Close Encounter, The Rev. David Dubay

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In Christ

David+

Last Sunday in Epiphany B
Psalm 27
1 Kings 19:9-18;
2 Peter 1:16-19(20-21);
Mark 9:2-9

Written to speak...not to read, please pardon the structure..

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The movie industry spends millions of dollars just to surprise us. Every day thousands of people sit behind thousands of computers screens generating mind numbing computer graphics for the cinema so that you and I can marvel at the wonders of Narnia come alive,
· so that the “magic” of Harry Potter seems like a reality,
· and so that we can travel back to ancient times and feel as though the cities of Alexander’s Greece or Pharaoh’s palace are still standing and shining in the sun without a hint of ruin or decay.

I don’t know about you but bad graphic effects in movies ruin the experience for me.
I spend much of my time judging whether the talking lion is real enough or whether the man in the dinosaur’s mouth is a computer replacement or a stuffed dummy. . I remember when the commercials for the movie Superman with Christopher Reeves told me that “I will believe that a man can fly”. And for a while I did. Now what I believe is that a man can hang from ropes in front of a blue screen… it’s disappointing.

Our imaginations have been compromised. We can see almost anything that can be conceived in the human mind up on the big screen or in the comfort of our living rooms as we pop in a DVD. Even the last days of our Lord and savior have been given a startling cinematic reality…. for those of us who have seen the Passion of Christ, our mental pictures will never be the same…our imagination will no longer suffice. It’s hard to surprise a 21st century movie goer these days.

I’m told that there was a time when a movie monster, which was really just a man in a rubber costume, frightened people enough to run from the theaters screaming. Inspiring real fear, as if the world of nightmares had come crashing into ours and the hidden fears of our private worlds were released into our almost safe existences.

Imagine, if we can without Hollywood’s help, the unexpected, wonderful and terrifying occasion of heaven, for a brief moment, crashing into earth[1] at the top of a mountain…Heaven intersecting with mankind, with the lives of 3 fishermen who had left their homes and families to follow a rabbi. What you would witness is the unconceivable. I can’t describe it fully and scripture only gives us the approximation that is possible with words.

Jesus had revealed to them, over the last few days an odd strategy for winning the world. “I will go to Jerusalem and die there.” He told them, “then I will be resurrected on the 3rd day.”
It was so much for the disciples to take in. Just imagine it… even if we could put it in a movie…the reality of it…it makes me want to change the subject… to move the conversation onto other more manageable concepts like teaching the people, or healing the sick, or preparing for the trip to Jerusalem. But this new reality was not to be avoided.

Jesus began to do “Kingdom” things. He began to give his disciples glimpses of what life will be like in the New Heaven and New Earth of the second coming. Jesus publicly heals a man who is deaf and unable to speak. Because in the Kingdom reality there will be no more disease; He performs the miracle which feeds 5000 people with only a few loaves of bread and two or three small fish. In the kingdom of heaven there will be no hunger.
Over and over Jesus opens up tiny cracks in time and space to show his disciples the brilliance of the kingdom of God. The overwhelming reality for which they will never quite be prepared but Jesus will bring to all believers at the end of time.
A divine reality that is as fear inspiring as it is joy inspiring… Jesus was not willing to shield his disciples, his people, and his church…from that kingdom reality… From that fear…for the remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, but if you do not fear God you fear everything else[2]

James, John, and Peter, known to us today as “the beloved disciples” were taken by Jesus up the side of a mountain…Some think was Mt. Tabor near the Sea of Galilee, other scholars think that it was probably Mount Hermon, which is over 9,000 feet high. Mt. Hermon, is located near Caesarea Philippi, Where Jesus had recently asked Peter, “Who do you say that I am”...[3]
If Peter hadn’t been fully convinced when he answered, “you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” He was about to get a big, overwhelming dose of the reality of heaven at the top of that mountain, which ever one it was. For on that day, heaven came crashing into earth. On that mountain top, the 3 disciples saw something they could barely endure let alone witness… A light so bright it that in Luke’s account of this event …it took the strength from their legs…a white so very white that they were stunned…2 of them too stunned to talk…one them, In most commentaries you’ll read that Peter was too stunned to say anything intelligent… He mumbles something about building booths, or small tents to memorialize and bring some perminance to the miracle that he is witnessing..

Personally, I don’t blame him. He had been exposed all at once to encounter with Moses and Elijah, and Jesus, shining now with the light and with the Godliness that would only be revealed to the world after his resurrection… It was 5 minutes of Easter on that mountain top. I might have babbled something silly as well. And just when it’s all just too much…to wonderful…God the Father has something important to say, “"This is my beloved Son; listen to him."

Can you imagine the retelling of this event at the bottom of the mountain… No…no..it was brighter than that…no I can’t describe it really…no. whiter than that…you’ve seen snow? Whiter than that…brighter than the sun…and then We heard the voice of God.
Listen to Him… God said “listen to him he is my son.” the commandment rings down through the centuries to this very day… Listen to him, He is my Son. not just some prophet…not just some icon of hugs and happiness… but the 2nd person of the Trinity…he who was and is and is to come…

Listen to him. Listen. The Kingdom is close.

3 things strike me about this encounter that I have been chewing on all week. I’m not sure what conclusion I can draw from them yet but I’ll leave you with them.

1. Someday, all believers will see this brightly lit Kingdom reality .. A reality that C.S. Lewis called “More real than real”. I believe that God still gives us glimpses at that light, that Kingdom light every once in a while here in this existence… We are challenged to help bring that light to this world as often as we can by being the intersection point through which Jesus breaks into the lives of those who don’t know him...as well as into our culture

2. So often the voice I hear is… "you are competent, you are the center of the Universe…listen to yourself." But this is not God’s word. I must do battle with my conceit if I am to honor God.

3. After the miraculous contact with Elijah, Moses, and the unbearably beautiful, transfiguered Jesus, the 4 climbed back down the mountain, into the valley…to continue the ministry and to move to Jerusalem and the cross…and the empty tomb.
I find myself in the valley more than on the mountain top. This used to bother me…but then someone pointed out that in the valley I walk…we all walk…with the risen Lord, who has defeated death…and who shines the light of heaven on us…over and over…with blessing after blessing. The mountain becomes less and less important and the Kingdom come…becomes everything… more real than a good movie….more powerful than my imagination… In the valley God speaks again "This is my beloved Son; It may be overwhelming…more than you think you can can endure…. But take heart...the Creator of the Universe is walking with you.

Listen to him."



NOTES
[1] Concept borrowed from The Rev. Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis – Repainting the Christian Faith (Zondervan, 2006)
[2] Oswald Chambers, The Highest Good (: Christianity Today, Vol. 42, no. 2, ).
[3] Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Zondervan 1984)