(February 22, 2004)

Alternate Realities

Luke 9:28-36

The story is told about a man took his new hunting dog on a trial hunt one day. After a while he managed to shoot a duck and it fell in the lake. The dog walked over the water, picked up the duck, and brought it to his master.

The man was stunned. He didn't know what to think. He shot another duck and again, it fell into the lake and again the dog walked over the water and brought it back to his master.

Hardly daring to believe his eyes, and not wanting to be thought a total fool, he told no-one about it - but the next day he called his neighbor to come shooting with him. As on the previous day he shot a duck and it fell into the lake. The dog walked over the water and got it.

His neighbor didn't say a word. Several more ducks got shot that day - and each time the dog walked over the water to retrieve them - and each time the neighbor said nothing and neither did the owner of the dog.

Finally - unable to contain himself any longer the owner asked his neighbor - "do you notice anything strange about my dog??"

Yes - replied the neighbor - rubbing his chin and thinking a bit - come to think of it I do - your dog doesn't know how to swim."

It’s all a matter of perspective. For one man, his dog can walk on water, for the other, the dog simply can’t swim. There, on that mountaintop, where Jesus meets Moses and Elijah, and Peter and James and John witness it all, it’s all matter of perspective, too. This mountaintop experience was a crucial time of prayer for Jesus, as he was preparing to go to Jerusalem and face what he knew lay ahead of him. And, this experience, we call the transfiguration, was also a transforming time for three of the disciples, who, too, would later return to Jerusalem to continue what at this moment, they couldn’t comprehend.

This story of the transfiguration is often told and analyzed from either a Hebrew perspective, and thus the relationship between Jesus and Moses and Elijah, or from the perspective of Jesus’ presence as God on the mountaintop. I find, however, that perhaps the most important perspective of this story lies not in the theophany, or the manifestation of a divine presence—that happened all the time, if you think about it, with the healings and the miracles, nor was this event a significant part of theological history—I suspect the disciples knew all about Moses and Elijah and didn’t really another class on the prophets. The most significant part of this story lies in how it so blatantly reveals the humanity of the disciples, in particular Peter, and gives us hope that even in our human condition, we, too, can be transformed.

As we consider Peter’s perspective, we find that first of all, Peter nearly sleeps through the whole event. Luke tells us: "Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him" (v. 32). The disciples would also have a problem with sleep at the Mount of Olives (22:45). In that case, they actually fell asleep. In this case, it seems that they were groggy but sufficiently awake to see what was happening. Perhaps Peter's grogginess explains his inappropriate comment about three dwellings.

"Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, 'Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah—not knowing what he said" (v. 33).

None of the Gospels tell us why he wanted to build three dwellings. Perhaps he wanted to prolong the moment. Perhaps he wanted to honor Moses, Elijah and Jesus. Perhaps he wanted to offer Moses and Elijah a bit of hospitality. Probably he just wanted to do something. Peter was a person of action. Peter seldom showed restraint. That was his strength and his weakness. At a time when anyone else would sit in stunned silence, Peter would say, Why don't we….? That was Peter’s perspective—to do something at such a profound moment. What he proposes, of course, is ludicrous at best, but he was attempting to do something for these three great figures in whose presence he finds himself.

So, what else does Peter do, but what he often finds himself doing: he speaks before his thinks. Luke describes Peter as "not knowing what he said" (v. 33)—making it clear that Luke considered Peter's proposal not a good one. Perhaps the problem was that Peter was trying to capture the presence of God's glory, which God had resisted even when David wanted to build a temple. Perhaps it was clearly inappropriate to make Jesus appear as the equal of Moses and Elijah, when he was not and could not be. So, the voice from the cloud interrupts, Jesus never responds directly to Peter's suggestion, and Peter receives one of his first lessons of about discipleship and listening.

