Loving God, you come to us through your Word and invite us into your presence.  Help us to see and to experience your glory, even as you fill our hearts with your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Today’s gospel is one of those passages that tells us quite a bit about Jesus and who he is.  His shining face and his dazzling white clothes identify him as holy – belonging to God.  His conversation with Moses and Elijah identify him as the Messiah – the one who would be a prophet like Moses and the one who would be heralded by Elijah.  Moses and Elijah also symbolize the Law and the Prophets, which point to Jesus and are fulfilled in him.  There is the voice from the cloud that identifies Jesus as the Son of God and the Chosen One.  And then there is Jesus’ power over the demons and over illness.  While we do learn a lot about Jesus here, it can be difficult to see what it all has to do with us.

    It may be, however, that we can see some of ourselves in the disciples.  Does trying to pray but wanting to fall asleep sound familiar?  And how about Peter wanting to build some shelters and stay there for a while?  Wouldn’t we want to stay, too?  And if a cloud suddenly surrounded us so that we couldn’t see our surroundings, wouldn’t that be at least a little bit disconcerting?  And then there’s trying to heal the boy.  They had seen Jesus do it, and they tried to copy him, but somehow it just wasn’t working.  Have we ever tried to be like Jesus and failed?

    Let’s consider for a moment prayer and sleep.  When Jesus goes up on the mountain with Peter, James and John, it is to pray.  When Jesus prays, his face changes, his clothes become dazzling white, and he quite literally emanates the glory of God.  However, when the disciples pray, they are weighed down with sleep, not just this time, but later, in the garden of Gethsemane as well.  So, what is the difference?  And, when we pray, are we filled with the glory of God or weighed down by sleep?

    It seems to me that our attitude as we approach prayer makes a huge difference in this respect.  I would expect that most of us have experienced times when we are worn down and tired, and it is very difficult to pray.  Sometimes we have long lists of things to lay before God, and somewhere in the middle, our mind kind of wanders off, and perhaps we actually do fall asleep.

    However, when we approach prayer with an awareness of the presence and power of God, it is very difficult to nod off.  When we imagine ourselves being filled with the light of Christ and filled with the love of God and filled with the Holy Spirit and imagine ourselves being right there in God’s presence, we cultivate an attitude of expectancy and alertness.  When we come to prayer expecting God’s power and expecting God’s answer, it is totally different from closing your eyes and then trying to think of something to say.

    The next thing from our gospel that might speak to us today is Peter’s desire to build some shelters on the mountain and stay for a while.  I feel like I totally understand this after skiing above the clouds a few weeks ago.  I took more pictures that day than any other – skiing in the bright sunshine and seeing the clouds filling the valley below.  All day long, the view never ceased to amaze me, and I marvelled at the beauty of God’s created world.  I would have been happy to stay on the mountain, under those conditions, for a very long time.  However, the day ended, and it was time to drive down into the clouds once again.

    The reality is that while we are on this earth, we don’t get to stay on the mountain top basking in the glory of God.  If we are fortunate, we get glimpses of that glory, but then we find ourselves in a world in which crowds clamour and children need healing, and people try to imitate Jesus but fail.  It is a world in which we need to know that Jesus is with us and that God’s power has overcome the world.  It is a world in which we need to carry the light and the love of Christ within us, for so many need to experience it.

    Now, as for actually entering a cloud, it might be difficult for us to imagine why it could be terrifying.  A few years ago, a friend of mine was hiking in the mountains in the snow, and a cloud moved in and surrounded him.  He lost all sense of direction and couldn’t seem to find the path any more.  After beginning to panic and wondering what to do, and wandering aimlessly for a while, eventually he met some other people on the trail who could point him in the right direction.  If it hadn’t been for getting back on the proper trail again, he could have been wandering around on the mountain for a very long time!

    Now, while we may not have been lost in a cloud before, surely many of us have had times when we have lost our way and can’t seem to determine which way to go.  Essentially the disciples, too, are standing there and wondering what to do when they hear a voice speaking from the cloud.  And the voice says, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (Lk. 9:35).  Isn’t that message for us as well?

    We are directed to Jesus – the Son of God – the Chosen One – and we are simply told to listen to him.  Especially at those times when we are wondering which way to turn and can’t seem to see our way clear, our job is to listen to Jesus.  In our case, we listen through prayer, we listen through the Scriptures, and we listen as sometimes God speaks to us through our brothers and sisters in Christ.
 
    As for listening through the Scriptures, that is, in part, what we’re trying to do today.  We’re listening and trying to find ourselves in the gospel narrative.  How about the last part of today’s gospel, though?  I suspect that not many of us have attempted to heal a boy with an unclean spirit, or a demon, or epilepsy.  The disciples, though, tried to do exactly as they had seen Jesus do.

    In Luke’s gospel, we’re not really told why the disciples can’t heal the boy.  It’s not simply because they are disciples and not Jesus himself, for Jesus had already given them authority over demons and over diseases (Lk. 9:1).  So why couldn’t they heal this boy?  Matthew implies that they had no faith (Mt. 17:20), while in Mark the disciples forgot to pray (Mk. 9:29).  Whatever the case may be, the healing power of Jesus was somehow blocked and prevented from working through them.

    Now, while we may not go out and try to heal people, my suspicion would be that many of us are very good at blocking off the power of God and preventing the Holy Spirit from working through us.  Some of us do it out of fear.  Some of us would rather try to control everything ourselves.  Some of us simply get too full of ourselves and don’t leave any room for the power of God to work within us and through us.

    Whatever the case may be, today we are reminded of the power of Jesus Christ – his power over evil and over illness and even over death.  It is the same power that works in us for salvation and that can fill our hearts with God’s light and God’s love.  Yes, we do live in a world where there are unclean spirits and shrieks and crowds of people who are in need.  That’s why we need Jesus with us and not “up there” somewhere or off on a mountain top.

    Let us then carry the glory of God and the light of Christ within us, allowing ourselves to be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18).  After all, when we do listen to Jesus we hear him say, “You are the light of the world” (Mt. 5:14)!  Amen.

Transfiguration (C)                                Luke 9:28-43a
February 14, 2010
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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