L. Gregory Jones - "Reflected Glory" (February 25, 2001)

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-	The third lesson is from the Gospel according to St. Luke.	0:11
	The ninth chapter. Now about 8 days after these sayings,	0:15
	Jesus took with him Peter and John and James.	0:22
	And went upon the mountain to pray. And while	0:27
	he was praying, the appearance of his face changed.	0:30
	And his clothes became dazzling white.	0:34
	Suddenly, they saw two men: Moses and Elijah talking	0:38
	to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking	0:42
	of his departure. Which he was about	0:46
	to accomplish at Jerusalem.	0:48
	Now Peter and his companions were weighed down	0:52
	with sleep. But since they had stayed awake,	0:54
	they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.	0:57
	Just as they were leaving, Peter said to Jesus,	1:03
	"Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us	1:07
	make three dwellings. One for you, one for Moses,	1:11
	and one for Elijah," not knowing what he had said.	1:16
	While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed	1:21
	them, and they were terrified as they entered	1:25
	the cloud. Then, from the cloud	1:28
	came a voice that said, "this is my	1:31
	son. My chosen. Listen to him."	1:34
	When the voice had spoken, Jesus	1:39
	was found alone. And they kept silent, and	1:41
	in those days, told no one any of the things	1:46
	they had seen. This is the word of the Lord.	1:49
-	Let us pray.	2:04
	Gracious God, descend your Holy Spirit upon us,	2:08
	speak through me; if necessary, in spite of me,	2:11
	and always beyond me. Hide the preacher	2:17
	in the shadow of the cross, that your	2:21
	word might be heard by your people this day.	2:25
	In name of Jesus, we pray, Amen.	2:29
	Who is this 'Jesus?' He is a figure	2:36
	of endless fascination, in part because	2:41
	of the legacy that he has left over	2:46
	2,000 years. Scholars have engaged	2:49
	in quest to try to understand who he was	2:53
	in the first century. Books have been	2:56
	written, movies have been filmed, TV shows,	2:59
	and documentaries, all seeking to understand	3:03
	who is this 'Jesus?' He is, after all,	3:06
	an interesting character.	3:11
	Four Gospels within scripture and additional	3:15
	apocryphal gospels have been written about	3:18
	him, and even in the first century during the	3:20
	time of his ministry, people were fascinated	3:24
	by that question. Who is this Jesus?	3:27
	A charismatic teacher? A prophet? A miracle worker?	3:32
	A healer? When Jesus would come to the	3:40
	neighborhood, crowds would come out.	3:44
	An intriguing figure; who is this Jesus?	3:48
	Well, we wanna know and often what	3:53
	we really want is to find someone	3:57
	who can touch us in the ways we really want	4:02
	to be touched.	4:06
	We create a Jesus in our own image.	4:07
	Someone we can like, someone we can enjoy,	4:11
	someone we can have as our co-pilot on the	4:16
	airplane flight of life. A century ago,	4:20
	Albert Schweitzer noted that even the	4:24
	best of scholars, when they sought to understand	4:27
	the historical Jesus, often ended up describing	4:29
	Jesus in ways that look remarkably	4:33
	like the authors of the books.	4:35
	How often, the Jesus we end up with	4:39
	is a Jesus that we want.	4:43
	And yet, that Jesus is also	4:47
	in tension with the one we really need.	4:50
	You see, the Jesus is one who can call	4:55
	us out of the predicaments that we find	4:59
	ourselves in. Who can offer	5:01
	hope in the midst of despair.	5:03
	Joy in the midst of grief, love	5:05
	in the midst of division and hatred.	5:08
	But are we prepared for that kind of Jesus?	5:13
	Are we prepared for the Jesus that	5:18
	we need? Well beyond the Jesus that	5:20
	we want? The time comes to all of us	5:25
	when we realize that an optimistic	5:29
	assessment of the world just isn't enough.	5:31
	Sometimes it's because of things	5:35
	we do.	5:37
	Perhaps it happened as a child,	5:38
	or as a youth and we engaged in some	5:41
	kind of experiment, or undertook	5:43
	some kind of act of rebellion that	5:45
	we found ourselves out in the	5:48
	far country and wondering whether our	5:49
	parents or our families or our friends	5:51
	might ever welcome us back, might ever	5:54
	offer us forgiveness. Or is it the case	5:56
	that once we fall, we fall for life?	6:00
	Maybe it was in young adulthood,	6:06
	or as an adult when we discover	6:09
	that the world isn't quite as	6:11
	malleable as we hoped.	6:13
