February 14, 2021 – Mark 9:2-9
Mark 9:2-9
God’s Valentine
Transfiguration of Our Lord – February 14, 2021
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
How perfect that today – the day we hear God name Jesus “beloved” – is Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
Valentine is, of course, a Christian saint, and Lutherans have long commemorated him on
February 14th (although not in the current ELW calendar – sad face).
He lived a long time ago, in 3rd century Rome.
He was a doctor who in later life became a priest.
He lived at a time when Christians were still persecuted in the Roman Empire and
when Christians were still pacifists in an empire based on violence.
And since their pacifism would not allow them to serve in the Roman army,
they were naturally suspect as traitors – and therefore persecuted.
Valentine not only sought to make Christians of people and baptize them,
he also insisted on performing weddings when they had been
outlawed by the emperor as a distraction!
He was sent to prison where he befriended his jailer who had a blind daughter.
Valentine offered to help the daughter with her lessons.
The emperor also took a liking to Valentine and offered to release him if he
renounced his faith and worshipped the Roman gods instead.
Valentine refused, and instead attempted to persuade the emperor to become a Christian!
For his efforts he was executed on February 14th, 269, in Rome.
But before he was put to death, he wrote a note to his jailer’s daughter,
thanking her for being his friend and encouraging her to stay close to Jesus.
He signed it, “From your Valentine” – and a tradition was born.
Because he insisted on marrying people despite it being outlawed
he became the patron saint of love and his feast day has become a day
to send love notes to friends and lovers.
It is a day, I would say, to be thankful for all the delight our friends and intimates bring us.
It is a day to delight in one another and see the light in one another –
just like God does when God delights in the beloved Jesus.
For all its weirdness and all the crazy allusions in it, the Gospel story has at its heart, I think,
delight.
The sheer delight of God in Jesus, God’s “son.”
“This,” says God, “is my beloved.”
In Matthew’s version of this story, God adds, “in whom I take delight.”
This story can seem kind of serious and full of awe and maybe even terror.
But I am not sure God sees it that way.
God is looking at Jesus and beaming, breaking out into a huge divine grin,
delighting in one who is beloved.
Jesus is full of light on the mountain – but Jesus has been full of light for 9 chapters.
Full of light as he healed and taught and forgave and fed.
The moment on the mountain just shows what was always there:
a beloved being full of light and love – and God delights in him.
Jesus experiences a moment of closeness to God here, a moment of intimacy,
a moment in which he experiences himself as delightful to another.
If you have ever experienced this – either recently or a long time ago –
you know it is one of the most amazing things in the world.
You never forget it.
It energizes you!
And something like that happens here: Jesus’ moment of intimacy with God energizes him
for continuing his calling to love, bless, heal and set free this whole world and
every person in it.
Like Moses and Elijah before him, Jesus will be energized by this intimacy with God for
service to others.
Like Valentine after him, Jesus will come down the mountain to encourage people to
love in inclusive, just ways that will eventually get him killed.
Valentine insisted on marrying people and sharing the love of Christ.
Jesus insisted on feeding, forgiving and healing and challenging a very unjust empire.
Well, like God, we can all delight in Jesus.
Jesus is amazing. Jesus is full of light.
Jesus is full of love and Jesus is endlessly interesting and endlessly admirable.
If Jesus is not beloved by you as a Christian, there is something wrong.
But here is the thing: with Jesus, it is never a one way street.
Jesus doesn’t exist only to be beloved – Jesus also exists in order to love.
Jesus delights in you.
You are the beloved one today.
You are the one in whom Jesus takes delight.
You are full of wonder and full of light and through his love
Jesus wants to transform you into more and more loving and more and more light.
Jesus wants to energize you for following him down off the mountain on Transfiguration Sunday to the valley below for Transfiguration Monday.
Because that’s where, with him, you can be a participant in transforming the world.
I often say that it is the disciples – that is, it is us –
who are the ones transformed on Transfiguration Sunday.
Paul totally gets it in 2 Corinthians:
And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed [same word as Mark uses for Jesus’ transfiguration! Metamorpheo!] into the same image from one degree of glory to another. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
For the event on the mountain energizes them to go back down the mountain with Jesus and
engage with him in healing ministry.
And what really changes them into the very same image of Jesus, I would guess,
is engaging in that very ministry with Jesus.
Being loved and being delighted in changes us.
For sure it does – it is the thing that changes us the most.
But what also changes us the most is loving and delighting in others –
what also really changes us is loving service.
Between being loved and loving others is where our transformation happens.
I know it seems these days that mountaintop experiences are hard to come by.
There much of a sameness to the days – time has become flattened out.
But take a moment in your mind to journey with Jesus up the mountain.
Hear the voice that claims Jesus as beloved and delights in him.
Then hear that same voice claiming you as beloved and delighting in you,
as it did on the day of your baptism.
Be energized by that.
You are beloved – you could not be more beloved.
And you are delightful.
Be energized by that and now think of someone who needs your love.
Think of someone who is in the valley and to whom you need to journey with Jesus.
Do one thing that loves that person and communicates your delight in them.
For these are the things that transform us, slowly and slowly and slowly
into the very image of the one we worship and whom God adores.
On this day, Jesus is God’s Valentine to us, communicating God’s delight in us and
inviting us into a life down in the valley where we will be changed
into the very image of the one we love.
Let us pray. Almighty God, the resplendent light of your truth shines from the mountaintop into our hearts. Transfigure us by your beloved Son, and illumine the world with your image, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Prayer of the Day for Transfiguration Sunday, Year B)
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