Introduction
According to OFSTED, the standard of
Geography in our schools is in decline.
This week’s Essex Chronicle interviewed
local people about this. Less than a quarter knew that the largest ocean in
the world is the Pacific. One third didn’t know that Everest was the highest
mountain on earth, and half didn’t know that the mountain range in which
Everest is situated is the Himalayas.
All of which brings us to the Mount of Transfiguration. Nine
of Jesus’ apostles didn’t make it to the Mount of Transfiguration. Only three
did. That tells you this incident was special, just as the same three
accompanied Jesus in Gethsemane.
And the fact that the incident happens on a mountain also
tells us this is important. Whenever Jesus climbs a mountain in Matthew’s
Gospel, it is a sign to pay particular attention. The words or deeds that
follow will be significant.
So it’s no surprise that when the voice from heaven speaks
here, it ends with the words, ‘listen to him’ (verse 5). You always encounter
the authority of Jesus on mountains in Matthew – from the Sermon on the Mount
(chapters 5-7), to mountain after the Resurrection where he gives the Great
Commission (28:16-20).
Peter and the others certainly need to be reminded about the
authority of Jesus here. Sometimes we do, too. We slip, we compromise and we
dilute our allegiance to Jesus. Peter also needed encouragement for the
difficult task of obeying Jesus. I suggest we do, too. All these things – the challenges
and the encouragement – we find on the Mount of Transfiguration.
1. Heroes
Peter’s first mistake is this. When Elijah and Moses appear, he equates Jesus
with them. He needs to hear that it is Jesus to whom he should listen. He needs
to look up with his friends at the end of the experience and only see Jesus. I
think he’s gone in for a spot of hero worship.
The Christian Church has been altogether too good at
creating personality cults, where we elevate people to a status close to that
of Christ. It isn’t just the Catholic veneration of Mary or loyalty to the
Pope. Protestants are just as good at this trick. Some Christians hang on every
word of church leaders they admire. Listen to members of some congregations
talk about how good life was when so-and-so was the minister, and you’re
dangerously close to a personality cult where people depend on a talented
leader, instead of trusting in Christ.
Is it possible that we do something similar? Here is an
example.
For all the modern hymns and worship songs I pick for
services, it may surprise you to know that I love Charles Wesley’s writing. I
have a problem with some of the tunes allocated to them: I sometimes wonder
whether the compilers of Hymns and Psalms had done a sponsorship deal with the
manufacturers of Prozac. There seems no other explanation for the preponderance
of dull tunes in the book.
However, I have a problem sometimes with people who defend
Wesley’s hymns against other developments in worship. I encountered this in my
first circuit. Some people were quite virulent about my expansion of the
worship repertoire. When pressed to defend the Wesley hymns, it was on the
grounds of superior poetry and musicality. I don’t deny these are important,
but they never mentioned the doctrines Wesley wrote about – doctrines he had
experienced. None of his staunch defenders alluded to sharing in his spiritual
experience.
If only they had, I think they might have behaved
differently. They made Wesley into a kind of hero that he would have abhorred.
They applauded the style of his faith, but not the substance. They were the
least likely to be sharing their faith with others and pursuing holiness of
life.
No – Charles Wesley, and I am sure, John, too – would have
been horrified by the Wesleyolatry that has plagued parts of the Methodist
tradition since their death. They would have been far more likely to urge us in
the way Paul pleaded with some of those to whom he wrote, ‘Follow me as I
follow Christ.’
That is the message of the Transfiguration, too. ‘Listen to
him.’ Jesus is transfigured, not
Moses or Elijah. It isn’t that we should discard Moses or Elijah. But disciples
should follow them in their pointing to Christ.
Who have we made our hero alongside Christ, or maybe even
instead of him? The voice from heaven tells us to get our priorities straight:
‘Listen to him.’
2. Museums
One area of continuity when we moved here in 2005 was to find ourselves living
on the Dickens Estate. You will know that the roads on our estate are named
after Dickens characters and places: Copperfield, Nickleby, Quilp, Barnaby
Rudge, Flintwich Manor and so on.
The continuity was in having come from an area, the Medway
Towns, which had strong links with Charles Dickens himself. Dickens lived in
the Rochester area for some of his life. Every year, the council there makes
some money out of this – sorry, celebrates this – in two ways. There is a
Dickensian Christmas weekend to get you shopping in the area. In addition,
there is a Dickens
Festival in June. Not only that, a large area of the former Chatham
Dockyard (now known as Chatham Maritime) has been given over to Dickens World, which is a museum and
theme park based on the man, his life and literature. They’ll fleece you for
£12.50 before letting you in through the turnstiles.
Could it be that in his confusion and fear Peter tries to
commemorate the Transfiguration with his own little museum or theme park? He
blurts out a half-witted idea to make three dwellings – one for Jesus, one for
Moses and one for Elijah. I’m not suggesting he wanted to exploit it
commercially in the way the memory of Charles Dickens is in Kent. But he wants
to put up buildings to mark the spot and celebrate this little bit of history.
