Exodus
34:29-35 When Moses came down from Mount
Sinai, with the two Tablets of the Testimony in his hand as he came down from
the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had
been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and
behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation
returned to him, and Moses talked with them. Afterward all the people of Israel
came near, and he commanded them all that God had spoken with him in Mount
Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his
face. Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove
the veil, until he came out. When he
came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of
Israel would see that the skin of Moses' face was shining. Moses would put the veil over his face again,
until he went in again to speak with God.
2 Kings 2:1-12
When the Lord was about to
take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way
from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the Lord has sent me as far
as Bethel.” Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will
not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. The company of prophets who were
in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord
will take your master away from you?” Elisha said, “Yes, I know; keep silent.” Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here; for
the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you
yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near
to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take your
master away from you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; be silent.” Then Elijah
said to him, “Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will
not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of
prophets also went, and stood at some distance from
them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and
rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to
the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground. When they had crossed,
Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from
you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” He
responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken
from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” As they continued
walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of
them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha
kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its
horsemen!” When he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore
them in two pieces.
Luke
9: 28-36 About eight days
after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up
on the mountain to pray. While he was praying, the appearance of his face
changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.
Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and
Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his
departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 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. 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. While he was saying this, a cloud came and
overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then
from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to
him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They kept silent and in
those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
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This isn’t the first time Moses has
talked to God – remember he had an encounter with a burning bush and had to
remove his sandals. But it is the first time he has looked at God – or so we
are told. This time Moses has gone up the mountain, and spoken directly to
God. If we read more in Genesis we get a
complete description of how God descends in a cloud at the entrance to Moses’
tent. So, in this text, Moses has been up there forty days and forty nights, as
God gives the commandments for the people to follow. When he comes down, he has
the tablets – but he doesn’t know that his face is glowing. The people see it
right away and are terrified, and aren’t quite sure about Moses – but he is
able to call them back, reassure them, and speak to them. After that, he covers
his face, and the only time he removes the veil is when he goes back to talk
with God.
Jesus and three disciples wend their
way up the mountainside. Being alone with Jesus in a quiet place is a welcome
change for them. Jesus had been talking a lot about his own death, and they had
been getting exasperated. Maybe up here they would get some straight answers
from Jesus, and clear their heads. As
they climb higher, the villages appear tiny; they can see all the way to the
coast, and for miles around. They reach the top and sit down in the shade of
inviting trees for a rest. Jesus lifts his prayer shawl to cover his head, and
says the familiar words: “Sh’ma Yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad”. ‘Hear,
O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One.’ How many times had they said
these words themselves, and yet every times Jesus says them, they are new. They
listen and try to imitate him in prayer, but after a long hike up the mountain
they are soon asleep.
As he prays, clouds come in over the
mountain, but the sun is still shining. Jesus feels that surge of energy, the
sense of being fully alive and glowing from every pore, but something is
different this time. He sees a reflection of himself, and with him Moses and
Elijah. They talk, about the things which weigh on his heart, the things he
believes he is called to do, and how difficult the end will be. They sit,
together, shining in the cloud in the centre of a rainbow.
And the three stooges suddenly
awaken. Today we get Luke’s version, in which they are ‘heavy with sleep’, but
not yet gone. I suspect maybe Luke was being a bit kind.
Mark painted them as a couple of
sandwiches shy of a picnic, and took a jab at how they went through life –
sleepwalking.
Matthew has them falling n their
faces on the ground, terrified. But not so terrified they cannot ask a question
– so they ask why the law says Elijah has to come first, before the Messiah.
Jesus responds that Elijah came and was taken up – but that Elijah has already
come, was ignored and killed – and in the same way the Son of Man will suffer,
They understand enough to see that he really means John the Baptist was the equivalent
of Elijah.
Here was Jesus’ experience, opened to
the universe, Jesus seeing himself and his role in it. Yet he tells them not to
say anything about it until after “the Human One has been resurrected.” The
appearance of Moses and Elijah is meant to validate Jesus as the culmination of
the Hebrew prophetic tradition .
All the disciples see is the
immediate - Jesus with Elijah and Moses. Peter -
immediate, impetuous Peter - right away wants to freeze-frame the whole
moment right there – immortalise it. He suggest they build shelters so that
they can stay there with the prophets and never come down. A voice from the
cloud says “Listen to him…” and then it’s over. The sky is blue again, and
Jesus is alone on the mountaintop.
At the top of Haleakala Crater in
Maui, you can see all the way to the coast, and often beyond. Depending on
where the cloud layer is, you are on top of the peak in the bright sunshine but
the island below is hidden from your sight. It’s windy up there, but the cold
wind is exhilarating, and your body feels a surge of energy and life –
literally you tingle.
