While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”  When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.  (Matthew 17: 5-8)

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (Matthew 16:24, 25)

This Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday.  Its one of my fave Sundays for preaching because its a feel-good story, and I’m all over a feel-good story right before we launch into Lent.  You all know the it well;  Jesus takes a hike up the mountain with his friends, his friends get to see him glow, and then they all hike down the mountain knowing that Jesus is, in fact, God.  A good story.  An affirming story.  A story that tells us we’re on the right path for all of this Christianity stuff that we’ve been professing.

Every week when I prep for worship on Sunday, I begin the process Sunday afternoon after church by pulling up the passage using Biblegateway.com and reading the passage using several different translations.  Then I almost do a ‘stream of consciousness’ thing where I just sit and write whatever comes to mind, read the passage again, and keep writing.  Funny enough, although I love my computer and all that, the process is always using a pen and paper, and I have weird notebooks all over my office with this ‘stream of consciousness’ thinking.   I’ll probably never use  these notes again after the week passes, but there you go.

This week, as I was reading the story,  I was stopped momentarily by the order of how things happened:

Jesus and his buddies go up the mountain.  Then Jesus starts glowing, and Moses and Elijah appear.  Then Peter starts to plan to build tents for everyone so they can stay there forever.  Then God speaks.  Then the disciples all freak out and find themselves face-down in the dirt, terrified.

And this was the point where I was kind of thrown.  I don’t quite ‘get’ why this was the point that the disciples were scared.  They had just climbed a mountain; a daunting task for anyone.  They had just witnessed Jesus transforming in front of them.  They had just seen two of their most revered faith figures appear in front of them.  But it was the point when God spoke to all of them that they got scared?  Weird.

So I had to look at the content of what was said.

You see, the Jewish tradition would have told the disciples to expect that both Moses and Elijah would appear on the earth; a natural embodiment of the law and the prophets.  So that stuff, although fantatic, was still ‘expected’.  The point of confusion would have been Jesus’ status with the other two; as in, was Jesus equal or above these men.  God clarified this moment by affirming that Jesus was, in fact, God’s son.  A good thing.  But then God goes on and says.

“Listen to him”.

I think, maybe, that was what terrified the disciples.

Because just six verses before this whole mountaintop experience, Jesus predicts his death.  Not only does Jesus predict his death but he lays things out really clearly for the disciples:  “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.

And just like that, the feel-good glow in the dark moment vanishes.  At the point where we realize that following Jesus is about taking up the cross.  The cross that tells us that it isn’t about us; it isn’t about whether we are inspired, or are powerful, or even if we get a good boost of self-esteem.  The cross that tells us that our lives were meant to bring glory to God, rather than to ourselves.  The cross that  tells us that we need to lose ‘our lives’ here on earth, in order to gain our souls.

And that is the place of fear, eh.  Because its hard.  Its really hard.  And it can be lonely.  But here’s what I can tell you – you’re not in it alone.   Just as Jesus and the disciples walked down off of that mountain together, so are we all walking this journey together.  And together we can here that still small voices telling us to ‘get up’,  and ‘don’t be afraid’.

So, my Bethel friends, I’m here.  I’m walking down the mountain with you.  And yes, I’m just as scared as you are about making this hike.  But we’ve got it.  We can get up together, and listen to God’s voice.

Blessings today and remember you are Loved,

~Rev. Lynne