Additional Scripture: Exodus 34:29-35 and 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)
When I saw our Bible readings for today, I was amazed at how they fit perfectly for us today. As Moses and Jesus were transfigured, so are we and our church today. And Paul speaks of spiritual gifts, which are meant to be used and used in love. Your coming here this evening, some of you from Carlsbad and Oceanside, is a demonstration of that loving use of our gifts.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we’re expected to use our gifts. But before we can do that, we need to understand what God is saying to us. As humans, we often mess that part up. God shows us his glory, and we misread it.
We need to do three things. I call them the three “I’s” of the church:
Recognize, Internalize, and Externalize.
We need to recognize God’s Word.
We need to internalize it.
And then we need to externalize it.
(Recognize)
In the late fourth century, from 382 to 405, a biblical scholar named Jerome translated the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into the common language of that time: Latin. It was called the Vulgate Bible, because it was written in the common or vulgar language. It’s hard to believe that Latin was once as common as English or Spanish is now, but it’s true.
However, Jerome’s translation has a flaw. And we find it in today’s Old Testament reading from Exodus 34. The Hebrew word that means “to shine” (karan) sounds a lot like another word that means “horn” (keren). Without going too much into Hebrew, I think it’s important to know that Hebrew has no vowels, so a word spelled “krn” might be pronounced karan or keren, depending on which word the person meant to use. That’s probably one reason we don’t write many contracts in Hebrew anymore.
That mistranslation led to images in the Middle Ages of Moses with two horns growing out of his forehead. Around the year 1505, 11 centuries after Jerome finished the Vulgate Bible, Michelangelo sculpted an eight-foot tall statue of Moses, complete with horns, seated majestically on the wall of the Tomb of Pope Julius II. It’s a beautiful statue, so lifelike that Michelangelo is said to have thrown his chisel at the statue as he screamed “Why don’t you talk!?” It’s an incredible, brilliant work. But it’s wrong. Moses did not have horns.
We’re able to see that by realizing that the Old Testament shows us the things that will be revealed in the New Testament. Moses’ face was transfigured by exposure to God’s glory on the mountaintop, just as Jesus’ body was transfigured centuries later on a mountaintop.
The Old Testament points to Jesus Christ, and Jesus doesn’t have horns. You don’t have to take my word for it though. The Apostle Paul in Second Corinthians, Chapter 3 (Verses 7 and8) writes:
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
Many Christians today make a similar mistake with God’s Word. They change what is written to suit what they want to hear, even though their new version no longer points to Jesus.
They create a God in their own image who is more pleasing to them than the one true God who actually created them in his image. They create a God who loves us and welcomes us, no matter what we’ve done and no matter what we believe, into his kingdom.
That’s a much nicer image to us than a God who loves us unconditionally, but holds us accountable for our actions and tells us that in order to be with him in paradise we have to first believe in him.
“Our Father who art in heaven” holds us to a behavioral standard and calls us to turn away from our desire to follow our own will and to obey him instead.
But “Our Grandpa who art in Heaven” is much more like what we’d prefer. And our Grandpa who art in Heaven is the image of God that many Christian Churches have created. And, like Michelangelo’s statue of Moses, it’s a beautiful concept, but it’s wrong.
Fathers have rules and standards for their children. You fathers that are here, would you agree? The same applies to mothers. Parents have rules.
But grandparents … grandparents tend to let their grandchildren get away with all sorts of things that they never let their own children get away with. All you grandparents, aren’t you more lenient with your grandchildren than you were with your own children? And I think most of us would prefer that grandma or grandpa find out we did something wrong, instead of mom or dad. Anyone else feel that way?
We carry that idea with us in our image of Judgment Day. We want a cuddly old guy who’ll give us a hug and sent us on into heaven, chuckling that “kids will be kids” as he sees the list of our sins. But that’s not how the Bible describes it. God will separate good from evil, wheat from chaff, sheep from goats, based on our choice to either love and follow his teachings — or our own.
