"Inside Out"

First Presbyterian Church
Peter S. Buehler
February 3, 2008
Matthew 17:1-9

"This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased;
listen to him!"

I was driving north on Highway 101 along the coast earlier this week; it was raining like it is today. Nevertheless in places sunlight was shining through the clouds, so that a rainbow appeared -- a small section first, then the entire bow stretched east to west for miles. It was shimmering with color, seeming both to stand still and move along at highway speed. It was iridescent; how else do you describe the colors, the beauty of a rainbow?

Jesus takes three disciples, Peter, James, and John with him "on a high mountain," one of the peaks located between Caesarea Philippi, where Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, "the Messiah, the Son of the living God," and Capernaum, Jesus' mission base in Galilee. There before them he was transfigured; he became iridescent. Novelist Carson McCullers describes iridescence as "a prism in a morning room" -- refracted sunlight casting rainbow-like colors on white walls. For the disciples it was a scene more stunning than a rainbow.

Matthew takes pains to describe the indescribable. Jesus' face shines -- literally in the Greek it "lamps"; his clothes too become white as light. Even the cloud that descended upon him and his company was a "shining cloud." And to leave no doubt about the authenticity of the experience, the disciples hear the Voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!"

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were to witness the Transfiguration ourselves, if that were a regular part of the Christian experience, that Jesus took each of us up on a high mountain and became iridescent before our eyes? After that, would we not be changed people, fired-up disciples!

Oddly, we don't hear Matthew saying this. The Transfiguration did not have an instant effect, it did not transform the disciples as we imagine it would transform us. They remembered what happened, they kept silent about it until after Jesus' resurrection, as he asked. It was later, when they saw the events of that day in the light of Easter morning, that it shed light on their lives.

I believe it does today. For people who want to live their lives in the light, the story of the Transfiguration still shines. I would suggest three ways that it helps us, three different lights it gives us: the first is a floodlight, the second a spotlight, and the third a flashlight. None of them is blindingly bright, as we imagine the Transfiguration was to Peter, James, and John, but each one provides the light we need when we need it.

And really, light itself is miraculous, however bright. Light, physicists tell us, the kind that can be perceived by the unaided human eye, is actually electromagnetic radiation which has a wavelength in the range of 3,900 to about 7,700 angstroms, an angstrom being a unit of length equal to one hundred-millionth -- or 10-to-the-minus-8, for those who remember high school math -- of a centimeter. Light is amazing! Light is essential.

In the darkness, a floodlight instantly helps us to see; it proves that what we thought was there is indeed there. No guesswork about where the steps are, where the front door is. In the story of the Transfiguration, what we see clearly is that this humble man, this healer who deflects attention away from himself, this brilliant teacher who asks people to keep his identity secret -- this Jesus shines!
Jesus' humility shines bright. His humanity is illuminated. In the awesome light of this moment, Jesus was not a different person than he was in everyday light; this was the same Jesus the disciples knew, the same compassion-filled man who ministered to crowds -- this same man was the Messiah, the Christ, God's Beloved.

This is good news for us. We tend to think we have to leave our humanity behind to be Christians, that we have to try really hard to be different than we are, that for our light to shine we have to be different on the outside than we are on the inside. But the Gospel is a reassuring word to the church and to us, for we cast light, much-needed light, when we are ourselves. We're given permission, we're encouraged, we're called to be inside-out Christians, God's grace on the inside showing on the outside.

Think of the people who have had the most profound influence on you and your faith -- was it not who they were (or are) more than what they were that touched you and changed you? Yet we, unbeknown to us, are having that same effect on others because of who we are and who God is making us to be.

We are a source of light. Often in the church we tout our programs and our ministries, even our buildings, as what define us, as if it's what we do that's most important. Like Peter on the mountain -- he couldn't sit still, he had to be doing something, he had to be saying something. It has to be one of the great foot-in-mouth moments in biblical history -- Peter can't keep his mouth shut: "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." James and John must have been thinking, There he goes again!

Yet so often it's not what we do or what we say that makes the difference, it's who we are. Our love for people, our kindness and generosity toward strangers as well as friends, expresses who we are, who it is we worship, who it is we follow.

