A VISION FOR THE VALLEY               

February 6/05

Luke 9:28-36

P. David Sholin

Introduction: 

My most memorable experience with this story of Christ’s Transfiguration came on a trip I took with a local Jewish group when we visited the Holy Land. We were on a tour bus going from one place to the other when the guide pointed out a distant peak on the horizon. He said that is the mountain Christians associate with Jesus’ trip with his disciples, Peter, James, and John. They call it the Mount of Transfiguration.

Riding along in the bus I tried to imagine what it was like for the disciples to follow Jesus as they came to that mountain. Away from the crowds there was a greater chance to concentrate on what Jesus had to share with them. It was an impressive setting for this particular retreat. The Gospels say Jesus went to pray.

In the distance was Mt. Nebo where tradition had it that God had buried Moses.

It was on a mountain that God had met with him and given them the Ten Commandments. Their lives were saturated with Moses’ influence through the Torah. Elijah had fled and hidden in the mountains where he was to hear from God

as to his prophetic ministry to the people. Knowledge of their past brought with it a real sense of the presence of those great symbolic figures. The mountain setting helped with that sense of awe.

Suddenly, without warning, the disciples had a vision. Mountains, light and clouds loom large in Hebrew memory of the presence of God. According to tradition, when Moses came down from being on Mt. Sinai, his face shown with light, and now, it was Jesus whose whole body was transformed to a bright light. There appeared with him in the vision the figures of Moses and Elijah talking to him. The disciples had been sleeping, but now they were awake. Peter says to Jesus, “Let’s build three shelters so that we can stay here awhile.  Then the cloud appears and a voice heard,

“This is my Son, my Chosen. Listen to him.” Then it was over and Jesus stood there alone. Millions of believers rehearse all this once a year. What does it mean?

                                                MOSES

Why was Moses in this vision? No one person was more important in Hebrew history than Moses. Abraham was the father, but Moses was the one who had been God’s agent to bring that throng of slaves out of Egypt and shape them into a people. Not everyone who followed him was a child of Abraham but they shared a common lot. He was in fact their redeemer.

Moses had a princely education as well as had the experience of years on the desert that equipped him to be the superb leader they needed to become a people. He had been called by God through the burning bush to that position of leadership.

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He also met with God on Mt. Sinai to receive the instructions that became the Torah, or Law used in governance ever since. Tradition had it that when he came down from the mountain his face shown with the same kind of light they saw in the vision. Hebrews 3 claims he was “a faithful servant, giving testimony of those things that were afterward to be spoken.” The Law, no matter when it developed, was referred to in Hebrew history as the Law of Moses.

That Law, or the instructions given for life, had come from God. Observance of that law, legal or ceremonial was the way Moses’ followers could be in touch with God, the source of good for all. The question has been asked, “How odd of God to choose the Jews.” Not odd at all when we see them as a pilot effort to illustrate God’s intent for the whole world which God had made.

Observance of the law helps the world to function. You could not even drive home from here without following the rules or laws that govern safe passage to us. There are laws that monitor the food you buy at the market or when you eat out at a restaurant. Without regulations you could not send your children to school. Guidance, safety, even what you leave for your offspring when you die are all covered by the rule of law, and you can get in trouble when that is violated or ignored. Bert Lancaster is quoted as saying, “I don’t believe in God. but I think the ten commandments are good for some people.” Good for some people??? We could not get along at all without them.

Moses’ story has been an inspiration for millions who sought liberation and freedom over the centuries. Slaves in our country used to sing, “Go down Moses, way down to Egypt land. Tell old Pharaoh, let my people go.” It was echoed in the Civil Rights Movement in our time. It is part of Orthodox Jewish ritual today all over the world.

Our own jurisprudence, going back through British precedent, Roman law, the Hellenic legal system, even starting with Hammurabi’s Code (eighteenth century BCE) all reflect the influence of what is found in the Law of Moses. We live by it.

No wonder that Moses is part of this vision given to the disciples and to us. The so-called New Testament Christians whose faith these days pays little attention to this Hebraic tradition are cheated out of the fullness offered in the Bible.

                                                            ELIJAH

The disciples saw Elijah talking to Jesus in their vision. No prophet in Hebrew history looms larger than Elijah. Orthodox Jews still put an empty place at the table when they rehearse the story of their liberation from Egypt. He was the champion of God’s insistence upon social righteousness against the amoral Phoenician Baal. He was remembered for his bitter struggle against the wicked king Ahab and his scheming queen Jezebel.

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The role of the prophet is one of the greatest contributions the Jews have made to the history of the Western world. Elijah was a hundred years ahead of Amos and the long list of Biblical prophets that followed all felt called by God to remind the people that they were to be careful observers of the instructions and laws they had been given in the Covenant.

Individually we tend to resent the prophetic voices in our experience. Your mother’s voice that says you are to brush your teeth or you will lose them in your old age. Nothing makes a better driver of you than to have a cop driving in the lane behind you. That reminds me of a time when my son was riding with me in the back seat. It was to be a long drive and son David said, “Dad, go ahead and drive fast, I’ll look out for the police.” When you are making out your tax returns, there should be a voice that says, “Be honest now, they might want to audit this one.” Come to think of it, you may not have to do that since our current President want to give it all back to you. Prophets are reminders that we need to do better in life.

