"Ready to See"

Luke 9:28-43

As a teenager, dating was a problem for me. It is for most kids. I was self-conscious - I didn't know how to act on a date. So I put on a kind of "persona." Sometimes I was "Joe Cool," acting like I really didn't care; I was the coolest guy around. Other times I was "Gentleman Joe," which got me somewhere with my date's parents, but not too far with my dates. I remember one young woman I really liked - she was a member of our congregation in Pittsburgh. I had such a crush on her - so great, that it took me years to finally ask her out! I mean, what if she said, "no?" I couldn’t bear the thought. The only thing harder was when she said, "Yes!" I struggled through that date, not knowing what to say, so sure that whatever came out of my mouth would be wrong. So she was treated to a few hours of uncomfortable silence, while I struggled trying to come up with something worthwhile to say. It was also our last date.

Which isn't to say that I didn't date. Actually, I dated a good bit. But I tended to put girls up on a pedestal, and didn't know how to act around them. My attitude was like Groucho Marx's famous statement that he wouldn't join any organization that would have someone like him for a member- I just wasn't too sure about anyone who would go out with someone like me.

Then along came a young, sweet woman by the name of Eleanore. After one date - which was a disaster, by the way - I realized this was someone special. But a funny thing happened to me as we began dating. She was so wonderful, so interesting - I was so enthralled with her - that I forgot about my "personas." I forgot about my self-consciousness. I forgot about myself. I was so wrapped up in her - I was transformed. Losing myself in her, I became the person I had always hoped to be.

Jesus took the disciples up to the mountaintop, and displayed to them his glory. The scripture says that he was transformed before them. Some scholars call this a "misplaced resurrection account," because the disciples see Jesus in a new way - as they will see him after the resurrection, in his glorified body. Peter talks about this event later in one of his letters to the churches. He says: "(We) were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when that voice came to him out of the Shekinah Glory of God saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain."

There was a purpose in Jesus' taking his inner circle of disciples up on the mountaintop that day. Jesus wanted them to understand that what was about to happen to him – his crucifixion - was part of God's eternal plan. It wasn’t a mistake. God had no “plan B.” They needed a vision of Jesus' glory connected to His death on the cross. Jesus was transfigured before them, so that, later, they too, could be transformed.

Literally, the word, "transfigured," means that his outer nature became clear, so that his inner nature could be clearly revealed. People always had a problem seeing through Jesus' human nature, to see that he was also God. The people of his own hometown had that problem, so that we are told that he could do no great miracles there. The disciples had the same problem. So Jesus is transfigured before them, so that they can see him as he truly is - God clothed in human flesh.

The text says that, as he is transfigured, two other figures appear - Moses and Elijah - to talk about his suffering and death. God wants to make his meaning clear to them. But the conversation is lost on Peter - he was never too good at listening, especially to things he didn't want to hear. Lost in the moment, his human nature comes shining through: "Lord, this is great! Let's build a church here!" The brain is disengaged, but the mouth goes on flapping. So God has to stop him in his tracks: "Peter! This is my Son! LISTEN TO HIM!" Sometimes even God has trouble getting people's attention.

But now, as Peter finally opens his ears, the cloud and the two figures fade into the background, and attention is drawn back to Jesus. What will he say? What will he do? What will he reveal to them? But what they see, and what they hear - is just the Jesus they have always known. All he says is, "It's time to go back." The disciples are left to ponder, and it never does become clear to them, until after the resurrection. In the light of the resurrection, they finally understand why Jesus did this, and what he was trying to tell them.

The thing is, of course - we're no different. We are also impetuous, stubborn; we get fixed on our own ideas about God, about life; we get so full of our own desires and needs that we don't hear so good either, and sometimes God has to use a two-by-four to get our attention. We tune him out, because we don't like what he has to say. We want a "glory way," an easy path - not a cross to bear. We get caught up in the ordinariness of life, where nothing is black and white, where there never seem to be real victories, where we keep fighting the same battles time and again. Even when we have a small victory, it's never final. Tomorrow's Monday, and it'll be the same thing all over again. Sometimes God doesn't seem to be on our wave length. He doesn't seem to get the picture. He doesn't zap the bad guys or reward the good ones. Where is that "transforming power of the Gospel?" We could use that! We could use a little of the brick-bat he lowered on Peter and the other disciples!

That's why we are here today. Today he gathers us, as he did his inner circle, to reveal himself to us - in his Word, in body and in blood, in bread and in wine. As we focus on this “Gospel,” as we receive him - he transforms us - as he did Peter and the others. As the love of a young woman by the name of Eleanore did to the man who was to become her husband. In his presence, we are changed. In his presence, by his love, we are transformed. When we see him as he is, we are drawn to him; and in his love, we lose ourselves - and find our true self. We become more of the person we wanted to be, that we hoped we could become. We become the body of Christ - the likeness of his beloved Son.

We have heard the stories about Jesus, the man – the teacher, the healer. As a man, he ranks among the great. But shining through him is also the voice of God. We eat and drink the wine and the bread. But shining though - in, with and under - is the presence of Christ and the promise of God. Now we see only what human eyes are capable of seeing, we hear what human ears can hear, we believe what a human heart is capable of believing. Now we see him in his humanity - but later we will see him face to face, in his glory. Today, these truths are hidden under the forms of bread and wine, and in this group of believers that he calls his earthly body. And we are painfully aware of how hidden his power and glory seem to be in us. Things never seem to come out as clearly as we would like.

But the promise is that he is transforming us - through his Word, through the Sacraments, through this Body of Jesus Christ. "What we shall be we do not know," Paul says, "but we know that when he comes, we will be like him." Until then, we live in a "misplaced resurrection story," celebrating a foretaste of the feast that is to come, when we will exchange this meal for a feast with Christ at his table, when we will exchange this bread and wine for Jesus himself, as we feast on his presence. Then the love and fellowship that binds us together here will be traded for a joy, a fellowship, a bonding of heart to heart and spirit to spirit that we can't even guess at now.

For now, this is enough. Let us hear his words. Let us feast on his presence. Let us rejoice in the bond of fellowship he has given us, and recognize his transforming presence in and through us - in this earthly body. And, if we would see his glory and majesty yet more clearly, let us see us, his church, transfigured and transformed by his love active in us.