These are days of great preparation.

As a nation we find ourselves preparing for war.  More than 200,000 troops are now situated in the Persian Gulf, reports stating that another 50,000 are due to join them within the next two weeks.  Also in place are nearly a hundred navy ships, with 150 planes, including B-52 stealth bombers, scheduled to fly in early next week.  As news papers and programs report daily, the Bush administration continues to prepare our military forces for an offensive attack, ultimately, our leaders tell us, for the security of the global community.  “We seek peace. We strive for peace,” President Bush said in his last State of the Union address.  As we know too well we also prepare daily for war.

In Iraq other preparations are being made.  In a nation where 60% of the population already depends on a basic daily food ration, wells are being dug by hand in case bombing destroys water lines.  While recreational campers have cleared out of the desert, the borders’ refugee camps are full, people seeking safety wherever they can. With the UN predicting the starvation of over a million children under the age of five if a war breaks out, men and women are doing whatever is possible to prepare for the safety of their families.  Like Mr. Bush, they seek peace, and strive for peace, but as we know too well they also prepare daily for war.

Yes, these are days of great preparation.

As Christian civilians here in the United States we, too, are in a state of preparation.  Surrounded by the growing possibility of war, dreading another terrorist attack, and reeling from the shuttle and nightclub disasters, many of us are bracing ourselves for yet harder times.  Each in our own way, we prepare – whether we are against the war or not, whether we fear terrorism or not, whether disasters lead us to despair or not.  Like our troops far from this continent and the Iraqi people far from their homes, we ready ourselves for the yet unknown, giving us the chance to wonder how our faith informs these preparations.  Today we can ask, For what are we really preparing?

Looking at our lectionary reading from Mark’s gospel today we get a great lesson in Christian preparation.  Written for communities on the verge of falling apart, this story prepares a people for the worst by giving them a glimpse of the very best.  Recognizing Jesus as God’s beloved Son, the men and women of that first century received the inspiration they desperately needed to carry on.  The transfiguration is an account that makes them ready to live as faithful disciples even in times of violent destruction and disaster.

To understand how this passage can have such a powerful effect, let’s first go back and see a similar sight in the Old Testament.  There, in 2 Kings, we find the prophet Elisha (not Elijah, but Elisha) surrounded by enemy troops as the tribe of Aram seeks to silence his prophetic voice.  Not yet aware that he is about to be captured, Elisha’s servant comes running to him with the devastating news.  “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” his attendant asks in a panic.  Elisha responds, “Do not be afraid.  Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

These words may sound comforting to us, but they gave no such assurance to this servant who knew that the troops of Aram far outnumbered Elisha’s protection.  Careful not to contradict his master he didn’t say a word, but Elisha, sensing this man’s desperation, prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.”  Suddenly the servants’s eyes were opened.  He saw Elisha surrounded by horses and chariots of fire, realizing that sure enough, he would be safe and all of Israel with him.  Armed with that vision the servant was no longer afraid (2 Kings 6: 8-23).

This story was quite familiar to those listening to Mark’s gospel.  Writing for a community predominantly made up of converted Jews, this text from the Old Testament is one that they knew and loved as it so beautifully portrayed their ancestral trust in God.  Retold for countless generations it was a scene that offered the Hebrew people ultimate hope in times of desperation, revealing God’s abiding and inspiring power.

This is just what the disciples of Jesus needed as well:  they needed to be reminded of God’s abiding and inspiring power.  Having heard Jesus describe his eventual persecution in the verses preceding our passage today the twelve were much like Elisha’s servant who saw his leader surrounded by enemy forces.  Peter can’t stand even this thought of Jesus suffering.  “Never Lord!” he shouts.  “This shall never happen to you!”  Quite similar to that other servant he fears the capture of his prophetic Lord.  Much like that panic stricken man, his eyes are closed, making it impossible for him to recognize God’s transcendent glory and plan.

