Text: Exodus 34:29-35
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
Jesus took Peter, John, and James with him and went up a hill to pray. While he was praying, his face changed its appearance, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly two men were there talking with him.
They were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in heavenly glory and talked with Jesus….
In the early 1940’s, a brilliant New Testament scholar by the name of Rudolph Bultmann wrote: "It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles …. (These are) unintelligible and unacceptable to the modern world".
Remember Bultmann wrote this 67 years ago. He went on to say, "Human knowledge and mastery of the world have advanced to such an extent through science and technology that it is no longer possible for anyone seriously hold to the New Testament view of the world…"
In view of today’s advanced science and technology what are we to say about today’s Gospel reading of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Is this just one of those events in the life of Jesus that Bultmann would say is "unintelligible and unacceptable to the modern world"? This strange story, about dazzling white clothes – a conversation with heavenly figures – the appearance of Moses and Elijah – God's voice booming from the clouds – all of this is outside of our normal experience.
As I say this, I’m aware that this was way outside the experience of those who witnessed these events first hand. Peter was so impressed by the (Shekiana of God) that he wanted the experience to continue indefinitely.
He offered to make shelters for the three heavenly figures – maybe he could sit down with them and over a cup of tea join in the conversation Jesus, Moses and Elijah were having. May be, tell some of his fish stories, the big one that got away.
What shall we do with such stories in the Bible that take us beyond our own experiences?
-like raising people from the dead,
-the miraculous healing of lepers,
-giving people back their sight and hearing,
-enabling people who are paralysed walk again,
-changing water into win, (I am aware that Jesus wasn’t the first to perform this miracle).
-and today we heard abut the dazzling appearance of Jesus as he talked with two Old Testament heroes – Moses and Elijah?
Was Bultmann right when he said that these are "unintelligible and unacceptable to the modern world" and it is no longer possible to "believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracles …"? (if may I ask - were the miracles any more understandable in Jesus’ time?)
Therefore, should we skip over texts like we have today and focus on what is real and possible in today’s world? To do that would mean believing that miracles no longer happen, including the Resurrection. This is outside of our normal experience
There are moments in life, fleeting moments, when the curtain between present and future is pull back and we see, just for a moment, what tomorrow holds for us. Glimpses, moments that make us stand, even for a moment, peek into the future. The transfiguration of Jesus, which we ponder over today, is also a glimpse into the future.
The event occurs right after Peter's confession. Jesus asks, "Who do people say that I am?" Peter gets the question right: "You are the Messiah. "Here, standing before them, is the long-awaited Messiah of God. But then, Jesus shocks them by telling his disciples that he "must suffer many things, and be rejected...and be killed,..." (Luke 9:22).
It came as a great blow to the disciples to hear that God's Messiah must also suffer and be killed. Worse, Jesus tells those who would be his disciples, "If any one would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23-25). They suffered a double shock: Jesus must suffer in order to be obedient to God; they must suffer in order to follow Jesus.
The transfiguration lasted only a moment. It was a glimpse of the future but the future had not yet become the present. The disciples and Jesus went back down from the mountain, back down into the valley where there were sick people to be healed, and disputes among the disciples to be settled, and lots more work to be done.
An elderly man had undergone serious surgery that had left him only a shadow of his former self. A friend visited him at home and remarked how he admired his ability to function in his daily work, and even when his health was poor he showed little distress. The man replied, "Knowing that I’ll be dead in a few short years makes a whole lot of difference." He meant it. This is outside of our normal experience. Was that a miracle? Some would say it was "good luck".
What most of us know only as a vague, speculative possibility, barely giving a second thought to how imminent our death is, this man knew it as reality. As a result of his sickness, he caught a glimpse of the future. Now, his remaining days were shaped by that awareness. "Teach us to number our days," says the Psalmist, "that we might gain a heart of wisdom "(Ps. 90:12).
Of course to be able to receive this revelation we must first listen to God speaking to us through the pages of Scriptures. Miracles. …. others might say that it was a coincidence. With the eyes of faith we can say that God's hand healed this man. This was one of God's miracles.
In the early hours of the morning in August 2006, I was called to Verdun, QC. Hospital intensive Care Unit by the family of a dying woman (I know this family). This woman had fallen into a deep coma for days, relying on life support to keep her alive. The medical staff discussed with the family to prepare themselves for the inevitable turning off the machine next few days.
The family was upset, her daughter objected to the machine being turn off. She wanted her mother on the machine for more time, as we stood around the bed praying, her daughter, and grand- daughter boldly prayed that she might get well.
As I prayed part of me did not think she was going to pull through. I ended my prayers after the ‘amen’ with these words “kom godt hjem.” I have seen many dying people in my short life, to the naked eyes death was just around the bend I thought, her colour was blue, and was heavily swollen up. I felt she was on her way home to God.
