Sunday, February 3, 2008

Transfiguration A

Matthew 17:1-9

TO FOLLOW WITHOUT FEAR

Beloved people of God, grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

AMEN.

My wife Donna and I recently watched the movie Blood Diamonds.  Blood Diamonds dramatizes the role the lust for diamonds played in the civil war in Sierra Leone in West Africa.  In 1999 in the heat of this civil war our daughter Mary’s biological father was killed by rebel soldiers during their assault on the capital city of Freetown.  Her biological mother died shortly thereafter of an unknown ailment.

Like most Hollywood movies some scenes and events in Blood Diamonds are over dramatized.  But the movie accurately depicts the rebel strategy of inflicting utter terror in the civilian population as a way of controlling them.  Some of the horrific scenes show rebel forces driving into villages and shooting, stabbing, and committing other atrocities against men, women, and children.  Often only the young boys would be spared and then turned into child soldiers.  Government soldiers certainly did not have a spotless record in this conflict either.

When I went to Sierra Leone in 2002 to pick up Mary, I met a 12 year old girl named Emma who had taken Mary under her wing.  Emma was missing part of her right arm.  She had witnessed the murder of her mother and father, and then a rebel soldier had cut off her right forearm.  Emma was adopted by a family that attends Joyful Servant Lutheran Church in Newberg.  She has grown into a beautiful young woman, but she continues to be reminded of what happened by her missing forearm and emotional scars.  Younger children such as Mary, who have fewer conscious memories of that time, seem to be less traumatized.

It is apparent that fear is a primal motivating instinct in human beings.  When threatened, we human beings tend to respond by fighting or fleeing.  Political and military leaders can utilize fear to sway a populace.

The threats may be real and cannot be ignored.  But the shrewdest leaders know how to exaggerate the threats to inflict maximum fear in people so that they will follow the leaders’ directives.

We baby boomers grew up during the heart of the Cold War.  Fear of the other superpower’s weapons fueled the nuclear arms race.  “Mutually assured destruction” was the basic strategy adopted by Americans and Soviets alike.  On the one hand, it was comforting to know that our bombs were as big and destructive as their bombs.  On the other hand, it was hard to rest easy knowing that a nuclear holocaust was a real possibility.  One false alarm might cause a shaky leader to launch a nuclear attack.  Learning about the Cuban missile crisis in 1961 tended to heighten our fears.  Events such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy in 1968, the riots in the 1960’s, the Vietnam War, and Watergate did not help convince young people that our leaders had things under control.  We may not have lived in utter terror.  But “mutually assured destruction” could only go so far in calming the fears of the civilian populace.

The Cold War is over.  Although the United States and Russia still have significant nuclear arsenals, the fear of a nuclear holocaust seems to have diminished.  Since 9/11 the threat of terrorist attacks seems to have moved front and center.  The worst case scenario is a terrorist organization or rogue nation gaining access to a nuclear weapon and using it to inflict terror.  We Americans are fearful enough of terrorist attacks that we have shown a willingness to give up some of our civil liberties.

Political leaders are not the only ones who prey on our fears to motivate our behavior.  Advertisers are often experts in doing so.  For example, many pharmaceutical companies are notorious for preying on our health fears to motivate us to buy their products.  Anyone who has had to deal with serious health issues knows how difficult it can be not to yield to fear.  Often it is the uncertainty of what ails us that can be the most debilitating.

Fear of losing a job, fear of a relationship going sour, fear of sinful behavior being exposed—  all such fears can control our lives.  They set us up to be preyed upon by the unscrupulous.

Religious leaders have not been above using our fears to control our behavior.  There is a long tradition in the church of preaching hell, fire, and damnation in an effort to motivate belief in God.  One of the most famous sermons in American church history was Jonathon Edward’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”  I remember our American History professor sharing an image from this sermon in class.  In describing our relationship with God Edwards said that it was if God was holding us by a thin string over a pit of vipers and anytime God could just—let go.

God does not intend for fear to control our lives.  This does not rule out prudent actions to address real threats.  But living by fear is a debilitating way of life.  As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in his first inaugural address to a nation traumatized by depression, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

God offers us another way of life—the way of faith.  We are invited to follow Jesus without fear.  The opposite of faith is not unbelief.  The opposite of living by faith is living by fear.

In our gospel account of the transfiguration of Jesus, it is easy to get caught up in the miraculous aspects of this mountaintop experience.  Jesus’ face shines like the sun, and his clothes become dazzling white.  Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus.  A bright cloud overshadows them.  A voice from the cloud speaks to Peter, James, and John.

These miraculous aspects certainly get         the disciples’ attention.  They become aware that they are in the presence of almighty God and that Jesus is God’s beloved Son.  But the primary message of this transfiguration experience is to follow Jesus without fear.

When the voice of God speaks from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”—their initial reaction is to fall on the ground, overcome with fear.  But that is not what God wants for them.  Jesus enacts God’s intention for them.  He comes and gently touches them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”  They are to listen to Jesus, to follow him without fear.  Indeed, they obediently follow him down the mountain.

Over and over again the people of God are exhorted in the biblical witness not to be afraid.  With the Red Sea before them and the Pharaoh and his army closing in from behind, the people of Israel are gripped with fear.  They say to Moses, “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”  But Moses responds, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today.”

In Isaiah 43:1 the Lord assures the people of God in exile in Babylon: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.”  Then in verse 5 he adds: “Do not fear, for I am with you.”  He goes on to assure them that he will gather them together once more.  They can count on his presence.  They have not been abandoned.  They do not need to live in fear.

In Matthew 14 when Jesus comes walking on the water to the disciples, they cry out in fear thinking they are seeing a ghost.  But immediately Jesus speaks to them, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Many tried to silence the apostle Paul.  But he would not be silenced.  In Acts 18:9 we are told: “One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision,           `Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent;          for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you.’”

The biblical witness continually assures the people of God of God’s presence.  In the presence of God we need not live in fear.  The account of the transfiguration identifies who we are to follow in life.  To follow Jesus without fear is the way of life God intends for us.

The transfiguration of Jesus prefigures the resurrection.  This mountaintop experience assures the disciples that they can follow Jesus without fear.  Yes, the way may include suffering and hardship.  We will face threats along the way.  We will be tempted to yield to our fears.  But God will not abandon us.  Jesus will not lead us astray.  Whatever transpires along the way in life—nothing can keep us from the final destiny God intends for us.

Once we have been to the mountaintop and glimpsed the glory of Jesus, if only for a brief moment, once we have felt the gentle touch of Jesus and heard him say, “Get up and have no fear”-- we can follow him down from the mountain without fear.  By faith we can follow Jesus wherever he may lead and face whatever life may bring with courage and strength.

In Jesus’ name, AMEN.