February 25, 2024, Lent 2
Mark 9:2-9
Text Introduction
This story is known as the Transfiguration—the second most definitive revelation of Jesus as divine—the first being his resurrection. The Transfiguration shows Jesus to be greater than the Law and the Prophets and that he was the beginning of the new covenant of grace and love that brings humanity to salvation and glory to God.
And while this is important, understanding context and tone are key here.
Introduction
The Transfiguration is a really big deal. But it’s really confusing. And it’s pretty terrifying for Peter, James and John. And if we were on that mountain with Jesus and Peter, James, and John, we would be pretty freaked out too. First off, Jesus is glowing! His clothes have turned whiter than the whitest white. And if that wasn’t weird enough, there’s also the three religious superstars—Moses, Elijah, and Jesus— just hanging out, talking, and catching up with one another.
Clearly this is no ordinary day, and the disciples have no idea what is going on. They can’t explain it. There are literally no words to describe what’s happening. They have no idea what to think or what to feel, so naturally—because when we can’t explain or control situations we get scared—Peter, James, and John are terrified. And prompted by his terror, Peter says, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’
Now when we understand the setting, context, and tone of this story, we’ll realize this response by Peter is similar to what any of us would do in a scary, unsettling, and awkward moment. Offering to build dwellings for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah is the equivalent to when the dining room falls silent at Thanksgiving dinner right after a knock down-drag out politically religious argument finally comes to an awful and ugly end via personal attacks and insults, and the matriarch of the family, desperate to ease the tensions, despite being dazed and bewildered, says, “Would anyone like pie?” It’s being gracious while trying to suppress fear. It’s a distraction while still being present. It’s pretending everything is fine when you know it’s not. Offering to build dwellings is like offering pie—it’s active busy work. It would give the disciples something to do. They could design and gather and saw and hammer. They could take the energy from this other-worldly experience and channel it into something familiar. They could feel like they were contributing, like they were in control of the situation instead of saying, “Uhhh, guys… Jesus is glowing. He’s glowing y’all. Why is Jesus glowing?!”
And that’s why we would be right there with Peter, James, and John—awkwardly hammering away, desperately trying not to stare while still mumbling, Why is Jesus glowing?!” And when the dwellings were built, and we still didn’t know what to do, and we were still freaked out, we would bake pies, entertain Jesus and his guests, all while trying to get a sly selfie with Jesus in the background so we could post it on social media with a message that says, “You’ll never believe this! #JesusGlows!”
But Peter doesn’t get to build anything because almost as soon as the words are out of his mouth, God breaks into the scene to make things even more mysterious and terrifying. God declares, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
Move 1
If you were here last Sunday, then I hope this announcement, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” sounds familiar. It’s almost the exact same wording God uses in last week’s scripture reading about Jesus’ baptism. God again declares Jesus to be God’s Beloved Son. But there is one key difference in these two passages from Mark. In the baptism story, God makes a statement to Jesus: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” But now, in this second pronouncement, God makes a statement about Jesus: ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ And here is why they are similar, yet different…
The first declaration of belovedness is for Jesus’ benefit. But this second declaration is for our benefit. Now that Jesus knows he is beloved, God wants to be sure we too understand Jesus is beloved. But what’s happening here doesn’t stop there.
Last week we witnessed Jesus being baptized— something that happens to humans—and God’s declaring him beloved. This week we are watching Jesus being transfigured, something that only happens to Jesus— and God’s declaring him beloved. Bring the two together and we see and understand Jesus is beloved as both human and divine.
But what’s happening here doesn’t stop there either. Following this declaration of belovedness, God then adds, “Listen to him!” Listen to him—that’s what the disciples are called to do, and that’s what all of us are called to do: Listen to Jesus. And we are to listen to Jesus because… In listening, we hear who God is—a God who loves us deeply. In listening, we hear we are beloved children of God. In listening, we hear our call to love and worship God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is in our listening that we are led to our belovedness. Which is why God so clearly, and distinctly says, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
Move 2
Now that command—“Listen to him”—might seem like an easy one to live out, but we all know listening is rarely simple, and much more difficult than we anticipate. After all, we’re conditioned to be active—to be and to do. We like to stay busy, online and connected; we like to be in control, we like to produce—all of which doesn’t allow for us to listen, to receive a message.
Did anyone have trouble with their phones on Thursday when three major cell phone carriers— AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile—all experienced massive outages? Understandably people were troubled and inconvenienced, but some were flat out scared thinking we were under attack. I was somewhat befuddled when I heard that in certain cites where outages were most prevalent, police were encouraging people to use a landline if they needed to call 911.
