Ash Wednesday sermon

Ash Wednesday
February 13, 2013
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21


Grace and peace to you my brothers and sister in Christ, from God our Father, Christ our Savior and the Spirit that sustains us, Grace and peace to you. Amen


Dazzling white clothes, appearance of two dead men, a talking cloud, Peter wanting to build three booths all on the top of a mountain… Really? Oh yeah and don’t forget the foreshadowing and the flash backs, the silent insinuations and the comparisons. This sounds like it could be right out of a sci-fi movie or some teenagers dream.

Well, we all know it is not a dream nor a scene from a movie, instead what we have here is a significant piece of our story. God’s story, Jesus’ story all taking place in a few short seconds.

I have become slightly obsessed with watching TED talks on the Internet. TED stands for technology, entertainment and Design. The videos are no more than 20 minutes each. The topics vary, but the messages are so good.

Anyway.. the other day I was surfing TED talks and came across one titled: One Second Everyday by Cesar Kuriyama. I was curious so I clicked play.

It turns out this 30 year old decided that he was tired of forgetting the things that had happened to him in a day or the month before or what he did a year ago. He embarked on a project to record just one second each day of his life.

The moments he records are random, but they capture his life – in just one second a day. I think he said when he is 80 he will have something like 8 hours of non-stop video of his life.

Some of these moments are certainly glory moments – a sunset camping in the mountains, wedding day, but some of these moments are not so full of glory, but instead show suffering, hurt and brokenness.

He talks about how at first a bad day was hard to record, but then realized quickly that these days are a part of who we are too. These moments that are hard to rewatch, to talk about, to see, have shaped us even more than the good ones.

And after ten years of recording a second of every day - we would watch it and say “WOW what just happened.” We would see days on top of the mountain and days on the ground. We would see God revealing himself in some of the simplest of ways.

This reminded me of this Transfiguration moment we hear of in our gospel text this morning– maybe it all happened in one second and it was a good thing someone had their video camera out!

The Transfiguration has uniquely and precisely been placed for us in our church calendar as the last Sunday in Epiphany and the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. Epiphany started with the Baptism of Jesus also with a voice. A voice that proclaims, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

The stories we heard throughout Epiphany continued to reveal to us and to the disciples, Jesus’ true identity. I am one of the first people to accuse the disciples of being of little faith and not so smart and just plain ‘ol not getting it. After reading this text over and over this last week and studying it, it dawned on me that of course the disciples didn’t get it.

They have been on a whirlwind a roller coaster of healings, and exorcisms, and parable tellings and resurrections that I wonder if they really have had time to process it all? It really is easy for us to sit back and judge the disciples – but only because we know the rest of the story.

We study, read, hear and apply these stories always having known what comes next, the rest of the story. The disciples don’t know , they are in the midst of the story as it unravels before their eyes. There is no proof or witness at this point in the story. I am not sure if I wouldn’t actually be asking Jesus the same question as Peter up on the mountaintop.

“Hey Jesus it seems like this might be a good place to stay for while, should I set us up some tents so we can get comfortable?”

I think it is safe to say that most to all of us have had experiences in our lives that we didn’t want to have come to an end. It doesn’t take much prompting to go to that place of joy and happiness does it? I go to Guatemala in Oct. of 2011 where after 11 awesome days of building and serving God, of God revealing himself to us day after day, moment after moment, I had four 16 year olds begging me to lose their passports… trust me told, I wanted our passports to be lost just as much as they did so we could stay a few days longer.

So you know those kinds of experiences. I think it is easy for us to hear this passage of the dazzling white clothes, the appearance of Moses and Elijah and God’s voice proclaim Jesus as his Son the Chosen one and think of it as the same as those times we found ourselves not wanting something to come to and end. But really it isn’t quite the same.

This mountain top experience is quite extraordinary! God speaks through a cloud; Moses and Elijah appear and have a conversation with Jesus. This is quite an epiphany! What a finale to Epiphany. It is no wonder Peter, John and James don’t talk about it – they are probably still in awe.

Some of you probably have had powerful extraordinary experiences where you have heard God’s voice loud and clear or had an Epiphany that is just unexplainable. Those experiences are more like this one we hear about today on the mountain. Those experiences also come out of the blue and last just a moment. IT isn’t an 11-day trip, it is, more like one second and “Wow what just happened.”

So what did just happen on that mountaintop? Well, in a quick moment, Jesus’ identity is confirmed, the last part of his time on Earth is set as he embarks on his journey to Jerusalem. For us, we are reminded of God’s awesomeness, we are reminded of God’s ability to transform, God reveals to us a glimpse, and a second of glory, and in this moment God’s future breaks into the present. But now we need to turn our hearts and minds as we look to the cross.

The reality for us is that when we go to the mountaintop to pray and find closeness with God, when we live in the glory moments from time to time, we understand that we can’t be on the mountaintop without facing the cross. We can’t just be Easter people - we need the cross too.

We eventually have to come down- we are not called to a place of glory. Jesus’ call is the way of the cross and so is ours. So what does that mean for us? I think we start by hearing God’s voice one more time: This is my Son the Chosen One, Listen to Him!” Jesus says, listen – I am the Way the Truth and the Life, Follow me.

So we do, we follow Jesus right back down the mountain. Jesus spends way more time down here than he does up there. For me, coming face to face with God, experiencing’s a real presence of Jesus doesn’t usually happen when I go to the mountaintop to pray or be alone –
it usually happens when I greet someone I don’t know.

It usually happens when I share a hug with an old friend.

It usually happens when a stranger offers me a hand.

It usually happens when I give and when I receive.

This is where we are called to be – this is the way of the cross – with each other, crying together, laughing together, suffering together, eating together. Living a life that shines Christ’s light in a world that is broken, hurting, suffering, and dark. This is where we meet Jesus. This is holy ground.

We experience just that in the second part of our text today.
Jesus and the disciples make there way back down the mountain and immediately encounter a large crowd. The other disciples have been there among the crowd, but for whatever reason they have been unable to heal a man’s only son. Jesus once again frustrated with the disciples lack of understanding sort of snaps at them – you faithless and perverse generation- how much longer do we really need to be together?

Well, yes, Jesus is frustrated, but remember Jesus and you and I know what is coming next. It is easy for us to loose our patience simply because we know what happens next. It is just like when I have to teach 1st graders a math lesson – I can hear in my voice sometimes a bit of frustration that often turns to sarcasm – because adding 5+4 is SO SIMPLE for ME – why can’t you understand that 5+4 is 9???? We can understand both Jesus’ side of frustration, but we can also give the disciples (& first graders) a break too.

I think that this healing episode isn’t as much about Jesus as it is about God’s ability, God’s willingness, God’s necessity to be with us and Jesus on this holy ground, in this broken and suffering world. The text ends and verse 43 declares, “And all were astounded at the greatness of God.”

Where does God’s greatness show itself to you? Where will you catch a glimpse of God’s future breaking into the present this week? Where will Jesus show up and what will you do to help him show up? As you step out onto holy ground this week, I pray that you take one second everyday to record God’s voice, to see Jesus in a stranger, to let the Holy Spirit move you in ways that prepares your heart and mind for what is to come on the cross.


This is my Son, the Chosen One, Listen to him!

Amen!