Societies really resent the prophet or the ‘whistle-blowers’ in their midst. Remember what happened to Gandhi when he said the people of India needed to be free of British rule? Or what we did to Martin Luther King when he stood for equal rights for all in America? We are always in need of prophets.

Elijah is the symbol of all the reminders that make us look at the dark side in our nature that tends to suggest we can bend the law or break it just this once. The religious call to repentance is a voice that asks that we change our ways when we have stayed.  This aspect of life had to be in the vision.

The cloud then became part of the vision. It was an historic sign of God’s presence. Remember how it led the children of Israel in the desert. There was a voice as part of the vision. “This is my Chosen One, hear him,” it said. Then it was gone and Jesus stood before them alone. Those words were for the disciples, but they could also be an affirmation to the One who was to soon go to face the awesome power of Rome and the religious leaders of the Jews of that day.

                                                            THE CHOSEN ONE

We live in an awesome, mysterious universe. We know more about it these days than our ancestors did. But it is still so overwhelming at times. There is a spiritual dimension to it that is not separate but part of it. The Christian finds the meaning of it all in this spiritual, transcendent dimension. That is why the Chosen one needs to be heeded.  Jesus was a Spirit-filled man, filled with the Spirit of God who is the energy that gave us the universe. The sun that shines on our globe is a good illustration of how God shines through everything around us and is even in us.

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Jesus is quoted as saying, “I came not to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill them.” He did keep the Torah. His Sermon on the Mount gave that law in an even deeper perspective. He was indeed the prophet who speaks to all that goes wrong in our individual and corporate lives.

The voice in the vision said, “This is my Chosen One. Listen to him.” The Church that emerged from the work of those disciples was made up of those who did indeed listen to the Chosen One.  Christians today are effective when they too listen and respond. His law of love shapes how we go about being ‘law-abiding-citizens’ every day.

When you are driving slowly through a school intersection the thought is not, I don’t want to get caught speeding, but rather the protection of the children that go to that school. The deeper intent of the law is your concern.. Love for children that Jesus loved comes first, not fear of the policeman.

Years ago I heard a story that I have treasured. The mother of two boys, Kevin, age 5, and Ryan 3 were about to be served breakfast. It was pancakes. They usually fussed over who was to be served first. Mom suggested that they should act as if Jesus were sitting at the table. All got quiet. Kevin then said, “Let my brother have the first pancakes. I can wait.” Then he said to Ryan, “Ryan, you be Jesus.”

We live in a very divided country at this time. One has to listen to the Christ within us when in conversation with others these days. I have a brother who thinks the current administration in Washington can do no wrong. We talk only about the health of family or the weather and that’s it. Anything else makes me remember what we hear at the end of worship every Sunday, ‘Honor everyone.’ (We fought a lot when we were young kids.) Daily living calls for a lot of listening so as not to add to the chaos of the times.

In the world of Moses and Elijah the individual was always seen as part and parcel of community. Protestant Fundamentalism seems often to forget that. They want the individual to come to Jesus and be saved so as to go to heaven. To become a Christian is to join the community of faith that exists to be a blessing to the whole world. When we pay attention to Jesus’ message as Christians we are involved in caring about what happens to all of God’s creation.

So when laws are passed in our State or in Washington our concern needs to be whether they are fair and just, or do they promote greed or give special privilege to a certain few. Proposition 200 is unjust and the people in our State need to know we think so. Christ stood with the poor at all times, as we must.

Jesus was a healer. Christian hospitals are a fine chapter in the history of the Church. Health Care should be available to all of our citizens, and the insurance

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companies of the land need to put service above profits. The tax code must not benefit only the rich. This is not a partisan statement but a prophetic call for justice.

Politicians need not mortgage our children’s future for immediate political power.

The corruption in the marketplace cannot continue to be accepted by us without protest. There is much talk about freedom these days, but human rights for all cannot continue to be ignored. All of this and more come from a listening to the Spirit of Christ and not to selfish promoters in high places.

                                    CONCLUSION:

Moses and Elijah are plowed into the system, but the voice we hear as Christians

Is that of the Chosen One. The disciples had to leave the mountain and go back into the valley to face tough days ahead. Jesus was to pay the big price for his faithfulness and love for all. It is no different for us. If we listen carefully and live what we hear, it will be costly. Life was not meant to be easy, rather meaningful and an expression of God’s intent for our world.

There is a big flap right now in our denomination about whether Jesus is the only way of salvation and liberation. For us as Christians, he IS our Moses and Elijah.

If the rest of the world were to listen to him, he could be their Savior, their liberator too. If you have been called to follow the Chosen One, this story can be a reminder to you. LISTEN TO HIM.

                                                                                    Amen,         St. Mark’s Church

                                                                                    Paul David Sholin, D.D.