Illuminated

Introduction – looking for something shiny (Look at everyone) I am looking at all of you, in order to see if I can see that glow. Valentine’s Day was last week- so maybe you all received something special that will give you that special glow. Valentines day is a day of chocolate, hearts and diamonds. So maybe you got some diamonds. I have noticed that this year especially shiny things are in style. For two years now, I have been looking for the perfect shiny silver sweater, have not found it quite yet. I saw it on a newscaster one night. You know we always wear shiny things for the holidays- but she had it on in January, as a work sweater, and every since then I have been looking. Havent found quite the right sweater yet. As a matter of fact, I agonized this week, whether to wear something afrocentric, or to wear a silver sweater. But we seem to a attracted to shiny things – because they light up. Diamonds are so valuable, because they reflect light better than anything else. Transfiguration Sunday This Sunday is what is called transfiguration Sunday. It is always the last Sunday before lent, and every year we hear the same story. It is in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Jesus is on the mountain top praying and , scripture says that Jesus clothes light up. Brighter than any white (Apparently, Jesus found that perfect sweater). The points of Mark There are lots of important points in these 7 verses. As he is glowing, Moses and Elijah appear and talk with Jesus, and then the disciples hear a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved Son, listen to him. This story shows that Jesus is well on his way to becoming the messiah, but he is not there yet. As we are talking about shiny things, I want to ask – what is it that makes a thing shiny? Is the shininess a part of the thing? Is it a part of our eyes? Or is it in the way that we see things? A dead star with a diamond core They say that there is a star, long dead in the universe, but whose inner core is made totally of diamonds. Can you imagine a diamond as big as a planet. Diamonds are valuable because they are shiny, but also because on earth you can only find this in tiny pieces. You can find whole caverns of crystal, but not diamonds. The largest diamond in the world is about the size of two gold balls, not even a tennis ball. That diamond is so large that it is priceless. Yet all of the diamond core in this dead planet is totally worthless. Why because there is no light to reflect its beauty. It is totally in the dark, you cant touch it, you cant see it. It looks just like any other rock. Without the light to reflect it, it is totally useless. That is the whole point of my sermon today, the value of God is all in our perspective of how we see God and how we see god in Jesus Christ. God knows that is value is in the peoples perspective God is always God- Just like a planet full of diamonds is a planet full of diamonds. Even God understands that his true value is in how he is seen by his people. Why else would he spend so much time revealing himself to us? Last week I talked about how God changed his name from Elohim to Jehovah. We all know that God does not change, but the way the people understood god did change. The perspective or lense of God changed. Elohim was the god of the ancestors, Elohim was the god of the twelve tribes, Elohim was the god of our help in ages past. Even in telling the story of God I have to be overly simplistic and gloss over a lot of things. There is evidence of both names all throughout the history of the bible. But as the twelve tribes came in contact with other peoples, who believed in other Gods. They realized that the needed to have a better understanding of who their God was. Up until them, their loyalty was to their tribe. To their own understanding of life. Why Elijah chose Yahweh over Elohim It was Elijah who spent his life wanting to tell them that it was time to unite as a nation. To stop collecting their own beliefs, and to come together as one. If there is only one God, there should only be one people. We should have only one belief, and in order to head in one direction in the future, we have to put aside our differences, and pull together around one belief. It is sort of like the united Methodist, where we are divided into churches – but we work together as one deminination at one voice. Yaweh was the god of unity. Of togetherness. Every jew must remember and repeat the shema – hear o Israel, the Lord is our God, The Lord is one. If the lord is one, that means that we are one also. Yaweh was the god of the unfolding future of destiny. Elijah grew weary trying to get that message across – there was a man who stood on the street corner preaching to the people. The more he preached, the more people ignored him. One day a young boy had pity on him and asked why he constantly spoke, when no one listened. The man said because if I stop speaking, then I start listening to them and become like them. I need to keep my perspective. Elijah felt that way tired, yet determined. But in year B we hear the Elijah and Elisha stories in the summer. Elijah worked hard to get people to have a new understanding of God, and to live in that understanding. I was leading you up to a point in lent, and I was going to save it until Easter – but I Mark says that I have to tell you today – that God changes his him, his perspective and his understanding again. Every generation needs to redefine God to fit their time. That is why in Christianity we have the old testament and the new testament. Why we have Elisha and Joshua, why we call Joshua jesus. The story of God’s saving grace in our lives needed to be redefined. Jesus is our chance to see God in full glory The good news is that once we see God in his full glory – God doesn’t need to change. Jesus Christ is our revelation of who God is. We don’t need to redefine Jesus, we just need to find new ways for the new generation to connect to Jesus. Jesus Christ is our diamond, jesus Christ is our light, Jesus Christ is our understanding of who God is. And yet this is the only time in Mark, that we will see Jesus in all of his glory. There are no resurrection appearances in Mark. The Uniqueness of Mark Mark is the original gospel. He lived a generation before Matthew and Luke. Mark is my favorite – because you get a deeper understanding of who Jesus is as the messiah. It is the shortest gospel – only 16 chapters. Verses -9-19 are believed to be added later. Mark has a distinction of all of the other gospels, that I have not point out. Each time Jesus encounters someone – he tells that person not to tell anyone what he does. Even this scripture, he says don’t tell anyone until after the resurrection. Before that none of this will make any real sense. Why theology is important Without the cross, all of this is just a history lesson. Without the cross, this is not about us. it is about them. Today is just a glimpse of the glory of God. There is more to come, but we have to wait until after Easter. I spend a lot of time researching scripture before my sermons. It is beginning to be a very long task. And sometime I worry that I may be too wordy. And people don’t like words. One man got up and told his pastor – I don’t need your words about God, because I can feel God. I am more interested in how I can feel god in my life, not in theology. We have to have both. We have to feel God , but we have to know what we are feeling. We have to see God, but we have to have perspective about what we are actually trying to see, Elijah became zealous for the lord – because he saw that people were praising God, but there were not living the rules that God had set forth in their lives. One theologian – a God thinker said that today people are flocking toward a religion of Jesus, but they don’t want to cross. We want to praise, but we don’t want to acknowledge what killed jesus on the cross – our sin. The way we live our lives, our perspective, the way we see god in our own lives. Jesus is the God of our times, and of all times to come – because Jesus is the God who died for our sins, and revealed for us the true glory on God. If we don’t follow Jesus to the Cross, and see Jesus in a new light – we may never understand God. And all that God has done for us in our lives. Lent is our chance to think, to see God in our lives, but to transform our lives, in the light of God. The story of Jesus will not be complete without the cross. For Mark, the true nature of God will be revealed on the cross. The cross helps us gain perspective Two old artist used to visit one another – Matisse and Renior. Today a painting by Matisse is worth millions. He painted until very late in his life, and he had arthritis very bad. His friend asked him one day – why he sent so much time painting, when it was obvious that it was painful. He replied – because the pain will go away – but the beauty will remain. The cross shows us that the pain of our lives will go away – but the beauty will remain. We just have to learn to keep our perspective through the pain. Our perspective is what helps us to see God clearly. Jesus Christ is our light – to see God in our lives, no matter what. Let us pray…