Who do others say that I am? Jesus asks, innocuously. Then turns the ? on us: who do you say that I am?
We will spend all of Lent examining our daily lives to discover our own honest, yet inadequate answer(s) . We have Lenten Devotionals to help us on our way. Please join us.
The Great Question
Transfiguration, 2020
Exodus 24.12.18; Matthew 17.1.9
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
Glimpses of Transfiguration
Luz, Ruth, Toledo family
Isaac & me
“I’m almost 27 years into the transformation of my life that began when I gave birth to Isaac, a moment I mark as my transfiguration. There had been smaller moments: got married, graduated seminary, first call to ministry. Yet all that pales in reflection upon the moment of bonding that first afternoon of my son’s life.
Steve, Isaac’s dad, had gone home to shower; it had been a long day with a cesarean birth in the morning, necessary due to pre-eclampsia. I sit in my hospital bed with my knees bent, Isaac resting against my thighs, looking at me. He’s smaller, a little less than 6 lbs. For 45 minutes I chat with him, not disturbed, no nurses, no doctors, no visiting pastors: as I lift him to my breast and then back to rest on my legs. It’s quiet in the room, just this newborn and me. In that gift of tabernacle, sacred space, we bond. The phone rings, it is my brother-in-law Dick. I hold Isaac up on one shoulder, hold the phone with my other hand. Isaac starts to wimpier, that sweet, heartbreaking infant sound, so like a baby bird. “Is that him?” Dick asks. “Yes.” The phone goes dead. “Dick?” “I’m crying.” We came down the mountain, I mean left the hospital, the next day to begin to live into our transformed lives. Nothing has been the same since.
Listen for the word of God for you today, Matthew’s good news, chapter 17, verses 1-9.
Let’s pray: “may the words of my mouth...”
6 days later...
6 days after what?
6 days after Peter answers the question of the ages, the great question: Who do you say that I am? Jesus asks.
It was 6 days of creation. It was 6 months into Elizabeth’s pregnancy when Mary, now pregnant herself, went to visit. “In the 6th month...” Luke says in chapter 1.
Moses spent 6 days in the cloud of glory on Mt. Zion as he waits for God to speak and give him the tablets of the law. No one draws near as majestic glory envelopes the crown of the holy mountain.
Jesus asks: “Who do they say that I am?” The disciples respond, “Some say John the Baptist, but others say Elijah and still others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then dead center, Jesus beads in on them, “But who do you say that I am?” (Pause)
How do you answer this great question? “Who is Jesus Christ for you today?” In your daily life, in your expectation of hope, in your practice of faith. Who is He?
Peter replies, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Got that right! Then Jesus talks about His upcoming suffering and death, to which Peter reacts with horror, saying, ‘no, no. You got it wrong Jesus.’ Peter gets it right and gets it wrong. Jesus knows the culmination of the answer to the great question includes His suffering. There will be this atonement, this taking away the sin of the world. But first, the mountain top...
6 days later they go up to glory. (Pause)
They encounter two dead men, each of which had their own peculiar dying as they came close to the Promised Land. Without Hollywood special effects, Jesus shines like the sun, from inside out. Majestic glory. This is the Jesus known to them - fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes - the everyday riff raff who glimpse something in this man, drawn to Him, that goes beyond His regular humanity. He lights up the room, the synagogue, the well, the mountain, and eventually, the cross. It is this declaration of who Jesus is, His essential nature. Not simply a good man, a prophet or great teacher. He is, in His wholeness, divine & human, the source and giver of life eternal.
Of course, the disciples don’t know all this on the mountain top.
Their nascent faith is the initial foundation of the one, holy, apostolic church, but first, they have to make sense of what in the world is going on! Moses represents the Law, Elijah the prophets; so who is Jesus then?
He is grace embodied, enfleshed. He is the baptismal water that first claims and then cleanses us from sin. He is the cup and the bread, brought home on our tongue for our glimpse of glory.
As Emily Dickinson penned,
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind—
The Great Question
We stand on the precipice of Lent, our wide-angle lens open in its aperture, 6 weeks, 40 days, begins Ash Wednesday, with mini celebrations of resurrection each Sunday, until Maundy Thursday, April 9.
Lent (Latin: Quadragesima, 'Fortieth'). It is done in commemoration, in memory, of Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness before He begins His public ministry. It signals Jesus’ temptation by Satan, something we can easily recognize in our own daily lives. The vanities the Psalmist writes about.
The purpose of Lent is to prepare for Easter, celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have to be reminded that when we say Easter, we include Good Friday and the horrific death on the cross, Holy, Silent Saturday and then...
The practices include prayer, devotional reading, service, repentance, Some choose to fast—a meal, meat, a day, —and some take on a new or renewed spiritual discipline.
What I ask of you this Lenten Season is to examen your life in light of the great question, Jesus asks: Who do you say that I am?. How will you improve your baptism, as one of the catechisms suggests. Where will you make space for the Holy to be present in a wholly different way. Will you let the light of glory shine even amidst your suffering? Can you let God in? It is His right to demand an entrance, yet He always seems to do it by invitation, through the gracious life of Jesus. Be ready with your answers as we will examen them together here in worship:)
In the midst of the crushing reality of daily living, transfigurations show forth this truth: there is nothing we can do to protect against the joys or the sorrows of life. There is no fortress to build around your soul, no commodity that will protect against heartbreak, no substance that will take the place of the real.
Moreover, we cannot escape the presence of God. He will find us, in our homes, workplaces, driving in the car, out for a run. He’s in the business, with His hounds of heaven, of running us down, dragging us into His glorious light. He deigns to make Himself small enough to touch our shoulders, to speak these gracious words, ‘do not be afraid, here’s my hand’.
Your Lenten Discipline: take time, precious, expensive, chaotic time, to examen your life and answer the great question. Amen