	When a child suffered and died,	6:16
	when a spouse betrayed us,	6:19
	when a boss failed us,	6:23
	when we experienced a tragic death of a loved one,	6:27
	and we begin to wonder whether the	6:32
	world makes any sense, whether there is	6:34
	any meaning or purpose beyond the	6:36
	suffering that happens to us.	6:39
	Whether it is things we've done,	6:44
	sins we've committed, or whether	6:46
	it is things that have been done to us,	6:49
	that have marked and scarred and wounded	6:52
	us and left those wounds open and	6:54
	festering. We wonder whether there is	6:56
	a Jesus we need. Someone who rises	6:59
	above the circumstances and the	7:02
	divisions of our life, who offers that	7:04
	hope, that joy, that love.	7:08
	We encounter in our gospel lesson for this morning	7:15
	the story of the transfiguration	7:19
	that powerful that story that comes	7:21
	right on the hinge, that displays the	7:23
	tension between the Jesus we want	7:26
	and the Jesus we need.	7:28
	When they get to the mountain, Jesus	7:35
	is transfigured. His robes become	7:38
	dazzling in white, a sign of the heavens	7:41
	and of holiness. The disciples	7:44
	look and behold him	7:50
	rising above Moses and Elijah,	7:52
	fulfilling and transcending all that	7:57
	was told in the law and the prophets,	7:59
	and Peter wanting to find a way to	8:04
	manage the situation, said "Hey,	8:06
	this is pretty neat, let's keep it	8:08
	this way. Let's build some booths	8:10
	and let's stay up here, I like it this way.	8:12
	Peter had a Jesus he wanted.	8:18
	But this Jesus, is one who is on the	8:23
	way to Jerusalem, whose glory and whose	8:28
	robes that are so dazzling in white, are going	8:32
	to be washed in the blood of the cross.	8:36
	On that journey to Jerusalem,	8:41
	we discover that the Jesus we need	8:44
	is one who journeys unto suffering and	8:46
	death, on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday,	8:49
	and that the glory of Easter comes only	8:53
	through that encounter, not in bypassing it.	8:55
	This Jesus whom we encounter in the	9:01
	transfiguration, isn't simply a nice guy,	9:03
	a wonderful teacher,	9:06
	a miracle worker,	9:09
	for the heavens open up and God declares,	9:12
	"This is my beloved son, listen to him."	9:15
	We ready to listen to the one who calls	9:21
	us to journey with Jesus through Lent,	9:24
	on the journey to Jerusalem?	9:28
	Are we willing to listen to the Jesus,	9:31
	not only as he enters triumphantly on	9:34
	Palm Sunday, but he is betrayed and abandoned,	9:37
	and left hanging on a cross?	9:42
	In the days of Civil Rights in Georgia,	9:49
	Clarence Jordan founded the Koinonia farm.	9:53
	He also is the author of the Cotton Patch Gospels.	9:58
	Jordan, through the people of the	10:01
	Koinonia Farm and the Koinonia community,	10:03
	was embarked on a process of trying	10:06
	to bring about racial reconciliation,	10:08
	trying to offer those signs of hope and joy	10:10
	and love in the midst of the racism and the	10:13
	oppression and the suffering that was	10:16
	still prevalent.	10:18
	And as might be expected when he was	10:22
	trying to embark on that ministry	10:24
	of reconciliation. They encountered	10:26
	all kinds of opposition and hatred,	10:29
	in the surrounding areas and they	10:32
	were being attacked by the Klan and by	10:34
	other agents of suffering.	10:37
	They got to a point where Jordan	10:42
	realized they needed some legal assistance.	10:43
	And so he went to his brother, who was	10:48
	involved in Georgia State Politics at the time.	10:49
	He went to his brother and said "we need	10:52
	your assistance." His brother said,	10:54
	"I can't provide it." And Clarence	10:56
	said, "Why not? We need it. You see	10:59
	what's happening to us; we need this	11:01
	ministry, we need the legal aid that	11:03
	you can provide me." He said, "you know	11:05
	if I do it right now, it'll compromise	11:06
	my career, and I've got delicate	11:08
	relationships in the legislature	11:10
	and in politics, and I just can't	11:12
	take that kind of a risk."	11:14
	And Clarence said to him, "Well, what	11:17
	about your following of Jesus?"	11:19
	His brother just looked at him and then	11:23
	Clarence said "I remember very distinctly	11:24
	that day when we were young teenagers	11:27
	and both of us went down to the altar	11:29
	of the Baptist Church we were members of	11:31
	and we dedicated our lives to Jesus,	11:34
	what does that have to do with whether	11:36
	you take a risk?"	11:37
	Clarence's brother looked at him and	11:41
