Garbage and Glory

Wow! There is so much to take in here in this passage. What really happened on that mountain? A space where Jesus starts glowing and dead people start talking.

Transfiguration. It’s a strange word. The term itself comes from the Greek term metamorpho (think of metamorphosis) which describes the visible change in Christ on top of the mountain. While not as well-known as Christmas and Easter, the transfiguration stands on its own between the church season of Epiphany that covered the Galilean ministry of Jesus (which we just ended) and Lent and the journey towards the cross (which we will begin Wednesday).

Before we go further let’s take a couple of steps back to gain the context. Back in ch. 16 Jesus asked the disciples “but who do you say that I am?” Everyone had different responses but it was Peter who said that “you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Soon after this Jesus began to tell his disciples that he had to go Jerusalem and undergo great suffering and be killed. But Peter couldn’t believe it. How could this be?

Jesus rebuked Peter and said that each of them would have to take up their own crosses in order follow him in 16:24. Fast forward a few days later and Peter, James and John must have been so confused as they followed Jesus up the mountain to pray.

What really happened up there? Years later we get these slightly different accounts in the gospels. The whole thing seems strange and has left some scholars to wonder if it even happened. Some say it’s a story, a dream, or a misplaced account of the resurrection. Were Peter, James, and John just hallucinating after their mountain climb?

Well not according to Peter’s testimony that you find in 2 Peter 1:16-21. In this Peter says this isn’t some cleverly devised myth. He says they were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Maybe they were worn out and tired but Jesus was transfigured or completely changed before them.

What was the hallmark Jesus’ transfiguration or radical change? Light. The mark of the glory of God is revealed through light. The Message translation says “His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. Sunlight poured from his face. His clothes were filled with light.”

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Mt 17:2.

What kind of light? It isn’t a light that is electrical or manufactured. It is the light of God’s glory revealed or as Leonard Sweet calls it “the utility of heaven.” “Christ did not receive something he didn’t have before or change into something he wasn’t but rather Jesus manifested into what he already was.”

Jesus is all aglow and then suddenly Moses and Elijah appear, the former representing the law and the latter representing the prophets. Two men who had died forever ago are now standing there talking to Jesus like its just another day.

Whaaaaaaaaat is going on here?

Here on this mountain, the true identity of Christ is being revealed. Christ was born as fully human in flesh and blood and bone with hangnails and acne and lungs that breathe, but he was also born as the fullness of the God of the universe ushering in the kingdom of God. Here the divinity, the holiness, and the glory of Christ shine through his very human skin.

And notice when the transfiguration happened. Before the cross. Before the resurrection. Before the coming of the Holy Spirit. Before all of this…there is the hope of what will be. A glimpse of resurrection glory. The tangible, visible, redeeming presence of God. The disciples were witnesses the fullness of God’s glory. They saw resurrection bodies and breathed resurrection air.

It must have been overwhelming, awe-inspiring, and terrifying all at once. Peter had already identified Jesus as the Messiah and maybe he just couldn’t help it. He had to do something, to say something, and so he sorta sticks his foot in his mouth. I know none of you have ever done that. Peter hops up suddenly and says “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up some tents for you, Moses, and Elijah.” Why not? We got to remember this moment. It is so good for us to be here.

Peter was ready to settle in for the night when suddenly a cloud overshadowed them (a cloud also filled with the light by the way) and the voice of God announces “this is my Son, my Beloved; with him I am well pleased.” We heard these words at Jesus’ baptism with water before the beginning of his ministry. Now we hear the words again before the end of his ministry, this time with light.

And the call is to listen. I am calling you to more. Jesus told them they would have to lose their lives to find it, to a new way of discipleship that they still didn’t fully understand. They just wanted to stay there.

Have you ever had this awesome experience where you just wanted to sit and linger? Maybe it was a retreat or a memorable vacation spot?

Perhaps you’v e seen images shared from the revival that is ongoing at Asbury University at Hughes chapel. Thousands have driven miles to stand in line to worship. Overflow chapels have begun to open to handle the crowds. Revival has begun to break out all over other college campuses as well. First-person accounts have been shared about feeling the tangible presence of God. One friend said they worshipped for hours without even realizing it. Many others shared how they desired to simply linger there. It is an outpouring of the Spirit. It is glory shining forth.

Everyone is flocking there because their spirits crave Jesus. It is a spiritual high. The disciples wanted to linger, to hold onto the blessing. But as they were making plans, God’s voice interrupted them and they were afraid. And Jesus touched them and said “Do not be afraid. Get up.” Discipleship isn’t meant to stay seated. Discipleship is meant for movement.

And then Jesus descended the mountain with them. Towards the empire of Roman rule. Towards betrayal. Towards a road that would wind its way to the cross.

Back to reality. To everyday life. From glory to garbage.Kate Bowler shared last year how someone once thought she was saying Crape Diem instead of Carpe Diem. It is like saying seize the garbage instead of seize the day.

Sometimes life can feel like a garbage dump instead. A wasteland of sickness, weariness, war, and addiction. Of grief, lost relationships, loneliness, and mental exhaustion. The garbage dump of a body that doesn’t work like you want it to and of chronic pain.

The disciples had to go down from the mountain, to learn the way of descent, and to figure out what it meant for the transfiguration of Jesus to transfigure them. Chris Green wrote a book entitled “Being Transfigured” which suggest that maybe Lent is more than a season of discipline, but also a season of transfiguration. Maybe instead of giving a bunch of random stuff up we ask God to transfigure us. To transfigure our doubt, our fear, our sickness, our violence, and our suffering. That the glory of God would begin to overshadow all that stuff and grow within us. Glory in the middle of garbage.

Carpe Diem. Crape Diem. Glory and garbage. Kate Bowler said “maybe that is what we are trying to do- to hold the world as we dare to hope for in one hand and the world as it is in another.”

We are to do more than behold glory, we are to bear it within ourselves so that our own transfigured lives become markers of glory and light. In Turkey and Syria right now, thousands are experiencing the aftermath of the earthquake. And while their land is filled with homes and buildings destroyed, many are working long hours to search for survivors. They descend into the garbage, digging deep, looking for signs of life. One rescue team pulled a woman from the rubble who had been trapped for days and they found her singing and telling jokes. They told her to hang on, that they were coming to get her. She responded “no you hang on, I am coming out for you.” She carried glory in the midst of garbage. As 2 Peter 1:19 says, “you will do well to be attentive to this, as a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

Jan Richardson says “the story of the Transfiguration is not simply about learning to leave the mountaintop, or about releasing what we have grown attached to. It’s not just about resisting our desire to turn moments of transcendence into monuments. The story of the Transfiguration is about opening our eyes to glory, allowing that glory to alter us, and becoming willing to walk where it leads us. The story urges us to trust that what we have seen, what we have known, will go with us. It assures us that the gifts received on the mountaintop will continue to illuminate us not only on level ground but even when we walk in the valley of the shadow.

Receive this blessing of hers called When Glory.

When Glory

A Blessing for Transfiguration Sunday

That when glory comes,

we will open our eyes

to see it.

That when glory shows up,

we will let ourselves

be overcome

not by fear

but by the love

it bears.

That when glory shines,

we will bring it

back with us

all the way,

all the way,

all the way down.

—Jan Richardson