“God can be found hidden in regular things, sometimes even in me.” This was one answer that I heard when I went around one year and asked people, “What does the transfiguration story mean to you?”
You see, that year I was coming up very, very dry as I tried to prepare a transfiguration sermon. That happens sometimes to preachers. The Spirit is surely speaking a word to the preacher, but for some reason the preacher just is not listening. And, that week I could not figure out how to listen to the Spirit.
So, I reached out to other people around me. I asked, “What does the transfiguration mean to you?” You know, that story where Jesus and his closest disciples go up a mountain and Jesus becomes all bright and shiny, like my shining little Jesus nightlight that I bought at the dollar store. The story where Peter offers to pitch some tents for Jesus and the shockingly appearing Moses and Elijah. The story where a cloud suddenly overshadows all of them and a voice declares, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”
I asked a number of people what the story meant to them. And, in the end I think someone convinced me to focus on the pitching of tents because I loved talking about backpacking and camping. I do not remember for certain what that sermon was about, but what I do remember, as if it were burned into my skull by the Holy Spirit was the answer a woman gave me, “God can be found hidden in regular things, sometimes even in me.”
For some reason, her answer made me think of Jesus’ baptism as we read it in Matthew. Matthew’s story of the baptism is unique because in it when Jesus rises up out of the waters, immediately the heavens were torn open and Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and Jesus saw it coming to rest on him, and he heard the voice say, “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” In Matthew, all of the action happens for the benefit of Jesus, as if Jesus needed a reminder of who he was. There is no mention in Matthew’s story of other people standing around.
Matthew does not want us to forget that Jesus was a guy who got dirty and needed baths too. He was “God with us,” but he was also one of us. He identified with us. He lived in this beautiful and harsh world, just like us. He needed to wash his feet and pray to God the Father just like us. I imagined that he even needed to brush his teeth just like we are supposed to; twice a day for two minutes. Do not forget to floss. My dentist would be so proud of me. By the way, I asked my dentist once what he thought about Jesus. He said, “I don’t know, but I really want to see his teeth.” What ever gets you moving in the morning, I guess.
To come back to my point, for some reason God the Father thought that Jesus really, really needed the gift of the Spirit, just like us, and God the Father also thought that Jesus really, really needed to hear that he was proud of him, just like us. God the Father really wanted Jesus to know that he was “beloved.”
Now, jump forward in the gospel of Matthew and this same voice bursts from the “bright cloud” overshadowing the shining Jesus and the fearful disciples on top of the mountain. The voice declares the same message, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” This time the message is directed at the disciples rather than Jesus, though I am certain Jesus felt strengthened by the words coming from his Father.
“Listen to him,” the voice says. “Listen to him.” “Listen to this guy who walks and baths just like you.” “Listen to his guy who was birthed and whose body will bleed and die just like yours,” I imagine the voice urging. “Listen to him, because even though he is flesh and bone just like you and will die just like you, I am going to do something great through him,” I imagine God the Father’s heart pouring out.
“God can be found hidden in regular things.”
And, that is what moved the woman about the Transfiguration, because we expect to see big and wonderful things from God, unimaginably big things like seas parting; and walls falling down; and men walking on water; and huge catches of fish, but notice that even these huge events, these huge miracles of God all came through very normal people. The shy Moses raised his staff and the waters parted. The small army made a loud noise and the walls of Jericho tumbled down. And, it is a humble guy who walked and talked, and ate and drank who stilled the waters under his feet and gathered together the fish of the sea.
“God can be found hidden in regular things, sometimes even in me.”
Jesus was a humble man, but hidden underneath the sweat of his brow God’s light was shining. God’s love was burning. Hidden away in a very real human body, God was at work.
Only when the going was starting to get tough; only when the threat of death was starting to become evident did Jesus go up the mountain to give the disciples a glimpse of God’s light; God’s work hidden underneath the threat and fear. The sight of Jesus shining with God’s light like Moses did when he was on the mountain of God, might give the disciples reassurance. The sight of Jesus on the mountain with two other great prophets, Moses and Elijah, might provide hope and trust. The words, “Listen to him,” might provide the disciples with a vitally needed trust in the promise that even though things will soon appear to not be going well, underneath it all, salvation is actually coming to the world. The disciples are to listen to and trust Jesus when he says that his death and resurrection must happen.
God can be found in regular things, like death, even death on a Roman cross. God can be found in regular things, like simple tombs on the third day…a normal work day. God can be found in Jesus Christ. God’s salvation can be found on a cross. God’s new life can burst out of a tomb. God’s loving presence can be found in normal water and at a simple meal of bread and wine. God’s healing can be found in Tylenol and in your mother’s tender hug.
“God can be found hidden in regular things, sometimes even in me” the woman told me.
“If God’s light can shine in Jesus, I guess that God’s light can shine in me also,” the woman believed to her core. And, here is the thing, Jesus believed that to his core also. One of Jesus’ first teachings in Matthew was:
14“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16).
Maybe, if we looked underneath our fleshy and sometimes dirty nature we would see that God shines us on the world also. Maybe, we would come off of the mountain, shining like Moses on the people. Maybe, sometimes God can be found working through our hands and our feet. Maybe, sometimes God can be found in us.
This came out of the mouth of a woman who had a very “colorful past,” and by “colorful” I mean terrible and sin-filled. Years later, after the really bad stuff, the woman would lay awake at night wishing that she could take it all back. She wished that she could fix it all. She wished that she could restore all the hurt. And then she heard the story of the transfiguration, and how God could be there, hidden away. And, she heard the promise of Jesus that she is the light of the world and she told herself, “God can be found hidden in regular things, sometimes even in me.”
From that time forward, she devoted herself to living a life of love and service. She devoted her life to looking like Jesus. And, she failed “sometimes.” And, she accomplished some wonderful things, “sometimes.” And, God’s light shined through her “sometimes;” only sometimes.
But, that was good enough for her because she knew that Jesus’ light was shining on her all the time. She knew that the light radiating out from Jesus on that mountain could not be hid. She knew that the light coming from Jesus could burn away and overcome the horrible things of her past. She knew that the light coming from Jesus could overcome crosses and tombs. She knew that hidden away in Jesus was a love that was so big that she could not believe that she went so many years unable to see it, how could she have missed his glorious brightness?
“Get up and do not be afraid,” Jesus says, touching his fearful and dust ridden disciples. “Get up and do not be afraid,” Jesus said to the woman with the “colorful” past. “Get up and do not be afraid,” Jesus says to you. It is time to go down the mountain and shine some light on the world. After-all, “God can be found hidden in regular things, sometimes even in you.”
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