Not About Heroes - Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday (February 11, 2024)

Scripture Readings: 2 Kings 2:1–12 | Psalm 50:1–6 | 2 Corinthians 4:3–6 | Mark 9:2–9

“Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’” (Mark 9:7).
 
Who are your heroes? Who are the people you look up to?
 
In recent years, there has been a whole slew of Superhero movies… reflecting a certain fascination we humans have always had with those who have power and abilities far beyond our own, and especially those who use that power for good instead of evil.
 
And setting aside Hollywood, think about those real-life heroes… people of tremendous conviction, ability, and character. Think of those people from the past who made a huge difference in their days… people who inspired positive change and all kinds of good work in the world… people that we might wish were still with us today.
 
In our Gospel reading this morning from Mark chapter 9, we hear that three of Jesus’ disciples were surprised to meet some of their own heroes, Moses and Elijah, in a dramatic epiphany moment on top of a mountain. And yet, as wonderful as that meeting itself may have been, these disciples are then given a glimpse of something far more wonderful and world-changing… and what’s more, they’re called to take part in it too.
 
Our Scripture readings today are not about heroes… but about helping us to see how the Living God is graciously working in our world… through His beloved Son, Jesus our Saviour… and through the lives of those who will listen to Him.
 
Our first reading from the Second Book of Kings, tells the story of the prophet Elijah, and his disciple Elisha, and the passing on of the prophetic baton… so to speak.
 
At this point, Elijah’s part in the story was drawing to a close. He knew the LORD planned to take him from the world, and so he repeatedly sought to bid Elisha goodbye… but to no avail. Again and again, Elisha swears that he will stick by his master’s side to the very end.
 
Eventually, Elijah asks his faithful follower what he would like, and Elisha replies: “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” (2 Kings 2:9). Now in the Law given through Moses, the expectation was that when someone died, their firstborn son would receive a double portion of the inheritance. It was a way of setting them apart as the one who would be expected to carry on the family line, and who would be entrusted with honour and responsibility.
 
And so when Elisha asks to inherit this double share of Elijah’s spirit, he’s asking not just for power, but to be considered his master’s successor… not just to share in Elijah’s great legacy, but to carry it forward too… to carry on the work of his master: speaking God’s word to His people, and calling them to listen to, and follow the ways of the Living God.
 
But there was one problem with Elisha’s request. It wasn’t really Elijah’s spirit to give! Even though Elijah was one of the most dynamic characters in the Old Testament… confronting tyrants, and calling down fire from heaven in a dramatic showdown revealing God’s glory to Israel, and exposing the powerlessness of the pagan prophets Baal that the Israelites had been listening to.
 
But as the story of Elijah as a whole makes clear, he himself was nothing special. He was just a man who had heard God’s call on his life, and obeyed. Someone with his own share of struggles, fears, and even moments of despair, when Elijah needed the Living God to turn him around again… and to help this prophet here the voice of His LORD.
 
In the years to come, the Israelites might look to Elijah as a hero of their faith, but in everything Elijah did, it was the LORD, the Living God, who was at work, and He was their true redeemer… the source of all heavenly power, and the One who could truly save them.
 
And so, Elijah tells his devoted disciple, the one who followed him so closely, and refused to leave his side, that if Elisha witnessed Elijah’s heavenly departure, it was a sign that this double-portion gift of the Spirit of God would be given to him… empowering him to carry on the work of his master… which was really to serve the work of God in the world.
 
Back to St. Mark’s Gospel, we hear how three of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, James, and John, follow their Master up a high mountain, where their Rabbi is suddenly transformed… transfigured before their eyes. They receive an epiphany, a revelation of His glory beyond anything they had known before: wrapped in unearthly, dazzling light, they see Jesus in His glory.
 
And right beside Him, they see the two great heroes of their people’s past: Moses and Elijah, present and alive… and talking with their Master. About what? The weather? How the hockey teams in Galilee were doing this season? The messy politics of the Roman Empire? Or the rumours of war rumbling all around?
 
True to his style, St. Mark leaves out the details of this conversation, but as St. Luke recounts the same story, he includes this note: Moses and Elijah “were speaking of his departure…” literally, His Exodus… “which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:31).
 
Moses and Elijah, two heroes from Israel’s past, appear to speak with Jesus about the mission that Jesus had come to do in Jerusalem: a new exodus… not leading God’s people out of literal slavery, like Moses had centuries earlier in Egypt… but leading them out of slavery to sin, and the vicious power of death. An exodus rescue mission to be accomplished through His own suffering and death on the cross… taking on Himself all that separates the world from God, so that we might be redeemed… reconciled to God and to one another, and raised up with Him to share in His New Life.
 
All that Moses and Elijah had done before… all of their contributions to the story of God’s great rescue mission at work in Israel and the world… all of it was leading up to this crucial moment: to what Jesus would soon do in Jerusalem: God’s own beloved Son giving up His life in love to save the world.
 
