Sermon for Transfiguration
Brightness and Shadows
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Some years ago, Kris and I were privileged to share in the consecration of the Rev. Munib Younan as Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.
Some people are surprised to know that there is a Lutheran Church in the Holy Land – six congregations in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Jordan, Palestinian people struggling after many years of occupation by the nation of Israel. Despite their hardships, the Lutheran Church in the Holy Land is alive and well, with a strong church-run education system for children, youth and adults of all faiths and a world-class hospital on the Mount of Olives.
Bishop Younan’s consecration was long and majestic and wonderful. It was held at Redeemer Lutheran Church in the Old City of Jerusalem. There were clergy present from all over the world as well as representatives of both the Israeli and Palestinian governments. To be at a worship service with world Christian leaders and representatives of both the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority was just amazing and hopeful.
About halfway through the three-hour service, I turned to Kris and said something like, “Isn’t this amazing, we are at a bishop’s installation, in Jerusalem!” It was certainly a time of great brightness in our lives and a highpoint in Bishop Younan’s life.
However, like all times in our lives, that time soon ended. In the case of Bishop Younan, his consecration, certainly a highpoint, probably the highpoint of his life until that time, was quickly followed by a very low point – within days of Bishop Younan’s installation, while I was traveling with him, an Israeli border guard tried to strip search him when we crossed the Allenby Bridge over the Jordan River from the West Bank into Jordan. Here we were, following the Bishop’s amazing installation and on our way for an official visit with the King of Jordan and this man of God, a bishop, dressed in his purple clergy shirt and bishop’s cross, this man of God was about to be strip-searched by an Israeli soldier who looked to be no more than 17 years old! It did not seem to matter who Bishop Younan was – all the young soldier saw was a Palestinian man and that made him an enemy.
That very powerful moment is an example, I believe, for something we all experience. While most of us will neither experience the highpoint of becoming a bishop in Jerusalem or the low point of being threatened with or subjected to a strip search, our lives are not really all that different from Bishop Younan’s in the sense that the highpoints in our own lives are fleeting and are often quickly followed by low points. It sometimes seems as if there are only so many of glorious moments we can stand. Then, no matter how hard we try to hang onto them, they slip away.
The highpoints in our own lives are fleeting and are sometimes followed too quickly with low points.
(I should add that, in the end, Bishop Younan was not strip searched at that border crossing. In what I later learned was a typical action by Bishop Younan, he pulled out his cell phone and called the head of religious affairs for the Israeli government and handed his phone to the soldier!)
I have often thought that our lives are sometimes like a roller coaster ride – up and down and up and down again – very good times followed by some very bad times.
Today’s Gospel lesson records one of those momentary bright spots for Jesus and three of his disciples, Peter, James and John. Here we find the disciples on top of a mountain with the Savior of the world. They see the person of Jesus “transfigured,” shining as if Jesus were the sun itself, because God has bestowed God’s glory on Jesus. Both Moses and Elijah are there also. Moses, Elijah and Jesus – for these Jewish men, there could be no greater religious moment! There was even the voice of God from heaven, proclaiming Jesus as God’s Son, God’s Chosen, someone they should listen to!
It is no wonder then that Peter wanted to build something which might contain that glory for a while, something to keep the brightness of that moment from becoming a shadow. Peter wanted to grasp that glory and hold it close. However, before Peter and James and John knew it, the moment was over.
And not only was it over so quickly, the text tells us that “Jesus ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen.” The brightest moment of their lives was over, and quickly, and they were told to “tell no one” about it.
Today, I want to suggest to you that we, too, lead lives similar to those three disciples: In our lives here on this earth, it sometimes seems that the bright moments hardly last at all. And, often, very soon after the brightest of moments, can come the lowest. The brightness of this world can pass quickly, sometimes even without a chance to share these bright moments with others.
Can you recall such moments in your own lives? How about a last good conversation or a departing kiss with a beloved relative? Or that party or family gathering that was so good – a special time when people ate and drank and had a wonderful time? How about the feeling that many have about Christmas here at Mt. Olive, at least in non-Covid times, the feeling that many have about Christmas here at Mt. Olive, singing “Silent Night” together and holding our candles high. Why can’t these moments last? Why can’t we hold onto them forever?
Instead, for many of us, much of our lives seem to fall into times of shadows: A couple find their marriage is falling apart; once wonderful hands and knees now ache with arthritis; a job loss changes lives forever; an accident snuffs out young lives. The bright moments do not seem to last. Instead, we find many moments of shadows.
In those shadow times, those low points in our lives, we desperately need the overpowering love of God. We need God’s love as the brightness and goodness of life slips away even as we try to hold onto those good times just a little while longer.
What are we to do with this sort of life, a life in which the good times seem fleeting and are often followed by bad times?
This year we are hearing the story we call “the Transfiguration” from Mark’s gospel, the story of Jesus on the mountaintop with three of his disciples with the appearance of not only Moses and Elijah but the voice of God from a cloud. This story is included in Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels also.
In the verses from St. Luke’s telling of this same story, in the verses which follow this story, we see what Jesus does following this fleeting moment of brightness. As Jesus comes down from His mountaintop experience, Jesus encounters a man whose son has epilepsy and has suffered greatly. The man had asked Jesus’ disciples to heal his son, but the disciples could not do it.
And what does Jesus do? Jesus heals the boy on the spot.
Jesus came down from his moment of glory on the mountaintop and healed a sick boy. Jesus found a way to share the glory of that moment with someone who had not had the chance to share in his glory. Jesus found a way for the presence of God to shine through his life into a life of a sick boy, a life seemingly untouched by any brightness, untouched until Jesus touched it with the grace of God, healing the boy of epilepsy.
I believe Jesus’ actions give us a clue as to what we are to do as Christians – we are to let those bright moments of our lives, however fleeting they may be, we are to let those bright moments shine through us in actions of love toward others, to share our moments of brightness, especially with those who may never have experienced much brightness in their lives: Bringing tenderness to family and friends in times of trouble; taking those feelings from worship here at Mt. Olive out to others who seem preoccupied with the shadows in their lives; sharing our gifts of time, talents, and finances with others less fortunate, others who may be stuck in their own times of shadows, near and far.
That, I believe, is one lesson for us from the Transfiguration story, that we are to let God’s love shine through us to others, especially to others in their times of shadows.
And, here is the best news, we believe that God will finally make all things new and bright for us. Our moments of brightness will become eternal. Even the brokenness of death, a time of shadows, will be turned into the resurrection of life by our Lord. We will be made new to shine always with the glory of God.
For now, our moments of brightness may be all too brief. They never seem to last long enough. Yet, God still finds ways to bring those moments, however brief, into our lives. God shares such moments with a world full of conflict and brokenness, full of shadows and asks us to do the same.
Fortunately, just as our times of brightness are momentary, our times of shadows are usually momentary also. And, momentary or not, we can let God’s glory shine through our tears, through our own times of shadows. If we do that, our lives will shine in the everlasting glow which God sends through Jesus Christ, God’s Son and our Lord.
Yes, there will be times of brightness and times of shadows in our lives. Our Lord experienced both is his brief life on earth also. And, Jesus brings the promise that he will be there with us to share in the joy of our times of brightness and, perhaps more importantly, to support us in our times of shadows. Jesus transcends these moments and shines through them all. As God’s children and confident of God’s love, we can do the same.
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
February 14, 2021
