“COMING TOGETHER WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE
IT ALTOGETHER”
MARK 9:2-9
2 Six days later, Jesus took with
him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,
3 and his clothes became dazzling
white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.
4 And there appeared to them Elijah
with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
5 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi,
it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
6 He did not know what to say, for
they were terrified.
7 Then a cloud overshadowed them,
and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!"
8 Suddenly when they looked around,
they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain,
he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
Have
you ever noticed how some people always seem to have it together? They never
get frazzled or frustrated. No matter what happens they handle it with ease. Maybe that’s you. Then again, maybe it’s not. That’s one of the things that made Erma Bombeck so popular. Erma
was a person who didn’t have it altogether and that never bothered her. That’s obvious when you read some of her
columns. In one of her columns Erma compared herself to some of the moms you
used to see on television; mom’s like Marjorie Lord in “Make Room For Daddy,” Jane Wyatt in “Father
Knows Best” and Barbara Billingsley in “Leave It To Beaver.” Erma
wrote that those prime-time moms always “looked better cleaning their houses than most of us looked at our wedding.
They never lost their temper, gained weight, spent more money than their husband made, or gave viewers any reason not to believe
they were living out their lives in (total) celibacy.” Compared to them Erma wrote “I was one of the not-quite-ready-for-prime-time
mothers. I never wore hose around the house…nor did I know anyone personally who did.
My kids were the ones the prime-time mothers forbade their kids to play with…I (also) never ironed my husband’s
pajamas. And if I raised my hand to wipe the hair out of my children’s
eyes, they’d flinch and call their attorney.”
You
know what? I think Jesus would have liked Erma. I say that because Jesus didn’t have it altogether himself. Now I know
that some theologians might consider a statement like that blasphemous. After
all, how dare I suggest that the Son of God, the man who was without sin, didn’t have it altogether?
Call me a heretic if you want, but I’m going to
stick by that statement. I’m going to stick by that statement because Jesus
didn’t always have it together. He
had his moments of doubt and indecision. He even had his moments of despair. There were times when he was a little unsure and uncertain of himself. Just look at what happened on the top of that mountain.
It’s
called the Transfiguration and it was designed to give Jesus a boost at a time when he really needed it. It certainly made
Jesus look good to Peter. Peter was really impressed that day by what he saw
and heard. How could he not be impressed when he saw Jesus glowing in the dark? How could he not be impressed when he saw Moses and Elijah standing there talking
to Jesus? How could he not be impressed when he heard that voice declare, “This
is my beloved Son. Listen to him!” I don’t know about you, but if
I heard a heavenly voice say something like that I’d certainly pay attention.
Yes,
Peter was definitely impressed by what happened that day on that mountain. What Peter probably didn’t know knew, however,
is that Jesus was having a difficult time that day. Jesus was having a difficult time because he knew that the time had come
for him to go to Jerusalem and he knew what was waiting for him when he got there. Jesus knew that there was a mountain of hatred and humiliation waiting for him in Jerusalem and that it would eventually lead him to an agonizingly painful crucifixion.
So Jesus climbed to the top of that mountain with that
decision to go to Jerusalem weighing heavily upon him. That’s
why Moses and Elijah appeared to him on that mountain. Luke says in his gospel that they talked to Jesus about his departure
that was to take place in Jerusalem. In other words Moses and Elijah were there to give Jesus a pep talk. They were there to lift his spirits.
They were there to give him a shot of courage and confidence when he really needed it.
When
you look at it this way, the Transfiguration suggests a couple of things. The
first thing it suggests is that nobody has it all together. Even Jesus didn’t have it altogether. So, your neighbors
and your friends and your relatives also don’t have it altogether. You and I don’t have it altogether. I’ll
also guarantee you that once the cameras stopped rolling those prime time moms didn’t have it altogether either.
It doesn’t
matter who you are. When you come right down to it we’re all in the same situation that a man found himself in one day.