The Bible tells us that we are all children of God. That means that God has no grandchildren. We are all first-generation offspring from him, and he is our Father. Our perfect heavenly Father, not a flawed human father.
Today’s Gospel reading shows us that Jesus is the way to the Father’s glory. The father says “this is my son, the chosen one. Listen to him.” Notice that the Father does NOT say, “This is my son, one of the chosen. Listen to him if you’d like, or choose one of the other ways to me.”
(Internalize)
Once we filter out the distractions of this world and the errors of our own desire to take the path of least resistance, we will recognize what God’s Word is really telling us. Then we have to do something with it. We have to apply it to our own lives in a way that is specific and different for each one of us.
We have to internalize it.
When God chose to dwell among his people in the Old Testament, he instructed them to build an intricate and ornately designed dwelling or tabernacle where he would visit with Moses. God would indicate his presence through a cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night above the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud or fire would move, the people packed up their tents and tabernacle and followed where God would lead them.
As a way of remembering the time that the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites celebrated a nine-day long holiday called the Festival of Booths, or Sukkot (SOOK-ut). The celebration was instituted during the time of Moses (Leviticus 23), and even today many modern Jews set up these makeshift shelters in their yards and invite friends over to join them.
So about 14 centuries after Moses and the Israelites began celebrating God tabernacling among his people, Jesus and his disciples were celebrating it as well. At the end of that celebration, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him up to the mountaintop and his divine glory was revealed to them for the first time quite dramatically during that transfiguration.
When Luke writes that Peter suggests making three “shelters,” translated as “dwellings” in some other translations, the word he uses is the same one used by the Apostle John is his Gospel to describe God becoming man and “dwelling” (skay-NAY) among us. That word most closely means “tabernacle.” Each of us is a tabernacle for Jesus Christ.
So Peter’s desire to build three tabernacles, considering the festival they had just come from — and Jewish history — wasn’t such a goofy idea after all.
Look at it from Peter’s point of view. He had just seen God’s glory revealed in the flesh – so the natural thing for him to think of is to build a place of worship right there where God is. He hadn’t yet realized that Jesus chose to dwell, to tabernacle, within us and not just among us.
This clear demonstration to Peter, James, and John that Jesus Christ is indeed God, means that if we accept Jesus into our hearts, God himself will be a part of us, dwelling within us.
Not some external supernatural force, but a physical and spiritual part of our very being. In everything we say and do, Jesus is part of us. He is always there with us.
Our hands become Christ’s hands to help others; our eyes become his eyes to see the sorrow in this world and cry for all the people who are hurting; our feet become Christ’s feet to bring his good news of salvation to those who still thirst for it.
The transfiguration that Peter, James, and John witnessed is available for us, if we’re willing to let Jesus tabernacle within us. In order to be a true disciple of Christ, we have to let him dwell in our hearts and lead us.
Once we recognize God’s message to us, and let Jesus use it to touch our hearts, we internalize it.
(Externalize)
Keeping it inside us, though, even if we could do it, is not God’s will. We need to use the gifts he has given each of us to spread his love to everyone else. As Paul mentions in our New Testament reading, the church has many spiritual gifts to provide for the needs of God’s children.
Jesus loves. That’s a verb, not a noun. An action word. Love is not a status. It endures, protects, hopes, trusts, rejoices, forgives, and, well, you get the idea. If we really love someone, we are doing things for them. Just as Jesus did.
During World War II, a church building in Strasbourg was destroyed. After the bombing, the members surveyed the area to see what damage was done. They were pleased that a statue of Christ with outstretched hands was still standing. It had been sculpted centuries before by a great artist.
Taking a closer look, the people discovered both hands of Christ had been sheered off by a falling beam. Later, a sculptor in the town offered to replace the broken hands as a gift to the church. The church leaders met to consider the offer and decided not to accept it.
