Do You Hear?
Before reading the Matthew text, I invite you to tie this scripture to what you have just heard from Exodus. These two mountaintop experiences are not grouped together haphazardly but both involve God speaking directly to faith leaders, clouds, blazing fire – God’s glory revealed after six days.
Jesus has just revealed to his disciples who he is and what he must go through. Listen for God’s Word in the Gospel of Matthew 17:1-9
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then Peter said to Jesus, “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.” 5While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” 6When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. 9As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Human imagination is a funny thing. We interweave the fantastic, spectacular and imaginative with the real and mundane.
My atheist friends often say that the Bible is a robust work of fiction with talking snakes, fantastic tales of demons and angels, water ridiculously becoming wine – a mixed voodoo magic of Jesus and God doing things no rational person would believe.
Yet these same people are often the ones drawn to the fantasy tales of our day – walk with me if you will the careful line between fantasy and miracle. Game of Thrones tells of rulers working with a brand of magic employing dragons in their quest for power.
Fandom says of magic “Magic, occasionally referred to as ‘the higher mysteries’, is a powerful but little understood force in the world. In Westeros [the made up kingdom of Game of Thrones], it is believed, particularly by the Masters of the Citadel, that magic if it ever existed, is now gone from the world.”
Is magic real or is it something else, the miracles of the world? Are they gone? One of my favorite stories my mother used to tell when she lived in Angel Fire, New Mexico is of an Angel Conference held there one year. What is an angel – what do they look like. There are probably as many iterations as there are people in this room or more of what is an angel and how they might or might not interact with us. At this particular conference appropriately hosted at the Lodge at Angel Fire, one of the participants believed that it was necessary for her to allow the angels entry to the event – so she propped a door open. I don’t think the bear who came in was the angel she was expecting – it took hours for the evacuated lodge to convince the Black Bear to leave the hotel.
I imagine the attendees’ annoyance at being relegated into the snow, shivering yet mildly displaced to what could have been blizzard-like bleakness of winter. Even those of us who do not watch HBO Game of Thrones would have to hide under a rock to not hear the references “Winter is Coming” enough in spin off promos and advertising as well as from the mouths of our overly enthusiastic friends. What does “Winter is Coming” even mean?
For the movie, the coming of winter is the motto of the House of Stark – a house of power in the imaginary land of Westeros. It is a warning and a threat to be prepared for winter that is powerful and a force to be reckoned with. This imagery is throughout this work of fantasy. Take the section entitled
A Call to Heed the Storm: His voice thunders to the snow. He tells it to fall on the earth.
-Game of Thrones
But wait I mixed up my sources. That title is actually from a footnote in Job This is the explanation of the editors for the portion of Job 37 that says,
“By the breath of God ice is given and the broad waters are frozen fast. He loads the thick clouds with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning”
Imagery of winter includes isolation, harshness, mourning or even death yet juxtaposed directly against that it also carries serene beauty, season of light glittering reflections of light, and even love.
Human art and imagination abound in our world today as well as in our scripture as we try to describe and grasp the majesty and wonder of God. Take this sunset in Angel Fire – whose very name comes from the look of the clouds to be glowing atop a mountain at sunrise or sunset – it helps us relate to our two texts today with clouds and brilliant light accompanying the divine. An angel fire resembling God appearing in dazzling array in the mountaintops in blinding light and glory. Our imaginations are sparked. Art, film and literature reflect our attempts at trying to understand the magic in our world, God’s miracles.
This imagination partnered with nature makes more appearances in our scripture than you might think. Psalm 148: 7-8 says “Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling my command!” All forces of nature and imagination harnessed to worship God, to serve as the messenger of God. Are we listening?
There was a popular meme going around on Facebook this week that I resonated with- It said, “One minute you’re young and fun, the next you’re turning down the stereo in your car to see better.” Wait, what? Why do we do this? It may not be as goofy as it seems at a first glance. Our senses work together to help us understand the world around us. If one of your senses is impaired, the others will often compensate. But it takes paying attention with all of our abilities – touch, sight, sound, smell, and even taste to even begin to grasp our God and to hear what God is imparting to us.
Often the mystics in the Eastern Orthodox tradition do better with embracing and hearing God with all of their senses and welcoming in the unknowable
The Facebook page ‘Art as Prayer’ wrote this about Sieger Köder’s painting of the Transfiguration:
“The vision of the Transfiguration is a vision of the soul, the heart, the mind. Look at the painting of the Transfiguration. Take your time to gaze into it, become familiar with it and let the colours and the characters enter your consciousness….
