Mark 9:2-9 / Transfiguration of Christ
I love the Bible. Nothing has shaped my life more profoundly than the Bible. I adore the challenge of preaching on difficult to understand or controversial biblical passages. In our weekly pastors’ Bible study, called “text study,” when the assigned gospel passage for the upcoming Sunday is a hard one, as one of the pastors finishes reading it before we discuss it, there are groans all around. But me, I’m like: Oh, I love this text! It’s so great! I love how hard it is. Seriously. But friends, I do not care about the transfiguration of Christ. Straight up. I have no qualms about the theology or the concepts in this story. I have no concerns about its implications. I also have no interest in this story. The transfiguration of Christ may be the only story in all of scripture that really doesn’t interest me, so it’s unfortunate (for me) that it comes up every single year in the Revised Common Lectionary, of course, because it is a holiday of the church. On all previous Transfiguration Sundays, I, quite honestly, have been playing it fast and loose in preaching for I have preached on themes other people find interesting or compelling.
Other people find aspects of this story very compelling: the mystery of Jesus’ transfiguration, the desire of the disciples to remain on the mountaintop where all is well instead of leaving the mountain where they will have to deal with the complexities of real life, the presence of Moses and Elijah with Jesus and what this means about Jesus’ relationship with these Old Testament ancestors of faith, how Jesus’ transfiguration gives hope to the disciples since Jesus just told them he is going to suffer and die and on the third day rise from the dead. These aspects of the story may resonate with you even though they don’t resonate with me.
My indifference towards the transfiguration of Christ leads me to wonder and to ask as our question of the day: What story in the Bible, holiday in the church year, or part of our Christian theology makes no difference to you? And what do we do with our indifference? Must we eagerly read every story of the Bible, celebrate every holiday, and delve into every aspect of the Christian faith? I commend the brave souls who shared their honest reflections on this question in the Facebook feed. To see our community’s reflections, go to the Facebook feed from our live stream worship on Sunday, February 14, 2021.
Having shared our indifference about aspects of this faith we share, what do we do with it? Do we skip church on those Sundays? Ignore that biblical passage altogether? Cover our ears every time someone starts talking about X?
When I was in high school, my piano teacher assigned me pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach for a particular piano contest. A church musician of early 18th century Germany, Bach was the master of counterpoint, a fairly complex style of musical composition. He was also a Lutheran, a deeply religious man who wrote on every piece of music: Soli deo gloria—To God alone be the glory. In the history of Western music, Bach is generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. In high school, I admitted his faith and his deserved fame were impressive. But I recall complaining to my high school choir director, Mrs. Hovland, about the travesty of being required to play Bach. So difficult. So boring. So baroque. I didn’t hate him. I didn’t love him. I was indifferent to Bach. And Mrs. Hovland responded: Remember that every composer of a past age was popular in their time. If they had not been popular, we would not know about them three hundred years later. Which was a kind way of saying to a grumpy teenager: The history of Western music does not care about your opinion of Bach. It’s not about you.
I thought about Mrs. Hovland’s words as I struggled to put together my thoughts about the transfiguration of Christ. The transfiguration is included in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In all three gospels, the transfiguration acts as a pivot point. Prior to the transfiguration, Jesus calls disciples, heals, and teaches. After the transfiguration, Jesus empowers disciples to do his work, engages in conversation about the meaning of his life, and offers increasingly difficult teaching and preaching. All three gospel writers locate the transfiguration in the middle of Jesus’ predictions of his suffering, death, and resurrection. Regardless of my feelings about the transfiguration, regardless of my indifference, clearly, the early Christians who wrote the gospels considered the transfiguration an important moment in the life of Christ. Three of the four gospels include this story, and every year, we lift up the transfiguration in our church calendar. Though the exact year is lost in the mists of time, Christians have been celebrating the Feast of the Transfiguration since at least the ninth century. For centuries, people of faith have stood in awe of Christ’s transfiguration, and preachers around the world have stood in pulpits to proclaim the good news of a God whose glory shines from Jesus on the mountaintop and declares: This is my Son, the beloved; listen to him!
It doesn’t matter that I don’t resonate with the transfiguration of Christ.And whatever aspect of the Christian faith or whatever holiday or whatever biblical story about which you are indifferent, it doesn’t matter. Because it’s not about you, individually or me, individually, finding everything interesting, of everything resonating. Rather, the whole people of God have received the good news of Christ. On Pentecost and Maundy Thursday, my heart is full. On Christmas and Easter, yours might be full.When Jesus teaches all those gathered with him on the mount: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, I am ready with a great “Amen!” When Jesus teaches the parable of the Good Samaritan, perhaps you are ready with a “Preach it!” The church, its sacred story, its holidays, its theological tradition, is not about you or me. It’s about us, the whole people of God, throughout all time and space. And on this Sunday of Christ’s transfiguration, we give thanks to God for the hope we see in Jesus who shines with the light of God’s glory. Thanks be to God! Amen.