A member of the church said that the broken statue touched their spirits; it reminded them that Jesus has no hands to minister to the needy or feed the hungry or enrich the poor — except for ours. He inspires. We perform.
If Christ is to minister to the poor, it must be through our hands. If he is to take care of the sick, it must be through our hands. If he is to reach out to those who are lonely, it must be through our hands.
Today we are beginning a new church in South Bay as Disciples of Christ: learning to live as Jesus lived and do what Jesus did. Tomorrow is World Missions Sunday, and we are a new mission church under Saint Anne’s Anglican Church in Oceanside. And in four days the church season of Lent begins. This is a very important time in the life of our church.
I realize that many of us grew up being told to give something up for Lent. But Lent is really about drawing closer to Jesus, and I’m not sure that giving up chocolate or coffee or cigars for a month and a half does much to bring us closer to him.
During the final days of Lent, we commemorate the crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday, the day Jesus sacrificed himself for us about 2,000 years ago.
So, with that in mind, I’d like us to try something different this year: Let’s give something out instead of up. As a way of externalizing our own transfiguration in Christ, I’d ask that we commit to behaving more like Jesus, and sacrificing a bit of ourselves for others.
There’s a secular group in Britain called “Join Me” that came up with a novel approach toward helping people, called “Good Fridays.” Each Friday they to take to the streets and carry out Random Acts of Kindness for the benefit of strangers. As the founder writes, “They took to their task with determination and gusto. All over the country, little things were happening... little moments of joy in towns and cities across the land. Little events that were brightening up people’s lives, even if it was only for a few seconds. … Shopping was being carried. Cups of tea paid for. Boxes of chocolates handed out in the streets. Flowers deposited at old people’s homes. Cakes left on doorsteps. Sure, none of these events was world-changing, but they were... well... life-affirming, somehow.”
It’s rather ironic that this non-religious, purely secular group has chosen to behave more like Jesus did than most Christian groups do.
Their “Good Fridays” idea involves going out of their way to do something nice for someone once each Friday. I’d ask that we each try that idea for during Lent, starting with next Friday.
Maybe buy an extra hamburger at the drive-through of your favorite fast-food place and give it to the guy with a cardboard sign at the intersection. Or maybe you might call someone who lives alone and doesn’t get around much anymore. Or maybe you could bring a cup of coffee to that person you work with who doesn’t seem to have many friends. We can be the hands of Christ for a few minutes each Friday.
A simple act of kindness may not seem like much to us, but to the person who receives it, it can mean the world.
I read an email story this week about a group of salesmen who attended a convention out-of-town some years back. As they rushed through the terminal to get to their departing flight, one of them accidentally knocked over a table that held a display of apples.
They continued running for their plane as apples flew everywhere and rolled along the ground. They made it just in time to get on their plane. One of them felt a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand they had knocked over, and told his buddies to go on without him and to tell his wife he would be taking a later flight.
Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one caring for her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of the apples had become battered and bruised, so he put those aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?”
The girl nodded through her tears. He continued on with, “I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.” As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, “Mister....”
He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.
She said, “Are you Jesus?”
He stopped in mid-stride and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to the later flight with that question burning in his soul: “Are you Jesus?”
Do people mistake you for Jesus? That’s really what being a disciple is all about — to be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life, and grace.
We may be the only Jesus that some people ever see in this life. Our actions may be the only Bible they will ever read. If we are truly externalizing the Gospel, people will see God’s glory in us every bit as clearly as the Israelites saw it in Moses. They will recognize Jesus working through us.
If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk, and act as Jesus would. Knowing Jesus is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It means we recognize the Spiritual gifts that God gives us; that we internalize them by allowing Jesus to dwell within us and mold us; and that we then externalize them by using those gifts as we follow Jesus to actively help others.
That, my brothers and sisters, is the key to our own transfiguration. God bless you all.
