Let's Talk!
Posted on Mar 02, 2014 by David Whetter
For the past ten weeks we have been doing a lot of celebrating and it has been fun, hasn’t it? In December we began celebrating the birth of Christ, Immanuel, God with us! Yes, for those 2 ½ weeks beginning in late December we celebrated the great news that God came to us, as a baby, to live among us, so that we might come to know God. Then, beginning in early January, we began to celebrate the Season of Epiphany, the season of the church year in which we hear about and celebrate the many ways God revealed to us who Jesus was; God’s son, and our savior. These have been good experiences and in many ways, this has been our mountaintop experience for the year. By recalling this great story of Jesus’ birth and life, we have witnessed the truth that Jesus Christ is the LORD. For many of us, when look back on the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany we will look back with joy and have fond memories of this time. For some it will be the memories of our Christmas celebrations and the great times we had with our families and friends. For some we will look back with joy as we remember those great days off we had because of the snow, and for still others, we will joyfully remember the time off from work that many of us experienced because of the holidays.
Today, we bring the Season of Epiphany to an end, as we now look forward to the beginning of the Season of Lent this Wednesday, with the celebration of Ash Wednesday. Things are about to change and the question for all of us is, are we ready? In our scripture readings today, we hear about a couple of mountain top experiences. In our first reading, God called Moses to the top of Mount Sinai, where God said, “I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction" (Exodus: 24:12). From that mountaintop, God’s word came to God’s people.
Then, in our Gospel text, once again, God summoned his people to the top of a mountain. But this time, it is Jesus who invites three of his followers to the top of the mountain. Peter, James and John witness the transfiguration of Jesus. Can you imagine what that must have been like? Here they are, on the top of a mountain with Jesus, the one they Know to be the Messiah. Remember, just six days before this, Peter said to Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16). So, here they are with the Messiah, and Elijah the great prophet who they believe is the one God will send back on a mission of restoration and Moses, the great prophet that first gave the people of Israel God’s word. What an awe-inspiring experience! Then, just as we heard just seven weeks ago, God proclaims the same words he proclaimed at Jesus’ baptism, “This is my son the Beloved, with him, I am well pleased.” But this time God adds three more words, “listen to him!”
Wow! These three men experienced something that no one else had ever experienced. My guess is that they could not wait to tell the others, but as they were heading back down the mountain, Jesus said to them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead" (17:9). Jesus placed a “gag order” on Peter, James and John that day, and to our knowledge, they listened to him and they told no one. At least not while he was still alive.
My guess is, that for many of us, we believe that gag order is still in place today, don’t we? Think about it, how often do we, if ever, tell about our experience with God? Outside of this place, how many of us, talk about God and what God is up to in our lives? An excuse I am often given by people about why they don’t talk about God is that they believe their faith is private. Often times they will recite the very Gospel text we will read on Ash Wednesday about how Jesus instructs his followers to not publicly practice their piety. But as we will hear on Wednesday, those words were not intended to keep us quiet about God. They were not intended to make God a private God. No, our relationship with God and our experiences with God, are not intended to be private. Oh, they are personal, but God never intended for them to be private. The gag order to not tell anyone about God and what God is up to in this world was rescinded on that first Easter morning, over 2000 years ago. As we will hear on Easter Sunday, Jesus commanded those women who first came to the empty tomb to go and tell the others and with that the gag order was lifted. Obviously, Peter, James and John told their story after that first Easter. They want and talkd to the world.
Today, as children of the Resurrection, we too are called to go tell our story. As personal as our stories might be, God does not desire that we keep them private. God wants us to listen to Jesus. God wants us to tell his story, or better yet, our story of how God is in our lives, for in telling our story, we will witness to his presence in the world. The transfiguration story does not invite us to stay on this mountain, but invites all of us to walk out of here with Jesus into a broken and suffering world to share our story.
Brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther would remind himself every time things got difficult, we are baptized children of God. That means we have been publically claimed by Christ and through him we have everything we need to witness to his saving presence in this world. Today, we will witness the newest member of God’s church, Reese Boxberger, in that act of Baptism, God will publically will claim her, as he did all of us, and Jesus at his baptism. As awesome as it will be to witness Reese be baptized, we cannot stay here. We cannot stay on this mountain and keep this a secret. Once again, God invites all of us to come to the mountaintop today, but in response we are commanded to go tell our story.
It’s hard for many of us to publically tell our story. As we come to the end of this glorious season of light, we are now called to walk out of this place and talk. Talk about our faith. To talk about our experience with Christ, and to let the world know what Christ is doing in our lives. For some of us that is a story of great joy. For some of us, it might be a story of frustration, fear, or anger. And for still others, it is a story of sadness, or loneliness. But in each of our stories, Christ walks with us. Yes, as we will hear Jesus say on the last Sunday of this church year, in late November, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
Go, tell your story today and let the world know, that no matter what, Christ walks with you this day, as he does with everyone, even to the end of the age. Let’s talk! Praise be to God! Amen.