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Sunday, February 14, 1999
"Do We Want Glory in Our Lives?"
I am going to read from Matthew l7, the story of Jesus
taking three of his closest friends up to a high place
where his face and his clothes become shining bright.
This episode is called the Transfiguration of Jesus.
It's a strange happening as it consists of this brilliant
shining from Jesus, then the appearance of two figures
long dead whom the disciples identify as Moses and
Elijah, and then these two speak to the three disciples
and assure them that Jesus is the Son of God and should
be listened to, which is to say followed and obeyed.
All of this is odd, to say the least, for us because
rarely does anyone's face and clothes shine brilliantly
unless it's a model on the runway with a kind camera
panning her; and we rarely see visions of the dead.
Strange though this episode is, it appears in the
gospels of Mark and Luke as well with the same vivid and
mysterious details. That suggests to me that something
most unusual did happen to convince some of his followers
that Jesus really was from God and to suggest that the
glory of his Transfiguration was a sign of his ultimate
glory in the Resurrection.
Perhaps to the three disciples and to those with whom
the story was shared the Transfiguration was not so
mysterious as it is to us modern hearers of the tale.
Because the Jewish Christians were aware, as we may not
be, that the shining of Jesus' face referenced the
shining of Moses face in Exodus when he encounters the
Living God on Sinai. Only the face of Moses is reported
as shining, not his clothes. Perhaps the clothes of Jesus
shined to evidence that although Jesus came after Moses,
his authority and glory as the Son of God took precedence
over the Law Giver.
The response of the disciples to this manifestation of
the glory of Jesus also seems an odd detail in the story:
Peter asks permission of Jesus to build three huts. That
would not occur to us. But this is a reference to the
festival of booths or Succoth in which each year Jewish
males were expected to live for a week in simple lean-to
structures to remember the goodness of the harvest and
the munificence of God in giving the growth of the earth.
Such a dramatic event could logically have triggered
this response of gratitude to build the huts on the
mountain and celebrate with the luminous Jesus what Jews
were required to do routinely every harvest.
There is an important carry-through in this episode as
it is reported here in Matthew and in its similar telling
in Mark 9 and Luke 9, and that is what the disciples are
to make and do with this transforming event for Jesus.
Are they in some way themselves to be changed; are they
to be touched and share in the glory of Jesus? Making
huts is a start but what after that? And what is its'
meaning for us: Are we invited to share in the glory of
Jesus? If so, do we want to want really to have that kind
of glory in our lives?
Let us hear Matthew's account, reading from chapter
l7, verses l-9:
MATTHEW l7:l-9: "SIX DAYS LATER, JESUS TOOK WITH HIM
PETER AND JAMES AND HIS BROTHER JOHN AND LED THEM UP A
HIGH MOUNTAIN, BY THEMSELVES. AND HE WAS TRANSFIGURED
BEFORE THEM, AND HIS FACE SHONE LIKE THE SUN, AND HIS
CLOTHES BECAME DAZZLING WHITE. SUDDENLY THERE APPEARED TO
THEM MOSES AND ELIJAH TALKING WITH HIM. THEN 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. WHILE HE WAS STILL
SPEAKING, SUDDENLY A BRIGHT CLOUD OVERSHADOWED THEM,
AND FROM THE CLOUD A VOICE SAID, 'THIS IS MY SON, MY
BELOVED; WITH HIM I AM WELL PLEASED; LISTEN TO HIM!'
WHEN THE DISCIPLES HEARD THIS, THEY FELL TO THE GROUND
AND WERE OVERCOME BY FEAR. BUT JESUS CAME AND TOUCHED
THEM, SAYING 'GET UP AND DO NOT BE AFRAID.' AND WHEN THEY
LOOKED UP, THEY SAW NO ONE EXCEPT JESUS HIMSELF
ALONE.
AS 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."
***********
Now I want to you to invest some of your imagination
in what comes next. I ask you to imagine that you are
with me in a bar in the town of Nazareth about the year
33. Now you really have to assert your imagination to see
me as John, the owner and bartender in this corner pub
just down the street where the town's most noted and
notorious family, that of Joseph and Mary and their
controversial eldest son, Jesus, have lived for many
years.
"Hello, I'm John purveyor of Nazareth's finest wines,
brewed hops and rose water not to mention our great olive
and goat cheese snacks. I've enjoyed a growing trade in
recent years largely because of the fame or infamy,
depending on your point of view, about our most talked
about local citizen, Jesus of Nazareth.
I'm afraid a lot of my clientele are quite sceptical
about Jesus. As each report of a healing or latest
miracle circulates back to us elsewhere in the Galilee,
there are plenty who dismiss the news: "He's crazy!" Or
"he's a charlatan!"
There are others who are less critical and remain
neutral; they think he could be a genuine healer and a
sound moral teacher, or maybe not. They say he could be
insightful and especially spiritual or perhaps not. They
must have more evidence to make a decision.
There are a few who are friendlier. There's another
rabbi who drops in sometimes and he's all for Jesus
because he sees him as a good man trying to reform our
faith from some of its' more stuffy and obstinate traits
and bring us Jews more into this century. He says we need
modern thinkers like Jesus to help us improve our Jewish
society. And we need someone to bring the priests in
Jerusalem back to the common people.
