God said ‘This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.’ Luke 9:35
Brothers and sisters, ‘Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family, Choose a big television, Choose washing machines, cars, Compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, And dental insurance.’ These are the lyrics to PF Project’s 1996 song which accompanied the film ‘Trainspotting’. Like the film, the song is pretty dark. To choose life—according to the song—is to choose from a pretty depressing list of options. As the song comes towards a close it says: ‘Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing Sprit-crushing game shows Stuffing junk food into your mouth.’ Life—according to PF Project—is depressing whatever you choose. Choose that sort of life? No, thank you very much. I grew up in the nineties when this kind of stuff was all the rage… can you blame any of us for going slightly crazy and rebelling against the so-called choices we faced. Is that what life is all about? Isn’t there something better? Perhaps, that’s how some people view God; just one more choice on a list of options for how to use up your years on earth. Certainly, people often view Lent as some sort of depressing option, a choice to make you feel worse in this life which already feels pretty bad. Better, perhaps, to buy your Easter eggs now, to fill up on chocolate and make this cold spring feel a little more comfortable. What a depressing start to a sermon! What a depressing view of life! Is that what life is all about? Isn’t there something better?
This morning we continue our journey through Lent. Last week we reflected on how to have a good Lent. How to make the best of the next forty days or so, so that what we do now might change our lives for the better. This morning, the church turns our attention to the Transfiguration, the story we just read in our Gospel reading. On first glance it is a strange pick for Lent! It isn’t about fasting, it isn’t about confession, or giving to charity, and you certainly don’t come away feeling disheartened. The Transfiguration is there to give us hope… so what’s it doing in Lent? Well if last week’s reading—about Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness—was meant to show us what disciplining ourselves, as Jesus did, might look like, the Transfiguration on this Second Sunday of Lent, is meant to show where we’re going and why the effort of Lent is more than worth it. According to the song from ‘Trainspotting’ life just leads to: ‘rotting away at the end of it all’. However, according to Jesus—thankfully—there is another option and it is glorious!
In the chapters before our Gospel reading today, Jesus has been having a hectic time. He has preached to thousands, exorcised demons, raised a dead girl, healed a sick women, picked his top team of twelve, fed five thousand people, and then sat down with His team and told them who He is, and that He is going to die. After that conversation we’re told: ‘Jesus took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.’ So far, so much like Lent. A break, a time to re-gather yourself, a time to pray in some beautiful surroundings. However, it turns out Jesus isn’t here for a retreat, a spa-break, or a sabbatical. Having told His disciples the stunning news that He is going to die Jesus now shows His key lieutenants that death is worth it, because of what, or rather who, lies on the other side. ‘As [Jesus] was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendour, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem.’ Life after death! Life in glorious technicolour! Life with all those in His family who have gone before. That is what Jesus is holding out to all those who follow Him. ‘Trainspotting’—and the world view it represents—has us, as it were, focus on the marathon runners as they go through the pain of the twentieth and twenty-first mile. This view of life says it’s all pain and when you cross the finish line you just collapse in a heap… what’s the point? Give up now, fill your face with chocolate why don’t you, enjoy it while it lasts! Jesus, interestingly, doesn’t deny the pain; He doesn’t say life is great all the time, and if you follow Him it will immediately get better. Jesus talks about His death first, remember! He is realistic about the struggles. The difference is that Jesus has His eyes set on the prize, what comes after the winning line, the party to celebrate the triumph, the glory of having completed the race. Sure, it will hurt for a bit but it’s worth it. Therefore, choose life. Life is what is on offer for the disciples if only they’re awake enough to hear it.
