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February 3, 2008 Last Sunday after the Epiphany People of the Way The Rev. Dr. Larry S. Hunter
Some people are prone to, or perhaps open to, mystical experiences. I do not count myself as one of them. Our Christian story, though, is thick with those who have had some kind of direct experience of the holy in the here and now. Sometime it is in a dream; sometimes when fully awake. For some it has been dramatic; for others more subtle. Some of the great mystics of the Church seem to have lived in the conscious presence of the holy for years. Names come to mind: Julian of Norwich, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Ignatius Loyola, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, the list goes on. Others have had a singular “mountaintop experience.” People like Moses, and Peter and James and John, whose encounters with the holy we heard about today are surely on that list. It is, in fact, a long list. I would not put myself on the list, being the more pragmatic, one might even say, progressive, type of Christian. But there was that one time…
The rains which had battered us all day had finally passed through, leaving a cold mistiness in their wake. On the mountainside which the monastery was perched, not much could be seen. Shrouded in the white of fog and cloud, only the few lights from the windows of the library and the lounge and the light above the entry door pierced the darkness.
In the early evening I stood across from the main door, the single light above the door shining behind me as I looked out and down into a valley no longer visible. I knew the valley to be deep and dark, yet this night it was only fog and cloud that I could see. Having been on silent retreat for a few days, I was in an introspective frame of mind and of spirit. A thought entered my mind; or was it a question? “Are we entering a new dark age – one where fear rules our hearts and disrespect for the human person prevails, where violence becomes the solution and the response?” In a certain amount of terror I wondered to the elements, “But who will stand in the breach? Who will help us?”
Then I looked and saw that there was a shadow of a person, formed in the cloud, as the light shone on my back. And my ego thought, “Oh Lord, is it me? Do I stand in the breach?” And as I raised my arms in question, the figure became that of a cross and at once I knew the answer to my plea and to my question. Of course, it is Christ. Christ stands in the breach. Christ is the answer to my plea and to my question.
And then the wind picked and the fog and the clouds blew away and the shadow was gone. But for just that moment I saw and I knew….
Epiphanies are moments of seeing or knowing that which had not been fully seen or known before. In the gospel reading this morning three of the original followers of Jesus journey with him to the top of a mountain. There Peter and James and John witness a moment, a making known, an epiphany. What is made known to them is the true nature of Jesus. They had known him to be their teacher, their rabbi, their companion, their friend, their mentor, and yet more. What they learned in the experience that Matthew describes for us is that Jesus is much more than what they thought they had known. It is a spiritual event that they experience, and like all spiritual events, it suffers when it is over analyzed. Perhaps the best reflection on it is Peter’s own attempt to describe the event in the excerpt from his letter that we also heard today. One thing is fairly certain; these fishermen probably would not have described themselves as being very mystical!
In the simplest terms, these three men, fishermen, have a vision of Jesus, a kind of advance view of the coming glory of the Christ. Moses, the chief lawgiver and Elijah, the prime prophet, are in the vision too, so in the mind of those who experience it, the vision shows Jesus as fulfilling all the law and completing all the prophecies. As the vision is unfolding, they have an encounter with God, or at least they hear God. The voice of God echoes the words heard at the baptism of Jesus: “This is my Son, the beloved; with him I am well pleased.” Then the witnesses are given an instruction by God: “Listen to him!”
What these witnesses see and know is Jesus as he really is. It cannot help but change them. Oh, they can’t talk about it, in fact they probably can’t make much sense of it until much later – until they have lived through what is to come. There will be the journey to Jerusalem, the arrest, trial, crucifixion, desolation, resurrection and finally joy in the future. Only then, much later, will what they have witnessed have its full meaning and impact. Only then, much later, would Peter be able to put to paper his interpretation of the event.
But for now, the disciples had to continue on the journey. It is experiences like this one, what we call the Transfiguration of Jesus, that propel them along the way. In fact, those who first followed Jesus were known as “people of the way.” The word in Greek for way also means path or journey. They were people, then, on a path or journey. They were people who were living in a particular way centered in Jesus. They were committed to Jesus, and to closely follow where he had led the way. Those first followers were committing their lives less to a new “religion” then they were to a person and a whole new way of being in the world.
These “people of the way” found something happening in their lives when they followed Jesus and his way. His road became their road; his direction became their direction. Whether he was teaching in Capernaum, healing the afflicted in Decapolis, celebrating at a wedding in Cana, hearing a confession of faith in Caesarea Philippi, verbally jousting with a foreign woman in Tyre, curing a blind man in Bethsaida, or calling a crook out of a tree in Jericho – these early men and women followed. In their following they were to learn his manner of life which they would come to transmit to countless followers ever since – even to us today. In their conversion, they found the way of Jesus to be the way into a totally new life, into a new “promised land” of the spirit. They also discovered that it was the way home, even thought it ran through the way of the cross. For them, the way of following Jesus became both the way out of sin and darkness and the way into a new life in all its abundance.
As you and I face a life which teems with uncertainties of many kinds, it is good to know that one thing is certain. As we face a life where the person is of less and less value, it is good to know that there is one for whom we have infinite value. As we face an age with increasing violence and alienation, it is good to know there is an answer to our questions and our pleas.
And you know, the answer is the same as it was for the first people of the way. Follow Jesus. He is the way. His way leads to life. His way leads to the kind of life that despite the best sell jobs of advertising, money cannot buy.
The way of following Jesus leads to a life of ultimate respect for life – of ultimate care for creation and all creatures – of ultimate love for one another.
It is
the life that celebrates people over things.
It is the life that values relationships over winning.
It is the life that asks for selfless acts not selfishness.
It is the life that treasures you, not your car or your clothes or your money or
your house or even your accomplishments – but simply you.
Because you are a beloved child of God, made in God’s image, created in God’s love, sustained by God’s mercy.
The life that following Jesus leads to is a life fit for all the children of God. Today we bring two of God’s beloved to the waters of baptism. Today is day one of the journey for Charlotte and Blake. Who knows what lies ahead for each of them on the way – perhaps a mystical experience or two? Only God knows. One thing we know: their parents and godparents and all of us bear responsibility for their spiritual welfare and nurture and training. For no one travels this path entirely alone. What is the best way to help? St. John, the only one of the disciples to live until old age, near the end of his life was often carried into the Sunday assembly. When asked to speak, he would simply say, “Little children, love one another.” When questioned why he said so little, he replied, “If we can just do that, it will be enough.”
So, people of the way, we who have been traveling the path are now ready to move from the Epiphany season and go quickly into Lent. Yes, Ash Wednesday is three days away. How are you doing on your journey? I have an idea for a quick check of that. You know that blessing we have been using lately? How about reflecting on whether we are doing what the blessing charges us to do on the way?
Let’s see, how does it go now…?
“Life is
short
and we do not have too much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel the
way with us.
So be swift to love
and make haste to be kind.”
If we can just do that it will be enough.