20/20 Spiritual Vision

I shall never forget the first time I stood at the point where the Metolius River is born. Suddenly, before my very eyes, a full-grown river burst out of the mountainside. I could hardly believe my eyes. I climbed down the steep bank to the very source of the river. I knelt down and drank of the water. It was fresh and clean and cold—the most refreshing drink I have ever had. The river was born totally alive.

Last March I stood at Caesarea Philippi where to ay amazement I saw the same kind of miraculous birth of a river. There it was the Banias river—one of the two sources of the of the Jordan River that bursts into full flow out of the mountainside. There too the river is clear and cold and refreshing. This time I did not drink of it, for there were too many people cooling their warm and dusty feet in its refreshing flow. I too cooled ay feet and enjoyed its therapeutic renewal.

In my travels in Israel, I have become so aware of the importance of geography. At Caesarea Philippi, I was overwhelmed by the myriads of insights that burst in around me. I was standing at the place where Peter made his great confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” At this place I witnessed the waters of the Jordan River bursting out of the mountainside, and the image of the great confession of Peter bursting out of the great river of faith. The place I was standing was where for the first time Peter and his co-disciples began to look at Jesus through eyes of faith and not only through their physical eyes.

For the first time, they began to look at him with insight and faith. They began to affirm who he really was and what he really meant to then. It Is no coincident that the Gospel writer Mark begins this section with a miracle story, where Jesus restores sight to a blind man. At the end of this section following the story of the Transfiguration, which will be the center of our focus this morning, he ends with another miracle story of the restoration of sight. This time he is on the road to Jericho, when Blind Bartimaeus calls out: “Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me.”  Why does Mark put these stories at the beginning and the end of this section? The answer is quite obvious. This section begins with the story of Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi. It ends with the story of the Transfiguration. These for Mark are the two great experiences where the disciples have their spiritual blindness healed and they begin to see Jesus through eyes of faith.

There is another fascinating insight you gain here from knowing the geography and seeing what is at this place. Immediately above the point where the Banias river springs out of the mountainside, there is an ancient and important alter to the God Pan who is the God of the Shepherds—the ancient God of pastoral peace. It is at this very point that

Peter affirms Jesus as Messiah and Son of God. He affirms him in his shepherd’s role—as the good shepherd who is willing to give his life for his sheep. Once again, Mark uses the place to affirm who Jesus really was—the Messiah who come as Second Isaiah saw the messiah—as the shepherd—the suffering servant who gives his life for his own. He brings in the future not by the sword but through vicarious and redemptive suffering.

Now we move to the Mount of transfiguration. I must now tell you of one of the things I settled in my mind on this last trip to Israel. There are actually two sites reputed to be the Mount of Transfiguration. The one is Mount Tabor, south and west of Tiberius. Last March we had the privilege of spending some time on the top of Mount Tabor. I felt quite sure at the time that this was really the site of the Transfiguration. This time as we stopped once more at Caesarea Philippi and then travelled through the Golan Heights to Mount Hermon. Our very knowledgeable guide pointed out that both the proximity of and the height of Mount Hermon made it much more logically to conclude that this was the sight of the transfiguration of Jesus. Mount Tabor is only a thousand feet high. Mount Hermon is 9200 feet high and has snow on it the year round.

Just imagine Jesus and his three beloved disciples climbing up the mountain. Suddenly they reach the top and they are filled with the exhilaration that only one can have as they stand at the peak. I had this experience a few years ago when I climbed the South Sister in central Oregon. The air Is thin— the sun Is ever so bright, and you suddenly are overawed by the panoramic view around you. You suddenly are aware that you are on top of the world and only those who are with you can really appreciate the experience.

I am sure the three disciples had a new appreciation of who Jesus was just by climbing this high mountain with him. Now, they were alone at the top of the world. I am sure as he stood off from them in the snow with the sun shining in all its brightness behind him, he must have looked almost translucent. It was then that God decided to add the extra touches by drawing back the veil and allowing the blinders to fall from their eyes so that the three disciples could see Jesus in his glory.

As we move to the story as it is recorded by the Gospel writers, let is take note of the interesting variations that appear in the stories told by Matthew, Mark and Luke. First of all, Matthew and Mark begin the story with the words “After six days.” Luke begins the story with the words “After eight days.” This was dating the experience after the moment of Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi. We must remember that these disciples were drawing from either their memory, or the story as they heard it from others. The fact that they differed as to how many days elapsed perhaps validates the story, because it shows each was telling it as he remembered or heard it.

