"Transfiguration and Tide" - Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday 2018

Sermon:

Text: Mark 9:2-9

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who comes down to us.

            How many of you watched the Super Bowl? I did, hung out at the In-laws place, it was a very fun time, I was primarily rooting for the commercials to be good. I even put together a little spreadsheet to rank which ones I liked the best. One favorite was the Ram Trucks Vikings ad. Where some Vikings haul a truck with a Longboat across the ocean to try to reach Minnesota was great. And even with the dig at the Vikings not reaching the game I still loved it. Dani DeVito as an M&M was great. And I have to admit, I really wanted the Australia travel commercial for Crocodile Dundee Two to be a real movie. But, the set of commercials that seemed to really steal the show this year, were all the Tide commercials where they started out being a different commercial, but then talked about how since all the clothes in the commercials were are bright and clean, they were in fact tide commercials.

            Today is the feast day of the Transfiguration, where we have read about Jesus going up to the top of a mountain with Peter, James, and John and there on top, he is transfigured, he glows, and his clothes all become dazzling white. After reading this text at the start of the week, I happened upon this graphic on Facebook.

            Transfiguration? Actually a tide commercial.   It’s fun, but this text, and the feast day associated with it, is one of the most powerful texts of the Gospels, close behind Easter and Christmas in importance.

            And so, to continue I want to talk about football a bit more. No, seriously. So, a couple weeks ago as a Minnesota Vikings Fan the end of the divisional championship game occurred, on the last play of the game, the Minnesota Miracle or Minneapolis Miracle happened. And myself and all Vikings Fandom was ecstatic. The confirmation boys and I spent most of the meal weeks still talking about what happened! I lost track the number of times that I watched the video. I was on top of a mountain there. And I think so were the Vikings players, and well, as we know, it showed the next week as they were destroyed by the Eagles, who just won the super bowl. They, and most fandom myself included, wanted to stay on top of the mountain.

            Peter experiences that in our text. It’s why he wants to build those huts or tents, he wants to mark the moment, the spot, where this miraculous thing is occurring. He wants to stay on the top of the mountain forever.

            It can be tempting to dwell on mountain top experiences, and there’s nothing wrong with such experiences. Reaching the top of something, a highlight of life, is something to be always striving towards. But, it is not where most of life occurs.

            In our text, just as important as showing more and more about who Jesus is, a prophet like Elijah, one to free the people like Moses, is the fact that Jesus comes down the mountain. This text is an encapsulation of both Easter and Christmas.

Jesus the one who will rise again in glory at Easter, comes down the mountain, comes down from heaven in the incarnation to live not just in the wonderful parts of life, not just the mountain experiences, but Jesus also comes to live in the messy, the ugly, the difficult moments of life. Jesus comes to be with us not just on the mountains, but in the depths of what life brings to us.

            Jesus is with us when we experience the most wonderful moments of life, births of children, weddings, parties, victories, celebrations. And Jesus is with us in the most difficult and hard times of our lives.

            Christ meets us in the midst of death, in the midst of grief, pain, loss. Jesus comes to us as we strive against the pains of life. While we strive against racism, classism, abuse and bullying. Christ walks with us as we go through the valley of death.

            The Transfiguration shows us that Christ in all his glory, comes down the mountain to be with us. So we may never be alone.

            We are called to be witnesses to this moment. We are called to be witnesses like Peter, James and John, called to tell the whole world, that Jesus lives with them.

            We are called not to build huts, but to instead build bridges that help others reach Jesus, we are called to tear down walls that keep people from knowing that Jesus, the Son of God, the one who will save them, came, not just to their mountain tops, but came deep, deep down into the very messiness of their life.

            With Christ in his glory surrounding us, we are called to not stay on the mountain top, but are called to go out and tell others of the mountain. To tell them of the light that calls to them, to tell them that there exists a mountain, that the depths are not the end, that Christ by experiencing them, experiencing all of the depths, death included, has destroyed the power of those depths.

            We are called to build bridges to each other, so that we all may see the way of Christ, the way of healing, of comforting, of seeing the goodness of others. The way of being little prophets, calling out atrocities and abuses of power where we see them. The way of being little deacons, seeking to serve the other first, knowing that through Christ we need not save ourselves. The way of being little Christs, giving of our lives for those around us. Seeking to take ourselves down from the mountain top, because until all can gather there, there is still work to do. While even one of God’s beloved children are in the depths, Christ will go down to them, and calls us to follow. While just one sheep is lost and scared, Christ calls us to go out.

            This week, as we reach Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, we see the start of yet another walk by Christ into the very depths of our lives. That is what transfiguration tells us, God, the glory, the power, the strength, gives that all up to be able to reach out and be with us in the very depths you may find yourselves caught in, and then to lift us up, to resurrect us from the death and pain we experience. Transfiguring and transforming our lives and restoring us to the mountain top.

            Let us pray,

God of glory, we thank you for giving up all to be with us, we thank you for leaving the mountain to walk with us in our lives. We thank you for your life, and we thank you for your death, so that we may have life. Amen.