And we don't always have to have the right emotion to have the right conviction.
We can show love when we don't feel loving; we can still act in a way that shows our light.

Preacher and writer William Willimon tells of a secretary at Duke University who asked everyone she knew if they had yard work or chores for an Iraqi graduate student she and her husband had taken into their home. It was at the start of the first Iraq war; when it started the young man was cut off from his funds and unable to go home -- the odd jobs would allow him to get a little money together.
Willimon asked the secretary what her student friend thought about the war. "Oh, he thinks we're terrible and Saddam is just wonderful," she said. Willimon replied, "Well I find it interesting that you took this Iraqi into your home, that you wanted to care for him." With some indignation she shot back, "I decided? I wanted?"
"Well, why did you do it?" Willimon asked. The woman slammed her fist on her desk and said, "Because I'm a Christian, darn it! You think it's easy?"

Living out our faith is not easy, but when we do our light shines. Our humanity shines.

There is also a spotlight, for the light in the story of the Transfiguration is focused on Jesus. Like a theater spotlight mounted way up on the railing of the third balcony, yet its light finds the one actor on the stage and rivets the audience's attention on him. In the same way God's light finds one person and shines on him. We hear God speaking the same love words as at Jesus' baptism, only this time with a clear message to disciples, to us: "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" Keep the spotlight on him. Look to him, listen to him.

Today we say, Let's keep our focus -- let's pay attention to what's most important, who is most important. In a world of a thousand distractions, we remember that the focus of the scriptures is Jesus.

A lot of us will be focused on something else this afternoon -- frankly
I'm glad the Super bowl isn't at 9:00 or 10:30 on Sunday morning. It would be the opposite of Christmas or Easter: there would be no one here. Judith and I would have to preach to each other. I did enjoy hearing an interview earlier this week with Tom Brady, the Patriots' quarterback. He's a celebrity, of course, a big one, therefore people want to know everything about him. One curious reporter asked him, What is your life about? What is your purpose in life? I thought to myself, Ministers used to be asked that kind of question, now it's NFL quarterbacks everyone listens to! But like everyone else I waited for Tom Brady's reply.
What's the purpose of my life? Well, listen, what I do is throw a football.
Period.

He does it well. Amid all the distractions he faces, Tom Brady knows what's most important and that is his focus. Amid all the distractions we face -- from outside of ourselves, from inside of ourselves -- we too know what's most important and that is our focus. God is clear: This is my Son, the Beloved… listen to him!" God does not say, Listen to me, or even Listen also to me. God shines the spotlight on Christ, for he knows that when we see him and hear him God is seen and heard. The Apostle Paul puts our theology succinctly: For in (Christ) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of the cross (Col. 1:19-20). We are people who listen to Jesus; he is our way, our truth, our life..

The bright light of the Transfiguration is a floodlight: followers of Jesus shining light in dark places. By our kindness, our conviction and compassion, we bring the light of hope, the light of Christ into our world.

The Gospel further reminds us that we keep our brightness when we know our focus. When we see Christ clearly, when we listen for his voice -- when the Bible for us is like earphones, when the Voice is that clear -- then our path is clear and we walk with confidence.

Jesus is also our encouragement: he gives us courage. In Matthew's telling of the Transfiguration we see Jesus going over to the disciples after they hear God's voice, after they fall to the ground with fear. Matthew's Gospel includes this wonderful detail of Jesus' gentleness: he goes to the disciples and touches them.
Then he says, Get up and do not be afraid.

When we go for a walk at night we take a flashlight to see where we're going, but also to keep from being afraid, for the night has its hazards and we want to walk with our heads up. How wonderful to be assured in our faith that Jesus touches us and tells us to Get up and not be afraid. We walk through our dark places with the light of his encouragement.

Get up, he says, and do not be afraid. In that order; first, Get up. Because Jesus doesn't try to talk us out of our fear, he asks us to trust him in our fear. Jesus doesn't scold us, he empowers us.

That is how we deal with our fear. We don't stay seated. We get up as we are able, we take steps, we trust, we believe. When our friends are afraid we get up, we go to them, we listen to them. When they are ready to take steps, we walk with them.

We put into practice the words of Jesus, Get up and do not be afraid.