"…listen to him!" (v. 35). This command prefaces all Jesus' teaching of disciples on his journey to Jerusalem, teaching designed to prepare them for their tasks when he is no longer with them. The disciples would neither listen well nor carry out their tasks faithfully—until after the resurrection.
• They would come down from that mountain and fail to heal a boy with a demon (9:37-43).
• They would fail to understand Jesus' warning about his betrayal (9:43-45).
• They would argue about which one of them was the greatest (9:46-48).
• They would not understand Jesus’ prediction of his death and resurrection (18:31-34).
• Peter would deny Jesus (22:54-62).
• And, they would stand at a distance while Jesus was crucified (23:49).

"When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen" (v. 36). Moses and Elijah, who "were leaving him" (v. 33) prior to the voice from the cloud were gone. The moment was over! The disciples had survived their encounter with God! The fireworks had ended. They were left with Jesus and silence. Even Peter kept his mouth shut. They didn't tell anyone what they had seen, and that was all right. There would be a time to speak, but they were not yet ready for the witness that they would make later in Jerusalem (Acts 1-2).

Everything was still a mystery to them. They couldn’t comprehend what they had seen, they respond rather inappropriately, God interrupts Peter and commands him to listen, and then they leave in silence. Finally, it is time to go back down the mountain and return to the others. The others haven’t seen this mysterious event—they will be the same, but for the disciples, everything now is different. God has done a new thing. Everything in their lives is transfigured - transformed - changed - to a new reality of God.

For the disciples, they have seen an alternate reality; they have experienced God in a different way, and they can now see themselves, called by God, working for a new kingdom in a new way. They obviously don’t get the whole picture yet, but they are slowly gathering all the pieces of this puzzle, creating a different dimension of existence for them—transformed Jewish fisherman, ushering in a new era of Christianity.

Our own lives are affected on a daily basis, both aesthetically and functionally, with the opportunity for the experience of an alternate reality. In our present culture, we are offered reality TV, when it really is just one more perspective on life, brought to us electronically. We are offered products and services that claim to be the “real” thing, but that’s again, only from the marketer’s perspective. Those perspectives certainly aren’t kingdom perspectives, but we’re offered those, too, at church, in the books we read, music we listen to, art we see, acts we witness. All of our life experiences, from that which is daily occurrence to that which is finer works of art, offer us new opportunities for changed perspectives about who we are and whose we are. So, it should be easy for us, then, as followers of Jesus, to put ourselves in the place of James or John or Peter. Right? We go through the same kinds of adventures; and sometimes, we even recognize the same Lord. And, if we listen closely enough, shouldn’t we hear the same message from God: "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him"?

But, for all of the different perspectives that we encounter in our lives, I suspect that the story of our transformation through Jesus is just as hard to talk about. There is a mystery about it - a mystery because it is a touch of the divine, and we live in a very human world. I think the art that is before us today, offers us a sense of that mystery. In each work here, there is a touch of the divine. We could all cut some pieces of cloth, paint a stroke on a canvas, place a note on a bar line, put some words on a page. But, few of us can envision sewing the tapestry of a quilt, rendering a unique perspective of nature, composing a melodious piece of music, or writing a meaningful poem or play. The gift of transformation, taking basic elements and creating works of art, is a mystery, one to admire and appreciate.

What was happening to Peter and his friends, James and John, is much like what happens in the process of art, like all the art in our sanctuary that displays our gifts. Each work of art is the vision of its artist, a culmination of a variety of elements that together offer us an alternate reality. The pieces of cloth in a quilt represent one thing, but sewn together, they come to represent another gift, passed on to a new generation. The brushstrokes of paintings, by themselves meaningless, are ingeniously combined to create a new view of a landscape, a church, a still object. Words that carry a variety of meanings, are placed together in a particular order to create an alternate reality of fiction, poetry, drama, or journalism, stories from the unique perspective of each author. Elements of nature are honed and joined to make beautiful and even functional works of art for others’ aesthetic and life enjoyment. Musical notes, each with a tone that appeals to listeners in different ways, are placed one after another to create an alternate reality of melody and harmony. There is a beautiful mystery to the presentation of the divine working with us.