The really entertaining times I've had, however, is
when an eyewitness, someone who has actually met the guy,
comes in for a drink and tells me how Jesus has effected
his life. One night one of our young studs from a good
and wealthy family came in and urgently asked for our
best wine.
"Quick, I need your finest drink," he said "because
I've just met the most unusual man. He asked me about my
beliefs and learned that I try to live the best life I
can. I follow all the commandments scrupulously and I
felt I was really on the same spiritual wave length with
this rabbi. I knew he was truly helping me to get closer
to God. He made me feel really good about who I am. I'm
really delighted to have met him. I want to
celebrate!"
He gulped down his drink and asked for another and
then he suddenly looked rather down in the dumps. "I
thought you were celebrating your encounter with Jesus?"
"I am" he said, "but he troubled me too… he told me
to round up all my possessions, sell them, and give the
money to the poor." "Well?" I said. "Well, I just can't
do that!" I don't blame him for not being able to follow
through, do you?
One night three men came in and said they wanted to
celebrate the greatest thing that ever happened to them.
They had suffered from leprosy and said they had met this
Jesus who had told them seven other lepers to go to
Jerusalem, do their sacrifices and ablutions, and they
would be healed. They had been there and done as told and
now were cured and returning home. But they stopped for a
drink and stood before me just like normal looking men.
In truth, they looked better than some of my scruffier
customers. They even bought a round for everyone in the
place. They were three really happy guys. I wonder what
they did when they got back home and had to start living
all over.
Women aren't allowed to be served at my bar but I'm
happy to pour them a drink if they stay at the backdoor.
One day a woman called to me for a refreshment. She also
had run into this Jesus and she told me her life had been
changed. She said this Jesus had told her about her
entire life and I gathered she had lived quite a life up
to this time with many of what you might call shady and
illicit relationships. And yet as she thoughtfully
sipped her lemonade she did not seem very happy. "What's
wrong, lady? If this man said your past was forgiven and
forgotten, what's there to be despondent about?"
"He also said to me, "Go and sin no more."
I have only one customer who is personally close to
Jesus. He's a young fellow with my name, John, and calls
himself a disciple of Jesus. John comes in every month or
so and reports on new teachings or new interpretations of
old teachings which the rabbi is giving. This young John
is really convinced that this Jesus is our Messiah.
He says the promise of God stops with Jesus and the
new beginning for us all begins with Jesus. John has told
me some really strange things about Jesus: that he
insisted that John the Baptist baptise him and when it
happened Jesus seemed unusually moved and inspired. More
recently Jesus took John and two other close friends up
Mount Tabor and there, according to John, Jesus'
personage changed to a brilliance; and images of Moses
and our prophet Elijah appeared to John, and then a
mysterious cloud - reminded me of Moses on Sinai - and
then a voice telling those there that this Jesus was the
Messiah and he ought to be followed.
Well, sure, if you had that kind of firsthand
experience you might really believe in Jesus. But I
haven't seen any glory as yet.
The funny thing about this John character is that even
though he believes this mountain top experience clinches
the role of Jesus for him. He says he finds the true
glory of Jesus elsewhere, not on the mountain, not in the
cloud, not in the luminosity, but in the ordinary days he
spends with Jesus. This John says that Jesus is glorified
whenever "a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies"
so that it may bear "much fruit." John says he knows that
Jesus is from God because he is entirely self-giving. He
says Jesus is even willing to die for us Jews. He said he
hinted at that on the mount.
Also John says when they were frightened out of their
wits at that mysterious scene, Jesus came right to them
like the most normal and natural person and touched them
and told them to get up and not be afraid. John thinks
that Jesus is releasing a lot of love into our
society.
Now, I'm not a very religious person so I don't know
if we need radical change but I know we do need a lot
more love. Maybe you have to be a bartender to see
humanity at its' worst. Most of my customers aren't
celebrating anything; they're just trying to drown their
sorrows or their rage in brew. Even the pious ones are
seething with jealousy or anger or self-pity.
It's not enough for us Jews to hate the Samaritans
and the pagans, we have to loathe other Jews.
But if this John is right, then the glory of this
Jesus is revealed in things that I would prefer to avoid
like suffering and self-sacrifice. I don't see any glory
for him if he gets himself in deep trouble with the
authorities. Jesus had better play it cool and settle for
popularity rather than glory.
John says Jesus' glory is yet to be revealed. He says
next week in Jerusalem God's will for Jesus shall be
revealed. I suppose he means Jesus will be recognised by
the hierarchy as a worthy rabbi; he surely can increase
his popularity there because the credulous always love to
proclaim a new charismatic personality as their leader.
At any rate, glory is as glory does, I say. If this
Jesus truly is someone special, someone with the shine of
God on him, we're bound to see it not only in Him but in
his followers and family. I never expect to see this
Jesus in my bar; he seems to have shaken the dust off his
sandals regarding his home town. But a lot of his friends
are bound to drop in. I hope to see Glory walk in
someday. Hi there, Glory, how's it going!
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