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Life is full of contradictions. At one moment amazing joys. Falling in love for the first time…the birth of your first child…even something as simple as a perfectly cooked…just out of the oven…chocolate chip cookie. We all have these little miracles in our lives…glimpses of pure joy that for just a moment give us the feeling that…no matter how our backs are against the wall…everything is going to be OK. These are the times in our lives impervious to disappointment. And when they occur we get a short reprieve from the realization of how tough life can really be.
Because just as common…in fact more common…is the other side of the contradiction…life’s painful challenges. The death of someone you so desperately loved…the frustration and hurt of a broken relationship…getting laid off from the job you thought so secure…the admition that the dreams you once held so deeply in your heart probably won’t come true now that you’re in your forties and looking straight ahead at 50. We all have of these moments…times when God seems far away…distant…maybe not even listening to us at all. And the reality is that we vacillate back and forth in thiscontradiction. Between utter amazement at the miracles in our lives and the stark reality that life remains a painful chain of difficulties.
What I’ve just described is one of life’s non negotiables…no matter how wealthy or how poor we are…no matter how educated…no matter what nationality…whether we work at Scott & White…Shoeppfs…Wallmart or or Wilsonart we will and do experience this contradiction. In the end it’s the occasional encounters with the joy of life…the glimpses of God that make the ordinary so hard to be satisfied with. It had to be the case for Peter, James, & John.
This contradiction is the real story of the Transfiguration. And We are inextricably connected to the story of the Transfiguration. In fact, every time we wake up…every day we live out our human lives we experience the Transfiguration in one manner or another. Sometimes it can happen right here at Church…we come here and experience a beautiful mass…we encounter God in arguably the most incredible miracle of all time…the homily hits home…the music is uplifting…and we really feel God’s presence and we think as we walk out the doors that we have it all figured out…the solution to our restlessness…only to experience…almost immediately sometimes…a complete opposite moment of imperfection where either we or someone else shatters the beauty of Eucharist by an insensitive comment or an unforgiving look or an inconsiderate maneuver in the parking-lot cutting us off so that they can get to wherever it is that they are going 30 seconds faster.
Clearly God does show us his brilliance…his perfection…his eternal presence. It’s why you and I are here today. Every single time the priest holds up the consecrated host at this altar we experience the Transfiguration…every single time God shows himself in a human miracle…which by the way is more common than we even realize. Look at something as basic as our own bodies. The amalgamation of cells…organs…tissue…bones…personalities…feelings…joys…emotions. Talk about a miracle! Our very bodies are Transfiguring proof that God knows what he’s doing. And at the very same time God allows for un-brilliance in our sometimes sinful and confusing world. Why else would there be hurricanes…earthquakes…car accidents…cancer…jealousy…backstabbing…racism…abortion…death penalty?
And that’s how you and I enter into this story with Peter, James, and John…three very human characters. Peter…our first pope…brave Peter…Strong Peter…foolish Peter…remember he’s the one who denied Jesus three times…James and John…they were called the Sons of Thunder…strong…confident…and obnoxious…each of them more interested in who was going to sit at his right and his left then they were about serving others. Here they are…these three totally average…mostly broken characters on which our entire Church was built. And they too were stuck in this contradiction…living literally betweenperfection and imperfection…in between the sinless one and their own human addiction to sin.
As the story goes on…it hits even closer to home for you and me. Because just like you and me when we experience a glimpse of perfection…they lose themselves in the miracle of the Transfiguration. They become enamored in the splendor of the event. Peter never wants to leave. He realizes that he is experiencing perfection…the very thing that we as humans are hardwired to desire. He even wants build three houses right there so that they can play church, never leaving the Mountain Top…never again having to live apart from perfection. I can only assume they had wives and children and responsibilities. The moment was so good that they became incapable of considering their very average lives.
But as usual…Jesus pushes them back into the contradiction. Instead of allowing them to stay there in the glory of the moment he sends them back down off the mountain…back down into the valley…back into their human contradiction…back down into their Lent. They wanted to play church and Jesus sends them down to be Church. And that’s what he’s saying to you and me today. Stop playing church with one another and Be Church to one another.
In classic theology the Transfiguration is a foretaste of what is to come. Jesus’ glimmering body is an example of what our bodies will be like when we are transfigured on the last day. But the greater reality in the Transfiguration story is that He is showing Peter, James, & John and you and me that to be human…to be stuck in this contradiction between perfection and pain isn’t a bad thing. In fact it’s quite normal. And…as frustrating as it might be for any of us…it might very well be just what we need at this time. The Penance of this Contradiction…Lent. We can’t stay on the mountain top. Discipleship happens…Church Happens…Lent happens right down here in the trenches…amidst the broken-ness of life. Lent happens in the beauty of a new baby and in the sadness of the death of a loved one…Lent happens right there in falling in love for the first time and in the pain and chaos of an argument between husband and wife on the verge of divorce...Church happens in the joy of life’s plans coming together perfectly and the frustration of plans that never come to pass. If everything were a Mountain Top experience…then there would be no need for penance and Lent. God allows this contradiction in our lives so that we might be purified and made truly worthy to one day gaze upon is face for all of eternity.
So live the Transfiguration. Go to the mountain top…stand in awe of its magnificence…and then come back down into the trenches where Church happens. The word Lent itself comes from Old English and means Spring. But this doesn’t happen over night because the word Lent also comes to us from the Italian word Lento which means slow. Lent is a slow spring…an important time to prepare purposefully and slowly for the Transfiguration that will again happen at Easter.