#MyBlackHistory Begins in Seeing Our Real Glory
We step away from the Old Testament text this week as we return to the gospel story of Jesus’ Transfiguration. Last week, we talked about our ongoing transformation. But here, it isn’t about us, but it is about Jesus. Some might ask what is our role on Transfiguration Sunday during Black History Month?
Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)
9:28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
9:29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.
9:30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.
9:31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
9:32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
9:33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- not knowing what he said.
9:34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.
9:35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
9:36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
9:37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.
9:38 Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child.
9:39 Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him.
9:40 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."
9:41 Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here."
9:42 While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
9:43a And all were astounded at the greatness of God.
We pray to the glorified Christ. We bow before the transcendent God. We invite the elusive Spirit to fill us with power and with love, so that we can represent this glorious God in our living each day.
But Transfiguration is not about our work, but the work that was done before us. Some ask who this event was for, this mountain-top experience. One view is that it was for Jesus, to get him ready for his departure, as Luke puts it in verse 31 of our text. At the same time, however, the voice that comes from the cloud is obviously for the disciples, who were trembling in fear on the ground.
At Jesus’ baptism the voice said, “You are my beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Here the voice says, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him” (9:35).
The voice was telling them, and us, to listen to Jesus. He will get you through the difficult days ahead. We are here on the brink of the season of Lent, a strenuous journey for any who take it seriously.
In this mountain-top moment, the offer of the companion is being made, and then he is revealed as capable, as worthy, as glorified, and able.
So, at the Heart of The Transfiguration is three things One Companionship, two Revelation/our Moring-time, three Glorification.
I would also like to suggest at the heart of Black History Month are the same three things. Being With God/Jesus, Being in Gods Moring time or Revelation and Lastly Being able to experience God’s Glory.
So Let Me tell you what I get from this text Point # 1 God is a God who is with you from Baptism to Glorification and Our Ancestors believed in it and demanded it of their faith:
I want Jesus to walk with me.
I want Jesus to walk with me.
All along my pilgrim journey,
Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.
“I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” is simultaneously several different things: it is a song of lament, a song of personal invitation, and a statement of assurance that Jesus walks alongside those who suffer. Guenther writes, “The slaves’ association with Jesus was of such a personal nature they believed Jesus accompanied them daily on their earthly journey and helped them endure its pains and sorrows” (Guenther, 102). This is expanded on by Gwendolin Warren, an African American author, who, while reflecting on this spiritual, wrote:
African-American Christians found great comfort and encouragement in believing that this life was only a journey¾a “passing through”¾ to a better place . . . As they passed through the bitter trials of this earth, their desire was that they not walk alone, but that Jesus walk with them. Knowing that Jesus, who had already passed through the fiery trials and come out triumphant on the other side, was walking beside them gave them courage to go on (Warren, 60).
Point #2 God will Be there>
We also see in the Next part of the transfiguration the need to connect directly with Jesus as when we see in the tradition of our Black ancestors Give me Jesus.
In the morning when I rise,
In the morning when I rise,
In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus, give me Jesus,
You may have all this world,
Give me Jesus.
Eileen Guenther states, “Spirituals affirm a complete trust in God to make right in the next world what was done wrong in this world” (Guenther, 2016, xviii). She notes, “spirituals are powerful, beautiful music of sorrow and hope” (Guenther, 2016, xix).
In his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave (1845), Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) describes spirituals as “those simple and apparently incoherent songs” with “strong, long and profound accents” that “breathed the prayers and complaint of souls suffering the most cruel anguish.
These assertions relate strongly to “Give Me Jesus.”
The origins of this spiritual appear to be a confluence of the white hymn tradition and the creativity and existential experiences of enslaved Africans. Numerous first stanzas appear over the decades with the refrain “Give me Jesus,” though the most commonly used initial stanza now begins “In the morning when I rise.”
The earliest post-Civil War collection, Slave Songs of the United States (New York, 1867), contains several slave songs on this theme. This authoritative source consists of songs collected and transcribed from African Americans who lived on plantations in the South Carolina sea islands—St. Helena Island, Port Royal Island, and Hilton Head Island—
The metaphor of “morning” runs throughout the spirituals. “As a rule morning signified to the negroes the time for going to heaven and for the resurrection” (Odum and Johnson, 1925, 100).
Lastly, one new and modern spiritual by John Legend and Common really sums up the transfiguration by announcing the most important part that God shows us Glory.
One day when the glory comes
It will be ours, it will be ours
Oh one day when the war is won
We will be sure, we will be sure
Oh glory (Glory, glory)
Oh (Glory, glory)
Taking the traditional Black Gospel sound of the 60s so beautifully worked by John Legend and adding the contemporary Rap of Common is a musical master stroke.
That the lyric juxtapositions Rosa Parks’ bus protest in 50s Montgomery, Alabama with Michael Brown’s shooting in 2014’s Ferguson, Missouri brings a prophetic force to bear (That's why Rosa sat on the bus/That’s why we walk through Ferguson with our hands up).
Then the lyrics cram in various prophetic stimulants that make the four and a half minutes powerfully potent.
There is Catharsis of the injustices (our music is the cuts that we bleed through) but that is all wrapped in a hopefulness that takes the spirit of Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech (Comin' of the Lord, my eyes have seen the glory) and makes it music.
Lastly like Jesus on the Mountain the song aloows us into the re-imagining of a more hopeful day (One day, when the glory comes/It will be ours, it will be ours) is anchored in the Biblical story as Jesus standing against the injustices of his cross (Even Jesus got his crown in front of a crowd) becomes the inspiration for the protest of Selma and Ferguson.
So in Conclusion Wesley I leave You with this :
One day when the glory comes
It will be ours, it will be ours
Oh one day when the war is won
We will be sure, we will be sure
Oh glory (Glory, glory)
Oh (Glory, glory)
