Exposed!
Sermon
You Have Mail From God!
Second Lesson Sermons For Advent/Christmas/Epiphany Cycle C
Today is the end of the season of Epiphany, which began the first Sunday in January. Throughout the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany seasons we have been celebrating ways in which God's glory has been manifested in the life of Jesus. If these ways were easy to understand by early Christians, Paul would not have had to write all those letters.
This is Transfiguration Sunday and, once again, we are presented with another experience in the life of Jesus that appears to be outside our frame of reference.
One of the amazing stories in the New Testament is that account of the Transfiguration. Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared Elijah and Moses, the two great former teachers, who were talking with Jesus.
Peter got real excited over this mountaintop experience. "Rabbi," he said, "this is wonderful. It's so good to be here. Let's hold on to this forever. Let's put up three shelters, three monuments, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" (Mark 9:2-6).
It was quite a scene and Peter wanted to make it permanent. Three permanent shelters with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah in them; what a tourist attraction that would be! Hundreds of thousands of people would make a pilgrimage to that place. Yet Jesus said, "Let it go. We cannot live on the mountaintop." The disciples looked around and they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. They had to come down the mountain and return to the reality of suffering and pain. As they came down the mountain they found a large crowd arguing with the teachers of the law. Next they encountered a boy with some kind of epileptic seizure.
What a strange person this Jesus appeared to be. His life was all wrapped up in mystery and holy times. But he told his disciples not to hold on to any of them. Peter, James, and John could not freeze the mountaintop experience.
Jesus apparently knew that a life only of inspiring moments and sacred knowledge limits the God who will be who God will be in the ordinary experiences of life.
For the early Christians, the life of Jesus was often seen through the life of Moses. Certainly a religious leader had to look like a religious leader and act like a religious leader was supposed to act in order to be accepted. In the epistle lesson for this morning, Paul utilizes the Old Testament story about the veil of Moses as an analogy to talk about the Christian life. The tie between the epistle lesson and the Transfiguration is an appropriate one. Moses, Elijah, and Jesus were the three great professors of the Judeo-Christian heritage. Moses, the lawgiver, Elijah, the founder of the first seminary, and Jesus, who is called "Rabbi" by Peter in the mountaintop experience, represent the totality of the legal, prophetic, and evangelical perspectives.
Paul harkens the religious memory back to the Old Testament scene where Moses comes down from Mount Sinai with the tablets of stone on which are chiseled the Ten Commandments. The people are focusing not on the tablets but on the face of Moses. They can see that something had happened to Moses up on the mountain. Moses' appearance has been shaped by his experience with God. It was in his face. Consequently Moses wears a veil over his face because people were afraid to look there. The Old Testament Jew is forbidden to look into the brightness of God. One had to be veiled from the glory of God.
Paul's message to the Corinthians clearly states that the Christian experience is to be the exact opposite of people's response to Moses. Just as the Hebrews looked at Moses and knew he had been talking with God, so people should be able to see in the face of Christians some evidence that they have been with Jesus. In short, Christians have an unveiled face when it comes to letting the world behold the glory of God. The love of Christ will shine through the faces of those who have encountered Jesus and through the institution called church which houses these shining Christians.
Unfortunately that has not always been the case with either Christians or their churches. Many of our doctrines have become veils which systematize the faith and hide the love of God behind tinted windows and closed blinds. In fact, a psychiatrist once described modern day Christians as being like hypochondriac widows living behind closed blinds or tinted windows, holding to memories of a dead husband. Christianity can, indeed, become a veiled experience, separating us from our fellow human beings as we retreat into what Paul calls "secret and shameful ways" (4:2).
Paul clearly renounces the "chosen people" ideal of legalistically keeping to laws (the Jews had 613 of them) as a kind of divine insurance policy. Rather than viewing faith in Christ as a divine aspirin to take in secret to ease morbid anxieties over our own health, Paul is encouraging his charges to expose themselves and let their faith become public as it interacts with the world around them. In this regard, Paul's mysticism shines through. He sees the love of Christ as a power pulling all things together toward their fulfillment. As others see the radiance in the loving lives of Christians, true freedom is experienced for those who see Christ in us.
