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So here we are, standing on the edge
of the shore with Lent stretching out before us like an unfriendly sea
that we have to cross in order to reach the sun-soaked island that is
Easter! At least that how it feels to me. Maybe you are more devoted than
me, but if I’m honest, as Lent gets closer, my heart sinks. Each
year I seem to add another layer of abstinence without removing an existing
one, so no biscuits with my morning coffee, no chocolate, cake, alcohol,
etc. etc! And this year adding some extra disciplines to my daily routine.
So why do it? Why put ourselves through it? I think it is OK not to be
too chuffed about the start of Lent, just as it is natural to feel apprehensive
before a visit to the dentist or before a hospital visit. Discipleship
needs discipline, and the life of faith aims at making us holy not happy,
and with holiness comes joy, not personal comfort. So how do we face the
prospect of the next 6 weeks? I guess we could stay on the shore and let
the next 6 weeks pass by like any other. Or maybe we can see the rowing
boat with a pair of oars waiting there for us to take up the challenge?
Or maybe we see further down the beach a power cruiser alongside a jetty
waiting to take us comfortably across to the island without us doing much
of the work. We do have a choice.
That’s why, I think, that the Lectionary brings us the story of the
Transfiguration this morning. It may seem a little odd; the Feast of the
Transfiguration is August 6th so why read the story now? I think the answer
is this? That the story says loud and clear, ‘Here is the Messiah,
there can be no doubt now that this man is from God. So what response
are you going to make? Will you follow him now that you know who he is
and what he has come for?’ This indeed was the position of the three.
Peter, James and John. It may help to ponder the position they were in
and see through them to our own position, to see something of ourselves
in the disciples. But immediately we have a problem. What do we do with
a story that is not only outside our experience but we also don’t
know what category to put it in? The temptation may be to put it in the
‘Did it really happen?’ box. The challenge we face is to let
the stories of Scripture open us up to new possibilities of experience
and truth rather than reducing Scripture to the limits of our experience.
So maybe we need a new category. Scholars agree that this story has its
basis in a real event. This is not narrative constructed to support theology,
nor were the disciples hallucinating, nor indeed was it a vision. Something
mysterious but real, something awesome but grounded actually happened.
So, accepting that, let’s enter the world of Peter, James and John.
A week earlier our world had been turned upside-down. Jesus had admitted
to us that he was indeed the Messiah. But at the same time he dropped
the bombshell that this meant not marching into Jerusalem, sweeping aside
the imperial powers and taking over, but rather suffering and death at
their hands. Not the plan we had in mind. Nor was the idea that we must
follow suit, give up our lives and take up our cross. This took some thinking
about and as human beings we are slow to change our familiar ways of seeing
things. We have had only a week to adjust our thinking. And now, on this
mountain, we have a brief but profound experience, one which has dramatically
affirmed our Rabbi as Messiah. Not only the glory of a transformed appearance,
not only the cloud, the sign of God’s presence, but also the voice
from the cloud affirming the message given at his baptism, ‘This
is my Son, the beloved; listen to him.’ And more than that even.
With Jesus the twogreat figures from our tradition. Elijah, the first
in a line of prophets and Moses the Law-giver, characters who for us are
not just historical but prophetic, looking forward to the completion of
God’s purposes. No wonder Peter’s comic response was to suggest
making threebooths, as we do at the Feast of Tabernacles. That festival
also looks forward to when God will bring His pilgrim people to a permanent
dwelling with Him.
This needs some thinking about. As we come down the mountain Jesus tells
the threeof us to keep the incident to ourselves until after the Resurrection.
But the experience has changed us. Or more accurately the significance
of it has challenged us, but whether I allow it to change me depends on
my will. Everything Jesus says now must be taken seriously. It has the
authority and weight of Yahweh, the Almighty, behind it. This man is out
to change the world, but not in the way I had thought. This talk of losing
my life and denying myself is hard. Others have pulled back from this
teaching – is it time for me to do the same? I am standing on the
shore wondering whether to get in the boat. I now understand that the
way to God’s glory is across the sea of some sacrifice and suffering.
I could stay where I am. It needs some thinking about.
Meanwhile I’m hungry; I need to go shopping. I want some fruit. (Oh,
we are back in the 21st century by the way). In front of me are racks
of bananas. Some are cheaper than others but look just as good. So I’ll
go for those. But then I remember Jose. He lives in the Dominican Republic
and supports his family by growing bananas on eight hectares of land.
Since selling his fruit through the ASOBANU cooperative nine years ago
he has received a better price for his produce, enabling him to support
his four daughters’ education and putting something back into the
community to improve it. And I remember that there are over 190 other
farmers in ASOBANU, in this cooperative alone. And across the developing
world, tens of thousands of other small-scale farmers depend on such Fairtrade
cooperatives. And my choice now affects their future. I am standing on
the shore wondering whether to get in the boat, even though it will cost
me. But I claim to be a person of faith. So what do the prophets say,
from Elijah onwards? That God longs to see fair play in His world, that
He requires justice and mercy from His people. Why did Moses bring the
Law? To establish peace and order in the nation; and there can be no peace
without justice. And the Law of Moses protects the outsider and the vulnerable,
the foreigner and the needy. Moses and the prophets looked forward to
the time when God’s anointed, His Messiah, would establish His reign
on earth. And here he is, coming down the mountain with me. He speaks
of the kingdom of God on earth, a kingdom peace and justice, and He attends
to the outcast and needy. But he teaches that this kingdom will only come
on earth if His rule is allowed to be established first in hearts and
minds and wills. This man is out to change the world, but He calls for
my cooperation.
So I am standing on the shore. And I know I do want to get in the boat;
I want to be part of changing the world. This Lent I can commit to making
at least 1 change in my shopping habits. I can commit to asking my local
supermarket to increase the number of Fairtrade products they sell. If
I allow the One who was transfigured on the mountain to transform me and
if you allow Him to do transform you, then it is possible that the Glory
of heaven might come to earth, this world might be transformed to be more
as He intended it to be, a place of peace and justice and opportunity
for all. So may he show us what it means to step into the boat and may
he give us courage to do so.
Amen
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