The man was really discouraged and down on himself because he didn’t have a job. All that changed though when he saw
a help wanted sign one day while walking by the local zoo. When the man went in to inquire about the job the owner of the
zoo explained to him that their gorilla had just died. He went on to explain to the man that they didn’t have enough
money to get a new gorilla. So, what they wanted the man to do was put a gorilla suit on and pretend to be their new gorilla. Well, the man found the idea of pretending to be a gorilla really embarrassing, but
he really needed the money. So, he took the job. Now, his first day on the job
was hard. He walked back and forth and cautiously ate a few of the bananas that the visitors threw into his cage. The next
day was a little easier. He started thumping his chest and interacting with some of the visitors. The next day he was actually
swinging on a rope that was tied to an old tree in the cage. Unfortunately while he was swinging on the rope he lost his grip
and went sailing into the lion’s den in the next cage. Immediately the
man jumped up and started screaming, “Help! Help! Get me out of here.” While
the man was screaming though, the lion pounced on him in a fit of rage and angrily growled, “Hey buddy, put a lid on
it or we’ll both loose our jobs!”
Before
he fell into that lion’s den that man probably thought that he was the only one who didn’t have it altogether.
Sometimes when life isn’t going very well that’s the way you feel. You feel like you’re the only one who
doesn’t have it altogether. The Transfiguration makes it clear. That just isn’t true. Even Jesus didn’t
have it altogether. So, it doesn’t matter how educated you are. It doesn’t
matter how much money you have in the bank. It doesn’t matter how talented and resourceful you are. Nobody has it altogether.
That’s
the way it is and it would be wonderful if that simple reality inspired people to show a little more kindness and compassion.
It would be wonderful if that simple reality inspired people to show a little more empathy and offer a few more words of encouragement.
Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that’s what you’ll get the next time you don’t have it altogether.
That’s because more often than not what you get these days is a lot of criticism, questioning and endless complaining.
That’s
why it’s so easy to understand how a little boy felt one day when he proudly showed his mother a story he wrote for
school. Now, the mother was a very educated woman. So, she read the paper with
her pen in hand. After spending several minutes correcting his grammar and spelling mistakes she handed the story back to
him. The little boy looked at the red marks all over the paper and with a tear in his eye whimpered, “I didn’t
want you to fix it. I just wanted you to like it.”
That’s
not what Moses and Elijah did on that mountain. They didn’t give Jesus a hard time because of he didn’t have it
altogether. They were there to give him a pep talk. They were there to lift his
spirits. They were there to give him a boost of courage and confidence at a time
when he really needed it.
What you see in the Transfiguration then is an invitation
to be gentle with each other. It’s an invitation to be kind to each other. It’s an invitation to minister to each
other with words of encouragement when life isn’t going very well.
You
see, life would be so much better if we could all be a little more like Owen and his mother.
Actually the Owen’s mother isn’t really his mother which isn’t a problem since Owen isn’t your
typical 650 lb infant. If you’re a little confused let me explain. Owen is the name that wildlife officials in Kenya gave a little while ago to a baby hippopotamus. It all
started when that devastating tsunami hit a little over a year ago. When those deadly waves hit the Kenyan coast Owen was
wept down the Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean and then forced back to shore. After wildlife officials rescued Owen, they brought him
to a nature preserve in the port city of Mombassa. It’s there that Owen met and bonded with a giant 100 year old tortoise. That’s right, a 650
lb baby hippo and a 100 year old tortoise. Ecologist Paul Kahumbu runs the preserve and says, “It is incredible. A less-than-a-year-old
hippo has adopted a male tortoise…and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a ‘mother’…they
swim, eat and sleep together…The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it follows its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother.”
Believe
it or not, that’s what happened on that mountain. Moses and Elijah were there for Jesus. That’s what we all need
when life isn’t going very well. It doesn’t matter if you’re
God’s only begotten Son, a prime time mom on television, a 650 lb. baby hippo or an everyday person like you and me.
We need to come together because nobody has it altogether. Amen.
Rev.
Dr. Richard A. Hughes
February
26, 2006
