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The Ecs=
tasy
and the Agony
Psalm =
2
Matthew
17:1-9, 14-21
Tradi=
tion!
Tradition! It never wants to go away; it would rather kill the organization=
it
serves than leave it. Traditi=
on!
Tradition! It refuses to go away; it would rather block creative energy in =
the
persons it is supposed to nurture than leave them.
A young Rabbi found a serious pr=
oblem
in his new congregation. During the Friday service, half of the congregation
stood for the prayers and half remained seated, and each side shouted at the
other, insisting that theirs was the true tradition. Nothing the rabbi said=
or
did moved toward resolving the impasse.
Finally, in desperation, the you=
ng
rabbi sought out the synagogue’s 99-year –old founder. He met t=
he
old rabbi in a nursing home and poured out his troubles. “So tell me,=
was
it the tradition for the congregation to stand during the prayers?
“No,” answered the r=
abbi.
“Ah, then it was the tradi=
tion
to sit during the prayers?”
“No,” answered the r=
abbi.
“Well, what we have is com=
plete
chaos! Half of the people stand and shout and the other half sit and
scream!”
“Ah,” said the old m=
an.
“That was the tradition.”
Tradi=
tion!
Tradition! It never wishes to leave!
There=
is a
lot of tradition in the transfiguration story. Jesus takes Peter, James and
John to the top of a mountain. Something spectacular was surely going to
happen, one of those “mountain top” experiences that characteri=
zed
the Hebrew peoples’ journey through the wilderness. Whenever Moses ne=
eded
to talk with God he would go up the mountain! What would occur there Biblic=
al
scholars call a theophony. It w=
as a
dramatic experience of the presence of God. In keeping with Jewish theology=
and
tradition no one could see God and live. So God’s presence is marked =
by
lighting, fire or extreme brilliance, or by overshadowing clouds so no human
being would accidentally see God and die! And when Moses would reappear at =
the
foot of the mountain, his face would be shining, bright as the sun!
Well,=
there
was indeed a theophony on the
mountain that day. Jesus was transfigured right in front of Peter, James and
John. That is, his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling
white in this near presence of God. It started out apparently, as one of th=
ose
“feel-good” religious experiences that so much of contemporary
religion is made of. It felt so good in fact, that Peter decided they should
all stay there! In the midst of this theophony,
Moses and Elijah appeared. How good it was to be with them again! Wow! It w=
as
just like the good old days- just like it used to be. And Peter declares it=
is
so good for them all to be there, that they should stay! How good it is to =
live
in all that old tradition! So Peter said he would build dwellings for Jesus,
Moses and Elijah, on the mountain!
What =
Peter failed
to realize was that the theophony <=
/i>was
not over! All of a sudden God enters the conversation! He says: “This=
is
my Son, marked by my love, the focus of my delight. Listen to him!” W=
ell
the disciples were literally knocked down on their faces. Annie Dillard, in=
Teaching a Stone to Talk, suggests=
that
if we are the least bit serious about encountering the presence of God in
worship we “Christians…(are not) sufficiently sensible of the
conditions. Dillard says:
“Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely
invoke? Or as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are
children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch =
of
TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats
and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers
should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our
pews. For the sleeping God may wake someday and take offense, or the waking=
god
may draw us out to where we can never return.”
Well,=
at this
point, Moses and Elijah disappear. And Jesus and Peter, James and John, beg=
in
the trek down the mountain into the agony of this world.
John =
asks
Jesus about Elijah.
“Isn’t Elijah supposed to come before the Messiah?”
“Forget it John,” Jesus replies. “Elijah has already retu=
rned
in John the Baptist, and no one recognized him, and the politicos and the
religious elite murdered him. The tradition is over! Allow what you have
experienced to change you and let us get back to the agony of this world wh=
ere
we belong!”
Peter=
, after
all the difficult stuff of following Jesus had a “mountain top”
experience – some feel-good religion! Now I happen to like feel-good
religion - at least some of the time. I have had my share of mountain-top
experiences. And I would not trade them for anything in this world. They are
experiences in which I have experienced the call of God to various things i=
n my
life. They are experiences that have assured me that God is really there,
beside, to guide, to be involved in my life, to calm my fears, to address my
doubts. But you see, if in those feel-good states you remember Jesus; who he
was, the challenges he put forth, the suffering he endured, the way he gave=
his
life away to other people, I could never stay very long in feel-good religi=
on.
If you seek Jesus where he is, you end up in the agony of this world. He wi=
ll
not allow me to forget the agony of this world. That is what transfiguratio=
n is
all about; it is the power to change people and situations and events. You =
see,
it really is possible to be changed from what people expect us to be by the
world’s values, to what God is calling us to become!
There=
is a
wonderful story out of the Hassidic tradition. You know people have certain
expectations of their Rabbi, as do people of their Senior Pastor.
Well,=
every
Sabbath after service the Rabbi would disappear for several days. The
congregation imagined that like Moses he went to some high and holy place to
speak with God! Well, one day a member of the congregation followed the Rab=
bi
to see where he was going. He followed the Rabbi down into the village, and
then into one of the poorest neighborhoods, to the simple hut of an elderly
woman who lived by herself. And there he took care of her; swept out the di=
rt floor
of her hut, prepared her meals, shopped for her food. When the member of the
congregation returned, the people eagerly questioned him: “Where does=
the
Rabbi go?” “Does he go very high?” “Yes,” rep=
lied
the member of the congregation, “He goes higher than any man has yet
gone.” That is the power of transfiguration, to change us, situations,
and events, far beyond what people expect of us! Amen.