‘Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.’ Peter and the others have had the same hectic schedule as Jesus and, perhaps, they thought that this was meant to be a spa-break. However, when they wake up they see this amazing sight, and are frankly terrified: ‘Peter said to him, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ (He did not know what he was saying.)’ Peter, bless him, as usual doesn’t really know what is going on and, as usual, he puts his foot in his mouth! It started off so well. In the passage before our reading Peter has just realised out who Jesus is, and rather than run away—even from death—Peter has chosen Jesus, has chosen life. As Jesus takes them up the mountain to pray, Peter and the others—as it were—choose life; they choose to be with Jesus. If you like, down in the ‘ordinary' world, at the bottom of the mountain is ‘normal’ life. Down at the bottom of the mountain—as our opening song suggests—people are making their life choices: ‘Choosing a career. Choosing a family, Choosing a big television, Choosing washing machines, cars, Compact disc players, and electrical tin openers.’ Peter and the others have seen through that way of seeing the world they’ve chosen life, they’ve chosen to be up the mountain with Jesus… have you? Here is the critical choice if you want life, real life… choosing Jesus. He is the One who gives true meaning to our lives. He is the One who brings life in all its fullness. He is the One who walks with us through the struggles, and celebrates with us our achievements. He is the One—the only One—who can help us become the people we were made to be. Choosing Jesus is choosing life! That’s why our parish vision begins with: 'Closer to Christ’. It’s no use keeping Him at arm’s length. It’s no use taking the title of Christian, but then staying down at the bottom of the mountain. It is in drawing closer to Christ, closer to Jesus, that we find life in all it’s fullness. Peter has made the right call…, Peter has chosen to be with Jesus, Peter has chosen life. But—with Peter there is always a ‘but’—having chosen life he then wants to freeze it, he wants to pause the DVD, he wants to stay up the mountain and never go down. ‘Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’
We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Had an experience we wished would never come to an end. Maybe it was a great holiday, maybe it was view we didn’t want to turn away from, maybe it was a worship service which touched our heart, maybe it was our wedding day, or the first time we held our child. Whatever it is, we can sympathise with Peter. Peter was so amazed by the experience and he wants to pitch tents and stay there. But that is not how life works… is it?! You can’t pause life, opt out, and stay in dream land! Peter chose right in being with Jesus, he chose life, but now he’s messing it up again. Life must be lived one moment to the next; going home after holidays, passing the newborn to another, returning home after the wedding and getting on with married life. Yes, it’s critical we choose Jesus, that we choose life for ourselves, that we come closer to Christ, but that doesn’t mean we stay there in a detached bubble, at least not for now, for there are others who need to hear. ‘Closer to Christ’, as our Parish Vision says and then, ‘Further out for Christ’. Having chosen life we then, must, take life to others. If we hold life too close, if we try to wrap our arms around it and not let it go life grows cold, it fossilises, and then it dies. The amazing thing about life, real life, Christ-given life, is the more you give it away the more you have! Peter doesn’t get it, he wants to hold on to what he has but Jesus knows better, and, whilst He loves Peter, He also loves all those at the bottom of the mountain. And so, having had this mountain-top experience—an experience available to all who choose to come closer to Christ—they must go down the mountain and take the choice of life out to the rest of the world.
Friends, this Lent—as with every Lent—Jesus calls on us to discipline ourselves for the journey; the journey of following Him to glory. Jesus knows that it is tough, He went through it Himself, and He asks us not to focus on the pain, on the struggle, on the difficult miles half-way through the marathon; but instead to lift our eyes to the glory which is coming for all who follow Him. This will take a deliberate choice. A choosing to draw closer to Christ, a choosing to make space to be with Jesus—as it were—on the mountain. Space to pray, to rest, to listen to Jesus and to prepare is critical, if we are to choose life, but so is what happens next, what happens after our prayer time, after our mountain top experience, after being with Jesus. Having come closer to Christ, we must then go further out for Christ and take the life we have found, the life we have chosen, out to the world. May this Lent be glorious because we have chosen life all over again. May this Lent be glorious because we have made space to be with Jesus. May this Lent be glorious because having been with Jesus we then go out and take life to the world. Friends, this Lent choose life. Amen (from Fr Mike).