does not touch them. It’s as if the REAL Glory of
God would keep Jesus from touching dirty humans. Ya know? Trifling with mere
mortals? But, St. Matthew has something important to say. Matthew has something
important to announce: Jesus, even in the midst of his GREATEST GLORY, thinks
you are WORTH it! Jesus believes, profoundly and deeply, that we are WORTH his
touch, EVEN in his MOST GLORIOUS, MAJESTIC, and RADIANT moment! This is our
God, folks! Jesus, our God in all of his Glory, moves toward us and touches us
in the midst of our confusion, our lack of answers, our awe and wonder…and
ESPECIALLY in the midst of our sin and brokenness. In this way, Jesus bring
Transfiguration to us, and JUST like caterpillars emerging from their cocoon as
butterflies, we are revealed for who we REALLY are, the Beloved children of our
God. The way we express this “transfiguration” and this “touch of Jesus” today,
is in the waters of the baptismal font. In our baptism, Jesus reaches out and
touches us, transfiguring, transforming, us into what we really are. Claiming
us as his own forever and ever.
We struggle
with this reality, though. We certainly LIKE the idea of a God who reaches out
and saves us. We LIKE that Jesus is a personal God. We LIKE that our necessary
transformation begins with the touch of Jesus. But, our world, especially here
in America, DISLIKES what Jesus reaches out to touch. We dislike our bodies,
don’t we? There is a certain body shaming that happens in our commercials on
TV. Age-defying creams and shampoos. NEW DIETS every time you turn around! Our
bodies grow older, eventually. They start to let us down in various ways. And
then, we tend to sound like the Gnostic community, which Paul fought ALL
throughout the New Testament: MY body is gross. I am too big. I am too slow. My
loved ones are getting sick and dying. God can’t POSSIBLY LOVE, yes LOVE, my
body, because I DON’T love my body. GOOD FOR THE CATERPILLAR, right? That
caterpillar gets to transform into this BEAUTIFUL butterfly, but we just get
worse and worse with age. (Pause)
How OFTEN we
forget the FACT that God calls ALL of God’s creation GOOD in the Creation story
from Genesis. And, people of Zion/St. John’s, God LOVES that Good Creation!
EVERY last part of it! YOU are loved for who you are! In the transfiguration
story, Jesus does NOT reach out, in all of his Glory, to touch PERFECT bodies.
Jesus does NOT reach out to touch bodies that WE consider preferable or good!
Jesus reaches out to touch Peter, James, and John JUST as they are. And Jesus
CONTINUES to reach out and touch us JUST AS WE ARE, transforming us for his
Glory and for his Kingdom, BECAUSE he calls us good.
So…back to
caterpillars and butterflies. You know what else goes through the process of
TRANSFORMATION? Bullfrogs. Yes, ugly, slimy, loud, bullfrogs. They begin as
tiny tadpoles with tiny little tails and NO legs. THEN, they go through the
process of TRANSFORMATION. They become those LARGE, disgusting bullfrogs that
croak in our backyard ponds. But, you know what? God calls the Bullfrog GOOD.
God thinks the bullfrog is JUST AS good as the butterfly. So, if you are
feeling particularly “froggy,” remember that God calls you GOOD. And Jesus
reaches out to touch you, yes, WARTS AND ALL.
When I was a
kid, I looked up a GREAT DEAL to my older cousin Tom. He used to lead his younger
cousins on wild adventures through the woods. We loved the sense of adventure
he instilled in us. He was SO WISE and SO BRAVE and SO STRONG. Wise….right…..
Well, one
day, Tom had the BRILLIANT idea to lead us into the woods to go hunting for
frogs! Now, when I say hunting, I mean…hunting. This part of my story is
TERRIBLE, so prepare yourselves: Tom taught us to sharpen sticks into pointy
spears and then we would hop about near the creek and SPEAR those poor little
frogs in the leg. THEN, we would pick them up and put them in a big box. NOW those
poor wounded frogs were going to become our pets! When my mom found out,
well…she was LESS than pleased. When we saw how upset my mom was, SUDDENLY Tom
didn’t look so WISE anymore. Mom DEMANDED that we release them. And we whined
and said, “BUT MOM! They’re JUST frogs!”
Just…frogs….
Mom taught
us an important lesson that day. God’s creation is good. God reaches out and
touches ALL of God’s good creation. Yes, ALL of it. It does not MATTER what WE
find ugly. God calls us good, and that is ENOUGH.
So, you say
you want to be transformed? You are being transformed. Every day. You don’t
need to figure out how, why, or when you are being transformed. You can trust
that it is happening to you because God says you are GOOD. And because Jesus,
even in the midst of all of his glory, reaches out and touches us, making us
his own forever.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+),
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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