Our Sermon for February 11th, 2024: Dazzling, Mark 9:2-9

Image: Latimore, Kelly. Transfiguration, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57114. Original source: Kelly Latimore Icons, https://kellylatimoreicons.com/.

Mark 9-2-9
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, 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. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
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As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Dazzling: Mark 9:2-9 
“Confusion is but the first stop on the journey to knowledge.” That sure sounds like a thing a famous philosopher would say. I heard it from a fuzzy, blue mutant called Beast in a superhero movie called The Marvels. If you don’t want to hear a few spoilers from the movie, I suggest you plug your ears for a moment (or skip the next two paragraphs). He said that line about confusion and knowledge to a superhero named Monica Rambeau who has end up trapped in a parallel timeline to her own, one where her beloved mother Maria, who had died of cancer in her own time, was still alive. And, it appears, one in which Monica had not been born. Also, her mom is now a superhero herself, hanging out with the professor/mutant hero Beast.  

When Monica wakes up in the wrong dimension and sees her mother alive, she is clearly confused. And, Maria is confused about why this woman who is about her same age is calling her mom. In walks Beast, brilliant and hairy, who notes that confusion can be useful if you are willing to pay attention to what is confusing you and put in the work to figure it out. This scene, which follows the official end of the movie, serves as a teaser for movies that have not yet been filmed. It’s leading us to believe that we will eventually understand where Monica is and learn how she will get home. This post credit scene is made to assure us: things might be confusing now, but an answer will come.  

(If you wanted to skip the spoiler, you can start reading here.) It was interesting to watch a superhero movie about making big sacrifices and making amends, living into your calling and finding your co-workers while I was working on a sermon about the Transfiguration. Both feature three glowing figures (did I say that there’s lots of glowing in the movie... the three main superheroes all glow when they use their powers). Both feature meditations on vocation and what it means to work alongside someone. And, both feature lots of confusion, confusion that we hope might be cultivated into knowledge.  

Our scripture for the day begins not in a futuristic hospital room but on a mountain. The scholar Rolf Jacobsen, on an episode of the Sermon Brainwave podcast that is about this scripture, reminds us that we’ll have mountains at the beginning and end of Lent. And, today, on the cusp the season of Lent, at the end of Epiphany, we find ourselves on the first mountain. Peter, James, and John have found themselves in great confusion. You see, they see Jesus, fully glowing like an ancient Messiah-shaped light bulb, standing alongside two heroes of the faith, Moses and Elijah. To be clear, neither of these things are everyday occurrences in Peter, James, and John’s lives. So, confusion and astonishment are appropriate responses, as far as I’m concerned.  

Important things happen on Mountains. Dr. Bonnie Bowman Thurston talks about that in her commentary on Mark. God tells Moses about the covenant on a mountain in Exodus. God gives Elijah a divine mission on a mountain in 1st Kings. These aren’t the only examples. I’ll leave you to look the rest up on your own. And yet, even if we just read these two, we can see that people often receive clarity on a mountain... clarity of mission, clarity regarding relationships... clarity around God’s power. Isn’t it interest that, though Peter, James, and John have likely heard that divine knowledge is often found on a mountain top, they are still surprised and astonished by what they are seeing on their own mountaintop with Jesus.  

There's a point earlier in the movie The Marvels where a superhero named Carol asks Monica how she got her superpowers. Monica responds with what sounds more like an odd collection of words than a coherent answer. She says she “walked through a witch’s hex” and now can see waves of energy and particles of light and somehow this allows her to also walk through walls. I think it’s interesting that the movie just gives you this short explanation and goes right on with the story, inviting the audience not to worry too much about a wild backstory they might not know. I think the writers of this film understand that there are hours of tv shows and years’ worth of comic stories that give the details of Monica Rambeau’s power, and that they know not every audience member will have all that knowledge. Rather than leave out those who don’t know the backstory or dedicate hours in this film to retelling other stories, the writers explain her powers in a weird, short burst. They have Monica say just enough so you know some weird stuff happened to her and now she can save people more effectively. They want you to remember great power exists right alongside some weird stuff.  

