Visions

 Mark 9:2-9  February 19, 2023  Transfiguration 

Transfiguration
James B. Janknegt

Today is Transfiguration.

The day that we remember when Jesus and

the disciples go  up on the mountaintop and suddenly,

Jesus is changed, transfigured, he’s pure white,

he’s glowing with light. And he is talking

with two great figures of the faith,

Elijah and Moses. It’s beautiful,

 

Some say that this is the resurrection story

put in the middle of the gospel.

It has some of those qualities.

Some say it’s a testament to the divinity of Jesus

Showing his relationship with the great prophets

and leaders of ages past. That’s true too.

Whatever it is it is a vision.

And I think that vision helped the disciples.

 

The vision is beautiful, wonderful,

so powerful that Peter offers to build three worship stations

and permanently post their whole ministry right there

at the top of the mountain.

But that’s regarded as a silly thought right away.

They knew that Jesus ministry was not safely at the top of a mountain. 

They knew their ministry was down at the bottom.

 

And immediately after this vision is over they do

go back down the mountain and they’re thrust right

Back down to the poverty, the pain, the sickness, the hunger

the dysfunctional and oppressive systems of the world.

 

And I think that the vision that Peter, James and John

received at the top of the mountain, helped them through when

things got difficult for them, they had that vision

to remind them that they were following the son of God.

  

Now a days, we don’t put too much

credence in visions.

If someone said that they saw Jesus glowing in light

speaking to Elijah and Moses,

most of us would be suspicious.

We would wonder if that person is in their right mind.

Were they crazy, did they get enough sleep?

 

Those kinds of visions are not held in high regard today.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t have visions.

Our visions today are maybe a little more pragmatic.

Our visions are moments we feel at peace and

at one with God. Our visions are hopeful imaginations.

Pictures of a better world, when God’s reign and justice

prevail. Our visions are glimpses of moments when

the world is working according to God’s will for all of us.

 

Today, God still gives us visions of pure love,

kindness, community, sacrifice, and joy.

We see people helping other people, welcoming,

standing up for others.

We see people who are in desperate situations,

coming back to rejoin life and the world.

We see peace where there was war,

joy where there was sadness,

hope where there was defeat, life where there was death.

Those are our visions that keep us going in times of doubt.

 

After the terrible earthquake two weeks ago in

Turkey and Syria, we’ve seen pictures of the terrible destruction,

but we’ve also seen the amazing visions of people

being rescued after weeks of being trapped.

Pets clawing their way to freedom,

adults calling their families from ambulances

finally saved after they all thought there was no hope.

Babies and children being brought to safety.

These are visions for the rest of the world,

as testaments of how caring and love can overcome

destruction, they’re visions for the rescuers who are working tirelessly

 under horrible and dangerous conditions to keep doing their work, 

and they’re visions for the people of Turkey and Syria

to not give up in their recovery.

These are real life, but they are also visions.

 

Visions are things that we can come back to

when things are looking desperate.

And they are also things that can propel us forward.

 

Jesus has given his disciples visions for us to understand,

to follow, and to emulate in our own ministries.

They move us forward and also to give us strength and courage 

when the reality of those visions seem impossible.

 

The stories of Jesus own life have been given to us

by the gospel writers of a vision of what

a community centered on Christ might be like:

 

When Jesus fed 5000 people with only two fish

and five loaves of bread, he showed us a vision

of a church that believed in abundance and a

community where no one would go hungry.

-When he touched and healed lepers,

Jesus showed us a vision of a community that

not be afraid to touch broken and hurting people.

-When he ate with tax collectors and sinners,

he showed us a vision of followers that would

publicly stand up for the unwanted and unloved.

 

 -When Jesus was arrested and told Peter to put down his sword,

he showed us a vision of non-violent resistance to injustice.

-When he was crucified, he showed us a vision of a community

that would sacrifice their own wants and needs for the lives of others.

-And when Jesus rose from the dead, he showed us

that the cruelty of the world could never overcome the love of God.

 

These visions of Jesus life and death and resurrection

aren’t just there to tell us how great Jesus is.

They are visions that move us forward, that give us direction,

that tell us what we need to imitate, how we need to act,

and how we need to change and be different.

These visions transform us—

Our community of sinful and struggling, faulted humans –

and form  us into the body of Christ.

These visions of Jesus transfigure us.

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday,

the beginning of Lent.  This is the time of the church

where we do the hard, spiritual work of transfiguration.

Where we walk with Jesus through his ministry,

his betrayal, his arrest, and his way to the cross.

And where we examine our own shortcomings and frailties,

our vulnerability, and our sins, and where we allow 

God to transform us into the community God  

needs us to be for the good of this world.

 

But before we go down that mountain

into the real, difficult world full of contradictions,

temptations, and difficult situations.

Here on the mountain top, we get a taste of glory,

a taste of beauty, a taste of hope, a taste of justice,

a taste of peace, a taste of what God’s full reign,

and what the Transfiguration of this world could be like.

Today, we catch a glimpse of the resurrection that is to come.