The Transfiguration of our Lord February 26, 2006 “Series B”
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, on this last Sunday in the season of Epiphany, we recall how Peter, James and John were given a glimpse of your Son’s divine glory, a glimpse into the future that awaited him at the end of his earthly mission to redeem us from sin and death. Through the power of your Holy Spirit, strengthen our faith in the future glory that we share with him, as a result of our baptism into his death and resurrection, that we might live our life reflecting your redeeming grace to those around us. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
I would like to begin my meditation this morning with an illustration that I used six years ago, borrowed from Shepherds and Bathrobes, by Thomas G. Long.
How many here this morning remember the movie Back to the Future? The movie centers around the invention of a madcap scientist who has perfected a machine capable of achieving the impossible dream of being able to travel through time. Michael J. Fox plays a teenaged boy who uses the machine to journey to his hometown, as it was in the 1950’s before he was born, and before his parents were married.
What happens in the movie from that point on, is very humorous. The boy meets his parents and discovers what they were like in their awkward teenage years. He dazzles the town with his skateboard, which has yet to be invented, and even manages to introduce Chuck Berry to the guitar sounds of the yet unwritten Johnny B. Goode.
In all honesty, I thoroughly enjoyed this film, as it transported me back to the era of my childhood. Signs of the 50’s abound in the movie; from soda bottles who caps will not twist off, to soda fountains in the drug stores, which served “Purple Cows,” to a service station with uniformed attendants who would check your oil, clean your windshield and pump the gas, which cost you a whopping sum of about 35 cents a gallon.
For all of the movies warm humor, however, it does ponder one serious theme: how possessing knowledge of the future creates an awesome responsibility for how we live in the present. Before moving back in time, Michael J. Fox is warned not to attempt to alter the future in any way. And as the plot unfolds, he has to work vigorously to insure that the future he has already seen and lived, does in fact, develop.
For example, Fox discovers that his mother and father are having a difficult time as teenagers, developing a romantic relationship with each other, and he has to employ every ounce of his inventiveness to insure that the conditions are created which will lead to their mutual attraction, eventual marriage, and most importantly, to his own birth. Otherwise, he will cease to exist. Because he knows the future, he is compelled to work for its fulfillment. //
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When I was in seminary, I enjoyed a close relationship with many of my professors. But one in particular was very special to me. He was my systematic theology professor, Aarnie Siirala. Aarnie was a brilliant man, a member of the world think tank, who had authored several books. He was even one of the persons who had been invited to visit the Nazi death camps right after Germany had surrendered, to try to help make sense out of this atrocity. Thus, he also understood history, and its role in shaping our future.
Yet as brilliant as Aarnie was, his office door was never shut. He always welcomed conversations with his students, and never made you feel insecure or naïve, no matter how much you may have exhibited these traits. He was my teacher and my mentor, who, although he is now with Christ in the Church Triumphant, he still influences my life.
One day in my senior year, Aarnie and I had one of our “one on ones,” in which I asked him, “With all that you have experienced in life, what advice would you give me, since I will soon be leaving these hallowed walls for a different life, a life in which I have to give up being a student and become a pastor?”
“Two things,” he said, in his Finnish accent. “First, keep your faith in Christ as your redeemer. In baptism, God has claimed you as his own and promised you a future that transcends life here on earth. Never forget that you have a future due solely to the grace of God, and no matter how difficult your life may become, remember that nothing can take that future away from you.”
“Secondly,” Aarnie said to me, as he looked over the top of his glasses, “Live your life from the perspective of your death.”
At first, this comment of Aarnie struck me as strange, even a bit morbid. But as he continued to speak, I realized that his advice was full, not of dread, but of wisdom. He possessed the maturity to acknowledge what younger people often avoid and deny. He acknowledged that he was mortal. He grasped the fact that his life here on earth was limited. And so he lived each day as if it were a precious opportunity to celebrate and proclaim that his future was secure in God’s redeeming grace. Even though he had learned so much from current history, his life was focused on the future. //
The transfiguration of Jesus gave Peter, James and John, and through the witness of Scripture, each of us, a glimpse of the future.
Our Gospel lesson tells us that they were taken to the top of a high mountain, the symbolic place of revelation. On that mount, they witness the garments of Jesus begin to shine with a brilliant whiteness, the sign of God’s presence. They behold the presence of Moses and Elijah, who serve to frame their vision in the context of God’s past actions of his redeeming grace. And then a cloud overshadows them, in which they hear the voice of God declare that Jesus is God’s beloved Son, to whom they should listen.
But unlike the movie, Back to the Future, this event transports our Lord’s disciples forward in time, and gives them a glimpse of the future glory of Jesus. The transfiguration occurs in the middle of our Lord’s ministry, as if to affirm the direction and course that Jesus had set for his life, but has not yet completed.
The truth is, this glimpse into the future had yet to be accomplished. There remained for Jesus a life to be lived, rejection to be faced, burdens to be borne, suffering to be endured, and a cross to be carried. The future had been glimpsed, but there was still the responsibility for our Lord to live out his life and to bring the future to fruition.
I believe that this is why Jesus told his disciples not to tell anyone about the future they had been privileged a glimpse, until Jesus had completed his ministry, and had actually fulfilled God’s plan for our redemption, through his death and resurrection. Knowing the future carries a responsibility for the way we live our lives in the present, even for the incarnate Son of God.
But following our Lord’s death and resurrection, Jesus had fulfilled God’s plan for our redemption. Then, it was not only Peter, James and John who were witnesses to the future glory of our crucified and risen Lord.
All of our Lord’s disciples were granted a glimpse of Christ’s glory, as they beheld him risen from the grave. And they came to understand that through their faith and baptism into our Lord’s death and resurrection, they, too, shared in his glory, shared an eternal life in his presence.
Today we come before God as people who have been promised a future that transcends life here on earth, through our faith and baptism into our Lord’s death and resurrection. Each one of us have been given a glimpse into our future, as we read the Scriptures, share in the fellowship of the church our Lord’s promise, and receive his redeeming grace through the sacraments.
Today, Curt and Kristi Stoyer will bring their Son Conner to receive the sacrament of Holy Baptism. In this sacrament, Conner will be embraced by God’s redeeming grace, and promised a future that transcends his life here on earth, a future in the presence of the glory of God and our crucified and risen Lord. Today, we are given a glimpse into his future, as our his parents.
But again, as we are given a glimpse of the future, we must realize that it carries with it a responsibility. Thus, Curt and Kristi, will also pledge, as Conner’s parents, that they will raise him to know his future, that they will teach him the basics of the Christian faith, and teach him the value of worship and living his life as a disciple of Christ, until he might come to embrace his future for himself through confirmation.
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To be sure, knowing the future carries with it a tremendous responsibility to live our lives in the present, and to do all that we can to prepare ourselves to embrace it. But let me return to the way that Aarnie, my mentor put it, for I believe that his wisdom puts everything into perspective.
“Never forget that your are a redeemed saint of God. And never forget that you are mortal, but live each day celebrating life, celebrating your future. For our Lord’s victory over sin and death turns our responsibility into a celebration of life, even in the midst of chaos.
Amen.
