The Looming Shadow--March 3, 2025

 The Looming Shadow--March 3, 2025

"Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem." (Luke 9:28-31)

The paintings and the stained-glass window representations of this story never include it, but there's a looming shadow of the cross in this story.  To be honest, you can never go very long in the gospels without Jesus being very clear about where he is headed and how he faces a Roman cross with courage and love, even though he knows what awaits him.  It colors every moment of Jesus' life and ministry, even the most seemingly otherworldly and glorious ones. If we had any hopes that this transcendent scene where Jesus' visibly transforms in front of his disciples and is visited by two of the most revered figures of the Hebrew Scriptures would offer some easy escapism for us, Jesus, Moses and Elijah dash those hopes right before our eyes.

You can see the shadow of the cross in that curious detail that Luke includes here in this passage, which many of us heard in worship this past Sunday.  The great lawgiver Moses, along with the quintessential prophet Elijah, have struck up a conversation with Jesus about "his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem."  That's Luke the narrator trying to be tasteful, but the phrase "his departure" isn't about a day-trip or a journey.  The looming "departure" Jesus will make "at Jerusalem" is the cross--that is to say, it is death.  And in fact, even the word "departure" here is a translation of the Greek word "exodus," as in the same word used for the great deliverance God accomplished for the enslaved Israelites from Pharaoh's Egypt through the Sea and on the way to the Promised Land.  Jesus is about to accomplish a new exodus--a new event of deliverance, redemption, and rescue--but it will also come at a price.  Jesus will set a world full of us, entangled and held captive in sin as we are, free from the grip of death; but he will do so by laying down his own life.  Jesus will liberate humanity like a whole new Parting of the Sea, but he will accomplish it by being crucified.  See? You just can't go very far at all in the story of Jesus without running into the unavoidable cross.

And, just to be honest about this, the cross of Jesus is always something that pulls us out of our comfort zones.  We don't want to admit that our own complicity in sin and captivity to death are big enough deals to require a crucified messiah.  And we don't want to acknowledge that since Jesus calls us to follow him, we too are being called to the way of the cross.  There is always within us some impulse looking to have some version of Christianity without that cost, to have faith without following Jesus to the cross, or to turn religion into a means of feeling spiritually warm and fuzzy, rather than letting Jesus lead us to share the sufferings of others, to bear pain with others, and to head into the messy places.  And there is always something in us that wants a Messiah who looks more like a "winner," who sides with the strong and the powerful, who vanquishes his enemies, and who offers us comfort and convenience, rather than the Savior we actually get, who lays down his life on a cross in utter self-emptying in what looks like an utter defeat at the hands of the powers of the day.  Even on the Mount of Transfiguration, which might have otherwise seemed to be removed from the slings and arrows of this mortal coil, Jesus has his eyes on the way of the cross.

In our own lives of faith, the cross is never far from the moments we are closest to Jesus.  We might have those times when we feel God's presence especially powerfully, or where it feels like we are on the mountaintop along with Simon Peter, James, and John.  When they happen, great!  Let them give you clarity, guidance, and assurance.  But also, we should be prepared for God to use those mountaintop moments to direct us to places or people where we will be called to share the suffering of people around us, to bear the cross for others, or to face down the powers of the day.  Jesus hasn't come merely to dole out vaguely spiritual feelings or help us achieve the American Dream--he calls us always on the journey to the cross, in which we empty ourselves for the sake of others, serve as our alternative kind of greatness, and share in the pain of others.

Today, then, I pray that you will be granted one of those moments where God's presence is real to you, where God's guidance is made clear to you, and where you are given what you most deeply need.  And I pray, too, that when it comes and also leads you on the way of the cross with Jesus, you will be given the grace and strength to follow in Jesus' footsteps there, even when that means going beyond our comfort zones.

Here we go.

Lord Jesus, show us yourself in your glorious reality, and let that direct us to walk with you on the way to the cross.