Exodus 34; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.”
On Friday, February 12, “with hours to go before the opening ceremony, a luger from the nation of Georgia was killed after he lost control of his sled on the infamously fast track at Whistler and crashed into a steel pole.”1 All the OEC mentioned of the athlete's tragic accident in its opening remarks was, “The time for sorrow is now; the time for reason will come later.” Let the games begin, even though lives will be compromised.
In another Georgia, 115 years ago, the world also gathered to celebrate not human athletic excellence and Olympic dreams but human industrial, agricultural, and artistic excellence throughout the world. About six thousand exhibits were examined and beautifully designed medals were awarded. The Awards Committee awarded a total of 1,573 medals: Gold medals, 634 - Silver medals, 444 - Bronze medals, 495. [
Opening remarks on September 18, 1895 were delivered by Booker T Washington, a former slave, esteemed educator, founder of Tuskagee University, and civil rights activist. Washington's speech on the first day of the “Atlanta Exposition” (World's Fair) was probably the most important given at the 100-day event, and it is certainly one of the most eloquent and famous speeches ever delivered in our nation's history.
Washington's speech is so rich, I wish I had the time to read it in its entirety to you now. Yet, as time constrains us, I quote you his eloquent conclusion:
...May I repeat that nothing in thirty years has given us more hope and encouragement, and drawn us so near to you of the white race, as this opportunity offered by the Exposition; and here bending, as it were, over the altar that represents the results of the struggles of your race and mine, both starting practically empty handed three decades ago, I pledge that in your effort to work out the great and intricate problem which God has laid at the doors of the South, you shall have at all times the patient, sympathetic help of my race; only let this be constantly in mind, that while from representations in these buildings of the produce of field, of forest, or mine, of factory, letters,and art, much good will come, yet far above and beyond the material benefits will be that higher good, that, let us pray, God, will come, in a blotting out of sectional differences and racial animosities and suspicions, in a determination to administer absolute justice, in a willing obedience among all classes to the mandates of law. This, coupled with our material prosperity, will bring into our beloved South a new heaven and a new earth.”2
This speech about the races working together for the advancement and prosperity of all was brilliant. Instead of coming out swinging with vinegar and vengeance on his breath, Washington called all people to focus on humanity's best qualities of love, devotion, loyalty and relationship between blacks and whites, not only in the cotton states but throughout the world.
Washington's approach to the benefits of the quality and equality of race relations was met with criticism by future NAACP founder/leader, W. E. B. Du Bois. He renamed Washington's speech “The Atlanta Compromise.” It was a name that stuck. Du Bois believed that Washington's message was insufficiently committed to the pursuit of social, academic and political equality for the black race. Washington, Du Bois felt, had compromised the message and intentions of their race to seek equal rights and equal justice with whites.
Washington, I think, was insightful enough to look beyond skin color and political power and could see a shining “transfiguration” of race relations through the means of a “higher good,” which was, as he said, marked with a determination to “administer absolute justice, in a willing obedience among all classes....”
I would describe transfiguration as nothing less than the glowing glory of God shining from within and throughout a person—or a nation, or a race, or a people. The mystery of the “Big T” is that it's glow can be seen despite the disguise of human flesh and the great guise of human behavior. One who witnesses transfiguration has the ability to see beyond, behind, between body and soul of the other and discern the glowing presence of the divine.
The problem is that people often do not comprehend what they are seeing. This was certainly the case for Peter, James and John. They had no idea what to make of the Transfiguration of Christ on the mountain that day. They were so astounded, so frightened and so mesmerized, yet Luke records they “kept silent and told no one any of the things they had seen” (Luke 9:36b). They covered it up; they put a veil on it.
Both our passages from Exodus and Paul's second letter to the Corinthians speak of veils—Moses wore a veil across his face to protect the Israelites from the frightening, glowing evidence of his having been in the presence of Almighty Yahweh. In Second Corinthians, Paul speaks of our being able, because of Christ, to remove the veil over our eyes that we may see God face to face.
What Peter and James and John witnessed on the mountaintop, and what they heard spoken by a voice from the cloud, was meant to convince them, and so to convince us, not just of the divinity of Christ, not just of the holy company Jesus kept with Moses and Elijah. No, it's more than that.
“This is my son, the Chosen; listen to him” is revealed so that when they all return down the mountain they shall work more fervently because their eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; the veils of sin and death can be removed through an uncompromised faith in Jesus Christ.
Understand that Paul uses “veil” as a metaphor for what prevents us from seeing the full truth about God.”3 What might some of those veils be? Pursuits of power, wealth, and fame, for sure; turning away from the truth, whether it's about human safety or human slavery or anything else. Veils are any “thing” that blinds us from sight and insight of God's goodness, any thing that compromises our hearing and doing God's will.
When we choose the veil rather than the hard-won victory, we participate in what I am calling “The Christian Compromise.” The Christian compromise comes when we keep what we have seen and heard about God through Christ to ourselves; the Christian Compromise comes when we run straight to the crown and bypass the cross. The Christian compromise comes when we put ourselves first instead of last. The Christian Compromise comes when we care more about money and manna than we do about living by the Spirit and learning God's word.
Transfiguration is the cure for the Christian Compromise.
“The transfiguration of Jesus offers a glimpse of what is possible, not only for Jesus, but for all humanity.”4 The God who once brought Israel through the Red Sea now brings those who believe in the promise, rather than those who live in the compromise, out of slavery to sin and death and into the freedom of new life, the resurrection life.
Christian faith alive involves believing and trusting, seeing and doing God's will. Living the Christian faith gives one the ability to see the glow of the glory of God shining before, behind and between body and soul of our fellow travelers on this journey through life. And what that means is this:
If people do not know the promises of God, it is because Christians have not told it to them. If people cannot see the transfiguring light of Jesus Christ, it is because Christians have not shown it to them. If people do not feel the love of God, it is because Christians have not shared it with them. As long as Christians wear the veil of compromise, we remain in the darkness, in slavery to sin and death—our message of salvation is insufficient for the cause. The time of sorrow is ever present, and reason may not overcome it.
On the campus of Tuskegee University there is a statue of Booker T Washington. He stands behind a slave, lifting off a full-body veil—and the slave is coming out from under it, perched, ready to stand, with one hand pushing back the veil and one hand holding an open book. The inscription on the statue reads, “Lifting the Veil Of Ignorance.”
As long as we compromise our faith, the promise of freedom of new life in Christ will remained veiled. Christians are called not to compromise but to proclaim that the promise of salvation, freedom, is fulfilled on a cross. We have a responsibility to the Christ, not to the Compromise.
This is our lesson for all times, from the moments of Moses until Christ comes again: No cross; no crown. When that message is the one that sticks, then, and only then, shall we live in the ultimate place of promise: the new heaven and new earth where there is room and love for all. Amen.
First Parish Federated Church of South Berwick, ME
February 14, 2010
The Reverend Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