Can you and I remain Christian in an affluent society if all we do is sit behind tinted windows and closed blinds, wondering about our own health and personal salvation? This sermon probably doesn't feel very comfortable, for you or for me. But, in the final analysis, I'm not certain how much God cares about our feelings. God appears to be as much concerned about the way we treat others in our world and the visions we exchange with one another as God does the way we feel about ourselves. God apparently wants us to expose ourselves to the public.
Paul's insistence that this reflection of the Lord's glory is an ever-increasing event cautions against an episodic approach to this exposure. We have a ministry that is to reflect the ministry of the Lord himself. That ministry of Jesus was very much a public ministry in which he called on those who followed him to visit the prisoners, feed the hungry, heal the sick, clothe the naked, and welcome the stranger.
On the sidewalks by the Tower of London, a man was busily sketching pictures in chalk. Near him sat his ragged hat into which people would throw coins if they admired his efforts to paint the sidewalks. All day long this artist worked on his pictures. Some were beautiful scenes of the countryside while others were of fruit and flowers that appeared to passersby to be sitting on the sidewalks. A passing shower would work havoc with the drawings. Someone would occasionally walk over one by mistake. The artist was forever retouching the drawings.1
Destroyed every night, the pictures were redrawn each morning, always by the same artist. Despite the polite form of begging, many wished the artist had used a more permanent form for his beautiful expressions.
The world is full of people who paint masterpieces in chalk -- people who exhaust all their energies on enterprises which seldom last longer than a night.
You and I are the exposed, permanent materials which God uses to paint to the world Jesus' vision of the Kingdom of God coming on earth as it will in heaven. This is why Paul uses such terms as "freedom," "ministry," "renounced secret and shameful ways."
In a country like ours where the disparity between rich and poor is growing and every 44 minutes an American child dies of the effects of poverty, a veiled faith will not work. We must do more than form clubs to discuss hunger. We must do more than debate the morality of the appearance of those who are naked. We must do more than offer the sick our private prayers thanking God for our own health.
If Christ truly be within us, the veil has been lifted from our personage. We are exposed!
_____________
1. This example is given by Roy L. Simth, "Masterpieces in Chalk," Sidewalk Sermons, Abingdon Press, pp. 39-40.
This is Transfiguration Sunday and, once again, we are presented with another experience in the life of Jesus that appears to be outside our frame of reference.
One of the amazing stories in the New Testament is that account of the Transfiguration. Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared Elijah and Moses, the two great former teachers, who were talking with Jesus.
Peter got real excited over this mountaintop experience. "Rabbi," he said, "this is wonderful. It's so good to be here. Let's hold on to this forever. Let's put up three shelters, three monuments, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" (Mark 9:2-6).
It was quite a scene and Peter wanted to make it permanent. Three permanent shelters with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah in them; what a tourist attraction that would be! Hundreds of thousands of people would make a pilgrimage to that place. Yet Jesus said, "Let it go. We cannot live on the mountaintop." The disciples looked around and they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. They had to come down the mountain and return to the reality of suffering and pain. As they came down the mountain they found a large crowd arguing with the teachers of the law. Next they encountered a boy with some kind of epileptic seizure.
What a strange person this Jesus appeared to be. His life was all wrapped up in mystery and holy times. But he told his disciples not to hold on to any of them. Peter, James, and John could not freeze the mountaintop experience.
Jesus apparently knew that a life only of inspiring moments and sacred knowledge limits the God who will be who God will be in the ordinary experiences of life.
For the early Christians, the life of Jesus was often seen through the life of Moses. Certainly a religious leader had to look like a religious leader and act like a religious leader was supposed to act in order to be accepted. In the epistle lesson for this morning, Paul utilizes the Old Testament story about the veil of Moses as an analogy to talk about the Christian life. The tie between the epistle lesson and the Transfiguration is an appropriate one. Moses, Elijah, and Jesus were the three great professors of the Judeo-Christian heritage. Moses, the lawgiver, Elijah, the founder of the first seminary, and Jesus, who is called "Rabbi" by Peter in the mountaintop experience, represent the totality of the legal, prophetic, and evangelical perspectives.
