The last Sunday after the Epiphany
February 14, 2021 Sermon by Rev. Bernadette Hartsough
What follows is a letter that I imagine Simon Peter would write about his Transfiguration experience.
Dear sisters and brothers of St. Thomas/ Santo Tomás,
May grace and peace be yours in abundance. I understand that you live in a time where truth is determined in different ways. What is truth? Truth in my time was based on testimonies. Testimonies were seen as experiences that happened to people. Testimonies can vary based on the person’s perspective. Here is my perspective on the Transfiguration.
It had been six days since I saw Jesus heal that blind man. When I saw that man, I can’t remember his name now, I knew Jesus would heal him. The people were everywhere, and they had begged Jesus. Jesus put spit on his eyes and touched him. I watched and I waited. There it was. The man could see. Jesus was becoming famous for these healings.
I knew Jesus was a great prophet. He knew things about people. When he looked into my eyes, he pierced my soul. I always felt at peace when I was around him. I felt good about myself. I felt true to myself. So, when Jesus asked us who we thought he was, I blurted out, that He, Jesus was the anointed one. Jesus was the messiah. When I blurted it out, I was pleased with myself. Then Jesus told us that he must suffer. He must die. I said no. I would never let that happen. Jesus rebuked me. He told me that he must die. I was confused. I did not understand. I think that’s why Jesus took us up to the mountain with him.
I remember all the details from that day. Jesus got us up early. He said we were going up to the mountains. I thought ok. Jesus needs to get away from the crowds again. Jesus needs to pray. Maybe we would pray with him. Maybe, he would reveal some secret to us. I didn’t know why we were going. I only know that when Jesus asked us to go, we went.
It was dawn when we started. We had walking sticks. We stood at the base of one of the taller mountains. Jesus pointed to it. We started to climb. We passed some of the caves where the Romans worshipped their gods. Then we stopped at one of the plateaus and I looked at the village below. From our height, we could see an overview of Caesarea Philippi. Venders were setting up baskets full of figs, oil, bread, cheese, and animals. Families were feeding their animals. I could see the Jordan River. The Roman guards were doing their morning patrols to be sure the peace was kept. It all looked normal. It was just day to day life.
There were days that I thought about my ordinary life. My life before Jesus. I don’t regret following Jesus, but I missed being out at sea. Being inland was dry and hot. I let these thoughts go. It’s good to remember but these thoughts could make me forget why I was with Jesus and who Jesus was.
We continued to climb until we were almost at the top. Jesus stopped. We turned and I thought the morning sun had gotten into my eyes. At first, I could not see Jesus. The light blinded us. Then when we could see Jesus, it looked like a million small suns were radiating from him. He was so white. I thought about Elijah being carried off into the clouds. Was Jesus leaving us?
Jesus’s face was different. I did not recognize his human face, but I felt his presence. It was Jesus. Then I saw that Jesus was not alone. Moses and Elijah were with him. They were talking. We, James, John, and I stood watching all of this. I needed to do something. I wanted to be a part of it. I asked Jesus if we could make three shelters. One for Elijah, one for Moses and one for Jesus. It was the hospitable thing to do and we could stay on the mountain.
Everyone looked at me. James and John were shaking. They bowed down with their heads on the ground. I kept looking. I saw the huge cloud all around us. It was foggy. I couldn’t see anymore. I got on my knees. This was holy ground. Then I heard the loud, steady, voice, “This is my son, my beloved. Listen to him.” I looked around. The voice was coming from the cloud.
I would carry these words with me for the rest of my earthly life. At the time that I heard the words, I was excited. Here was our long-awaited messiah. He would usher in a new kingdom of peace. Jesus would change everything.
Then the voice, the cloud, brilliance, Moses, and Elijah were gone. It was just us and Jesus. I didn’t expect it to end so quickly. I expected a legion of angels to accompany us down the mountain. Jesus wasn’t brilliantly white. It was just Jesus our rabbi. Jesus ordered us not to tell anyone. I didn’t know how to describe what had happened. And Jesus’s talk of death. I thought that maybe he would bring peace and a new kingdom and then die. I thought he would live to be 50 or 60 years old. It was all so confusing.
As I companioned with Jesus, through his final days and after his resurrection, I understood why Jesus took me up the mountain. The mountaintop transfiguration experience allowed me to see Jesus as God and as the anointed one. At the time I did not understand the meaning of it. Now looking back that experience transfigured me. I was on a high for weeks after that. I had a joy that I can’t describe.
As great as that experience was, we came down the mountain. We had to live in the present. We had work to do. People to minister to. People to heal. People, like all of you, needed to hear the Good News. The people below the mountain needed us.
The mountaintop experience gave me a memory to cling to. It was a clear vision of who Jesus was. In my days with Jesus, I had many high moments. I held onto all of them. Times became difficult and I thought Jesus had left us.
When Jesus was teaching and healing, I could see Jesus as the Son of God clearly. As Jesus suffered and struggled, fear and doubt crept in. I forgot who he was. It was at these times that I remembered what I felt and saw and heard on the mountain. That memory carried me through some very dark times.
Your experiences with Jesus will be different than mine. You live in the 21st century. You will have times when you feel distant from Jesus. You may doubt. You will have other times when Jesus is so close to you that you can feel and touch him. Hold onto these mountaintop experiences. They will give you clarity in times of doubt. They will allow you to go on with Jesus beside you. They will allow you to remember why you followed Jesus: because Jesus is God’s son, the beloved. The one who came, suffered, and died so that he could be with us forever.
Shalom,
Peter