Completely Changed

Sunday Sermon Feb 19, 2012

Mark 9:2-9

In my last call I served at a church named Transfiguration Lutheran Church. And at my very first council meeting after our opening devotion one member of the council asked me point blank; “What do you think about the name of our church?” Feeling a bit taken back, and not wanting to touch that question with a 10 foot pole, I turned the question around and asked back, “What do you think about it?” He responded by saying, “I think it sucks… What does it really say? And what does it really mean?”

So… today is Transfiguration Sunday… What does the word Transfiguration really mean? Simply it means, “To Be Changed.”

The Greek word used in this passage “Meta-Noi-A” meaning “Make a Change or Turn Back.” It’s a familiar word to us, or at least it should be because it’s used countless times in the New Testament and some 20 times in various ways in Mark’s Gospel.

A couple of examples in Mark Chapter 1:4… John the Baptist saying, “Turn Back or Repent”

And Jesus saying in Vs 14, “Turn Back or Repent”

It seems Mark is big on the word “Change” as he uses the term many times. Perhaps “Change or Meta-noi-a” was the Good News message from Jesus Mark intended to write about.

For many in the world and in the Church change is difficult. Perhaps, it’s because we prefer the familiar… sameness… being comfortable… and stability. In fact, our current bishop rallied the synod around the word “Stability" at our last synod convention. There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of these words, but the images we see in our reading speak to something most radically different.

Our story today says Jesus is completely changed… into what I’m not sure, but Peter, James and John saw Jesus in a different light and in a different way. They experienced something radically different than they had previously experienced with Jesus before. In many ways… they were changed themselves. And like many of us who experience mountain top experiences we desire to keep the experience going by whatever means. Peter makes the suggestion, “Hey let’s just stay up here”… let’s build some shelters and it will be great. The word used here is translated as “Dwelling or Shelter. However, the word could also be translated as “Tabernacle” or “Place of Worship” one could even make the connection to that of “Church”…. Let’s build a church here!!!

Do you see what Peter, James and John are thinking here? Peter is thinking, let’s stay here and worship God on the mountain. We can experience the Glory of God all the time…. No worries… no concerns… life will be comfortable and stabile.

However, what happens? Jesus says, “Time to go back down”… my emphasis. A bit later in the story he says he must suffer and die. In essence…Jesus is saying, we can’t stay, we must go back into the arm-pit of the world. Where there is little comfort, not much stability, chaos and death.

So… part of our faith journey is about the amazing and awesomeness of the Glory of God. But the Cross looms large as well. Suffering and Death are part of the story as well. You see… I believe you can’t have one without the other. You can’t experience the Glory of God without first experiencing the Cross and experiencing the Cross is the “Mets-Noi-A” to experiencing God’s Glory.

Which brings us back to Transfiguration… or Change with the question… how can you be changed? How can the church be changed?

There’s a story of a wise, old Middle Eastern mystic who said this about himself. "I was a revolutionary when I was young, and all my prayer to God was: 'Lord, give me the energy to change the world.' As I approached middle age and realized that my life was half gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to: 'Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come into contact with me. Just my family and friends and I shall be satisfied.' Now that I am an old man and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: 'Lord, give me the grace to change myself.' If I had prayed this right from the start, I would not have wasted my life."

--As quoted in Paul J. Wharton, Stories and Parables for Preachers and Teachers (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1986), 31.

What kind of Metamorphous would need to take place in our lives in order to change yourself?

More to the point… could we in the church be transfigured/changed enough so that the full glory of God inside of us could be revealed to those seeking change in their lives.

Perhaps, if we viewed change like the sagged mystic we too could change the world.

See You Out on the Road