	he said, "Well," he said "I don't really	11:43
	consider myself a follower of Jesus,	11:45
	I prefer to think of myself as an admirer of Jesus."	11:48
	Well, I have to confess that there's	11:58
	a part of me that would rather be an admirer of	11:59
	Jesus, than a follower."	12:02
	To be an admirer means that I can	12:06
	keep my distance, I can look	12:08
	and behold his beauty, even his transfigured	12:11
	appearance from afar.	12:14
	I can rest content at that distance, with the	12:19
	Jesus I want. Without recognizing the Jesus I need.	12:24
	What the gospel tells us,	12:31
	is that the only we can really	12:34
	understand who this Jesus is, is if	12:36
	we embark on discipleship. If we	12:40
	are following Jesus, then we will	12:44
	be in a better position to understand	12:46
	him, and to understand the depths of	12:49
	what we need, and to discover the riches	12:51
	of what God offers unto us.	12:54
	You see, the transfiguration points us	12:59
	to the son of God, the sinless one,	13:01
	the one who breaks apart all the ways	13:07
	in which we diminish and destroy ourselves and one another.	13:10
	Because, he is the one who rises above our sin,	13:15
	and he is the one who offers us the forgiveness	13:20
	that wipes away the burdens of the past, and	13:24
	offers the possibilities for new life.	13:28
	The novelist Iris Murdoch,	13:34
	said in one of her novels, "A saint is someone	13:37
	who absorbs evil, without passing it on."	13:41
	It's a challenge isn't it? To be able to absorb	13:46
	what we do, to be able to absorb what is done to us;	13:49
	without then passing it on to others?	13:54
	The one who has done that perfectly	13:58
	is the one who stands on the Mount of Transfiguration;	14:01
	robes in dazzling white, who absorbs all	14:07
	of our sin, all of our destructiveness,	14:11
	all of our evil, but rather than passing it on,	14:14
	offers forgiveness to us.	14:18
	But we can only really receive that forgiveness	14:24
	if we get close to him. If we avoid the temptation	14:27
	to be admirers, and instead become followers.	14:32
	Because it is in being befriended by Christ,	14:37
	by being found in Christ's good company,	14:41
	that we discover what true glory really is.	14:45
	In Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, read	14:52
	just a few minutes ago, Paul says "We, who have	14:55
	beheld Christ, are being conformed, changed	15:01
	into this image, changed from one degree	15:04
	of glory to another. It's a glorious image	15:07
	that we also are being transformed by Christ.	15:13
	Not from afar, but by being found in Christ's	15:19
	company. Not because of who we are,	15:23
	but because of whose we are.	15:26
	Because it is the work of the Lord, the work	15:32
	of the spirit of the Lord; to touch	15:36
	us, to transform us, to redeem us, to	15:38
	take our lives, to pick them up in their	15:42
	scattered fragments, and to meld them	15:45
	into a new life." In that transformation	15:48
	of glory, we discover that there is nothing	15:55
	so whole as a broken and redeemed heart.	15:57
	Nothing so strong as the fragments of	16:02
	a life redeemed by the glory of Christ and	16:05
	brought together into a new life.	16:08
	What God in Christ calls us to	16:16
	is a journey through suffering,	16:20
	through pain, through dying;	16:25
	a journey through Holy Week, that begins this	16:30
	Wednesday. Throughout Lent, culminating	16:33
	in the drama of Holy Thursday and Good Friday,	16:37
	so that on Easter Sunday, all those of	16:41
	us who grieve, all those of us who suffer,	16:44
	all those of us who carry the burdens of the past	16:47
	around with us, weighed down by the miseries of life.	16:51
	In other words, all of us who live	16:57
	will be equipped to sing the Easter	17:01
	Hallelujah, because we have beheld	17:04
	the transfigured Christ, and because we	17:07
	have been changed. We have beheld	17:11
	that glory in a way that reflects onto us.	17:15
	And that reflected glory then can shine	17:19
	in our own lives.	17:23
	Dorothy Day used to say she wanted	17:28
	to live her life in a way that just	17:30
	wouldn't make sense if God doesn't exist.	17:33
	That's what following Jesus is all about.	17:37
	Living in ways that don't make sense,	17:41
	unless, we've discovered God's forgiveness.	17:46
	Unless, we've discovered God's love.	17:51
	Unless, we've discovered the joy that	17:54
	comes in the kind of music that this choir	17:56
	and the organ plays, week after week,	17:59
	that calls us out of ourselves into the praise of God.	18:02
