February 26, 2006

Transfiguration Sunday

Have you been to the “Ex?”  The Canadian National Exhibition?  Or maybe a similar fair or carnival, when you were a child?  These places are almost too much excitement to handle for the eyes and ears of a youngster, aren’t they?  Do you remember walking through the midway for the first time?  Remember the excitement?  Roller Coasters.  Ferris wheels.  Candied apples.  Candy floss.  Colourful treats of all sorts.  The lights.  The sounds.  And most of all, the voices…

“Step right up and try your luck!”  “This way, young man.  Three shots for a dollar.”  “Come on, son.  Win your mom a teddy bear!”  Which challenge should you take up?  Which one shouldn’t you?  Do you cut the cards with the tall guy at the stand-up booth?  Or heed the call of the hefty lady and heave a ball at the dairy bottles?  The guy with the top hat and tails dares you to explore the haunted house.  “Come in!  What’s wrong?  Afraid?”

The midway – a gauntlet of voices calling out for your money.  Which ones do you listen to?  You know how important it was the first time you walked through the midway as a child to be holding the hand of your father.  You needed guidance.  Protection and permission.  And your father knew the way of the midway.  He could tell you which voices to listen to and which ones to walk away from.  A child might get led astray rather easily without his father’s help.

“Could you use a little help yourself?  When it comes to faith, you likely could.  Do you ever feel as if you are walking through a religious midway?  The Torah sends you to Moses.  The Koran sends you to Muhammad.  Buddhists invite you to meditate; Spiritists, to levitate.  A palm reader wants your hand.  The TV evangelist wants your money.  One neighbor consults her stars.  Another reads the cards.  The agnostic believes no one can know.  The hedonist doesn’t care to know.  Atheists believe there is nothing to know.  ‘Step right up.  Try my witchcraft.’  ‘Pssst!  Over here.  Interested in some New Age channels?’  ‘Hey, you!  Ever tried Scientology?’  What do you do?  Where’s a person to go? Mecca? Salt Lake City?  Rome?  Therapy?  Aromatherapy?  Oh, the voices! ‘Father, help me out!  Which one do I listen to?” (adapted from Max Lucado, Next Door Savior)

If you need help on the “religious midway,” if you need guidance as to which voice to follow, then our text for today from Mark 9 is the text for you.  It is the glorious moment that God isolated one voice, the voice of his own beloved Son, Jesus, and told us, “Listen to Him!”

There is once voice in all the world that we need to listen to.  Jesus.  The “Word” of God.  But often, it’s the last voice we listen to, isn’t it?  Who do we listen to?  We listen to other voices.  We listen to TV commercials.  The agenda of the advertising world.  The agenda of Hollywood.  Our horoscopes.  Weather forecasts.  Financial forecasts.  Wall Street.  Bay Street.  The latest fashion trends.  The latest gossip.  Politicians.  The opinions of our favorite celebrities and the opinions on web blogs of people we’ve never met.  All the voices!

We also listen to the voices of people we know.  We want their opinions.  “You really need to buy yourself one of these!  How can you live without it?”  “Oh, I fudge a bit on my taxes every year.  It’s easy and no one will know.  Here, let me show you how.”  “Why pay for cable?  You can get this free signal.  I’ll show you how to hook it up.”  “Those clothes are so out of style.  You need a pair of these!”  “You actually do all that stuff?  You know, the boss isn’t here right now, and he will never know.”  “You actually study for that class?  Don’t you know how easy it is to cheat on her tests?”  “C’mon, let’s go have a cigarette. I know a store that sells to minors.” There are all sorts of voices we listen to in this world.

Sometimes they’re more serious.  “Why is church such a big deal to you?”  “You don’t really believe that stuff, do you?”  “Hey, let’s do this instead of going to church today.”  “Sweetheart, show me that you love me.  I think we have been dating long enough.”  “I know we aren’t married.  But let’s try this out and see how we work together first.”  “Who needs commitment?  Let’s just have a no-strings-attached affair for fun.”  “Why don’t you just get an abortion?  No one will have to know.  I’ve had two.  You don’t want the responsibility that a baby will bring now.”  “C’mon, just one more drink.  I can drive, I’m not in that bad of shape.  I do this all the time.  Get in!”  What voices do you listen to?

Sometimes, the voices we listen to most are our own.  “Oh, I’ve had an awful day.  I’m going to go to the pub and tie one on.”  “I can’t believe I’m pregnant.  So young and not married.  I’m just going to get this taken care of quickly and quietly, and God will forgive me later.”  “Man, I can’t deal with this guilt.  And the worst thing for me right now would be going to church, because that would just make me feel more guilty.”  “I’m going to let my children decide for themselves if God is important to them.  That way, I will be a better parent than mine.”  “I don’t really need more Bible study.  That’s for those people who don’t have it all figured out like I do.”  “OK, I am just going to give in to this temptation this time, but I will ask for forgiveness later.  I am still in control.”  Have you ever stopped to consider how silly, ignorant, and awful our own words and voices sound from time to time?  Yet we like to listen to ourselves a lot.