And so, Peter was faced with divine mystery. What Peter experienced and responded so clumsily to, was an alternate reality. He was faced with Jesus as the one God chose him to be, not the Messiah Peter had envisioned. Peter was in the presence of divine mystery, and so he admired and appreciated, but didn’t comprehend. It would take many more experiences before the pieces of puzzle would be complete and fit for Peter—he had far to go in unraveling this great mystery that shone before him on that mountain.

We are more fortunate today. Just as we have more knowledge about the arts that help us appreciate the gifts of others and have a deeper sense of admiration for the mystery of their talents, we have more knowledge of Jesus and the kingdom than those poor disciples could have imagined. So, today it is more imperative than ever before that we look for the divine in our lives, to recognize the times we, like the disciples, have in fact had a dream, or a vision, or an intuition, that helps us, like it helped Jesus and the disciples, stay the course and go forward to do what it is that God has called us to do in our lives. That vision might be in a simple statement we have made about faith, it might have resulted in a work of art, like the beautiful banners that grace our sanctuary, or it might be played out in your generous and creative response to the needs of others. All of those things are a part of the divine transformation in each of our lives, a part of how we respond to the mystery of God as it daily unfolds before us, offering us over and over an alternate reality to the broken, hurting world in which we live.

As we come into the season of Lent,
• the season where we consider the temptations that assail us,
• the season where we contemplate the suffering that we, with Christ, undergo,
• the season where we gaze upon both the good and the evil that is in this world -and in our own hearts,

I think that we do well to be attentive to a vision from God.

We do well to attend to the fact that Jesus is more than the fellow from
next door, more than a good friend with whom we can walk and talk, more
than a good example for us to emulate.

Jesus is the Son of God - the chosen one - the one whom we are commanded
to listen to. Jesus is the Chosen One
• the one who is able to carry us into the presence of God
• the one who gives peace
• the one who gives joy
• the one who gives victory over sin and death.

Sometimes I think we forget this. Sometimes I think we fall into our daily routines without a thought about the divinity that surrounds us, without any real awareness of the power that surrounds us and holds us up. We have business to do, we have people to see, we have kids to move from A to B to C and back again. And in the bustle - in the hurry - in the work that we do we lose track of where we are going; we lose track of whose we are and what has been promised to those who are attentive to him. We approach God often in the same type of grogginess that I think plagued those disciples on that mountaintop.

And so, perhaps our alternate reality must be that we actually wake up and listen to God. In our time of prayer, perhaps we should stop reading, stop thinking about what concerns us, and simply listen,
• listen to the point where you can hear your pulse and your breath,
• listen to the point where images begin to dance in your mind and the spirit begins to put words upon your heart,
words that you do not think about -
words that come from somewhere within you -
words of praise and of assurance,
words of guidance and of comfort.

How many of us wait upon the Lord until we receive an answer - until God speaks - until God graces us with a dream or a vision - or a set of words - or an experience wherein God’s will is revealed to us.

Each one of us is invited to climb the mountain, each one of us is invited to enter the holy of holies, into the place where God abides and to then carry the light that shines upon us in these places into the world - into the place where not only we see it - but others may see it as well.

There is a mystery involved in entering into the presence of God, of turning aside and of praying and listening to what God says. That mystery is not contained in what God says and does, that is meant for all to hear and see, rather it is contained in what God does to us, with us and thru us, as we make ourselves available to God through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Listen to my Son, who I have chosen.
Listen to the one whose face not only shone - but his entire being,
for in listening we ourselves will be transformed,
and God's perfect light will cast out the darkness of sin and death.
Blessed be the God of Moses and Elijah,
and Blessed be the name of God’s Son, Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

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