	It doesn't make sense, unless, we have	18:07
	beheld the glory of the Christ we need,	18:11
	rather than the Christ we want.	18:15
	In recent years, this has been displayed in	18:20
	a powerful way, in the musical Les Misrabales.	18:22
	Many of you have seen it, the story	18:27
	of Jean Valjean, a man who had	18:28
	been imprisoned, who had suffered	18:31
	for what he did, and then what had been	18:34
	done to him, even after he paid his	18:36
	time, he thought he would be free,	18:37
	but, no, he was still a marked with a	18:39
	number two-four-six-o-one, that was	18:42
	carried with him, until he encountered	18:45
	one of those saints, a bishop of dean,	18:48
	who forgives him, and as he sends him forth,	18:52
	says, "Remember, you've been claimed	18:57
	by God, live differently."	19:00
	Valjean struggles with that, struggles to live	19:03
	into a different future, but he	19:05
	knows he's been claimed. He begins	19:08
	to show some of that reflected glory	19:12
	as he struggles to unlearn and to	19:14
	get rid of the mark	19:17
	that wore him down,	19:21
	and to bear witness to that	19:24
	forgiving and redeeming love, and	19:25
	he does it in relationship after	19:27
	relationship, it doesn't mean he	19:29
	avoids struggle, it doesn't mean he	19:31
	avoids pain, or confrontation with sin,	19:33
	but he continues to bear witness,	19:37
	through it and above it, and in	19:39
	the final scene, you see, as the music	19:42
	is playing in the background, the	19:48
	lighting shines on his face, and he	19:51
	is in a white robe, bearing witness	19:55
	to the ways in which he has been changed,	19:59
	from one degree of glory into another.	20:02
	And then someone sings to him,	20:09
	to love another person, is to see	20:10
	the face of God, not sentimental love,	20:12
	but Jesus love. A suffering love,	20:19
	a costly love.	20:25
	We behold the glory of Christ in the transfiguration.	20:30
	And as we behold that glory, not from afar,	20:35
	but in the midst of seeking to follow Jesus,	20:39
	that glory reflects onto us.	20:44
	And as we seek to live faithful, to this gracious	20:48
	and wondrous God, we are changed,	20:53
	from one degree of glory into another.	20:57
	I don't know how you've been marked in life,	21:02
	whether it's with a number,	21:06
	whether it's with something that you did	21:09
	as a child, or a youth, or a young adult,	21:10
	or something that you did yesterday,	21:13
	whether it's with something that's been	21:17
	done over and over again to you, that	21:18
	weighs you down, whatever it is,	21:21
	the transfigured Christ calls you	21:28
	into a new way of life.	21:34
	To be set free from the burdens by his forgiveness.	21:38
	To enter into his good company.	21:43
	Who is this Jesus?	21:48
	He is the one, whose glory	21:51
	shines forth into our lives, and calls us	21:56
	not simply to admire, but to follow him,	22:01
	this day, and all our days.	22:06
	Thanks be to God. Amen.	22:10

Item Info

Title:

L. Gregory Jones - "Reflected Glory" (February 25, 2001)

Description:

Sermon start time: 02:04. Sermon end time: 22:12.
In the Transfiguration we receive not the Jesus we want but the Jesus we need. This Jesus, in his journey to Jerusalem and crucifixion, absorbs all the hatred and sin of the world and instead of recycling it, offers us forgiveness. This is the true glory of Christ, and it is only by following him (not simply admiring him from afar) that this glory begins to reflect in our lives as well. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “We behold the glory of Christ in the Transfiguration. And as we behold that glory, not from afar, but in the midst of seeking to follow Jesus, that glory reflects onto us. And as we seek to live faithful to this gracious and wondrous God, we are changed, from one degree of glory into another.”

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4fj29t2t

Date:

February 25, 2001

Speaker:

Jones, L. Gregory

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Duke University. Chapel

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UA.17.01.0003 CS-1054
ref10265_2g2
uachapelsermaud
duke:321177
dcrau001698
ark:/87924/r4fj29t2t
b1686dc2-a8d4-4fb7-b88c-3a94f2491292

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Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

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L. Gregory Jones - "Reflected Glory" (February 25, 2001)

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