This story about Jesus transfigured on the mountaintop always raises more questions than it answers. For instance, one of the questions that inevitably arises is, "Is this a story in which the three disciple, Peter, James and John had a common vision? How can three people have the same vision?" Another question is, "Is this a story about Jesus' resurrection that has been inserted into the middle of Jesus' life?" And the most common question is, "What does this story mean?"
The story is consistent with Matthew's story telling content elsewhere in the gospel. Matthew likes dreams: Joseph has a dream in the birth story of Jesus; the dream is that he should wed Mary after all, that she has not been unfaithful to him. The Magi who visit Jesus in this story have a vision of Jesus as a special child, a holy child. The Magi are warned in a dream not to return to Herod to tell him what they found in Bethlehem. And Joseph has another dream that he should flee to Egypt and take his family for Herod intends on doing them harm. Matthew likes to record the dreams of the people in the Jesus story.
Dreams were an important portent in the ancient world, as were visions and strange visitations. Strange voices proclaiming that this or that person is a beloved Child were not without precedence; it wasn't an everyday occurrence, and it was treated as something very special, but it was part of the spiritual experience of that day and our day.
So Matthew used the vision as a way of furthering an understanding of who Jesus is. A voice is spoken, "This is my beloved Child; listen!"
What we know is that Jesus is linked to Moses and Elijah. Moses was the bringer of the Law, the Torah of the Jewish people, and Elijah was the prophet par excellence; Elijah single-handedly fought against the prophets of Baal. Both Elijah and Moses performed miraculous deeds—God was with them and they were revered by the Jewish people as the pinnacle of their tradition. And besides, any Messiah would have to be Moses and Elijah wrapped up together.
What we know is that Jesus is linked to Moses and Elijah. Moses was the bringer of the Law, the Torah of the Jewish people, and Elijah was the prophet par excellence; Elijah single-handedly fought against the prophets of Baal. Both Elijah and Moses performed miraculous deeds—God was with them and they were revered by the Jewish people as the pinnacle of their tradition. And besides, any Messiah would have to be Moses and Elijah wrapped up together.
What we also know is that Jesus was God's beloved. This is the same voice using similar words as at Jesus' baptism. "This is my beloved Child." Jesus is God's beloved, and by extension, all humanity, all creation, is God's beloved. God declares God's love for Jesus and for the world.
And further, what we know from this mountaintop experience is that Love and Torah and healing are about freedom, or at least that's the way I interpret it. For Jews, contrary to what many of us think, the Torah is a path to freedom rather than prescription for keeping all of the 100's of laws. Many people think of the Jewish Law as a burden, but the Torah is about freeing oneself from the burden of living and knowing joy in life. Love, too, is a freeing thing. Think of what you feel when someone tells you he or she loves you. That first kiss. That first declaration of love. But it is more than romantic love; it extends to all of human relationships. A parent telling a child, I love you. A child telling a friend, I love you. An adult telling a friend, I love you. Many years ago, I remember being told that I was loved. I was a much younger man, we were moving out to Ontario away from family and friends, and my dear friend Kevin told me that he loved. I said it back to him as well. It is hard for men to say those words, I love you, but it was very freeing.
Our latest Thursday morning book is called Storycatcher by Christina Baldwin, who, by the way, will be leading a workshop in Trail in the second weekend in April; she tells the story of an African tribe–the Babemba. In this tribe, when someone does something against the morays of the tribe, the people gather around the perpetrator of this misdeed and then one by one tell the stories of the things that this person has done right. The idea is to appreciate the person back into the better part of him or herself. (Baldwin, page 18-19) Love is freeing.
And the reference to Elijah is about the possibility of healing, the healing that can come to nations when injustices are overturned and the healing that can come to individuals once diseases are acknowledged and treated. There is an obvious sense of freedom that comes with being released from oppression. There is an equal release when one comes through a difficult disease. There is a sense of new life, a sense of new beginning. There is a sense of freedom!
But what do the disciples decide to do, as voiced by Peter, when they have their vision of Jesus, Elijah and Moses? They decide to build three tents, one for Elijah, one for Moses and one for Jesus. They want to make permanent this vision and make a monument. They want to freeze this moment and preserve it; they want to memorialise it, create traditions around it about how to approach this monument on the mountaintop, how to behave when one is around it, what to say, what not to say. In short, Peter, James and John want to create a religion.
But what do the disciples decide to do, as voiced by Peter, when they have their vision of Jesus, Elijah and Moses? They decide to build three tents, one for Elijah, one for Moses and one for Jesus. They want to make permanent this vision and make a monument. They want to freeze this moment and preserve it; they want to memorialise it, create traditions around it about how to approach this monument on the mountaintop, how to behave when one is around it, what to say, what not to say. In short, Peter, James and John want to create a religion.
But that wasn't Jesus' intention, nor was it God's. Sacred moments are to be cherished and celebrated for what they are, but not hoarded and hardened into monuments. We must let the freedom that comes with these sacred moments lead us more deeply into life, in our humanity and into the humanity of others. And Jesus said as much when he took his friends down the mountain and into the valleys. Life is lived in the valleys and we must share the freedom of this moment with others where they live, where our lives intersect in the meaningful places of the world.
There is a temptation in life to preserve forever some experience, to create a little religion out of the something complete with rules and regulations. But then the experience itself becomes the end rather than freedom, rather than being open, rather than love. And the temptation of religion is to create all kinds of unwritten rules about how to behave, what to do and what not to do, what to say and what not to say. The rules may define us in some way or the religious tradition that we find important, but they can also inhibit the Spirit's movement and the sense of welcome and freedom that comes from truly engaging one another on a deeply human level.
To be sure we are part of a religion, the Christian religion. We are followers of Jesus; we are people of the Way of Jesus. That is, we are followers who choose life and freedom; we choose to challenge the status quo. We choose to engage one another at a deep level. We choose to say, I love you to the world and to one another. We choose to live in freedom and be part of a movement that is free: free to be, free to engage, free to love, free to change the powers of domination. We choose to throw a monkey-wrench into the works whenever the Spirit's freedom is denied or inhibited. We choose freedom because to be free is to live. And we choose to live in the valleys with visits to the mountaintop every now and then. We choose this path, this path of freedom, because it is the path of transformation where the entire world can be free.
Let me leave you with a brief snippet from a song from South Africa about freedom:
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