Paul harkens the religious memory back to the Old Testament scene where Moses comes down from Mount Sinai with the tablets of stone on which are chiseled the Ten Commandments. The people are focusing not on the tablets but on the face of Moses. They can see that something had happened to Moses up on the mountain. Moses' appearance has been shaped by his experience with God. It was in his face. Consequently Moses wears a veil over his face because people were afraid to look there. The Old Testament Jew is forbidden to look into the brightness of God. One had to be veiled from the glory of God.
Paul's message to the Corinthians clearly states that the Christian experience is to be the exact opposite of people's response to Moses. Just as the Hebrews looked at Moses and knew he had been talking with God, so people should be able to see in the face of Christians some evidence that they have been with Jesus. In short, Christians have an unveiled face when it comes to letting the world behold the glory of God. The love of Christ will shine through the faces of those who have encountered Jesus and through the institution called church which houses these shining Christians.
Unfortunately that has not always been the case with either Christians or their churches. Many of our doctrines have become veils which systematize the faith and hide the love of God behind tinted windows and closed blinds. In fact, a psychiatrist once described modern day Christians as being like hypochondriac widows living behind closed blinds or tinted windows, holding to memories of a dead husband. Christianity can, indeed, become a veiled experience, separating us from our fellow human beings as we retreat into what Paul calls "secret and shameful ways" (4:2).
Paul clearly renounces the "chosen people" ideal of legalistically keeping to laws (the Jews had 613 of them) as a kind of divine insurance policy. Rather than viewing faith in Christ as a divine aspirin to take in secret to ease morbid anxieties over our own health, Paul is encouraging his charges to expose themselves and let their faith become public as it interacts with the world around them. In this regard, Paul's mysticism shines through. He sees the love of Christ as a power pulling all things together toward their fulfillment. As others see the radiance in the loving lives of Christians, true freedom is experienced for those who see Christ in us.
Can you and I remain Christian in an affluent society if all we do is sit behind tinted windows and closed blinds, wondering about our own health and personal salvation? This sermon probably doesn't feel very comfortable, for you or for me. But, in the final analysis, I'm not certain how much God cares about our feelings. God appears to be as much concerned about the way we treat others in our world and the visions we exchange with one another as God does the way we feel about ourselves. God apparently wants us to expose ourselves to the public.
Paul's insistence that this reflection of the Lord's glory is an ever-increasing event cautions against an episodic approach to this exposure. We have a ministry that is to reflect the ministry of the Lord himself. That ministry of Jesus was very much a public ministry in which he called on those who followed him to visit the prisoners, feed the hungry, heal the sick, clothe the naked, and welcome the stranger.
On the sidewalks by the Tower of London, a man was busily sketching pictures in chalk. Near him sat his ragged hat into which people would throw coins if they admired his efforts to paint the sidewalks. All day long this artist worked on his pictures. Some were beautiful scenes of the countryside while others were of fruit and flowers that appeared to passersby to be sitting on the sidewalks. A passing shower would work havoc with the drawings. Someone would occasionally walk over one by mistake. The artist was forever retouching the drawings.1
Destroyed every night, the pictures were redrawn each morning, always by the same artist. Despite the polite form of begging, many wished the artist had used a more permanent form for his beautiful expressions.
The world is full of people who paint masterpieces in chalk -- people who exhaust all their energies on enterprises which seldom last longer than a night.
You and I are the exposed, permanent materials which God uses to paint to the world Jesus' vision of the Kingdom of God coming on earth as it will in heaven. This is why Paul uses such terms as "freedom," "ministry," "renounced secret and shameful ways."
In a country like ours where the disparity between rich and poor is growing and every 44 minutes an American child dies of the effects of poverty, a veiled faith will not work. We must do more than form clubs to discuss hunger. We must do more than debate the morality of the appearance of those who are naked. We must do more than offer the sick our private prayers thanking God for our own health.
If Christ truly be within us, the veil has been lifted from our personage. We are exposed!
_____________
1. This example is given by Roy L. Simth, "Masterpieces in Chalk," Sidewalk Sermons, Abingdon Press, pp. 39-40.
