“Revealed and RAdiant”

Transfiguration Sunday

February 11, 2024

2 Corinthians 4:1-16a

Mark 9:2-9

Children’s Message:

I’d like to take a selfie of us, okay? Or maybe I can get someone to help. Now, I’ve got this app that can make our faces look super funny. Let’s see what we get. *Thousand Faces*

Is that what we really look like? Even the original photo—is THAT what we really look like? Does that show us WHO we are, or just what the camera sees? Yeah…who we are is much more complicated. Tell me something about yourself that you can’t take a picture of. Like, I am stubborn.

But even that isn’t everything about you, is it? It takes a whole lifetime to learn about someone. Today, we heard about how Peter, James, and John saw Jesus in a whole new way. He lit up from the inside—he was like pure light. I bet a camera would never be able to capture that—just like a camera can’t take a picture of God. But it can take a picture of all of God’s people.

Let’s pray. Dear God, thank you for seeing us and knowing our hearts. Help us look at people through your eyes. Amen.

Message:

The movie “Nanny McPhee” comes to mind today as we hear about Jesus’ Transfiguration. In the movie, Nanny McPhee arrives at the Brown household just in time to intervene in the horrendous behavior of seven unruly and motherless children who have literally blown through 17 previous nannies and have the cook tied up in the kitchen. Nanny McPhee is horrendous to look at, with hairy warts on her face, a bulbous nose, and a most remarkable front tooth that protrudes over her bottom lip.

In her quite magical way, she teaches the children about respect, love, and hope. She also teaches their father how his grief has kept him from staying connected to his kids—abandoning them to care-takers and leaving them feeling unloved and unwanted. And as each lesson is learned, our image of Nanny McPhee changes. The warts go away, the nose shrinks, and finally, after her last act of service, her tooth returns to its rightful place. And all of a sudden, she is beautiful—to us and to the family. We see her for who she truly is and not with the discomfort we felt seeing her for the first time.

It’s quite remarkable how getting to know someone—really know them—tends to change how we see them. What we know of someone is rarely in what they say, however. Someone somewhere said—and it’s become a Facebook meme of all sorts—that when someone shows you who they are, believe them. When their actions reveal their hearts, then you know a little something about them—much more than simply by the words that come out of their mouths, the clothes they wear, or the warts on their face.

Peter, James, and John have been with Jesus from nearly the beginning of his ministry. They have heard his teachings. They have seen his healings. They have weathered the various responses by the communities—from honor to hate. They’ve walked and slept and ate alongside this man for over 2 years. They know him. In fact, six days prior when Jesus asked, Peter identified Jesus as the Messiah. What more is there to know?

So, you can understand their shock when, at the top of the mountain, Jesus reveals his full glory in front of these three disciples. It’s nearly too much to take in. In part because, as Peter remembers from those six days previous, Jesus also told them about the trajectory of the Messiah’s ministry. It wouldn’t include victory over Roman oppression. Quite the opposite, in fact. Jesus was turning his face toward Jerusalem. He would go into the heart of the political/social/religious chaos. There, he would be arrested and beaten. He would be killed. And yes, he would rise again—but what does that mean to the disciples who would be right beside him?

So, this moment on the mountain is a great revealing. It is also a great unsettling. To see Jesus as his true self means taking in all the ugliness that he will endure, as well as the beauty and glory of God. Rather than being a happy, encouraging event, the transfiguration is frightening and all too real. It means facing discomfort, ridicule, and death.

I can’t imagine it was particularly exciting for Jesus, either. His discussion with Moses and Elijah probably wasn’t about party hats and birthday cakes. All the more reason for a voice from the cloud to remind Jesus and the disciples that he is beloved and chosen—that he is not alone on his journey to the cross. Even when the disciples betray him, deny him, and leave him, he will not be alone.

Today, I also imagine that the feelings and experiences on that mountaintop aren’t unlike those in homes across the country as people ‘come out’ to their family and friends. Revealing their true selves—selves they may have been hiding for years or even decades. The fear. The grief. The wonderment. But also the relief. And the hope. The hope that they, too, will not be alone on their journey. The hope that as transformation happens, we all will learn more about them and ourselves.

The truth is that all of us are on a transformation journey. We are always learning about and discovering ourselves in new ways. And each day opens us up to new threats, as well as new opportunities. Each step brings us closer to a deeper revealing. Do we have the courage to look at ourselves, warts and all? Do we have the courage to see beyond what the mirror shows us to look into our inner hearts? Do we have the courage and grace to see beyond the public face of others and bear witness to the hearts they so vulnerably share with us?

It is not an easy journey. And yet, we have heard God’s promise—in baptism and through communion—“You are my beloved; my chosen ones. You do not journey alone.”

This is why, in our welcome statement and over the past several weeks, we have lifted up and named those groups that have, for centuries, been put down, terrorized, and shut out—those who have been forced to hide their true selves, to pretend to fit a mold. This is why we have been focusing on the blessedness and innate value of folks who often don’t look like what one typically sees in a Midwest Lutheran church on Sunday morning. And this is why we have been so humbled and honored in the presence of those who have, perhaps for the first time in years, stepped into our community as their whole, beautiful, blessed selves.

God has shown us who God is through the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Christ. God has shown us who WE are—beloved, blessed, and chosen—complete with warts and bulbous noses and unsightly teeth. And yet, because we carry the glory of the gospel, we are being made radiant. Every one of us.

Pastor Tobi White

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

Lincoln, NE