When the clouds come in through the
crater at exactly the right angle - and have the right amount of moisture in
them, and the angle of the sun is about 82 degrees, you can experience what is
called a “glory” - see your own reflection looking back at you, from inside a
rainbow circle. It is a glowing, shining reflection of who you are.
Now, this phenomenon can be seen
anywhere the weather conditions are right – but the mountaintop experience of
the glory speaks to those rare moments in our lives when we step outside
ourselves and into something transformational and transfiguring.
People who meditate regularly often
speak of a ‘mountaintop experience’ – that exhilarating surge of energy and
insight, the whole of the universe in its infinite depth and height opens up –
you can see far out into space, you can see individual molecules, you can see
how everything is connected to everything else. It is a wondrous experience.
After such an experience, the hardest thing to do is to come back to the
everyday world.
Spiritual experiences – we know they
happen, and in our human history there are countless stories of mystics who had
deep spiritual experiences. A friend described an experience he had
during meditation, suddenly finding himself sitting on a mountaintop, seeing
the whole of creation spread out in front of him, and suddenly having a moment
of complete understanding, yet coming out of meditation
terrified, and afraid to speak about his experience. A friend of mine, a
Buddhist priest who is also a United Methodist preacher and is part aboriginal,
told me about his experience in the vision quest. Other people speak about
sudden insights, sudden feelings of foreboding, or feelings of something
imminent happening. I can identify with the terror the disciples felt. All kinds
of people have experiences of many kinds, that they are afraid to speak about. And for the
disciples, far from getting their heads clear, they are more than ever
confused.
The disciples, in that one moment,
saw a “glory” – they had a glimpse of Jesus caught up in his experience; but
they weren’t changed at all. With their own eyes they saw this ‘glory’, and
totally missed the point. Instead their reaction to this incredible experience
is to want to stay there, stay in it, hold on to the moment, freeze-frame
everything.
Let’s hop back into the Hebrew Scriptures
for a moment, and consider the story of Elisha. The people of Israel thought
there could never be another Moses. So
we hear other stories - about Joshua
parting the Jordan, as Moses parted the Sea of Reeds. We hear of Elijah parting
the Jordan with his cloak; he and Elisha cross on dry land; then Elisha repeats
the parting of the Jordan to go back, using Elijah’s cloak. Elisha doesn’t
really want to hang on to the experience – but he asks for a double share of
Elijah’s spirit in order to be an effective prophet. He does try, sort of, to hold on to Elijah,
to deny that Elijah will die. He is also afraid, because he’s been to the
mountaintop with Elijah, and now he has to come down and carry on. Moses, too –
I’d wager – was terrified especially when he learned he glowed – but I’d also
wager he was exhilarated by his experience. He had been to the mountaintop and
seen – and that kind of energy transforms a person, momentarily. But then Moses
had to come down the mountain again and deal with the regular and now maybe a
bit boring people – who hadn’t had his experience, who were afraid, who wanted
to go their own way.
What the disciples missed in that
experience they had with Jesus, is that they had inherited the mantle of both
Elijah and Elisha through Jesus; that was what he was trying to tell them. –
the mantle of faith and leadership was being handed on. They would have to come
down from the mountain top, from the exhilaration and excitement of a
mountaintop experience, and go on to living with the regular folks again.
One of our former moderators, Peter
Short, has a special gift for helping people see in new ways. Many people have
been given strength and vision to carry on in ministry because of their
association with, and learning from, Peter. He has been a prophet – someone who
speaks wisdom to us in our time. He has
brought skills for pastoral care which are deep, sensitive, and always
insightful. When Peter’s term as moderator was almost over, there was a sense
among many to try to persuade him to stand for a second term. It seemed to many of us that through Peter we
had a glimpse of what ministry God might have for the church in the next forty
years. And like the disciples and Elisha, we wanted to hang on to the moment,
to lean on Peter for our strength and inspiration, to continue to learn more
and more, rather than pick up the mantle
we’ve been given, and carry on. We see Jesus in the ‘glory’, the radiant
rainbow cloud – so let’s build a temple, a church, something, where we can
enshrine the moment, and keep coming back to look at it fondly – but without
getting involved in the living of faith ourselves. Get the right minister who will be
beloved by everyone, the right boss, the right leader – and go along for the
ride.
But here’s the point of
transfiguration. What if the ‘glory’ is God’s way of showing us what and how WE
are intended to be. If you went to a
mountain top and saw yourself, shining inside the symbol of God’s covenant
promise, what would that mean for you? Would it change how you live back here?
Would it change how you treat the people around you? Would it make you face
your demons, and set them aside, because you, we, all of us – are transfigured
and transformed to be in ministry TO each other, and WITH each other, every day
of our lives. Isn’t that what the Jesus
experience is???What if?
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