In Köder’s work, the vision is seen in prayer by the disciples; their eyes remain closed. In the darkness of prayer, in their innermost selves, they see the Divine. God dwells within each one of us. The Light of God shines continually upon and through Christ, but only fleetingly and seldom do the disciples see Jesus as He truly is.”
A few of you have been fortunate enough to hear God clearly at specific times in your lives. More commonly we have to focus and work at this task, listen carefully.
Aslan in CS Lewis’ The Silver Chair says “Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly. I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind. And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters.”
At dinner this week co-workers asked why preaching was my favorite thing about my job. My reply was that I love reading the scriptures and seeing how what they are saying ties to our context. How is God speaking the same message to us- over and over – from the living words of the Bible and from the living world around us – chock full of the Holy Spirit reaching out and sending us the Good News. I only hope that what is intriguing and fascinating for me to uncover is as valuable proclaimed and heard.
So I began digging. Calvin Seminary had illustrations of transfiguration of the elf queen from Lord of the Rings compared to today’s scripture. From Textweek.com, that is a source for all things lectionary preaching, I clicked a link to an illustrations of transfiguration, I got a page not found page in French. Wow!
Okay – guess I need to use my French: Page not found – no surprise. The link you are following is perhaps incorrect, or the page has been removed, or search for the unicorn in the book of wonders by Marco Polo. Was this a rabbit hole from transfiguration or a direction? Hmm – I found unicorns in the bible!! I’ll let you find those 9 examples yourselves. But let’s look at what the unicorn symbolizes. Innocence, energy, magic – wrapped with an overall sense of wisdom and mystery! I can’t help a feeling of being nudged by the Holy Spirit to follow my own proclamation and listen to this fantastical message!
Fantasy or fiction? If you haven’t guessed – the lines become blurry. In the Game Fact or Fantasy – the goal is to use virtual reality and determine in teams what is real? Virtual reality – our imaginings, dragging more and more of our sense into our imaginings to grow closer to the wonder that is God.
In depicting the transfiguration, we cast the characters in our image to grasp it – Indian, Asian, Black, White and I could have found many more. We remake things in images we can draw closer to us, yet God is right here, close to us off the mountain. You don’t need virtual reality goggles to receive the message.
St Francis said, “Preach the Gospel at all times – when necessary, use words” Jesus did and does. How do you hear and see God?
Can you see those message in hidden dot pictures? What messages are we missing? Not everybody hears, sees, senses in the same way. These frustrating puzzles are obvious to some and a complete mystery to others – so God speaks in a myriad of ways.
Tommy Givens says of Matthew that the saving revelation of God is hidden in the unexpected and unexplainable. He says, “This requires that we draw near enough to God, one another, and to the earth itself, to see how we are wrong and to see more truly….”
In preceding verses to our text today, Jesus has told the disciples that he is the messiah, but he sternly ordered them not to tell. In Matthew 16:21 at which point they know he is the messiah, Jesus begins to show them what this means. The verb used is no longer tell but show – words are not enough for what being the messiah entails.
Transfiguration marks the end of epiphany season that began with magi recognizing the newborn messiah. The epiphany is ongoing even though this is the official culmination. This is a recognition of Jesus in a new way – with His glory shining forth, bursting out in rays of dazzling white, shining like the sun. Miriam Webster helps us here with definitions:
The first definition fits this mountaintop experience – “a sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something.” If they weren’t clear with all he said before now, God makes it clear once again dazzling the senses with His Son – the beloved with whom I am well pleased.
But Webster’s definition 2 is just as important: “an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking.” This is Jesus off the mountaintop with us showing us in the simple, in the ordinary.
Matthew is a gospel that emphasizes that Jesus is with us. HE is a God with us – Matthew begins in chapter one with a virgin to give birth to a son and naming him Emmanuel – God with us. This Emmanuel has now clearly revealed himself to the disciples as the messiah and comforts them with a touch to the head. They will not remain on the mountaintop, but he is with them. Not just near but using the sense of a gentle touch. Have they heard and heeded what he foretold, what he taught? Will they follow, did they listen? Do we listen? What may seem crystal clear on the mountaintop requires more work in the day-to-day.
The scripture today reveals the glory of god in Jesus a beloved son and commands us to listen. Jesus came off the mountaintop with them, right alongside them and asked them not to tell. Perhaps listening and showing are the first steps before we start to talk about Christianity, we listen to what is around us, and show the love of Jesus Christ.
Lean into it – listen with all you have and all you are. The miracle and the magic are not gone from the world, miracles are still around you each and every day – do you hear it? Way beyond a mere fantasy - God’s creation and imagination are bigger than our wildest dreams. God is talking to us each and every day, right in front of us, not just on the mountaintop. Embrace it, Listen. Let God’s magic speak to you and through you. Amen.
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