Matthew 17:1-9
February 3, 2008
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
Little over two weeks ago, Lauren and I had the joy of taking Sage to the happiest place on earth—Disneyland! We were so excited that Sage had already learned to recognize some of the Disney characters—Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Cinderella to name a few. We wanted Sage to experience how much fun the Magic Kingdom will be so we got to the park like hundreds of others did right at opening time. As we walk to Fantasyland, we saw that there were no lines to Alice in Wonderland—the very first ride we came to. Going through the turnstyle and getting into the first available car, we suddenly realized that we made a mistake. This was a scary ride! Sage cried throughout the ride and we “damaged” her for the rest of the day and the day after. She would not go on another ride again!
This is not an emotion felt too often in today’s church—fear. Some churches like to be known in the community as a place to find joy or excitement and perhaps even happiness. But to say that when one comes to church and to expect to be struck with fear, we want nothing to do with it. If the church nursery struck fear in the hearts of the little ones like Sage, we would have no need to move our toddlers to the third floor. They won’t come back!
But looking through the New Testament, you will find that the predominant New Testament emotion is neither joy nor happiness. The main emotion of the Gospels is fear.
When people encountered Jesus, the predominant emotion was not joy but they felt fear. The interesting part is that the main people who felt fear when encountering Jesus was not the anonymous crowds but the people who were the closest to him, the disciples.
Fear has been a part of Jesus’ life even from the beginning. Before Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph felt fear when the angel Gabriel told them what was about to happen. When Jesus was born, his birth brought fear to the shepherds watching their flock by night and upon King Herod who was threatened by the coming of a new king.
When Jesus helped the disciples after a night of not catching any fish and they miraculously pulled in a full net of fish, they felt fear. When Jesus calmed the wind and the waves and saved the disciples in the boat, they felt fear. When the women came to the tomb on that first Easter morning and found that it was empty, they felt fear.
Time and time again, Jesus had to say to his disciples, “Don’t be afraid.” Up on a high mountain, Jesus was transfigured when his face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white and the voice of God from the cloud said, “This is my Son, the Beloved,” the disciples fell to the ground and was struck by fear. Jesus came over to them and touched them telling them to “Get up and do not be afraid.”
Living in Fear
In many ways, we live in a time of great fear. If you were to ask Sage at Disneyland, she would have said, “I’m afraid.” After September 11, 2001, many people came to church with fear on their faces. Every time we travel anywhere, the security checkpoints are reminders that we live with fear daily.
How about when the doctor comes in after your yearly physical and says, “There’s a problem. We need to take some tests. I am concerned about something we saw on your x-rays.” What do you feel? Not a sense of relief, excitement or wonder. You feel fear.
The source of fear on these occasions is that when an outside, unexpected, and unwanted reality invades your life, disrupts your reality, alters the accustomed flow of things, then there is fear. What will tomorrow bring? What will happen to my life? These are the fearful questions that arise during such moments.
Remember the time when your mother taught you to be afraid of the traffic in front of your house. She would say, “The street is a dangerous place. You’re not even to think about crossing the street without first asking for permission. You’re not to cross the street unless I am holding your hands. The cars on the streets can’t see little kids like you.”
But then we grew up and eventually we are given permission to venture across the street on our own. We lose that childhood terror of the bad things that might happen to us while crossing to the other side.
As we get even older, we come to understand that most of the bad things that happen to us in life happen while we are crossing over to the other side. A lot of pain could be avoided in this life if we only followed the simple rule—don’t cross the street unless you are holding somebody else’s hand. Don’t go on the Alice in Wonderland ride unless you are at least 3 years old!
It’s a fearful world out there. And yet, that sort of fear is not the sort of fear that Jesus engenders. Fear, New Testament fear, is the fear that comes not as a part of the human condition, not as an aspect of living in troubled times, but rather fear in the presence of Christ.
Seeking a False God
Studies have mentioned that Americans today are on a spiritual search. Many Americans appear to be eager for mystical spiritual experiences. We want a vision of God. We claim that we want God to speak to us. We say that we want some proof of the presence of the living God.
So on this mountaintop, the mystical cloud, the shining face, the voice from heaven happened. They spell only fear in the disciples. Why are they afraid?
Right before this account of the Transfiguration, Jesus predicts his death. He tells them that he will suffer and be killed.
When Peter protests that it is impossible to conceive of a Messiah who is rejected, suffers, and dies. Jesus replies, “And if you want to follow me then you must take up your own cross and follow me.” This is not the spiritual searching that most Americans want. This message strikes fear in us.
What most people want is a God that they can get warm and cuddly with; some amorphous, sweet, and always smiling sort of God like the characters we meet in Disneyland. These are the false gods that offer no fear. If this is the kind of God that we want, it’s only a projection of our own selfish, preconceived notion of a God that we are not afraid of.