Listening, receiving messages, is really hard because listening requires stopping, staying still, unplugging. Listening requires giving up control and being patient. Listening even requires courage, because we may have to hear something we don’t want to hear or are not ready to hear. And because listening requires these prerequisites, many of us aren’t good at listening. And because we aren’t good at listening, when we hear God say, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” we are often left dazed and bewildered, asking, “Would anyone like pie?”
Move 3
Last week’s scripture about Jesus’ baptism, and this week’s scripture about Jesus’ transfiguration both emphasize the need for listening. Both these texts emphasize Jesus’ belovedness, but they also emphasize we too are God’s beloved.
But this is not something we are always so convinced of. It’s not easy for us to acknowledge and accept that we are beloved. As great as being beloved sounds, our baggage and cultural messages get in the way of owning this truth for ourselves. And often the message and idea that we are beloved can make us uncomfortable. Like Peter, we’d rather keep busy and stay one step ahead of the doubts and fears that tell us we are anything but beloved. But it is because of these reasons God calls us to listen to Jesus.
Cultural busyness, mis-prioritized baggage, self-critical judgement, fear—all of these tell us we are anything but beloved. But Jesus—God’s beloved—tells us the truth, we are beloved. We are deserving of being called beloved. Because that is what God declares as the truth.
In watching God confirm Jesus’ belovedness a second time in Mark 9, we begin to see how God is willing to repeat this message over and over, as often as we need to hear it, until we are convinced: We are God’s beloved. We are God’s beloved. When we take time for beloved listening, we hear our truth: We are God’s beloved. When we take time for beloved listening, we are healed. When we take time for beloved listening, we begin to understand our belovedness, we begin to believe it, and we learn how to live into it.
And when all of this—truth, healing, understanding, belief, and living into it—when all comes together in our minds hearts and spirits, that is when the transfiguration is complete, and the dwelling place Peter wants to build is actually built.
Conclusion
Peter doesn’t get to build the dwellings he offers to build because there’s no need for them—because they already exist. Peter doesn’t get to build the dwellings for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus because God is calling Peter himself to be the dwelling.
God is calling Peter beloved. And when he lives into his belovedness, Peter becomes transfigured in a manner of speaking. By embodying Jesus’ words, by living them out, Peter becomes the dwelling place he wants to build.
And when we begin to embody Jesus’ words— when we accept them and begin to live them out—then we become the dwelling place for Jesus too. We become the vessels that carries Jesus’ message of belovedness to the world.
*******
Admittedly, this all takes time—which is why we’re spending Lent learning to listen for God calling us beloved. But we’ll need more time to sit with this truth, question it, and resist it before we can finally own it. And that’s among the reasons Jesus tells the disciples in verse nine not to share what they have seen and heard that day. Jesus knows, and understands, they don’t understand what has happened.
Just as Jesus needed forty days in the wilderness, he knows Peter, James, and John need time to process their experience, and sit with it to begin to understand before they can share the Good News.
And Jesus understands we need to go through that same process to own our belovedness. We’ll need to be patient. We’ll need to follow the way of the beloved and practice this way so that we can eventually own it. And if we can find patience and practice sitting and listen to Jesus, then over time we will begin to hear what he is saying to us. We will hear his message of deep love. We will begin to embody it, owning our belovedness, sharing it. And when we do all this, starting with beloved listening, then, in our own way, God will also transfigure us as well. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, February 25, 2024, Lent 2
Beloved God, like Peter, we often build dwellings to keep busy and stay distracted. We avoid being present to your call by focusing on something else—doing so because it is difficult to stay present. It’s difficult to slow down, let alone stop. It’s difficult to hear ourselves think with all the noise bombarding our ears and minds—let alone listen to you. And even if we were to somehow find a way to listen, we still struggle to accept your truth that we are your beloved.
Gracious God, help us see excuses are actually the reasons why we need to stop and listen. Help us realize you are unrelenting in telling us we are your beloved. Then remind us, beyond these walls, that listening to Jesus will always serve us far better than listening to the voices of the world. Guide us to see through the lies our culture derides us with day in and day out, messages of worthiness only through prosperity and winning at any cost. Strengthen us to own the truth, and live the truth, that no matter what, we are your beloved. And then, get us moving again, by using us to share your Good News with others. Help us show others what will be when they listen to your words, your truth, your declaration that they are your beloved.
Holy God, just as you transfigured Jesus into a dwelling place for your Good News, transfigure each of us to embody Jesus’ message that belovedness is not determined by the world, rather belovedness is given by you, freely, without condition, because we belong to you, and to you alone. And in those moments when we are busying ourselves, working ourselves into a frenzy so we might be noticed or liked more, move us to stop, again, and listen to you and to you alone, so we hear, clearly, we are already enough because we are your beloved.
We humbly ask that you would listen now, O God, to the prayers we lift in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of your holy and beloved Son Jesus, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”