The Preacher’s Study
First thoughts about next Sunday’s sermon
(Transfiguration Sunday, March 2, 2014)
D. Jay Koyle
Taking
note of Matthew’s placement of the Transfiguration in his gospel proclamation
is key to preaching this Sunday. With compelling insight, Matthew situates the tale
at the midpoint of his narrative, spaced nicely between Jesus’ baptism in the
opening scenes and his Resurrection at the blockbuster finale.
Already,
Jesus has been labeled as a blasphemer, subjected to intense criticism for his
choice of table companions, nagged incessantly about his disciples’ failure to
observe the law and traditions, accused of demon possession, and doubted by John
the Baptist. Now, however, the momentum of Jesus’ trajectory to Golgotha is
picking up speed, and he knows it. It is at this turbulent moment that Matthew
directs our gaze upward to a high mountain, to a dazzling reminder of who Jesus
is and a glimpse of what is to come.
Taking
note of the timing of the Transfiguration story in Matthew’s narrative of Jesus
is key to this Sunday’s pulpit proclamation. So is its recapitulation on the
Sunday before Lent, its timing in the Church Year’s narrative about us.
Contrary to
what some may think, we don’t observe the days and seasons of the church
calendar simply because it is a handy didactic tool. It’s not because it gives congregations
a reason to change the decor in church from time to time. It’s not even because
the calendar gives liturgists something to argue about.
No, we get
swept up in the rhythms of the church year because it is a concrete expression
that the days of our lives find their full identity and meaning in Jesus
Christ.
There’s a
wonderful saying you may have heard. It goes like this: "It is not so much
that the Jews keep the Sabbath but that the Sabbath keeps the Jews." Well,
it’s not so much that we keep the church year, as it is the church year keeps
us. Our marking of time sets the narrative of our lives within the narrative
that is the life of the Risen Christ. This faith-filled marking of time is a
piece of necessary memory work helping to ensure we don’t succumb to spiritual
amnesia and forget that the story of Christ crucified and risen is our story –
that is, the stories of our lives are immersed in his.
So just as
Matthew sets the Transfiguration story right before Jesus turns his face toward
his rendezvous with the Cross, providing a glimpse as to the true identity and destiny
of God’s chosen and beloved one, Transfiguration Sunday provides for us a sneak
peek into what awaits us on the other side of Lent so we may set upon the
coming forty days as on opportunity to recover the identity that belongs to the
baptized.
There are so
many other identities foisted upon us that serve as poor substitutes for who we
really are.
A
market-based society tells us all we’re nothing more than producers and
consumers.
For some of
us, hurtful words of a loved one may have told us we were anything but beloved,
leaving us to spend our nights and days trying in vain to prove our worth or to
earn yearned-for affection.
For others,
the independence we once so cherished is now held hostage by a debilitating condition,
leaving us with the sense that we are no longer anything more than a burden to
our family and friends.
In each of
these situations, and many more, we lose sight of who we really are, as if our
true identity has been snatched from us. Identity theft, it would seem, is not
just a phenomenon of cyberspace costing individuals and society millions of
dollars each year. Indeed, as tragic and scary as that may be, there’s an even
more costly kind of identity theft, one that far too often befalls the church. It
is the identity theft in which we fail to recognize ourselves as beloved of
God, people whose life and meaning, vocation and mission are found in Jesus
Christ.
So, by
passing through the Transfiguration story, we ready ourselves to enter the days
of Lent, making our trek to the Easter waters awaiting us at the Christian
Passover, so we might walk as people of the Resurrection.
Jay
Koyle is president of The Associated Parishes for Liturgy and Mission. He
serves on the Primate's Task Force on Hospitality, Christian Initiation and
Discipleship Formation (Anglican Church of Canada).
“Transfiguration”
by Lewis Bowman is available through
