Messages, Meditations, and Musings on the Life of Faith by Rev. Dr. Scott E. Olson, Interim Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Preston, MN

Sunday, March 2, 2014

"Lighten Up" - Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday

Lighten Up
Transfiguration – Narrative Lectionary 4
March 2, 2014
Grace, Mankato, MN
John 9.1-41

At last week’s adult forum, Dr. Steve Anderson talked about bringing sight to Indonesians through Global Eye Missions. He told a particularly moving story about a man who had been sightless for over 20 years, who had never seen his wife or son until he had cataract surgery. That reminded me about how important sight is to me, the one sense I wouldn’t want to lose, if I had a choice. As a young boy, I read a story about Teddy Roosevelt, who as a young boy himself was not able to see words on a barn while hunting. Then, as a young adult I relearned the value of my eyes when I scratched both corneas, the most pain I have ever been in. Then, it was bifocals at age 40 and trifocals (transition lenses) at age 50. Now as I approach 60 I have Posterior Vitreous Detachment, which is more annoying than serious, but is responsible for those little floaters and some blurred vision.

Dr. Anderson also talked about people gaining spiritual sight through the work he was doing. I was also reminded that have also been keenly aware I have had a great deal of spiritual myopia as well. There’s a great scene in The Last Battle, CS Lewis’ version of Armageddon and the end of time, the consummation of all things. The good guys and bad guys are battling it out, but the dwarves fight against both sides because, as they say, “The dwarves are for the dwarves.” Yet in the end, they wind up getting tossed into the same hut as the good guys, at that Lewis says is “bigger on the inside than the outside.” The shabby hut, despite its appearances, takes you into the real Narnia, a beautiful place and lovely place. However, the dwarves fail to see its beauty and goodness, thinking it cold and heartless, and so they stay huddled together. Nothing can convince them that they are not in a dark place.

Our experience with eyesight and Lewis’ wonderful story illustrate the importance of our text today. Not just the beggar, but all of the characters in the story are touched by Jesus in invited into abundant life. As the story moves along, the beggar “sees” more and more who Jesus is; others not so much. As we know too well from snow blindness, it is ironic that the same light that can both help you see is the same light that can blind you.

What’s remarkable is that the beggar grows in spiritual sight while Jesus is off-stage and as he goes through challenges to his experience with Jesus. Dr. Jimmy Allen, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, notes that sometimes we learn more about God through events that take us out of the safe and comfortable and into the unknown and challenging. That’s certainly been true in my life. I grew by stepping out of my comfortable agnosticism into the unknown of a church young adults group. I was challenged by my wife to tithe (give 10%) from the beginning of our marriage. I stepped into the unknown with a wife and two young daughters, selling all we had as I answered the call to attend seminary at the age of 38. Yes, even accepting this call to Grace was a journey out of the safe and comfortable.

As I look back on almost 18 years since my ordination, the touch of Jesus continues to open my eyes. The views I have had about heaven and hell, sexuality, the sacraments have slowly evolved over the years. While I continue to be unashamedly Lutheran, God has opened my eyes in new ways to see, and perhaps I have become even more Lutheran. More so, God has helped me to have the humility to say, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” Perhaps in the way of today’s text, it would be, “Lord, I see; help my blindness.”

Today is Transfiguration Sunday, a story not appearing in John. However, there may not be a better text than today’s. For the transfiguration is about getting a glimpse of God as God is, not what we want to make him. Like Philip and the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus invites us to “Come and see” what he is up to. His touch calls us forward through our struggles to “see deeper” into the life we share. This is true for us as a congregation: God is doing some wonderful things in our midst. Let’s lighten up and not blink as we move forward together into the unknown and challenging life of faith. Amen.

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