St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
Last Sunday after the Epiphany/Year B: February 11, 2024
Gospel: Mark 9:2-9
Lord, take our minds and think through them. Take our mouths and speak through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. Amen.
Over the past few weeks, I have been brainstorming and planning with the mental health professionals, who will be our primary facilitators for each session in our upcoming Lenten series, “Suffering and Healing in the Wilderness.” I was reminded of one of my favorite movies, Disney Pixar’s “Inside Out.” And, if you’ve ever taken a spiritual formation, or pastoral care class with me, you have seen clips from this movie.
“Inside Out” is the story of a young girl, Riley, who is suddenly uprooted by an unexpected change in her world—her dad’s promotion. While great news for the family, their relocation to a new city would be the source of great loss and grief experienced by the young Riley. The viewer witnesses Riley’s traumatic experience through her human emotions, personified as characters inside her mind—sadness, fear, anger, disgust and joy. As the avalanche of changes bombard Riley, the viewer is to notice that the emotions at the control center inside Riley’s mind, are not contained there; they are outwardly expressed, most directly, to her parents, the people closest to her. In the end, Riley would find that, with the help of her parents, and by embracing her emotions on the inside, the joy which she so desperately sought could be reclaimed as her broken world slowly began to be restored to wholeness. “Inside Out” is a compassionate story that reminds the viewer that our human emotions on the inside, have the power to reveal our authentic selves to the outside world.
In our gospel passage today, Jesus’ inner-circle disciples, Peter, James and John, just witnessed what would be considered in our time really “hot” news. Jesus’ outer appearance changed before their very eyes. The emphasis on Jesus’ clothes becoming a dazzling white, so bright that no one on earth could create anything brighter, underscored Jesus’ true unchangeable, divine nature.
In the midst of this dazzling transfiguration, Jesus was seen talking with the prophets Moses and Elijah. Moses was representative of the old covenant and God’s promise with the Israelites, which would soon be fulfilled in Jesus’ death. Elijah represented the arrival of the fulfillment of “all things.” The presence of Moses and Elijah pointed to the kingdom of God that had already come in the person of Jesus, and the not-yet kingdom come, fully realized when Jesus returns to judge all of creation.
The disciples were struck with terror when overshadowed by a cloud. From that cloud, God’s voice said to them, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” (v. 7). Suddenly, the setting changed. Moses and Elijah were gone; only Jesus remained.
I am struck by the word, listen. God’s command to the disciples, which is also found in Matthew and Luke, “Listen to him!” Hearing is a human sense which is dependent upon the physical instrument of an individual’s ears. But, listening involves a depth of perception beyond the
physical ear, and taps into a deeper layer of soul-communication—God’s unceasing revelation of God’s self.
Through the Transfiguration of Jesus, the privileged three witnesses had been entrusted with an exclusive preview of God’s kingdom with Christ revealed as the King! When the phenomenal event concluded, and before they made their way off of the mountain, Jesus restricted his disciples, and “…Ordered the three to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead” (v.9). After the Resurrection, they would be free to share what they had seen and heard, but not a moment before.
Leaking the “news” of Jesus’ true nature before the designated timing would have ignored the truth that God’s saving power over humankind takes place through Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, and God’s Resurrection of Jesus. The disciples were clearly expected to communicate the news, but at the time of God’s choosing.
This passage in Mark is called “The Transfiguration” of Jesus not “The Transformation” of Jesus. I make this distinction because transfiguration means that the outward expression of something is visibly different. The disciples witnessed Jesus’ outward physical appearance change, as the divine light emanated from the core of his being.
Transformation, on the other hand, implies that while external changes may be noticeable, the internal characteristics are also changing—unseen characteristics such as the nature, substance and character of something. Jesus was transfigured, not transformed, because Jesus’ dual nature—truly human and truly divine—did not change; it was outwardly revealed.
The transfiguration was God’s way of revealing the true nature of Jesus, and therefore, God’s own nature, to Peter, John and James. When God acted upon Jesus, Jesus was transfigured, and the three disciples, witnesses to this happening, were forever transformed.
When we pray, as individuals and as a faith community, we do so with the intention of listening to God, and feeling His presence, in the depths of our souls. It is that kind of soul-listening that makes space for soul-healing and discernment about God’s will directing our faithful movement forward or faithful stillness.
As we are nurtured by this community of faith, God acts upon us, so that our human nature and our character are nurtured into the full stature of Christ, internally transforming each of us to the unchanging nature of God. The nature of Christ’s light cannot be contained within our human selves; it exists to be the light of the world for those who are blinded by the god (little “g”) of this world, and for whom the gospel is veiled, as Paul said in our epistle today.
Through our baptism into Jesus’ death and Resurrection, our inner human condition is transformed as we grow into the full stature of Christ. Just as God acted upon Jesus to reveal God’s glory on the mountain, God acts upon us—the Church—to reveal His glory when we must come down from the mountaintop to labor on with our kingdom-building work as light bringers and hope bearers for a hurting and broken world.
In two short days from now, we will enter the holy season of Lent. It is a time in our liturgical calendar marked by intentional prayer; wondering and wandering in the wilderness; and engaging God with the intention of deep soul-listening—soul-listening that, by God’s grace, can transform us, from the inside out, so that we might show up in this dark world as transfigured, albeit flawed, beings outwardly reflecting Jesus—beings through whom Jesus’ divine light breaks through.
By faithfully responding to Jesus’ call to use our lives to share, without restriction, the life-saving gospel message in this death-dealing world—a world that thrives on physical, mental and spiritual assaults—we just might find that it is Jesus who faithfully responds by changing us—from the inside out. Amen.
