What Boggles Your Mind?
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series VI, Cycle A
Object:
The day had started off ordinarily enough -- Jesus and his three closest friends went up on a high mountain. Nothing unusual. Jesus often went off from the crowds to pray and rest. Nothing particularly mind-boggling about that.
But from there on, the boggling began in earnest. No sooner did they arrive, than Jesus was suddenly "transfigured." He "glowed." As the text has it, "His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light." Wow! And if that is not mind-boggling enough, two of faith's most honored dead guys suddenly appeared by Jesus' side. Moses, the great law-giver, and Elijah, the prophet par excellence -- the Law and the Prophets -- paying respect to Jesus, in whom both are brought together. This is both literally and figuratively a "mountaintop experience." No wonder Peter, James, and John were terrified.
Of course, a little terror never stopped Peter from speaking up; for lack of any other ideas, he suggested erecting three shelters to commemorate the event, but the scripture reads that before he could even finish speaking, God interrupted and said, "Listen." Big-time boggle! It was so extraordinary that when it was all over, and Jesus and Peter and James and John were headed back down the mountain, Jesus told them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen." That made sense. Who would have believed it anyway? But the three of them believed it. They had been there, and those moments on that mountain would forever mark their lives and change the way they looked at everything. Certain mind-boggling moments have a way of doing that.
Sam Shoemaker, one of the great preachers in the first half of the last century, confessed that during his seminary days, as he studied and reflected on God and creation, he found it difficult to imagine how the Lord could even think about these little specks of life called human beings. How could God have time for us when there was so much more to demand the divine attention? Shoemaker explained his thoughts to one of his professors, an eminently wise man. "Mr. Shoemaker," he said, "your problem is that your God is too small. God takes care of the sun, the moon, and the stars with just a word. Now, God has all the time in the world just for you and me." Mind-boggling.
But from there on, the boggling began in earnest. No sooner did they arrive, than Jesus was suddenly "transfigured." He "glowed." As the text has it, "His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light." Wow! And if that is not mind-boggling enough, two of faith's most honored dead guys suddenly appeared by Jesus' side. Moses, the great law-giver, and Elijah, the prophet par excellence -- the Law and the Prophets -- paying respect to Jesus, in whom both are brought together. This is both literally and figuratively a "mountaintop experience." No wonder Peter, James, and John were terrified.
Of course, a little terror never stopped Peter from speaking up; for lack of any other ideas, he suggested erecting three shelters to commemorate the event, but the scripture reads that before he could even finish speaking, God interrupted and said, "Listen." Big-time boggle! It was so extraordinary that when it was all over, and Jesus and Peter and James and John were headed back down the mountain, Jesus told them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen." That made sense. Who would have believed it anyway? But the three of them believed it. They had been there, and those moments on that mountain would forever mark their lives and change the way they looked at everything. Certain mind-boggling moments have a way of doing that.
Sam Shoemaker, one of the great preachers in the first half of the last century, confessed that during his seminary days, as he studied and reflected on God and creation, he found it difficult to imagine how the Lord could even think about these little specks of life called human beings. How could God have time for us when there was so much more to demand the divine attention? Shoemaker explained his thoughts to one of his professors, an eminently wise man. "Mr. Shoemaker," he said, "your problem is that your God is too small. God takes care of the sun, the moon, and the stars with just a word. Now, God has all the time in the world just for you and me." Mind-boggling.
