They Looked Up…

This prism has hung in my breakfast room window for almost eight years. It catches the morning light and casts sparkles and rainbows throughout the room. It was a gift from a dear friend during my first battle with cancer. On a particularly difficult day, a vibrant rainbow arched across the sky, and I had shared with her how much it buoyed my spirit and gave me the strength that I needed to continue on. She hoped that this would fill my days with rainbows and hope. And it has.

It’s not magic. I can tell you how it works. Sunlight is a mixture of many colors that together look white to us. When they enter a raindrop or a prism, the different colors of light travel at different speeds inside the water or glass. Because the colors of light travel at different speeds, they get bent by different amounts and come out all spread out instead of mixed up. Red travels fastest, so it appears at the top, violet travels slowest, so it appears at the bottom.

And now, it’s not unique. When I first hung the prism in the window, I was surprised every morning by the glints of light and color dancing around the room. Now, I hardly notice them. They have become common place. I can explain them. When other people come over in the morning, they notice, but I don’t really notice anymore.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell the story of Jesus, as he set his face and his feet toward Jerusalem and the cross, he took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain, and there he was transfigured before them. Scholars and commentators cannot explain what happened. Scientists cannot explain what happened. One commentary I read suggested that to make this text useful to ordinary people, the preacher should compare Jesus being transfigured to us being inspired to do something, to write, to compose, to paint. I don’t really think that is a worthy comparison.

Certainly, in that moment, Jesus is inspired, strengthened, his path confirmed. Surely this experience on the mountain gave him hope and strength to face what lay ahead. As he fell with his face to the ground in the Garden of Gethsemane just before he was arrested and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” I just imagine that he remembered God’s words, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” And gained some sense of peace and resolve from them.

Certainly, the appearance of Moses and Elijah revealed to Peter, James, and John that the kingdom is at hand. A prophet like Moses was expected to arise and liberate Israel from other empires. Here they are on a mountain, like Moses on Mt. Sinai, Jesus skin shines like Moses’s did when he came down from the mountain, a cloud descends on both and covers the mountain and God speaks. And the prophet Malachi spoke the word of God, “Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me….Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.” So, when they saw Moses and Elijah and Jesus transfigured, the veil was lifted for Peter, James, and John. Suddenly, they saw who Jesus really was, what his mission really meant.

And looking back, after his death and resurrection, they and the early church could see the connection of unusual deaths. Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness for 40 years, and God takes him up Mt. Nebo, where he can see the promised land – we got to go there this summer and look out from Mt. Nebo toward the promised land – it is the only green area you see from there, everything else is desert. And God says to Moses, you aren’t going, and Moses dies there and God buries him. Joshua leads the people into the promised land. Elijah and Elisha, his successor, are walking together. They know that Elijah will be taken that day. Other prophets confirm it. Then, as they are walking a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. And Elisha saw him no more.

It is hard for me to imagine the thoughts that must have been running through the disciples’ minds as they tried to make sense of what was happening. Moses and Elijah, God declaring “This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” – they fall on their faces and are filled with awe and at the same time are terrified.

Jesus comes over (reach out hand) – “Do not be afraid, stand up.” And they looked up and saw that it was just Jesus.

Scholars and commentators, preachers, the early church fathers, and I am sure Peter, James, John have tried to explain what happened on that mountain that day. Was it a vision? Was it a dream? Did it really happen? How?

Here is what I find remarkable about the story – the disciples looked up and saw that “Whew, it’s just Jesus.” They are used to Jesus. They know him. They are comfortable with him. He is not remarkable to them because they are around him all the time.

I am sometimes asked why God doesn’t perform miracles anymore like God did in Biblical times. I think sometimes the answer is that we have an explanation now and so we don’t give God credit for the miracle. We know what happens when light travels through glass or water droplets in a cloud and produces a rainbow. We understand the ways medical science brings healing. We even are beginning to understand the science that caused some of the Biblical miracles. I was amazed to learn that the island of Santorini in Greece was formed by a volcano about the same time as the plagues struck Egypt to convince Pharaoh to let Moses and God’s people go…and the volcano’s effect on Egypt would have caused the plagues. Our ability to understand and explain does not negate God’s miraculous and loving activity in our lives. It does mean that sometimes our response is like the disciples saying “Oh, whew, it’s just you, Jesus.”

As we enter the season of Lent, I invite you to look for God in the common, ordinary moments and things of your life. In the rainbows and glints that you have long since grown used to seeing. They are fresh every morning to give you hope and strength. Thanks be to God. Amen.