All three Gospel writers have them go together up to a high mountain. Only Luke tells the reason for their going to the high mountain. He says they went up on the mountain to pray. Each one of them says that he was transfigured before them. Matthew says that his face shone like the sun. Luke writes that the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white. Luke writes that his garments became glistening Intensely white as no fuller on earth could bleach. Each remembers a different part of the transformation that took place. Each story had noted different aspects of the transfiguration

All three have Jesus suddenly joined by Moses and Elijah. Now you must remember who these people were. Moses was the great lawgiver, the father of Israel, and the one who was called by God to lead the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt into the freedom of the promised land. Elijah was the first of the Prophets. He was the beginning of a long line of prophets who called the people back to God. They had come here to affirm the Christ who was revealed to his disciples at this time.

At this point Luke alone makes an interesting addition to the story. First of all, Luke alone tells what Jesus talked over with Moses and Elijah. He spoke to them of his coming departure to go to Jerusalem and do what he had to do there, speaking of course of his impending crucifixion. The implication is that they affirmed him in this. Luke also tells how while Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah, the three disciples had problems keeping awake. This was almost like the experience in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the same three had problems keeping awake when Jesus was praying under the olive tree.

Peter suggests that they could build three booths there and stay on the mountain forever. He wanted to arrest the story at that point and make the transfiguration experience the ultimate religious experience. Sometimes we too want to stay at the high points in the religious experience and arrest history at the point of the moment of ecstasy. He did not want to have anything to do with Jerusalem and crucifixions and all of that story. He did not realize that at this moment Jesus was being affirmed before their very eyes so that at the moment of his crucifixion their faith may be sustained, and they would realize that this was not the last word in history. He did not realize that Jesus would have to pass through suffering and death before he could be Son of God for all of us.

Finally, a cloud overshadows them. From the Old Testament we know that God normally appears to his prophets in a cloud. It was the cloud that led the children of Israel through the wilderness. When Moses went up on Mount Sinai, God spoke to him out of a cloud. Now the holy cloud of God appears again, and God speaks out of the cloud to the disciples with words of affirmation of Jesus. Each of the Gospel writers report the words of God differently. Matthew has God say: “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” Mark deletes the words “with whom I am well pleased form his narration.” Luke has God say: “This is my Son, my Chosen.” One must note that God directs his message to the disciples, rather than to Jesus. This experience at this point is for their affirmation.

Mark has the story of the transfiguration at the very center of his gospel. He seems to indicate that the transfiguration was an annunciation of the central them of the Gospel—the theme being that Jesus as true Messiah had come to be obedient unto death and that by suffering and dying. He would be vindicated by resurrection. This was to be an experience of illumination for the three in his inner circle. The rest of the gospel seems to indicate that the transfiguration message did not get through to them. The disciples seemed bound in incorrigible blindness.

Not so the two blind men who frame this story. Both of these receive their total sight—spiritual and physical vision. It took the two charges from the healing hands of Jesus to cure the first blind man. But when Jesus got through with him, Mark reports that his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. When Bartimaeus was healed he too received spiritual as well as physical vision and Mark reports: “He immediately received his sight and followed him on the way.”

There is a marvelous line at the end of the Transfiguration. Each of the Gospel writers puts it a little different way. I like the way Matthew tells it: “And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” I would like to say that this is the sum of all Christian theology. When all is said and done, we who are Christians must focus our eyes on Jesus. He Is central to our faith. He is God’s word to us made flesh.

He calls us today to walk in his pathway. His road to Jerusalem was one he walked in obedience to his Heavenly father. He accepted the role of the suffering servant. He carried his cross—the world’s cross up the via dolorosa to the mountain called Calvary. There he gave his life for the life of the world.

Today in our jumbled world, the Christ affirmed by God on the mount of transfiguration is still trying to lead us down the road to the future. He is still the word made flesh for us. He is asking us to follow him into his future kingdom.

In our day when we seem hell-bent on self-destruction in the arms race in which we are engaged—when we are so blinded that we call the greatest killer we have ever invented—the MX Missile the peacekeeper—we need to hear the master say again—love your enemies —do good to those that despitefully use you. If your enemy hungers feed him or her.

Yesterday, Mark Hatfield told the 400 men who attended the breakfast that the answer to the problem of Central America is that we begin to use our material wealth and power to bridge the gulf between the very rich and the very poor and begin to create a middle class in central America once again. In this way, we will empower the weak to be strong and in so doing they will throw off the yoke of the oppressor.

Today we are a privileged people. Never In all history have we had the resources at our disposal to cure the worlds Ills. We can solve hunger in our time if we will but follow the Christ. We have possibilities in our world for a good life for all. Friday morning, I met Jack Nash on the fishing stream. He had just had a new hip joint put in a few months back. It transformed him from a severely handicapped person to a whole person. He was saying itis a wonderful day to be alive.

But the new day will never come if we do not have our incorrigible blindness cured, so we can see the Christ transfigured before us—that we may see him as the word of God made flesh for our time and our generation. Then and only then will we have the vision to follow him into the new day.