Lord, Be Glorified
Mark 9:2-9
February 15, 2015[1]
Many of you know that our
daughter Liz and her husband Tim provide care to Tim’s nieces and nephews. The oldest, Mary Beth is a junior in high
school. I was taken aback this weekend
when Liz sent pictures of Mary Beth trying on a prom dress. Part of my shock was simply the notion that
Mary Beth is old enough to be trying on a prom dress. But I also was reminded of the way a change
of clothing can completely change the appearance of a person. That dress takes a young girl and changes her
appearance into a sophisticated young woman.
Changing appearances. That was the concept behind the TV series
“What Not to Wear,” staring fashion consultants Stacy London and Clinton
Kelly. For ten years, for a total of 365
episodes, Stacy and Clinton would select a person (usually a young woman) who
appeared to dress frumpy or disheveled.
They would make an offer: the
prospective guest would agree to surrender their old wardrobe to a trash can;
Stacy and Clinton would take the guest to New York City and present them with a
$5,000 Visa card and teach them how to shop.
The guest also spent some time with a hairdresser and a make-up
artist. The person, with a complete
change of appearance, was then revealed to her family and friends. For many of these guests, it was a
life-changing experience.[2]
I had never thought about it
before, but Stacy and London changed the appearance of the young women on their
TV show, they were—at least in one sense—transfiguring these young women.
The story of Jesus’
transfiguration is one of the more amazing stories in the Gospels. The word itself is unusual. I had to look it up to make sure I knew
exactly what it means. Transfigure: “to change the appearance of something or someone …;
to give a new and typically exalted or spiritual
appearance to; to transform
outwardly and usually for the better.”[3] When Jesus was transfigured, his appearance
was changed. Jesus was exalted,
transformed outwardly. His clothes
became dazzling white—Mark gives us this detail: “such as no one on earth could bleach them” (Mark 9:3).
Transfiguration is not the same thing as transformation. Transformation is an internal change; it is a
change of substance. Transfiguration
changes the outward appearance; it doesn’t change the person inside, any more
than the change of clothing could change Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady,” or
the various guests in “What Not to Wear.”
It may give them added confidence in who they are; but the underlying
“I” is still the same. That was true
also for Jesus. Jesus was divine in
nature before this event; He was divine after this event. The transfiguration gave the three disciples
a glimpse of Jesus in His exalted state.
It enabled these three to get a glimpse of who Jesus really was.
Then, while Jesus is standing in this transfigured state, He is
joined by two friends—Moses, the one who led the Children of Israel from
bondage in Egypt through the Wilderness to the Promised Land; and Elijah, the
Prophet about whom we read this morning—a prophet who never tasted death but
was taken up by a fiery chariot to heaven.
I had always thought about the appearance of Moses and Elijah in this
dazzling appearance as a necessary part of the transfiguration. I now think that I was wrong. It so happens that while Jesus already was in
this transfigured state, God chose to send Moses and Elijah to speak with
Him.
I wonder what they spoke about.
We do not know. We only hear
about two voices. The first voice was
Peter’s. Peter is terrified, and like so
many of us do when we are afraid, we say things that maybe we should have kept
to ourselves. Peter speaks about making
three “tabernacles” or tents; one for each of Moses, Elijah and Jesus. But Peter is cut off, almost mid-sentence, by
the voice of God Himself who proclaims “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to
him!” (Mark 9:7).
As if God’s Word wasn’t enough to set this scene apart from any
other in the Gospels, let’s think about the statement that is inherent in the
story itself. How had the Word of the
Lord been revealed, up to that point in Israel’s history? The Jewish people looked to the Law and the
Prophets as the source of their information about God. But it was more than just information; they
looked to the Law and the Prophets as the speaking the Word of the Lord. Here on the mountaintop, Peter, James and
John saw the Law (symbolized in the person of Moses) and the Prophets
(symbolized in the person of Elijah) standing before them.
But the voice does not say “Here is my law; listen to it.” The voice does not say, “Here is my prophet;
listen to him.” The voice points to the
Son: “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him!” (Mark
9:7). The very words spoken by the
voice at Jesus’ baptism.
In Matthew’s telling of this event, he recalls one additional
phrase: he remembers the voice adding the words “with him I am well
pleased.” (Matthew 17:5). I like the
way that the New Living Translation puts it: “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings
me great joy.” Have you ever felt great joy at
something that someone you love has done.