I went home with a heavy heart… thinking death is not pretty. For the next few hours any time the phone rang, I thought to my self that is it. I visited her every week and on one particular visit to amazement she was sitting up in bed. As she felt better she was moved to a regular room and spent three months in the hospital In due course she was discharged and went home. Was that just "good luck"? Or was it one of God's miracles?
A schoolteacher was doing her best to discredit the miracles of the Bible. She said, "Take, for instance, the crossing of the Red Sea. We know this body of water was only 6 inches deep". Immediately from the back of the class room came the remark, "Praise God for the miracle!" Annoyed, the teacher asked, "What miracle?" "Well," explained the little boy, "God must have drowned the whole Egyptian army in just 6 inches of water!"
When it comes to the unexplainable in our Christian faith, like miracles, we are tempted to reduce our faith to what is rational and understandable. We feel that modern people just don’t accept what is incomprehensible.
The very fact that we are children of God is miracle. In fact, as wonderful as being healed of a sickness or rescued from a tragedy might be, this is a far greater miracle. Martin Luther in the Small Catechism when explaining the work of the Holy Spirit said, "I believe that on my own I can never come to Jesus Christ my Lord, or believe in him, no matter how hard I try. But the Holy Spirit has called me to Jesus by the good news about him. The Spirit has led me to know and trust Jesus, made me holy, and kept me in the Christian faith."
This is the miracle of faith. Our relationship with God, our knowledge and trust, faith that believes that Jesus died for me, that he rose from the dead for me, is only possible through the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit in my hearts. It is impossible for any of us to create faith in God.
We can’t do anything to improve our relationship with God because we are so bound up in sin –even our best and noblest desires are affected by sin and there is nothing that we can do about it. But as we listen to God through his Word – we become aware of God’s judgement on sin, we hear about the miracle of God's grace and how his love for me that led to the sending of his Son into this world and then his dying for me on the cross. The Holy Spirit creates in us the miracle of faith.
I stood by the bed of one of my parishioners, when I lived in Mission, BC., whose hours in this life were slowly drawing to a close. She was barely conscious, I held her hand, her breathing was slow. Suddenly her eyes opened wide, and she said, "Jesus is coming to get me!" and with that she close her eyes, and took his last breath.
I am aware the sceptics will say that she was hallucinating, that drugs were playing tricks on her mind, may be that could be so. But I, and those gathered around her deathbed, believed that for a fleeting moment the veil over the future was pulled back for this woman (Nora) that she could see herself in the presence of her Saviour.
That’s the kind of miracle that God wants to do in our lives. He wants to give us his miraculous grace – he wants us to receive his powerful and unquenchable love for us. He wants to give us the miracle of forgiveness – to wipe away all the bad that we have ever thought, said, and done. He wants to create in us the miracle of faith. This is not just a once only miracle – but on going miracle.
I could go on and on and on, but take the miracle of baptism for example. The more I meditate on the meaning of my baptism and all that God has done for me by making me his child, giving me forgiveness, and a place in his heavenly home, the more I am amazed at what God has done and continues to do for me.
(By the way, I made my reservation in God’s kingdom in July 1969 and I know one of these days when my days on this earth is over and shed off this early mantle, I will head to my heavenly home with out a shadow of doubt. Remember I have a reservation, ‘Jesus Christ’).
My life is changed because God has revealed himself to me and assured me that I am his child, and that he has promised to always be there when I go through my trials, tribulations, and troubles in life. For God to make this kind of promise to a sinful, unworthy person like me is an amazing miracle. This is outside of our normal experience. We come here to worship, and we hear the Word of God. We are confronted with this peek into the future. In some small way every time we hear God’s Word, celebrate the Eucharist, the veil over the future is pulled away, and for a moment we see the glory of the Lord, his will for our lives and our place in his family.
Can those glimpses into the future help and encourage us along the way? I believe they can! When we go back to the valley, to a very ordinary humdrum week, we are strong, because for one shining moment, we have seen (Shekiana of God). The curtain between the present and the future is pulled back and we know the future as if it were now.
When we walk out the doors of this church, the world may not look as pretty or sound as glorious as it does in here. It will be an ordinary, rather cold, February day out there, down there, in the valley, with nothing visibly different from when we came in.
The mountaintop experiences – the dazzling clothes, the appearance of Moses and Elijah and the booming voice from heaven, - this may not be a common occurrence in our lives. But far more important and far more impressive is the miracle of forgiveness and a renewed relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Can “anyone seriously hold to the New Testament view of the world of spirits and miracles? The testimonies of the saints speak for themselves, the miracles recorded in the New Testament changed people’s lives over the centuries beginning with disciples, some died for what they believed to be true (and were fed to wild beasts), lastly it has changed me.
To an even greater degree the miracle of faith changes lives. Holy and loving God claims us, sinful though we are, as rebellious as we are,
……God claims us to be a light in this world and make a difference. Now that’s a miracle!
Amen
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
February 18, 2007