The Transfiguration of Our Lord
February 14, 2010
Text: Luke 9:28-43a
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke record the spectacular event of Jesus being transformed from a human appearance into a divine appearance. We call it the Transfiguration.
Only in Luke’s account does the transfiguration take place on the mountain where Jesus had gone to pray. Jesus at prayer is an emphasis in Luke. Luke has Jesus praying following his baptism when the heaven opened and the Holy Spirit came down and a voice spoke. The accounts of Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration are connected by the acts of prayer and by the heavenly voice, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.” Also in Luke, Jesus is frequently found praying by himself. Luke tells us, “Jesus would withdraw from the crowds and disciples and go to deserted places to pray.” In one account, Jesus spends the night on a mountain in prayer to God. Once when Jesus was praying alone in a certain place, the disciples came upon him and asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” The prayer he taught them is what we know today as the Lord’s Prayer.
When we think of prayer, we usually think of asking God for something. We ask God for forgiveness, for strength in time of weakness, courage in times of fear, hope for our despair. We pray for guidance and direction. We petition God that there be peace in our lives, in our families and among nations. We pray for others, for our families, our friends and our brothers and sisters in Christ. We pray for the people in Haiti, for victims of war and for refugees.
Actually, we pray for every thing and for any thing. If we surveyed the congregation this morning we would have a long list of things for which we have prayed.
When Jesus took with him Peter, James and John up the mountain to pray they probably had their laundry lists of things to ask of God. Included in their prayers were questions, “Why me, Lord?” “What shall I do?” “Do you really want me to do that?” They probably prayed for each other, for the people they had met along the way and for their leader Jesus. They could have prayed all night, but didn’t. Luke reports that “they were weighed down with sleep.”
Some people can pray for a long time; others pray shorter prayers. But we all know when the prayer is over; when we hear the word “Amen.” Sometimes we hope that the person praying will say the Amen sooner than later. But no matter how long the prayer goes on, eventually, the Amen is spoken and the prayer ends.
What is prayer? If talk is the conversation we have with other humans, then prayer is the conversation we have with God. In the conversations we have with our families, friends and other people we talk about any number of things. But it is never just one person doing all the talking. Sure, you can give me examples when that is the case, but even if one person does all the talking, there is still a listener responding with facial expressions and body language. Talk between humans is always a conversation of at least two people. Why do we make prayer so one-sided? When we pray, do we ever stop talking long enough in order to allow God to join in the conversation? Are we using the Amen as a way of shutting off our conversation with God?
Jesus, Peter, James and John had their laundry list of petitions. Their prayer began with them asking God for all sorts of things. But when did their prayer end? Was it when they were distracted by the brilliant light transfiguring Jesus’ appearance? When did they say “Amen?” We really don’t know when the Amen was said, but it didn’t end their conversation with God. In the prayer on that mountain of Transfiguration a voice was heard from heaven to saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.” It would be God’s final word that would end the prayer of disciples and even of Jesus.
Think of all the conversations you have had with others when these words “listen to me,” were part of the conversation. Or think of a conversation in which you could not get a word in edgewise and you were hoping the other person would soon stop talking? Conversation involves both talking and listening. Prayer, conversation with God, cannot be complete unless there is a time for God to speak to us, and we to listen to Him. Making prayer as one sided as we do by all our talking, we have only a half of a prayer.
Martin Luther calls the Amen “our unquestioning word of faith” that allows God to answer our prayers according to His will. “Where there is no faith like this,” Luther says, “there also can be no true prayer.”
When we say “Amen” our prayer isn’t over. It is now God’s turn to talk to us. It is time now that our conversation with God becomes that of listening with unquestioning faith.
When the disciples came down from the mountain the next day, God was now speaking in prayer to them. They listened by seeing God in Jesus rebuke the unclean spirit from the boy. They headed to Jerusalem where they would listen to Jesus teach about his suffering death and resurrection. They would listen to Jesus’ prayer from the cross, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” They would listen to the angels announcement “He is not here; he is risen!”
No Amen of the disciples could stop God’s conversation with them. It was not just they who had something to say; God too had something to say to them.
God has something to say to us as well. It is God’s will that is to be done as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer. Our prayer with God does not stop with our Amen.
Pray, keep your conversation going with God, but remember to listen to God, for at the end of the prayer God will have the final word that His will is done.