Glimpses of God—Exodus 24: 12-18; Matt. 17: 1-9
In Wilmore, Kentucky, there’s a small, traditionally Methodist college called Asbury. There are both an undergraduate school and seminary. The undergraduate school requires students to go to a number of chapel services per year, as it is still a religious school. Typically, this is a routine and boring affair for most college students. I remember dozing off in a number of Convocations at my Presbyterian college. But something happened at Asbury on February 8th.
The students just quietly stayed after the final song and began to pray and sing and offer hugs, love, care, confession, and short sermons in that space. It kept going for hours, and has now been going non-stop, 24 hours a day ever since. They’ve called it a revival, but it’s a quiet time of praise with soft music, quiet prayers, no shouting, no over the top theatrics…just simple prayer and praise. It’s drawn a crowd from all over the United States and soon to be the world. There are people lining up outside, hundreds deep just get inside the chapel and experience this movement. This isn’t Baby Boomers, Gen X, or even Millenials. It’s surprisingly the 18-25 crowd, Gen Z, who are seeking this deeper connection to God.
In a world that seems chaotic, over-informed, and often trying on our souls, patience, and nerves, we need to see those glimpses of God in our lives. We need to feel God’s presence with us, moving through our living and our being. From time to time, we need to be reminded not just of the call of God in our lives, but of the beauty and majesty of God in our world.
We read today about the Transfiguration. Now, I can work with the prodigal son, the woman at the well, the dry bones of Ezekiel. But exactly what does a preacher say about this stuff? Jesus went up on a mountain, got lit up in a cloud of glory, and a voice from Heaven told three disciples the same thing they would have heard at Jesus’s baptism, had they been there. There’s not exactly a deep-rooted, magical, theological grand point to really be pulled out of that. There is one thing; however, that is pretty important.
The disciples needed a very clear and distinct sign of who Jesus really was, and they needed it to come from somewhere other than Jesus. They needed a glimpse of God when they were in a confusing place. In the Hebrew Lesson, we see that Moses goes up onto the mountain and into the cloud for 40 days with God’s holiness. During that time, the people see glimpses of God’s majesty and glory in what appears to be consuming fire. At some point, in other parts of Exodus, we even hear of Moses being transfigured and his face and hair shining brightly from his glimpse of God.
In Jesus’s day the people most often believed prophets based on signs and miracles. That is part of why Jesus’s ministry and healing is so important. To claim a prophetic place in society, there had to be some glimpse of God’s power. But these three disciples got way more than they expected. Jesus appears transfigured in light with Moses and Elijah. But why? Moses and Elijah were revered heroes of the people. Add Jesus to the mix, and you get some similarities: all were prophets; all were initially rejected by people; all were vindicated by God; all were advocates of God’s covenant; all worked miracles.
But here, Jesus is contrasted to the great prophets. The voice from Heaven doesn’t call Jesus a beloved prophet, but “my son.” Jesus is more than just a prophetic leader. He’s the holy one—the deliverer and Savior. At the end, it is Jesus who touches them, Jesus who gets them up, and Jesus who calms their fears at what they have just experienced. In the end it is simply Jesus with them. And now they know. A glimpse of God has allowed them to know they are seeing God’s love, God’s own son right before them.
Where do we find these glimpses of God in our everyday life? I doubt many of us will experience something quite as miraculous as what Peter, James, and John saw, but we too need to find glimpses of God in our lives. Those who have grandchildren and see that big smile of love in a sweet baby or child’s face will know exactly how it feels to see a glimpse of God’s love. If we have a quiet place of rest and rejuvenation like the beach or the mountains, we will know what it feels like to be alone in God’s presence. If our soul is stirred by music, when we hear those melodies and chords played with the fervor of faith and convincing depth of soul, we will know how it feels to see a glimpse of God.
One of greatest reasons why I continue to work protecting our elderly and disabled or dependent adults in Georgia is because in every victim regardless of age, impairment, or personal struggle, I see the face of God. The face of Jesus on the cross was the face of vulnerability, helplessness, and suffering. But in that presence of God, there is healing, love, and grace for all regardless of their struggles. And that love and grace that helps the broken to lift up their heads, the struggling to carry on, and the weary to be renewed is where we see God show up the most. It’s likely the reason so many students gathered to simply hug, pray, and sing quietly together—to find the healing help of the God they love.
Our world today faces a startling contradiction. Studies say church attendance is at an all-time, record-setting low. Yet a more recent study from the Washington Post showed that a vast and overwhelming majority of those responding found that church is where they are the happiest and find the most meaningfulness in life. The answer is people still need to get glimpses of God. Perhaps that is why this movement as Asbury has captured the attention of so many. In a truly deserted place as we often find ourselves in this world, we need to see God’s majesty and presence, and we need it to speak to us over and over again.
The transfiguration is not exactly the most dynamic and exciting set of verses to pull out of the Bible. But it gives us this important reminder that we need to have glimpses of God in life, so that we remember God’s love and power in our lives. A friend of mine posted this quote on her Facebook. I think it gives us the reminder we need, “Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God.” So, today, I pray today that we see more of God in the world, and that the world sees more of God in us.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/3089217448037651