Kerra's Last 5 Sermons (Bonus) - Transfiguration: Beloved Sunday

Transfiguration: Beloved Sunday
February 19, 2023
Matthew 17:1-13; 2 Peter 1:16-21
Kerra Becker English

We call this Transfiguration Sunday, the Sunday before Lent begins, and it’s one that I usually don’t like to preach.
It feels too super-natural.
A little too showy.
Jesus with his face shining like the sun.
His outfit bleached and bedazzled to glowing white.
Moses and Elijah showing up for a prophetic reunion.
Disciples scrambling to make sense of what they’ve just seen.
It’s a moment they want to hold on to, and Jesus lets them know that they must let it go.
They can’t make it last.
And boy does Peter want to make that feeling last.
He says, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will set up 3 tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
They could stay all day. Enjoy the visit. Get comfortable and get to know each other.
Then they get interrupted by a cloud.
Not just any cloud, but a brightly overshadowing cloud that speaks.
The cloud voice says this, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”
This is an echo from Jesus’ baptism.
And the second letter of Peter will repeat this cloud message in the re-telling of this story.
For Jesus received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
The memory of majestic glory is there, and it’s solid.
It’s not at all dreamy.
Peter isn’t questioning if what he experienced was real.  
His letter goes on to say that this is the prophetic message fully confirmed.
A light shining in the darkness until the full day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
A proclamation. A prophecy. A message of the highest magnitude.
My Son. The Beloved. With you I am well pleased. 
Peter, or at least a scribe from Peter’s tradition says in this letter – “We heard the voice.”
That’s the big news.
Therefore, I’d like to rename this Sunday – Beloved Sunday.
Or maybe BE – LOVED Sunday. Know your belovedness Sunday.
Knowing that kind of love will change you.
Will transform you.
Maybe even make you look different to others.  
Knowing that God loves you, like a child, and is proud of you.
What could be more affirming than that?
The holiness that the disciples, Peter, James and John experienced on that mountain was a sense of the fullness of love exchanged between God and Jesus.
It certainly made an impression.
They wanted to hold on to it, to savor it, to box it up and keep it close.
The problem is that it doesn’t work that way.
The Holy Spirit is primarily defined by her capacity to be on the move.
A dove on the wing, a cloud brightly overshadowing, a voice, a feeling, a deep intuition.
Those things move in and through you.
The love remains, but the story that goes with it seems fantastical.
It’s interesting to make note of some of the overshadowing voices we are hearing about in our own world.
A Superbowl ad lets people know that “He gets us.”
At Asbury University in Kentucky – young people have been praying and singing and worshiping for days in a place with a long tradition of holy revivals.
We long for that experience of being known, and when we get a taste of it, we try to keep it hanging around.
I have both hopes and concerns about the big, big moments.
Who paid for that Superbowl ad? And what do they hope to gain from it? Will it do what’s expected or something else? What about the “things” I’ve paid for in terms of sustaining my own religious preferences? Is it the same that I want to financially sustain quaint churches and hear organ preludes and 4-part choir harmonies to let me know that God is near and present? Who am I to judge?
Will there be transformed souls motivated by love and justice that come out of the collegiate revival and work to change our world? Is my own faith as motivating?
I don’t have all the answers to those questions.
That’s what makes transfiguration Sunday such a hard Sunday to preach.
How do you explain the inexplicable?
That slice of time that seemed illuminated and transformative, which became the one that buoyed a lifetime of discipleship.
I have to give Matthew credit for telling the story, and I’m grateful to Peter for trying to help us understand it.
I haven’t gone into the biblical scholarship to make sense of the trajectory of putting these two scripture texts side by side, but I like to think that Matthew pointed out Peter’s blunder in wanting to set up tents to coax Moses and Elijah into staying around, and I like to think that Peter in his old age or represented by his followers gets redemption for remembering and re-telling the most important part of the story.
The most important part is love. Being loved.
The love of God is what assisted Jesus on the path to who he was becoming.
It shows up to consecrate his ministry and to confirm the leaders who will extend the mission so that Jesus himself can let go and fulfill his destiny.
God loved Jesus, so that Jesus could love the world.
Jesus loves us, so we can follow him in our wonder, and in our work.
I think it is absolutely essential to this story that others “heard the voice.”
It wasn’t in Jesus’ head or for him alone – more like at his baptism.
The message this time was specifically directed to those Jesus brought with him.
THIS is my Son, the Beloved.
With him I am well pleased.
Listen to him!
The disciples are being instructed, as are we, as listeners to the story.
The 2nd letter of Peter tells us that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but it did come through men and women moved by the Holy Spirit to speak from God.
Obviously listening for what God is saying to us is a matter of serious discernment.
A LOT of people are going to want to speak for God, to speak as gods.
To find God’s true voice is more of a challenge.
Prophecy here is a pronouncement of love, and appreciation, and trust.
Too often, prophecy is couched in belittlement. I know what God wants and you don’t.
To listen for those who are moved by the Mover (capital M), listen for love, and confirmation of goodness, and trust.
You can listen to Jesus – because he is loved, and good, and trustworthy.
Others will try to twist the message of Jesus. Be on the lookout.
Does the message glow with possibility?
Does the message align with the truth tellers of the past?
Is it so attractive that you want to hold on to it and make it a permanent fixture in your Spirit?
Can others hear it too?
Then it may be God’s cloud hovering overhead.
Trying to tell that experience to others may prove difficult.
That’s OK.
Keep the most important part in front of you: God loves. Fully. Magnificently. Majestically.
And if any of you talk to the liturgical calendar people, could we get a name change for this week?
Amen.