I’m going to follow the recommendation of the scholar Melinda Quivik and invite you to read this story from Mark in a similar spirit. Please do not to think the only way you can appreciate the Transfiguration is if you have a detailed schematic of how Jesus could glow and an affidavit offering a rational explanation for the presence of dead prophets. We shouldn’t approach the Bible the way we approach math. This is a story. In storytelling, the fantastical is utterly unquantifiable and still yet shows us something true. Bonnie Bowman Thurston offers up similar advice. Read the Transfiguration as a wild, unquantifiable, story with one purpose- to help the audience to know this as true: like Moses and Elijah, God gave Jesus a calling. And the disciples should listen to him like the Hebrews were supposed to listen to the prophets.  

 It's no wonder that Peter wanted to build a structure to commemorate the wild event he observed up on that mountain. It’s like Peter thinks there should be a signpost that says, “On this day, Jesus blew all our minds.” But, this isn’t supposed to be a story about a monument. This is a story about a mission. Thank God that God gave the disciples some clarity while they were lost in that cloud: “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” They will still get confused in the listening, but at least they know their next step. Listen. And after that, follow. 

Here’s a thing that continues to confuse me: Jesus tells his disciples not to tell anyone what they saw. I mentioned last week that we’re going to see a pattern in Mark of Jesus asking for a certain level of secrecy from those who see him in miraculous moments. One explanation I have found that I think is more convincing comes from one of Rev. Dr. Fred Craddock’s sermons called “Tell No One Before Easter.” In that sermon, Dr. Craddock asks the question: what if Jesus asked them to wait because there was no way they understood the miraculous thing they just saw mere moments after they saw it. Dr. Craddock thinks Jesus was saying “Take some time to tell this story right. It's ok to not understand everything immediately. Stick around and keep learning.” You know, confusion is the but the first step on the journey to knowledge, and all that. The pastor and poet Maren Tirabassi talks about it this way: The Transfiguration is but one of the small epiphanies, hills on the way to the mountain, from which the disciples will gather yet one more insight into of the mystery of Jesus. We should also remember: the valleys will bring their own clarity.  

In the same way that the confusion of Beast, Maria, and Monica foreshadows the next movie in their series, today’s confusion on the mountain foreshadows a different mountain, one will come later, this time with the women disciples watching from a distance. The second set of disciples will also learn something about Jesus on a mountain, the mountain of Calvary. Rolf Jacobsen reminds us that bystanders will think they hear Jesus call for Elijah when he is crying out in anguish to God. At the second mountain, no voice from God will cut through the cloud of the disciples’ grief. They won’t get clarity on the mountain this time. Clarity will come in the valley, at the tomb. And, at least in Mark’s version of the story, they appear unclear what to do with it.  

I’ll offer another spoiler for the movie: The moment before Monica Rambeau saves Earth by pulling together a hole that has been ripped between her dimension and the dimension next door, thereby trapping herself in the wrong dimension, she speaks to a weeping Carol, who we have come to know is her aunt. She says, “I always knew I would have to stay.” This fantastical superhero knew what was true: sacrifice and salvation are often tightly bound. In today’s story, Peter, James, and John do not yet know of the sacrifice to come. They simply know that they are called to listen. Perhaps that is how we also begin. We listen. May what we hear be dazzling. 

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:  
Melinda Quivick: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/transfiguration-of-our-lord-2/commentary-on-mark-92-9-5 
Sermon Brainwave Podcast: https://www.workingpreacher.org/podcasts/768-transfiguration-of-our-lord-b-feb-14-2021 
Bonnie Bowman Thurston, Preaching Mark, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002). 
Maren Tirabassi: https://giftsinopenhands.wordpress.com/2021/01/29/strongholy-communion-liturgy-for-february-7-2021/ 
Fred Craddock, "Tell No One Before Easter: Mark 9:2-9," The Collected Sermons of Fred B. Craddock (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011)