After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”   Stopping for a moment—Moses and Elijah were part of their faith that when these two returned here, particularly Elijah, it would be a very high moment in God’s creation and in their faith.)  Moving on in verse 5--While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” He said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” (Matthew 17:1-9) 

            One of the pieces that precedes this is that Jesus has told them, “I’m going to suffer and die.”  They thought maybe this was the moment.  Or even more personal, they might have thought, “If he’s going, we may be going with him.”  It’s one thing for your leader to die, but when you have to die with them that’s another matter. 

            You know, it’s interesting what we call our churches.  This is Grace United Methodist Church.  I saw one listed one time as the Fellowship of Joy.  Another one said, their motto is “Fellowship is Excitement”.  I’ve never seen a “Church of Fear”, have you?  Now, not by title, maybe by how they act individually or corporately.  You see, one of the most interesting pieces, if you read all of the Gospels in particular, there are so many instances where people express their fear.  And their response is exactly the same that God says to them at this moment, “Do not be afraid” in addition to repeating the very blessing that was given at Jesus’ baptism, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, who I love.”  “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus says.  Don’t be afraid.  Well, fear is a powerful emotion.  It drives us to do many things good and sometimes evil.  Hide away from responsibilities because we think we can’t handle them.  “Don’t be afraid though,” Jesus says.   

            But is it fear that we feel most of the time?  Not really.  Is it the fear of the bright lights on the mountain?  It’s more than that!  If you go to a doctor and he says, “I want to do some more tests; there is a problem here,” fear for “What does this mean?”  “Concerned about something I saw on your x-ray,” how timely that is.  What do you feel--joy, excitement, relief?  Not at all!  A normal human feeling of fear in that way.  And it’s not the fear that you get with a potential terrorists attack or going down a dark street in your car all alone.  Not that kind of fear—that’s the fear of the ominous power out there that can come and get us as the aliens with the chain saws and the movies and all that other stuff that people love to go be afraid in that kind of a setting.   

Now the word “fear” in this is both human but also the “awe”…the fear of God.  Not fear and trembling that He’s going to strike you down if you do something wrong, but to be in the presence of God, the awe, that hits you with an overcoming sense of God’s majesty.  That kind of fear is what we need more of.  Our church should be the church of fear of that kind, of the awe, the deep respect for, the power that when God calls you God knows more than you do and has good reason and will not ask you to go somewhere, that if you keep your hearts and minds open God will provide what you need.  Not in the physical sense always, but the need of the strength of spirit and heart and mind.   

You remember what it was like when you were a child.  The admonition from your parents, “Never cross the street alone.  Always take my hand and we’ll go together.”  Then we grow up and we begin to believe that I’m now old enough, I can cross that street by myself.  And that’s usually when we begin to get in trouble.  Not the crossing of the street, that’s a metaphor, but when we go out on our own deciding this is exactly what we know to do and we plan for tomorrow and three months from now and two years and three and on out into the future, and if we just put together all the details of this plan we’ll going to make it!  And then tomorrow happens, different from what we thought.  We cross the street without looking both ways.  We find ourselves facing fear of the human kind on the other side because now we’ve really gotten ourselves in trouble.  But then if we accept the second fear--the awe, the admiration, the power and the trust in God--how much more we can face because we now did not cross the street alone, we’ve reached out to God always present and always available. 

See, Americans today seem to be moving more and more towards a spiritual understanding.  There are mystical spiritual experiences, some are good but many others just tend to say, “I want something to help me to have a good time, to be able to have the awareness that all I want is a good life, free from illness, safe from terrorist, and that’s the gift that I’m searching for in my spiritual journey.  If I can just know all the information, if I can have this experience it will be right and good for me.  So we try to cross the street by ourselves, and we get into trouble. 

I called on someone a while back. Here they are in a hospital bed, obviously needing to be there.  I asked how they were doing.  They were doing fine.  Well, okay, how long do you think it will be?  Oh, not long, everything is fine; I’ve got it all in control.  Came across as a very together person, but I could tell it was a veneer over fear; it was a slick cookie that they presented for the public, even for the pastor.  I couldn’t crack that veneer.  No some people just don’t let you in.  Peter, James, and John went up there having their own veneer, their hopes for who Jesus was and the light cracked that veneer, came in to them in a way that they never expected.  Fear of this one man, I hope will sometime be replaced by the awe, the deep admiration, the deep respect for God.  But God knows, and knows better than we do.   

Face-to-face encounter with Christ is a fearsome thing.  It’s a respectful thing.  It’s one that should drive us to our knees.  Is seems, though, that when people talk about getting spiritual, it’s more of a warm, cuddly type, some enormous, sweet, smiling little God or God-like thing.  This is bigger and better than any of those.  Encounters with the living God can be very deeply moving even at times threateningly fearful at the initial onset because it shakes you up.  But it is a transforming fear that that awesome feeling turns in to trust and a deep respect for God. 

So you see, this story is about you and about me.  For Peter and James and John are there for us, and, therefore, Jesus’ response and God’s response, first to know that Christ is the beloved Son of God and trust that fully.  And to view the admonition and direction that God gives to those three is also important to us.  Listen to him, followed immediately by Jesus’ own words, “Don’t be afraid.  Don’t live in fear of this world.  But fall to your knees and trust the God, who brings not fear and trembling, or fear and punishment, persecution, but a deep sense of trust.  Maybe we are at that moment, personally, as a church.  None of us wants what Nancy is going through.  None of us do, for anyone, particularly for ourselves.  And it’s early on, and not that she won’t have moments, but her sense of faith has been powerful to me.  It’s trusting in the right kid of fear.  Does she want to?  No!  But will God be with her?  She trusts so!  What else can we do?  For when you start to trust the street, you really don’t know what’s on the other side. 

This morning we offer communion.  And in this communion in the breaking of the bread, Stan will be leading us through the consecration of it, and we offer you the drink representing the body and blood of Christ.  It is that settling of Jesus Christ which He said, “I must go and do.”  But it is for the purpose of showing you the glory of God so that you might not fear with a human fear but that you will be in awe and admiration of deep respect that such a great God Almighty would simply, clearly love you.  Amen and Amen.

E-mail Comments to: Pastor Bob Coleman

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