A Place Where the Sparks Fly

Matthew 17:1-9

February 3, 2008, Transfiguration Sunday

When I was young one of the things I used to love to do was work with my dad in his shop. I used to love to help him when he was gluing something and get the yellow wood glue all over my fingers, then let it dry and peel it off. My brother took this to new heights with his daughters by putting the glue on their fingers and telling them to blow on it and then peel it off. They had fun with that. The other thing I enjoyed was when dad would sharpen his tools on the grinder. I loved seeing the sparks fly. It was like our own little fireworks display. Two things had to happen to make the sparks fly. The super heated grounds of steel had to hit the oxygen in the air to create the sparks. Jack Walsh’s dad owned a steel mill in the Pittsburgh area. I called Jack this week to ask why, when we see pictures of the crucible of molten steel, there are always sparks flying. He said there is a certain amount of splashing that oxidizes as it hits the air. I did some research on it as well, and read that there is a moment in the process of the heating of the ore and steel when cold air is shot up through the molten elements and that this causes a shower of sparks. It takes the cold air and the super-heated elements to create the shower of sparks.

Now I’m not suggesting that what we read in Matthew’s account of the transfiguration is that of Jesus throwing off sparks. But I think this understanding of steel helps us to understand what is happening in the transfiguration.

First, I want to share with you that the transfiguration story is always read the Sunday before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. What the transfiguration story does is bracket the season of Epiphany, which is a season of revelation of Jesus as the Christ, with two accounts of the voice of God proclaiming Jesus as God’s Son. On Epiphany we hear of the eastern astrologers being led by a star to the baby Jesus. The next week we read of Jesus’ baptism and a voice from heaven saying “This is my son with whom I’m pleased.” Then the season ends with a voice saying “This is my Son, the beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

Now what is this story about? It is one of the thinnest places we find in the Bible between heaven and earth. It is at this moment we hear that the veil between heaven and earth is pulled back and we get a glimpse of the divine. But whether you believe that this happened as it is recorded, or that it is a story, or a metaphorical account, the message is the same; that when God’s world and the ways of the earth come together sparks fly. This is true in real ways and metaphorically.

We have to realize that at this point Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem. In other words he knows he is going to die. The visions of Moses and Elijah come not only because they are the two Patriarchs that we don’t have any death accounts of in the Old Testament, but Jesus is talking to them about going to Jerusalem. He is gaining strength and support for what he knows has to happen. If anyone knows how the world can turn away from the truth, it is these two. Moses had to deal with Pharaoh and the Hebrews as they grumbled in the wilderness. Elijah had to flee for his life when he defeated Jezebel’s Baal prophets on Mount Carmel.

Whether they realize it or not, what the disciples see on the mountain top is certainly unexpected, and in important ways, disturbing. Sister Joan Chittister writes concerning Matthew’s account of the transfiguration:

You see, at the top of that mountain before those apostles, Jesus does not appear with Aaron the priest, who was the interpreter of the law. Jesus doesn't appear there with David the King, the defender of the state. No, Jesus does not appear with symbols of royalty or ritualism. Jesus appears to those apostles with Moses, Elijah, the prophets. Moses, who led the people out of oppression; Elijah, whom King Ahab had called, "that trouble of Israel," because he condemned the people's compromise between true and false gods as the underlying cause of their problems.

In a gospel apparently about the mystical dimension of religion, there is a troubling, teeming undercurrent of turmoil, a struggle between piety and real Christianity, a struggle between religion for real and religion for show. The gospel shows us that Peter, in your name and mine, opted for piety. "Let's settle down here, Jesus, and build three booths."

When heaven meets earth – sparks fly. No where is this more true than on Mount Tabor – the mount of transfiguration, and no where is this more true than in the life of Jesus, the Christ. Jeanne de Celles, wrote:

Jesus did not get into trouble with the powers of his day simply by challenging his individual hearers. He challenged the very system of society – the cornerstones. Just as the values of Madison Avenue, Wall Street, and the Pentagon conflict with the gospel, so too with Jesus and the institutions of his time: he took on the power structures of his own day, religious and civil alike.

Confrontation was not popular in first-century Palestine. It is not popular in the twenty-first. To bring gospel values to bear on labor practices, governmental decisions, and religious traditions and policies is no more popular for a follower of Jesus than it was for him. He was told that they had their laws. Those who dare to bring his values to today’s world are told the same thing.

Yes, discipleship does have its cost – anyone who has dared to bring the gospel to bear on his or her own life knows that.

Religion is not about what makes our life easy and painless. Rather, religion is about entering the pain of others and both being healed in the process. It is about entering the pain of the world and working to bring healing and hope for all people.

Once upon a time a group of disciples asked an elder, "Does your God work miracles?"

The elder said, "Well, it all depends on what you mean by a miracle. Some people say it's a miracle that God does the will of the people. We say, it's a miracle when people do the will of God."

As Jesus found enlightenment on Mount Tabor, so too the transfiguration for us today means that we need to become enlightened. There are showers of sparks wherever the ways of heaven meet the ways of the world, but they also represent the beauty and life that result when we become aware of the world around us and enter into it to heal and transform it. What a joyous moment it is when we can join with God and transform the world around us. We can enjoy the fireworks!

Amen

© 2008 Rev. Dr. Thomas T. Peters