[A sermon delivered to the Bristol Unitarians congregation via Zoom on Sunday 14th of February 2021]
(Readings: 2 Kings 2:1-12 and Mark 9:2-9)
The passage from the Gospel of Mark generates odd reactions form people when they first read it. Personally, I usually get to the line, “his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them” before thinking – “what kind of laundry detergent advert is this?!”
Yet, I want make the case that the transfiguration story in the Gospel of Mark is not an advert for the power or Ariel laundry detergent or Vanish Oxi Action stain remover, but is instead a clear advert for love, more precisely a particular function of love, that of affirmation.
Unlike toleration, as important as that is, affirmation is an act of love. If you love someone who loves you, you might have realised that it is not enough, no matter how secure and healthy you know your relationship to be, to just carry on without taking the time to affirm those who you love and your love for them. Even when we rationally know we are loved and supported by someone, sometimes we just need to hear those words, “I love you,” “I cherish you,” “I support you, am with you, and I’m on your side” from them directly. Of course, saying “I love you” is not enough be itself either. We affirm our love for the people we love though our actions as well as our words.
Indeed, we oftern make time for those actions and words on occasions like Valentines Day today. So, to allow plenty of time for your words and actions of love later today, I promise that this is not going to be one of my longer sermons!
So why is the story of Jesus’s Transfiguration a story of affirmation? Well for a start it happened on a mountain. No a mountain is not necessary for all acts of affirmation but it is necessary for this one. Throughout the vast majority of the biblical tradition, mountains are seen as liminal spaces, or what in the Celtic spirituality tradition are called “thin places,” essentially, they are where one can decern that the barrier that divides our world from the eternal becomes porous – for many of the biblical writers, mountains are sacred spaces where one would naturally go to seek the company of God and haven. This is the comfort that Jesus was seeking. In the preceding chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus has just foretold his own death. His disciples are not of much comfort, they are distressed, heartbroken and confused. Thus, the only option was to find consolation via some other rout – a path up a mountain.
So why did Elijah and Moses appear to be talking with Jesus, what could they possibly have said? Of course there is no definitive answer so New Testament scholars are left to make guesses but, given the textual and religious context, enlightened guesses can be made.
Moses is the supreme lawgiver of Israel and gained this status when God revealed to him the Ten Commandments at the summit of Mount Sinai. Of course, Jesus has not ascended Mount Sinai in this story in Mark’s Gospel. This mountain is either, according to church tradition Mount Tabor, or, according to some modern scholars Mount Hermon. Yet the comparison is clear. Moses received the law from God atop a mountain and it is atop a mountain where Jesus receives the affirmation of Moses.
And Elijah? Well Elijah is seen as one of the most important prophets of the Hebrew tradition. According to church tradition John the Baptist completes the cycle of prophets that was begun by Elijah. There are other connections between Elijah and Jesus, many biblical scholars have highlighted similarities between how Elijah was carried up bodily, supposedly into heaven according to rabbinic midrash, and Jesus’s ascension into heaven. Elijah’s presence then represents Jesus receiving the affirmation of the prophets.
Jesus literally glows in the presence of Moses and Elijah, in a similar way perhaps that Moses’s face is described as glowing in the Book of Exodus after Moses had spoken with God at Mount Sinai, or maybe in a way that is closer to home for us all and far more relatable.
Jesus either knew or at least strongly suspected that his actions would soon bring him into conflict the authorities of his day and that, as a consequence, he would soon be facing his death. Even if he rationally knew this was the right thing to do he needed to hear words of affirming love that he could draw upon as a resource on the rough road ahead. When someone you love is in a really bad place and you sense that they need your assurance and you procced to tell them that you love them and that they are doing the right thing, in that moment, you will likely see their face lighten, even though the tears. It seems likely that Moses and Elijah were affirming Jesus when they appeared to him.
This makes what happens next more understandable. What happens next is that the voice of God comes on the scene and makes a loving affirmation of Jesus also – literally calling him beloved. In the context of Jesus receiving the affirmation of Moses and Elijah this not very subtle intervention from on high is not all that surprising. When someone loves us and affirms us as who we are, we are provided with a reflection of the love that God has for us. Where there is love there is God, for God is love. When we take the time to tell someone we love them and affirm them, we are able to remind them of that divine presence that, though it can feel stronger or weaker, never truly leaves us. Quite simply, when we love others, we are helping to manifest and make known the work of God in the world and in the minds and hearts of ourselves and others.
This Valentine’s Day then, may we renew our vows to affirm though love and love though our affirming! Before we enter Lent this week let us take time to celebrate and indulge in what niceties of life we have safe access to in these peculiar times. Yet let us not stop loving over Lent, but hope that, over this traditional time of austerity and moderation, we may have cause to remember and reflect upon that divine love that is with us all, always and for all time.
Amen.
