The heavens declare his righteousness. [Psalm 50:6]
Texts: Mark 9:2-9; 2 Kings 2:1-12; Psalm 50:1-6
(For Sunday of the Transfiguration)
We had just installed a new wireless microphone in the church I was serving in Stillwater, Oklahoma. One Sunday morning, as we were beginning the worship service, suddenly a voice broke into the sound system. Somebody’s cordless phone was operating on the same frequency as our system. The technology was not as refined back then. The church building was surrounded by student apartments. Before we could get the system turned off, I caught enough to believe it was some guy wanting to talk about his experience that Saturday night before. That taught me to be careful with our system, and to be grateful for the improvements such that that most likely will not happen again.
I also think of that when we read stories in the Bible, about someone hearing a voice out of heaven, someone hearing God. I know some of you share the questions: What was really going on? How did that person hear? What did that person hear? Would someone else nearby also have heard?
Today we read of this encounter Jesus had. We are concluding the season called Epiphany, giving special focus to the way God is revealed to the world through Jesus. Reading through the Gospel of Mark, we have heard Jesus teaching. We have seen him heal persons in their bodies, in their emotions or spirits, in their relations. As we work through the life of Jesus each year, we are now ready to turn our attention towards his journey to Jerusalem, his journey to death on the cross. If we look at the whole of the Gospel story as literature, we realize today’s event is a significant transition. In some ways it marks a change, not only of geographic direction, but also of intensity. And, rereading this story from the perspective of knowing the end, we see how this is a foreshadowing.
We can look at two big points in this story. It says that Jesus’ appearance was changed such that he was dazzling white. This is less about color and more about the brightness of the light. The word used for this day, transfigure, implies a change of appearance. To the persons familiar with the Hebrew Bible, the Bible Jesus read, this brightness implied the Shekinah, that is, the light indicating God’s presence, the pillar of fire that lead the Israelites through the wilderness, the light that burned on the holy mountain, the light that burned continually in the temple. Later, the three disciples figured out that this experience of brightness was powerful affirmation that Jesus is God’s unique presence on earth. But this vision was not yet for everyone’s eyes. First must come the crucifixion.
A second big point in this story is the appearance of two of the greatest characters in the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament. Both Moses and Elijah had played great roles as ones who spoke for God. Moses was God’s voice to lead the people in a most turbulent time, traveling geographically and spiritually from an old way that was comfortable, yet ultimately enslaving, traveling into a land of promise, though very unknown. Would the people listen in the midst of such change? Elijah lived when things were comfortable – at least for the ruling class. Elijah was God’s voice to call the people out of a complacency of faith, a failure in faith that leads to injustice. Would the people listen in the midst of such comfort? Jesus understood himself to be following the work of Moses and Elijah – yet much, much more.
Then there comes, out of the clouds that covered everything, the voice. Rereading the Gospel story, this voice spoke at the time Jesus was baptized. We have no details of who heard that voice at that time. Later, there will be another time when a voice is heard – in John 12. (We’ll attend to that passage next week.) At other times human voices claimed Jesus as God’s son — most notably a foreigner acclaimed that when Jesus died on the cross. [Mark 15:39]
Perhaps we wonder, what was heard. Yeah, not some wireless phone system breaking in – but what was heard? How did they hear the voice of God? How can we hear? Especially if we take seriously the words, Listen to him, how are we to listen to Jesus today? WWJD was popular, but is it so simple as wearing a bracelet? More importantly, we recognize many folks claim to hear God telling them to do something, including many who claim a message that is extremely exclusionary, leads to violence, seems anything but what Jesus would do.
We can remind ourselves: While God may not sound like the loudspeaker announcing a special sale; we can believe God does speak. We must not go to the extreme of saying that anyone who claims that God has talked to them is mentally or emotionally unstable. We must consider how God speaks. We believe that today God speaks through the Bible, yet not the Bible in isolation. The Bible speaks to us today as our thoughts are guided by the Holy Spirit in fellowship with other believers. The Lutheran tradition strongly advocated that each person should be taught to read, so each person has access to the Bible. That is the background for the system of public schools, so vital to democracy in our nation.
The Bible does not speak, however, through individualistic reading. We must read the Bible in fellowship with others. We pray together for the Holy Spirit’s guidance. We then listen to one another. Yes, there are parts that are difficult to understand. It is a privilege to be able to dig into some of the scholarship that helps us. We do not relegate the Bible to anti-intellectual sentiment. But we must not surrender Bible reading to experts. For God speaks through each person as we, together, read and pray, reflect and discuss. This is why we emphasize the practice of Dwelling in the Word – looking repeatedly at one passage and having each person speak of what they are hearing in the present.
So, what can we hear? There is much that needs to be said to our world. As we listen to Jesus, we can hear his invitation to listen and follow. When we listen and follow we get to hear that we are sisters and brothers of this beloved Son of God.
We get to hear that this Jesus died for us. We get to hear that he is alive. We get to hear that through him, we have life, eternally and now.