Like Peter did.  “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.  Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  This ill-advised comment was entirely in character for Peter.  “He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.”  It wasn’t the first time Peter spoke when he should have been listening; and it wouldn’t be the last.  Here, Peter was chosen for this special privilege along with James and John to go up the mountain and see something no other human had seen: the full glory of the Son of God unmasked.  And they got to see Moses and Elijah talking with Him too!  These three lucky men should have been listening with open ears and closed mouths.  But instead of listening, Peter had to hear the sound of his own voice.  And how silly he sounded!  Don’t we do the same thing?  When we should be listening to the voice of God, we want to hear the sound of our own voices instead?  Even when we gather in groups for Bible study, instead of just listening sometimes, do we often give our own opinions that have nothing to do with God’s?  Just to hear our voice?  Kind of like Peter did?

Well, even as Peter is speaking, God starts clearing his throat:  “Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: ‘This is my Son, whom I love.  Listen to Him!”  Friends, as we are walking down the religious “midway” of life, there is one voice that God wants us to listen to.  One that matters.  The voice of Jesus.  Don’t walk that midway alone.  Keep your hand in his and your eyes on Him, and when He speaks: “Listen to Him!”

Here is what Jesus says:  When He is asked who He is, He says “Before Abraham was, I AM.”  He says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.”  When He is asked if He really is the Son of God, He says, “Yes, I AM.”  When He is asked why He came here, He says, “to give my life as a ransom for many.”  And that “he must be killed and after three days rise again.”  When the crippled man was let down through the roof in front of Him, Jesus looked at him and said, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

These are the words of Jesus!  Listen to Him!  He promises: I have forgiven you for your former life.  For what you did last year.  Last month.  Yesterday.  I have forgiven you for underage drinking and smoking, for cheating, lying, premarital and extramarital affairs, stealing from others, and disobeying your government.  I have forgiven you for your jealous, lustful and selfish thoughts.  And yes, I’ve even forgiven you for the times you have stayed away from me.  The times you knew you should be at church, and in my Word, but weren’t.  I have forgiven you for the times you haven’t listened to me. The times you listened to your own voice instead.

Jesus says to us:  Come to Me!  Remain in Me!  Don’t stay away from me.  See my glory.  See my love.  Listen to my voice.  Other voices get you into trouble.  Gather together with other believers to be built up in your faith as you hear my Word.  Obey my Father’s commands, because your life will go better.  Tell others about my glory.  And take my hand and come to heaven with me, to the room that I have prepared for you.

Friends, imagine how amazing Jesus looked on that mount of Transfiguration.  How bright!  That was the perfection of God.  Did you know that because of the life and death of Jesus in your place, that you look that brilliant to your heavenly Father too?  One day you will shine with that same glory – the robe of righteousness that Jesus has given you!  Your sinful nature may be hiding it now, but when God looks at you, He sees a brightness brighter than anyone in the world could bleach it, because He sees Jesus’ perfection in you!

So, friends, it IS good to be here!  It is good to take the trip up the mount of Transfiguration with Jesus and his disciples, and listen to his voice, and also see his glory.  Because it is a preview of the glory that one day will be ours!

We began at the carnival today and we are going to end there.  What do you think about roller coasters?  I love them now.  But when I was a child, I was deathly afraid of them.  I was scared of heights even when I was just standing still, let alone flying all over the place.  My brothers and cousins and friends would go on them, but not me.  They would try coaxing me on, but after a bad experience with even a small amusement ride, my answer was “No, way.”

But then I got to high school.  And at this age, pride and ego get into the picture.  So with the peer pressure from my friends, now you just have to get on and go.  And you have to pretend that you aren’t even scared in the first place.  So I got onto a big roller coaster and tried it.  You know what?  I really did enjoy it!  I was excited and terrified all at the same time.  But after that first ride, my friend sitting next to me had one piece of advice.  He said, “You know, it’s even more fun if you open your eyes.”  You’ve heard that before, haven’t you?  If you don’t keep your eyes open, you’re bound to miss something.  I needed to hear that for roller coaster rides.  Today, I open my eyes.  It’s a whole different experience, and I love it.

It’s a good thing to open your eyes.  And that is also the encouragement God is giving us this morning.  He says to the disciples of Jesus, to you and me: Open your eyes and look at the glory of Jesus.  Don’t miss Him!  For a moment, let your own voices be silent.  Shut out all the other voices in this world.  And friends, Listen to Him!  Listen to Jesus!   Amen.

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