And as these three discuss the moment when God’s great plan to save the world through Jesus will finally come about, Peter speaks up and blunders into the conversation… not really understanding what was happening… and wonderstruck, presumes to put His Master Jesus alongside the two great heroes of the Hebrew faith: “‘Rabbi,” he says, “it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’  He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.” (Mark 9:5-6).

Peter was afraid, and oblivious, but he knew something great was going on, and he wanted to be a part of it. And what happens next sets him, and all us of disciples straight about how to do just that… how we too can share in God’s great mission to save the world.
 
Suddenly, a cloud covers the mountain top, just like it did all those years ago at Mt. Sinai, when God’s presence visited Israel at the start of their covenant relationship, with Moses going up alone to meet with the LORD on behalf of His people… and just like Elijah experienced God’s presence alone in his moment of despair… hearing His divine voice in the silence that came after a stormcloud had covered the top of the mountain. And from this cloud of God’s glory, Peter, James, and John, hear the voice of God proclaim something beyond anything they had dreamed before, telling them that the Rabbi they had been following across Galilee, was not just another hero to look up to… someone to admire, and be inspired by, like Moses and Elijah on their better days.

No, Jesus was God’s own beloved Son… someone completely beyond compare, and they are to listen to Him!
 
Is this how we actually think of Jesus our Lord? As the incomparable Son of God, the One we must not just admire… but obey?
 
In our culture today, “heroes” are often held up as great examples, or maybe sources of great wisdom and insight… but not Masters… not those with actual authority to tell us what to do, and what not to do. As those who get to reshape our lives, not as we want, but as He wants.
 
And so for us Christians, we need to remember that Jesus is not a hero… He is our Lord… the Beloved of God, who gave His life at the cross to break the power of sin, and the hold the fear of death wields over our lives… and the One who was raised from the dead to share God’s New Life with His beloved and still very broken world… the world we still see around us today.
 
He did not just come to be looked up to as a great example of what we humans are capable of. Or to impart some new insight, or deeper wisdom to help us get through our days a little bit easier.
 
No, He came to save us. To rescue us by God’s own merciful grace, and to actually lead us into a new kind of life… to live now as His people… as those who share in His Good Kingdom… a community here on earth where forgiveness, freedom, holiness, compassion, peace, joy, faith, hope, and love really call the shots.
 
And this calling is not just for the so-called heroes… for the exceptional examples of faithfulness we might be eager to look up to from a safe distance. This calling is the way of life for all of God’s people… even for you and me.
 
And this calling to actually listen to and obey Jesus our Lord as He leads us into life, is possible, not because there’s something extra special in us that’s somehow better than anybody. It’s possible because of God’s grace… His gift… His own presence and power among us in the Holy Spirit, who is now at work in us because of Jesus, and all that He has done, once and for all.
 
Elisha was given a share of the same Spirit that his master Elijah had himself received, and God would work through Elisha to do things he had never imagined possible.
 
Peter, James, and John, and all the rest of the Apostles were give this same Spirit at Pentecost, empowering them to share the Good News of Jesus through their words and wonderful deeds, infused with heavenly wisdom and authority.
 
But this power from on high was not the point of it all. God’s Spirit was not given to them to make His people into heroes to be idolized, but to help transform them into God’s own hands and feet in the world, carrying His divine work forward, bringing to light the Good News of Jesus, and His Good Kingdom through their whole lives.
 
St. Paul says it well, in our second reading today. Speaking for the Apostles, he says “we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:5-6).
 
The glory of God… His goodness, His justice, and mercy and love… shine for all to see in the face of Jesus. And that same life-giving light is meant to shine on the hearts and in the lives of all who listen to, and follow Him… no matter how dim our own lives may be by themselves.
 
The Good News for us today is that the Living God gives the gift of His Holy Spirit not just to the heroes of the faith… but to all who will put their trust in Jesus, God’s Beloved Son, and listen to Him… and that includes us.
 
The same Spirit that filled Elijah and Elisha with prophetic power… the same Spirit that Christ Jesus the Risen Lord poured out on the Church at Pentecost, empowering His Apostles to carry on His Kingdom work in the world… the same Spirit of God that has been at work in all the centuries since… and working through people from every kind of background, and class, and ability… and broken history… all to bring God’s New Creation to life…

This same Spirit is working through us… Christ’s disciples gathering here in Gondola Point… even when we, like Peter on the mountain top, are terrified, and don’t really know what to say or do. Or when, like Elisha, we’re filled with grief, when those we love are taken away, and we are left to carry on.
 
God’s life-giving Spirit is His gracious gift for all of His children, given through Jesus, the Eternal and Beloved Son of the Father, and Firstborn from the dead… who shares His Spirit with us so that we can actually share in His New Life... His Good Kingdom… and share it with His world today. With those who are weak and weary. With those who are without resources, or hope. With those who are about as far from "heroes" as we can imagine. That’s who this Good News is for too.
 
So today, as we celebrate the Transfiguration of Jesus… remembering that it is only through the Holy Spirit’s work in us that we can do all that is required of His disciples: Will we listen to and obey all the words of our Risen Lord Jesus, God’s Beloved Son, our merciful Master and the Saviour of our world? Amen.