I called my bank the other day. Here is the gist of the conversation:
“Hello, this is your
automated customer service center. To
continue this message in English, press 1, in Spanish, press 2. I punched 1.
Please punch in your account number on your touch tone phone. I punched.
Thank you. For account balance
verification, please punch 1. To make a
withdrawal, please punch 2. To question
a charge, please punch 3. To apply for a
credit increase, please punch 4. To
speak with a customer service representative, please punch 5. To hear these instructions repeated, please
punch 6. I punched 5. Thank you.
To speak with a
representative about additional features of your card, please punch 1. To report a lost or stolen card, please punch
2. To speak with a representative about
any other problem, please punch 3. I
punched 1. Thank you. I'm sorry, our office is currently closed.
Please call back during normal business hours.”
I pray God's office isn't closed. I pray this is not how it is when we go to
God in prayer. No, I know it isn't. In fact, God our creator and Lord is
proactive and reaches out to us in the course of our lives on earth.
In this light, let’s turn to our morning story which
portrays a profound event in the life of Jesus’ and his disciples: the
indescribable, the ineffable moment of Jesus’ transfiguration. Think, aren’t there moments in your life
which are explainable? Extraordinary
moments. We have difficulty putting them
into words. Have you ever experienced
such a time?
The joy at the birth of a child is one of those
moments. The loss of a loved one is one
of those moments. A brilliant sunset or
sunrise is one of those moments. An
early morning walk along the beach or in the mountains can be such a
moment. Having your soul stirred by
uplifting music is one of those moments.
A moving worship service is one of those moments. When your child says “I love you” and wraps
his or her arms around you is one of those moments. There are mountaintop and
valley moments throughout life. They
often surprise us. They arrive
unannounced and change us in irreversible ways.
They often move us to silence.
Such moments touch the depth of our souls.
Our story from Matthew's Gospel is one such time. Jesus leads his disciples Peter, James and
John to a high mountain. And once there,
Jesus is suddenly transfigured before them; his face shines like the sun, his
clothes become dazzling white, his appearance is radiant. Moses and Elijah suddenly appear and are
talking with Jesus. Peter is awestruck
and says, “Lord, it is good for us to be
here.” Well I should say so. He was in the company of two former Jewish
superstars. Moses, the great leader who
led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and brought God’s 10
Commandments to them and the prophet powerful Elijah, who with God’s power
defeated the false prophets of Baal and ascended to heaven in a chariot of
fire. These are two giants in Israel ’s
history.
Peter, understandably, wanted this magical moment to last
forever. He offers to build three booths
- one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Realizing they are standing on holy ground
the disciples fall to their knees in awe.
Then the story says: “A voice
said, this is my Son, whom I love. With
him, I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
What does this story say to you? I think it says God on occasion, leads us to
high mountains. Jesus reveals special experiences from time to time, because we
need moments of ecstasy in our spiritual life.
I know I do. Life can be
devastating. Life can threaten to crush
us. Life can be frightening. We need mountain top moments that engulf
us. We need glory moments, transcendent
moments, special moments in which we sense the holy presence of God. We are created by God to live in fellowship
with him and God knows we need such special times, sacred moments, along our
spiritual journey.
Our story says that God speaks, God communicates with his
people! God spoke that day on the
mountaintop and the undeniable implication is that God continues to speak to
believers today. A young mother
writes: “My 3-year-old son, Ian, enjoys
the Bible story about Samuel hearing God's voice at night. One evening after reading the story to Ian, I
asked him if God had ever spoken to him.
To my surprise, he answered, "Yes." "What did God say to you?" I
asked. Ian thought and then said in his
deepest voice, "Ian! Go to bed!"
That explained why Ian settles down more quickly when I'm outside his
room and tell him to go to bed.”
Scripture tells of how God spoke to Elijah in a cave out in
the middle of the wilderness, not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in
the fire, but in a still small voice.
Other translations say - “God
spoke in a gentle whisper, in the sound of sheer silence.”
God is either alive or God is dead. Our Easter faith announces that God is
alive. God loves us with a passionate
and unconditional love and reaches out and intervenes in our lives. Scripture says: “God is
gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
A Christian writes: “I knew that it was God speaking to me
because I was in tune with my inner spirit and my spirit suddenly became
light. Years of heaviness were lifted
from me. I heard God’s forgiving and
accepting voice. A new yet wobbly
courage started to live in me, and I became comfortable in my own skin, in my
own circumstances. I felt safe and
certain and grateful. Nothing around me had changed, but everything was
different. I knew it was God’s voice
speaking because I could smile once again.”
Second, the story of the transfiguration says this –
listen! Why should you and I listen to
Jesus? Because God commands it: “This is my Son, whom I love. With him, I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
Jesus is the Word of God.
Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is
the way, the truth and the life. Jesus
is the way out of darkness into the light.
Jesus is the way out of despair to hope.
Jesus is the way out of fear to courage.
Jesus is the way to discover purpose and meaning. Jesus is the way into the Kingdom of God
We should listen to Jesus in prayer, in worship, in meditation,
in the teachings of the Bible, through the words of other trusted believers,
because Jesus sees things about our lives that we don't see. Because Jesus is concerned about the life you
and I are leading.
When artist Sir James Thornhill was painting the inside of St Paul 's Cathedral, he
began walking backward to get a better view of his work. As he inched back, his left foot stood just
on the edge of the scaffold, and he was in danger of falling and breaking his
neck. His helper, instead of screaming
at him, took a brush, quickly dipped it in the paint, and splashed it on the
wall. The artist rushed forward to
reprimand his helper, but when the helper explained his action, Thornhill was
exceedingly grateful. The helper saw
something Thornhill did not see. There
are elements in life that Christ sees that we do not. So we need to go to him, to spend time with
him, to listen to Jesus.
This coming Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of our journey
through the season of Lent. Keep alert,
keep your eyes and ears, your heart and mind open, for you never know when the
Lord will lead you to a high mountain.
Amen!
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