Is there anything wrong with that? Why does the voice from
heaven interrupt him while he is jabbering on? Come back to the Dickens
Festival in Rochester for a story, because I think it might be a way into the
dilemma.
For all his flaws, you can be sure of one admirable quality
about Charles Dickens: he cared about the poor. His novels campaigned against
the social injustices of his day. If you were going to celebrate Dickens,
wouldn’t it be appropriate to do so by helping the poor, rather than bowing down
at the temple of consumerism?
Well, at the Dickens Festival, many people would dress up in
the costume of the day, perhaps pretending to be a particular character. In our
last year there, I watched costumed visitors walk past Big Issue sellers,
pretending they weren’t there, and with little appreciation of the sick irony
that they who were celebrating Dickens did not share his care for the poor.
Now do you see the problem? The commemoration and
celebration of the Transfiguration that the Father’s voice from heaven calls
for is to ‘listen to him’. Yet we can turn church into a museum, and I don’t
simply mean when a church closes and the circuit sells the premises. Many of
our congregations are living, flesh and blood museums. We can preserve things
how they were. We can go through the motions. We can honour the traditions of
our ancestors. However, if all we have is the style without the substance, then
we’ve tried to build three dwellings, like Peter.
So – if we really are steeped in the Methodist tradition of
Christianity – do we truly believe that every single person needs salvation in
Christ? Do we believe it’s possible for anyone to find the love of God in
Christ? Do we believe it’s the birthright of all disciples to have such peace
in our hearts that we know we belong to Christ, and that it isn’t arrogant to
claim this? Are we optimistic about how much more the Holy Spirit can change us
into the likeness of Christ? If we do believe these things – if we will let the
Spirit of God ignite such faith in our hearts – then our churches will not be
museums.
3. Dazzle
It’s not only the appearance of the long-dead Moses and Elijah that turns Peter
and his friends into three lumps of jelly, it’s what happens to Jesus himself –
the very act of transfiguration. His face shines like the sun and his clothes
become dazzling white. Here we have special effects to make both Hollywood
movie directors and washing powder manufacturers jealous.
And there are certain parts of the Christian church that go
in for the razzle-dazzle and the glamour. Certain TV evangelists even dress
entirely in white suits. It goes with the image, along with the private jet,
the luxury home and the security guards – just like Jesus, don’t you think?
The question arises, why does Jesus go through this
experience? In addition, why does the voice from heaven speak, not only with
the words ‘Listen to him’ that we have already discussed, but also with
repetition of words from his baptism – ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I
am well pleased’ (verse 5)? Should I order my Mercedes now?
Yes. Er – only kidding. In fact, the Transfiguration is
linked profoundly with the suffering
of Jesus. It comes after Jesus has revealed his identity as Messiah at Caesarea
Philippi, prophesied his suffering and warned his disciples that anyone who
follows him must embrace rejection, suffering and even perhaps death. The
Transfiguration is not an escape from that destiny. It is God’s affirmation of
his Son’s obedience.
What will sustain Jesus as he resolutely travels to
Jerusalem and the Cross? It is knowing that he is the Son of God, and that the
Father loves him. ‘This is my Son, the Beloved’, says the voice. Accompany that
with such an encounter with the Father that his face shines and his clothes
dazzle, and you get some sense that God the Father affirms and encourages Jesus
by deed and word here. Has Jesus forgotten who he is? Does he need reminding of
the Father’s love? No. However, an underlining gives him strength and
encouragement.
If Jesus needed that, then how much more do we? He is Son of
God in a unique way. We are sons and daughters of God by adoption. We are not
divine. However, what is the effect of hearing that voice, affirming that we
are the Father’s children? What does it do for us to know that the Father loves
us? Is it not the foundation we need to live the daring and sacrificial life of
faith?
I only remember one sermon from the weekly communion
services at college during my three years in Bristol. The preacher was Tom Smail.
He preached on the baptism of Jesus, and picked out those similar words: ‘This
is my Son, the Beloved’. He used these words to remind us how God saw us – as
beloved children. I have never forgotten this. When I waver, I go back to this
truth.
Likewise, I remember one main insight from my Ethics tutor.
We were talking about vocation. He described how the traditional Catholic view
had been to confine vocation to the priesthood, the monastery or the nunnery.
The Reformation expanded it to include ‘ordinary’ jobs. But that wasn’t radical
enough, he said. Our most fundamental vocation is not to do, but to be – to be
children of God.
When you know you are a child of God, and when you know the
Father loves you, you have inner resources that are the strongest of
foundations when the storms of life come. The life of faith will bring
challenges aplenty. We can walk into them, knowing the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ loves us for eternity. We can ‘listen to him’, and set out on the
challenges of discipleship.
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