Take a look at any Christmas pageant, any talent show, any dance, piano
or voice recital. You can always tell
who the parent (or grandparent!) is—they are the ones with the iPhone or video
camera, or the ones dabbing their eyes with a tissue. They are well-pleased. God the Father takes great joy in the work of
Jesus, the only-begotten Son, the Son who was with God before time began; the
Son who was the Word, present in the beginning, who now is revealed by God as
the Living Word. And God tells us to
“listen” to Him. Not merely to hear; but
to obey; to follow.
Something else occurred to me
about this word “transfiguration.”
When I have used the verb “to
transfigure,” I generally have used it in the passive voice. Jesus was transfigured—it was something that
happened to Him. I had never thought of “transfiguring”
in the active voice, as something that you could do to another person. But the dictionary didn’t support my
preconceived notion. The implication was
pretty clear--you could change the appearance of someone else to exalt or
glorify them. At one level, maybe it is
like photoshopping or “What Not to Wear.”
At another level, I think about the glow that appears on a father’s or
mother’s face at a Christmas pageant.
When Ethan and Grace, our grandchildren, stood up in front of their
school or church, dressed up as a donkey and as an angel, they brought glory to
their parents. Ethan and Grace
transfigured their mom and dad!
What is it that brought glory
to Jesus? Certainly, God did. At the same time, Jesus brought glory to the
Father. There is a relationship between
Father and Son in which the Son gives glory to the Father and the Father gives
glory to the Son. In John, Chapter 12,
we read of a time when Jesus was praying and meditating about his approaching
death. He was greatly troubled, but He
prayed, “Father, glorify your name!" Then a
voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it
again." (John 12:28). We bring glory to the Father, we bring glory
to the Son, when we listen and obey—especially when we obey the admonition to
love.
This is
especially important in the story of Jesus transfiguration. At the end of this story, the disciples see
Jesus alone, and they go back down the mountain. What do they find at the base of the
mountain? They find people in need. They find a desperate father who is pleading
to have a spirit exorcised from his son.
They find disciples who aren’t up to the task. We find Jesus assuring the father that all
things are possible for those who believe.
And we find a father, in such great honesty, saying, “I believe; help my
unbelief.” (Mark 9:24). In a scene filled
with tenderness, Jesus takes the boy by the hand and lifts him up (Mark 9:27). Jesus demonstrated His glory not by the
change in his appearance on the mountaintop.
Jesus’ also demonstrated His glory in the way He showed love and compassion
to the people in the valley. By loving
them, He brought glory to the Father.
And here is the
ultimate point. We, too, bring glory to God
by the way we live in the valley. Did
you ever think about whether the way you live brings glory to God? I invite you to a spend a few moments right
now in prayerful reflection on the ways you have brought your Heavenly Father
joy—this past week, this past day, this morning.
How have you
glorified God in your speaking? Have
your words been filled with love and grace or criticism and resentment? Have you used your words to build up or tear
down?
How have you
glorified God in your choices for entertainment? Have the books that you have read, the movies
that you have watched, lifted you up or focused you in self-indulgence?
How have you
glorified God in the things that you have purchased? How have you managed the tension between
living in a world in which God has given us all things richly to enjoy, on the
one hand, and Jesus inviting us to sell all that we have, give the proceeds to
the poor, and to follow him? (Mark 10:21).
How have you
glorified God in the way you have given food to the hungry, drink to the
thirsty, shelter to the homeless, and comfort to the lonely? Have you recalled that in sharing or withholding
your treasures from the “least of these,” you are sharing or withholding from
God? (Matthew 25:34-45).
Let us pray. “In our lives, Lord, be glorified today.”[4]
Copyright © 2015 by Thomas E.
Frost. All rights reserved.
[1]
Preached at Cunningham United Methodist Church in Palmyra, Virginia on
Transfiguration Sunday.
[2]
“What Not to Wear (U.S. TV series)” from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, viewed on the internet on
February 15, 2015 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Not_to_Wear_(U.S._TV_series).
[3]
“transfigure” in Mirriam Webster Dictionary, viewed online on February 15, 2015
at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transfigure.
[4]
Bob Kilpatrick, “Lord, Be Glorified” © 1978, 1986 Prism Tree Music, assigned
1998 to The Lorenz Corp., printed with permission in The Faith We Sing (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 2000), 2150.
No comments:
Post a Comment