But our God, the God who comes to us in Jesus Christ is a living god. And when we meet Jesus face to face and he invites us to come on this perilous journey that lies ahead when we follow him, that is when we feel fear.
That is why I would say that the fear that is felt so often among Jesus’ followers in the New Testament is not just any old fear. It is the fear of Jesus. It is not the fear that is felt when we have some spiritual mystical experience of our choosing. It is the fear that occurs when we come face to face with the God whose name is Jesus the Christ.
No wonder Peter’s first reaction when he saw Jesus transfigured and standing with Moses and Elijah is to erect three booths. He wants to do something. He wants to get out his tools and gather some wood and put up monuments. When we are afraid of being in the presence of God, we want to do something that we know what to do. Remember the times when you were afraid, you want to do something concrete that you can make happen. I tend to clean house or wash the dishes. Sage wants a snack.
But God is not someone that we can have control of. We really can’t avoid fear when we are face to face with God. When it comes down to it, we are afraid of the awe, reverence and holy wonder before the face of God. In the Transfiguration, we realize that God is God and we are not, that there’s some distance between us and God.
When Jesus comes to us and we may not be ready for him and he invades your life, disrupts your reality, alters the accustomed flow of things, then there is fear.
Inquirers
Today I invite any of you who are considering to get to know Jesus as your Lord to attend the Inquirers Class I’m offering at 11:30 this morning and for the following 5 Sundays. This passage is not intended to frighten anyone to faith.
When we think of Jesus as a “friend and companion,” it can draw us closer into a relationship with God. But it can also make Jesus too human and therefore too small. In the Transfiguration with all of its mystery and awe, it prevents us from turning Jesus into too much like us. Jesus was not only the disciples’ teacher and friend, he was God in the flesh in order to transform all of human society. We are in the immediate presence of the living God—no wonder we are struck by fear.
On the mountaintop Jesus doesn’t simply reveal himself to his followers, but he demands that they follow him, that they walk the path that he walks. That’s what being a Christian is. This is the reason why we invite you to consider Baptism and joining his church in order to follow him.
No wonder the disciples fall on the ground. And no wonder Jesus says to them, “Get up and do not be afraid!”
Why are more people not here in church this morning? We all know the standard reasons. The Super Bowl is on this afternoon. People say the service is too early or too long. Or they may say the music is not as good as what’s on their iPods. Or they say that they don’t understand why the Christian faith lives in the past by always reading the Bible. Or they say that they find our church “unfriendly” because they don’t understand that the church is much more than a mutual admiration society, more than a country club sort of place. Or they say that we use a bunch of strange words, outdated language, and they find the Bible to be impossible to comprehend because they don’t understand that Christian discipleship sometimes takes a long time, a lifetime of discipline, of training and formation.
Today I would like to suggest with Jesus’ disciples struck by fear on the mountaintop that lots of people avoid church, not because they misunderstand what we are about, but they understand this too well. Church is about God. Church is about the possibility of a threatening, life-changing encounter with the Risen Christ. Church is about seeing God’s way and his will in our world—a way so very different from our ways—that we want to walk away from it out of fear.
Knowing that scares a lot of people to death. They want no part of it. Yet you are here. You are gathered here because you encountered Jesus and after having been struck by fear, you decided to follow. Jesus has appeared to you in all of his radiant glory. He has reassured you, told you to rise and follow him, promised to be with you every step of the way, no mater what the journey holds. And you followed.
The purpose of our worship, the purpose of our fellowship together, the purpose of our prayer day by day, is to open our hearts and to give us opportunities, so this transfiguring vision will come to us. Moving from fear to discipleship, we don’t remove ourselves from the world to retreat inside the walls of the church, but our commitment to follow Christ’s leadership and command, moves us outside to make disciples, baptize and to teach.
We might still be afraid of the world in which we live today. Even with the “walk and don’t walk” signals helping us to cross the street, we may still be afraid of crossing over to the other side. Sadly, Sage may still be afraid of Disneyland when we go back again. But this is not the sort of fear that the disciples encountered on that mountaintop. This New Testament fear is the same fear that we experience when we realize that when we encounter the living God in Jesus Christ, we tremble and are struck by fear for surely we are in the midst of the holy!
The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus is not just about the disciples in the Bible. It’s a story about each one of us today. Are you willing to be struck by fear when you have a face to face encounter with Jesus Christ? For surely, we are in the presence of God. God is here and tells us, “Do not be afraid!”
Let us pray.
Lord, we’re following you, climbing up the high mountains with you, descending to the deep valleys with you. Lord, sometimes you expect too much of us, demand too much from us, and want us to be more than we think we can be.
That’s why sometimes we are afraid of you. We are afraid that we will disappoint you, fearful that you don’t know us well as we know ourselves and our limitations, fearful that the cost of following you will be too high.
Lord, help us in our fear. Heal us of our hesitation. Give us that which we do not have on our own—bold, courageous, determination to follow you no matter where you take us. Amen.