I mentioned at the beginning of this season that the word Epiphany means showing. The season of Epiphany is made up of various examples of Jesus showing us who he really is. We began with Jesus' baptism, when God spoke from out of the sky and proclaimed Jesus as God's Son. And today, the final Sunday of the season of Epiphany, Jesus shows himself in the most potent way. He is transfigured before three of his disciples. And once more, God the Almighty speaks from out of the sky. And God says words very similar to those that were said at his baptism.
"This is my Son. Listen to him!"
Jesus went up mountains to pray alone often. He sought time with God and this time rejuvenated him. Throughout his ministry, this is his habit, to find time alone with God. Then one day, something changed and instead of making this journey alone, Jesus invited his friends. He brought three of his disciples up the mountain with him. He invited them to pray with him. What an invitation, to pray with the Son of God. Can you imagine?
In the final showing, Peter, James and John catch a glimpse of what happened to Jesus when he prayed. And what happened was inconceivable.
I searched the Internet this week to find evidence of light shining from people who pray. Sure enough, in every major world religion, the holiest of people, the ones who devote their entire lives to the practice of prayer, often are depicted as being surrounded by light. Buddha, Hindu saints, mystical rabbis...all have flames,or halos or simply radiate light intensely from their faces. One man, who meditates two to three hours every morning and every evening, talks about seeing light, passing through light. People who have died and return often speak of moving toward the light when they were dying. When Jesus said, "I am the light of the world," he meant something incredible. He meant that he was God and that he touched God.
When Moses saw God's backside on the mountain, his face and hair became dazzling and white. Elijah too began to shine with the brightness of God.
So Jesus entered into the very presence of God, into God's being. And his friends were there. There were other people with him. Often people who are dying begin to talk to loved ones who have died. To be with God is not to be alone but to be with those who have loved God along with you.
So here was beauty, mystical beauty beyond imagining. And Peter tries to hold onto it.
This scene is so important because the way that Peter responds to this deeply mystical experience is the way all humans respond to God in life and in meditation. We try to hold God.
Peter asks if he can build three booths, three monuments, three places for them to stay. He is trying to bottle the experience, grab hold of it and possess it. There is was not unheard of. Jacob the patriarch built an altar at the scene where he wrestled an angel. Abraham built altars in holy places. Even today, we mark the place where a dead body lies with a large stone or permanent plaque. Why? Because we want to hold on to the people that we love. We need something permanent, something to latch ourselves to, something that does not go away or change. Peter was telling them to stay put. He did not want it to end or to change. It was the best thing that had ever happened to him, that moment with God. He wanted to hold on.
That's what we all want. We want to feel good, to have the love of God and family and friends and to hold onto it, to make it last. We want to buy it, bottle it, grab it and hold on. But that is not how God works, nor even life itself. And once we try to hold onto an experience or a loved one or even a time in our lives, it damages the experience itself.
What Moses and Elijah are talking about with Jesus is the fact that he will have to die. They are talking about his departure from this world. He is hearing his fate and Peter cannot stand to hear it.
When we fall in love, we want the feeling to stay just the same. But relationships are ever changing and growing and if we could only recognize this, we might not have a 70% divorce rate in Duval County, because when people stop feeling in love they might wonder what new kind of love could be raised up from the old one.
Can you bottle happiness? My husband and I joke about putting bricks on our boys heads. But if they'd did not change and grow, we would not get to know them as men, the full person that God made. Instead God asks us to listen to what God is doing in their lives and in ours.
Listen to me, God says. I am always doing something new and unexpected. This planet that I made, it is spinning. The cells in your body are changing and altering constantly. To truly be with me is to move.
To be devout is to be a follower of Jesus. And to follow him means movement and change. You cannot follow Jesus by standing still and wishing things were the way that they once were or wishing that they could stay the same. Watch and listen to the new things that God is doing. God shows himself in a new way every day.
When a Talmid was accepted as follower of a rabbi, that person would leave their life behind and follow the rabbi everywhere. To the market, to his home, to the synagogue, wherever. The Talmid was always on the move and not on his schedule but according to the actions of the rabbi. Many of us want to follow Jesus but the reality is that we really want to build a nice life and put him in it with us. We want a happy status quo, not the chaos and craziness of not knowing what's next.
But if you do not move, the earth will move out from under you. And you will find that The rabbi has walked on ahead and you cannot see him anymore. So look up, pack your bags, and be ready to move.