“Oh, Lord, open his eyes that he may see.”  Jesus may well have prayed like Elisha as they gathered on that mountaintop, for Peter soon receives the vision he so desperately required.  Witnessing Christ bathed in heavenly light and hearing the words, “This is my Son, the beloved; listen to him!” Peter and James and John experience a moment of transformation, recognizing fully who their teacher is.  Like the story in 2 Kings it is a scene offering ultimate hope in a time of desperation.

William Russell Maltby, Christian scholar and historian, writes, “Jesus promised three results for those who would follow him.  He promises that they will be absurdly happy, entirely fearless and always in trouble.”  Here lies the power of this story today.  Armed with the vision of Jesus transfigured, those early disciples were ready to embrace the promises of their Lord.  Coming down from that mountaintop they left behind their inclinations toward spiritual security and social correctness and committed themselves to the radical nature of God’s unfolding plan.  They realized they couldn’t be cautious any more, couldn’t count on Jesus to let them play it safe.  “Get up now; stop being afraid,” the concluding statement in Matthew’s account is most literally translated.  “Don’t chicken out, guys,” we might say ourselves, adding, “Now you know who Jesus really is.  What are you going to do about it?”

Hmm…  Aren’t these also the questions confronting us today?  Aren’t we also challenged to get up and get going, to put our fears aside and our faith into action?  What are we doing with God’s revelation in Christ as defined here in the transfiguration and in the whole of our Christian faith?

Martin Buber, the great Jewish philosopher and theologian, reminds us that “The encounter with God does not come to man in order that he may henceforth attend to God but in order that he may prove its meaning in action in the world.”  Just as Jesus tells Peter not to build any shrines that life-changing day, so we are called to come down from the mountain to share our faith with the world – in word as well as in deed.  Separating ourselves from the temptation to make our faith a private and comforting thing we recognize the need to move away from self-serving spirituality to a faith that changes every aspect of our lives.  We hear Jesus say to us, “Get up now; stop being afraid” – just as he said to Peter– and with those words we realize that we’re not alone.  By our baptism and membership in the church Christ gets up with us, leading us to serve God’s loving realm with other faithful disciples.

Yes, confronted today by the story of Christ’s transfiguration we remember that our vision must be cleared so that we can prepare for whatever lies ahead.  Just as the old proverb states, “If you close your eyes it's sure to be dark,” we realize that as Christians we must open our eyes – like Elisha’s servant and those first disciples – so that we may see God’s glorious presence right here in our midst.  For as we are surrounded by the realities of human fear, pain, and suffering, so we are also surrounded by the grace and glory of God, made evident in the teachings and healings, the outreach and care offered by Jesus Christ and his disciples – in ancient times as well as in this very day and age.  With passionate faith we open our eyes and leave despairing darkness behind, remembering, as in the words of Jonathan Edwards, that Christianity offers “undying hope both for this world and the next.”

So:  for what are we preparing?  Today we prepare for a vision of God that transforms the human experience, showing us that God’s abiding and inspiring power is always present through the Spirit of Christ.  For what are we preparing?  We are preparing to embrace the history of our tradition and proclaim its redeeming power so that others, too, may come to know and love and serve our Lord.  Leaving the season of Epiphany this week and entering the forty days of Lent we are preparing to walk with Christ in his radical and defiant ministry of forgiveness and reconciliation, a path that leads to the cross and ultimately to the resurrection.  These are days of great preparation.

“Lift up our souls, O Lord, to the pure, serene light of thy presence,” a Christian mystic leads us to pray, “that there we may breathe freely, there repose in thy love…and from thence return, arrayed in thy peace, to do and bear what shall please thee.”  Yes, as Christians living in a time of great uncertainty and strain we come down from the mountaintop this day to offer God’s hope to the broken hearted and peace to those oppressed, claiming with Peter and other disciples that we are unafraid.  God abides, inspiring us to use the faith and freedom with which our lives are blessed for the good of all creation.

Let us pray.

Eternal God, great Reconciler in this life and beyond, open our eyes to your glory and our hearts to your grace that we may bear our witness to Christ with joy, determination, and hope forever and ever.

Amen.

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.  And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.  Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.  Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”  Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
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