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| Transfiguration - Raphael 1518-1520 |
Matthew 17.1-9
The movie Hoosiers is about a small town’s high school basketball team overcoming great odds to win the Indiana State Championship in the 1950’s. The coach, played by Gene Hackman, proves to the team that the game is the same no matter where it is played. His faith in them inspires the team to trust in themselves. The Greatest Game Ever Played is a book and movie based on the 1913 U.S. Open Golf Championship won, in a playoff, by 20-year-old amateur Francis Ouimet. Ouimet was a caddie at the course where the championship was played and the $50 entry fee challenged the ethic of his working-class family.
Remember the Titans, The Miracle Worker, The Color Purple, Rudy, and even Rocky are stories of ordinary people overcoming great obstacles to achieve extraordinary things.
And if you are anything like me, you are cheering on these inspirational underdogs. You might have dreamed, like me, of throwing up the last second basket to seal the championship or making the long-distance putt on the 72nd hole of a golf tournament. Maybe you have dreamed of being voted “most likely to succeed” or class president. Maybe your dream is to be a comedian or a movie star. Whatever your grandest dreams, you have probably fallen short from time to time. If everone was an all-star, in every area, we would be discouraged, each and every day, as we attained the new average. It is not like Lake Wobegon, we can’t all be above average.
And if you are anything like me, you are cheering on these inspirational underdogs. You might have dreamed, like me, of throwing up the last second basket to seal the championship or making the long-distance putt on the 72nd hole of a golf tournament. Maybe you have dreamed of being voted “most likely to succeed” or class president. Maybe your dream is to be a comedian or a movie star. Whatever your grandest dreams, you have probably fallen short from time to time. If everone was an all-star, in every area, we would be discouraged, each and every day, as we attained the new average. It is not like Lake Wobegon, we can’t all be above average.
We all have our special gifts and talents, but in other areas we are underdogs. I believe that is the case for all of us, with the possible exception of Charlie Sheen.
Being grounded in the understanding that we are gifted in certain areas and challenged in others is a good thing. If used to our advantage, it motivates us to continue to work to achieve great things, challenging things, against overwhelming odds. It opens us to the opportunity, even in light of set backs and failures, that long-term benefits are worth our daily toil. That is why I like those movies about moments of triumph for those who have worked diligently and persistently to achieve great things. I hope that I might achieve such a moment. And most of us will have moments, sometimes brief, where we are on the mountaintop of achievement. Where we attain the pinnacle of our many hours, and even years, in pursuit of meaningful goals.
Every first Sunday after the Epiphany (which is in early January), we hear the Gospel story about Jesus’ baptism in the water of the Jordan River by his cousin John. When Jesus stepped into those waters, he was an unknown builder from Nazareth. On that day, he found himself on a figurative mountaintop as the skies opened up, a dove descended upon him and a voice from heaven proclaimed, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
We have heard, throughout this season of Epiphany, stories of Jesus sharing a new vision, a new light, for the world. Now usually, Epiphany concludes much sooner than this, often in early to mid February. It all depends on the date of Easter, which is later this year than anyone here has experienced in his or her lifetime, including Charlie Johnson. We heard in these many lessons about Jesus’ ministry after his Baptism that he prayed, taught, performed miracles, and attracted the attention of the entire country. We heard that Jesus called unlikely people to be his disciples, and they dropped their trades to follow him. From simple fishermen, Jesus promised to make these disciples fishers of people.
The disciples learned much from Jesus, but they also proved that they were a definite work in progress. One thing is for certain, they set aside their predetermined dreams and began to see opportunities born from following radical paths in service to God.
Along these paths, the disciples witnessed the miraculous. They heard Jesus preach about a New Covenant. Along the way, they found themselves on tops of mountains, not just in reality, but figuratively as well. It was, as if, they were offered an opportunity to play on a state championship team or to try their passion with the best and brightest, and it all worked out.
In today’s Gospel lesson, we hear Matthew’s retelling of Jesus’ transfiguration. This vision on an unnamed mountaintop is also told in Mark and Luke. And we hear this interesting miracle story, every year, on the last Sunday after the Epiphany. As this miracle takes place, a voice from heaven says, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” We don’t know why only Peter, James, and John accompany Jesus up that mountain. Why were they set aside from the other disciples? We hear that Jesus encounters Moses and Elijah, representatives of the Law and Prophets. How did the disciples recognize them? Did Jesus introduce them? We hear about the changes in Jesus’ appearance, a face shining like the sun and dazzling white clothes. What does that represent?
There are certainly many questions but we do know that Peter suggests making booths for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. He, and we assume the other two disciples, want to capture that mountaintop moment, forever. They want to sit at the pinnacle of life, in the joy, in the love, in the spirit filled happiness. But after they fall to ground in fear of the heavenly voice, they look up to see Jesus standing alone. Their grand idea of holding the moment hostage is forgotten. They, then, begin to walk back down the mountain to rejoin their friends in an encounter with the world.
Jesus knows and teaches through his example that it is not possible to hold on to those mountaintops, forever. One can experience it through Baptism, Eucharist, worship, marriage, the birth of a child, or being in love. We might experience making the winning shot or being given the highest of honors. But then life goes on, it returns back to being regular. Again, we are underdogs making every effort to return to our dreams of glory. That is the natural course of such things. We can’t hold on to the feelings of joy for so long that we forget that we have other work to do. That we have responsibilities to live into God’s mission which means pushing ourselves to do difficult things that might even seem like risky endeavors.
Now as I said, on the first Sunday after the Epiphany, we heard the story of Jesus’ baptism where God’s voice comes from the heavens to announce that Jesus is God’s son. On this last Sunday after the Epiphany, we hear the miracle of Jesus’ transfiguration which occurs on the top of a mountain. Again, we hear God’s voice coming from the clouds to announce Jesus and call his disciples to listen.
There is a reason for this. Epiphany is the season of sending out the light to all corners of the world. It is a time that we are called to share faith, to accept a call to serve, and to relearn the new covenant. Later this week we mark the beginning of Lent with the Fast of Ash Wednesday, one of the two fast days remembered in the Episcopal tradition. Lent is a season between mountaintops. As we leave this season, we walk down the mountain with Jesus, Peter, James, and John and begin a season of penitence and fasting. We are called to take time to evaluate our lives, to give up habits that stand in our way, and take on new disciplines that help center our lives on God. Jesus taught, by example, that experiencing grand moments didn’t lessen future opportunities and responsibilities.
So, celebrate now, enjoy the celebrations and pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and the Mardi Gras Jazz Eucharist today. Revel in the mountaintop but be ready to move on, to experience a new page in your journey beginning this Ash Wednesday. We will have services at 12:30pm and 7:30pm here in the Nave. Be ready to take on a new life in preparation for the Easter Day resurrection.
We enjoy cheering for unlikely people to overcome great obstacles. Whether it is David vs. Goliath, Jesus vs. the religious authorities, or the hard-working basketball team over the glitzy superstars. We celebrate them because we are they. Walk down from that mountaintop to see what you need to do to better serve God. Find news ways to overcome the obstacles that stand in your way. Become a new disciple of God.
March 6, 2011
Last Sunday of Epiphany A
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