Grace on the mountaintop

I originally wrote this eleven years ago, as a 23 year-old young pup. Just stumbled upon it earlier today:

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
--Mark 9:2-9 (NRSV)

In this passage from Mark, we read of the Transfiguration of Jesus in front of the disciples. Can you imagine being Peter, James or John, being led up this mountain by Jesus, not knowing why you’re going or what’s going to happen? And suddenly, while you’re standing there, his appearance changes! His clothes begin to shine a dazzling white, so bright that you want to shade your eyes, but at the same time you can’t help but watch. As you marvel at this, you see movement out of the corner of your eye. Looking over, you see two figures approaching Jesus. Although you’ve never seen these two men before, you immediately realize who they are—Moses and Elijah! And there they are, speaking with Jesus as though they were old friends! Your knees begin to tremble a bit as you begin to realize the event that you are beholding. What role should you take in all of this? Your voice faltering, you suggest maybe making some tents, creating some shade for these greats of the Jewish faith. But at that moment, the shade takes care of itself as a cloud covers you, and you hear a voice: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

And just like blinking your eyes, it’s all gone.

The three of you are left alone with Jesus, his robe once again the worn, dusty one you’re used to seeing on him. The cloud is gone, there’s no sign of historical Jewish figures anywhere, and the sun is beating down on you again.

Quite an experience, isn’t it? The more I read this story, the more drawn I become to Peter’s part in it. I’ve always identified with Peter anyway, maybe because his journey of faith so closely mirrors my own. He has his moments of insight, to be sure, but he also has this uncanny case of foot-in-mouth syndrome. Remember the walking on water fiasco (maybe there’s more than one reason his name means “the rock”)? How about the crowing cock incident the night of Jesus’ betrayal? Peter has words, and plenty of them…as long as things are comfortable. But when the going gets tough, when all it comes down to is clinging to a strand of faith, he runs…or sinks.

Sound familiar?

The Transfiguration account occurs almost directly after a perfect case in point—Peter’s great confession and his subsequent great rebuke (Mark 8:27-33). One moment Jesus is calling Peter’s statement of faith the rock upon which the church will be built, and the next moment Jesus is calling him an agent of the devil. Poor Peter, who sees only the power and glory of his Lord, who insists that Jesus cannot and must not be put to death. What of the power? What of the glory? How stinging to be told, “Get behind me, Satan!”

We marvel at the power of the Transfiguration.
We marvel at the glory of the Transfiguration.
But does the Peter in us marvel at the GRACE of the Transfiguration?

It truly is a grace-FULL event! The voice on the mountain does not say, “You do not understand, therefore you have no place with my Son.” It exhorts the disciples to listen to Jesus. The more I read this, the more I am convinced that Jesus made sure Peter was there for a reason. It was a way to say, “I know you love me, and I know you don’t want me to suffer. But you must trust me. Listen to me.”

Jesus didn’t want the dialogue to end with “Get behind me, Satan!”

Just as he doesn’t want the dialogue with us to end with “Get behind me, Satan!”

Those “Get behind me, Satan!” moments in our lives are painfully obvious. What about the grace-FULL Transfiguration mountaintop moments? Can we hear the exhortation, see the glorious, risen Christ?

Our journey of faith will never be smooth. There will be missed steps, wrong turns, and barriers. May we always remember what a grace-FULL God we have and the grace-FULL reminders of his love that he sends us every day. He wants to renew us! He wants to refresh us! May we allow him to work in us, that he might also be able to work through us!

LH

Delight of my life

The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God's Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: "This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life."
--Matthew 3:16-17 (The Message)

“This is my son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.” Wow. What powerful words God speaks here. The account of Jesus' baptism is a passage you hear a lot, sometimes so much, that after a while, it loses some if its punch. That’s why I used a version above that’s a little bit different—to hear these words through new ears. In the Lutheran church, when we baptize someone, the pastor says “Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” What we’re doing in our baptism service is paraphrasing what God is saying about his own son, Jesus.

Friday will be four years since Kiddo was baptized, and as that anniversary comes, I've been doing a lot of thinking about baptism. It occurred to me that God's statement about Jesus in Matthew is what God is calling us to remember about our own baptism. You are chosen. You are marked by God’s love, and you are the delight of God’s life. You are loved. You were created by God, and God loves you, through no doing of your own. That’s what baptism is all about! God has chosen you! So often, we think or we hear of being a Christian as us choosing God. We choose to believe, we choose to live a “good life,” it’s all up to us. It’s a very common perception in today’s world—you hear people speak of when they chose to become a Christian, or when they chose to follow Christ, or when they chose to accept Jesus as their Lord and savior.

That’s the perception, but this is the reality—it’s not up to us to choose. And thank goodness for that! I make choices every day—and just as often as not, I choose wrong. I choose to sin, I choose to let people down, I choose to put other things before God. Left on my own, to my own devices, to make my own choices, I’m lost. But listen to the good news—God has chosen you! God has chosen to love you, even before you wanted to be loved. God has redeemed you through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, even before you realized you needed forgiveness. And God is active and with you today through the Holy Spirit, even if you think you’re on your own, and even if you just want to be left alone!!!

So then, what’s the point? What’s living a Christian life all about? It’s not about pleasing God—it’s about a response to the grace that God has already shown you! My friends, may you remember that. God came to us, and because he made the first move, we are free—free to live in the grace that he has shown us. He has forgiven us, and so we are free—free to show that same forgiveness to others. He loves us, and so we are free—free to live in joy and wonder, free to be amazed at the almighty, all powerful God who cares about you. He cares about you so much that he came to us first, because he knew that we wouldn’t have the power to come to him on our own. Go then, live in that freedom, live in that love, live in that forgiveness, live in the life that God has given you.

You are chosen!

You are marked by God’s love!

You are the delight of God’s life!

Amen!

LH

WWYD?

WWYD? No, that’s not a typo. Remember the WWJD craze a few years ago? I think I might even still have a WWJD bracelet lying around somewhere. When confronted with a situation and a choice, we were to ask ourselves the question “what would Jesus do?” It’s a good idea really, a good way to remind yourself in whose steps you’re trying to follow. If we’re living the lives that God wants us to live, then it would only make sense that we would try to make the decisions Jesus would make.

Isaiah 42:1-9 is concerned with the question WWJD? This prophecy is about the messiah, and describes the kind of person and the kind of savior this messiah will be. Listen to the prophet’s description: “he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth.” Someone who brings justice, a quietly strong leader, someone gentle and healing—when he sees a bruised reed, he will not break it. A dimly lit flame he won’t put out.

Do you ever feel like your flame is dimly lit, and that you are damaged goods—bruised, broken and battered? Good news—the messiah, Jesus, came to give you life! At the end of the reading, God speaks directly to his messiah, saying “I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” Wow…what great promises, and what great things Jesus has done for us. He has released us from the prison of death, from the darkness of our sin and has given us new life through his death and resurrection!

That’s what Paul’s talking about in Romans 6:6-11. He tells us how our old selves were crucified with Christ so that we might no longer be slaves to sin. There’s a saying that goes something like this: in every person’s life there is a cross and a throne. If Christ is on the throne, then our old sinful selves have been crucified on the cross. If on the other hand it is we who sit on the throne, then what we do is crucify Christ again and again.

I think in our lives, the more pertinent question is not “what would Jesus do?” I think we need to ask ourselves WWYD? What will YOU do? We know what Jesus did—he defeated death and sin on our behalf. So then, not out of any obligation, not out of any desire to live up to a standard or earn our way into God’s good graces, but merely in response to this amazing gift…in response to Christ’s sacrifice, in response to his love, what will YOU do? How will you live your life? How will you tell other people about what God has done for us? How will you shine the forgiving, transforming, life-changing light of Christ in your life? Dear friends, may we all look for ways to answer the question WWYD? I pray that God would guide us, and that our response might be a faithful one that helps shine his light into the broken and dark places in the world.

WWYD? What will you do?

LH