Blinded by the Light

Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday


Luke 9:28-30

About eight days after Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God, 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.

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He was just blinded by the light
Cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night
Blinded by the light
Momma always told me not to look into the sights of the sun
Oh, but Momma, that's where the fun is

"Blinded by the Light" by Bruce Springsteen recorded by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J."

This was the first track on the first album by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. It introduced us to a cast of characters the world had never seen the likes of before: Madman drummers bummers, Indians in the summer, a teenage diplomat, the all-hot half-shot, the fleshpot mascot, young Scott, and his lover and that's just the first verse!

They were all blinded by the light, cut loose like a deuce; whatever that means.

On Transfiguration Sunday we have a trio who were blinded by the light. In our day and time; Peter, John, and James would look as wild and out of place as some brimstone baritone anti-cyclone rolling stone preacher from the East. On the side of a mountain they looked into the light and they saw the face of their Lord, they saw the face of the Lord change. (That's all "transfiguration" means, change face, no big deal.) As the face of the Lord changed they saw Moses and Elijah appear with him and they began to kibbutz.

Chatting with Jesus. Now that had to be amazing. The three of them, all of the apostles, all of the disciples, people--just plain folks had chatted with Jesus. When Jesus chats with these heroes of the faith, Moses who disappeared into the mountains and Elijah who was taken in the whirlwind, that's different. Peter wants to build shrines. He was so blinded by the light that he couldn't stay in the moment. He had to say something, even if it's silly.

There's a lesson for us, be present in the moment, every moment. You can never be sure when Jesus will take you aside and blind you by the light. When the light gets you, be there, listen, enjoy, praise God! Don't offer to do something. Offer to be there as long as the Lord is there too.

Don't be so blinded by life that we fail to be present when the Lord calls. We have to take to heart what Bruce sings, "Momma always told me not to look into the sights of the sun, Oh, but Mama, that's where the fun is."

Momma, the sights of the Son, that's where the fun is!

Are We There Yet?

Deuteronomy 2:7

Surely the LORD your God has blessed you in all your undertakings; he knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.

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When you look through the years and see what you could
have been oh, what might have been,
if you'd had more time.

"Long Way Home" by Roger Hodgson originally recorded by Supertramp on "Breakfast in America"

So why did the Israelites travel 40 years in the hinterlands of the Holy Land? It was a matter of trust. In Numbers 13, Moses and Aaron send spies into Canaan because it was to be given by the Lord to the Israelites. Moses told them "Go up there into the Negeb, and go up into the hill country, and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the towns that they live in are unwalled or fortified, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be bold, and bring some of the fruit of the land."

Now the spies discovered two things, first it that Canaan was the land of milk and honey. It was the place the Lord had promised them and it was good. It was good indeed.

The second thing they discovered is that the Canaanites were big and strong. This made them afraid. They were so afraid that when they returned to Moses and Aaron they lied about number one and told the worst version of the truth of number two. Only Caleb told the truth, and the crowd outvoted him.

So the Lord God decided that if Israel was not going to trust God, they would not live in the land the Lord set aside for them. Every Israelite over age 20 would perish in the desert instead of live in the land of milk and honey.

Imagine this conversation in the desert: "Are we there yet?" "No, and we would have been if you had only told the truth."

What could have been...

The one that got away...

When you look through the years and see what you could have been oh, what might have been....

Ah the lament of those who let fear rule their lives instead of trusting in the love of God. Now, God doesn't promise that what comes next will be a cake walk. There will be times of trial. Let's remember what Israel experienced before the Exodus, there was a lot of horrible times for the nation of Israel in captivity in Egypt, but there was the promise of the Lord.

In the lines that precede the quote, Roger Hodgson's lyric goes like this, "Does it feel that you life's become a catastrophe? Oh, it has to be for you to grow, boy." There does have to be a time of trial. There will be a time of testing and tempering like steel losing its slag. Like gold being purified. It will be hot and it will probably hurt, and that's a part of being refined.

But in the midst of the refiner's fire, remember this from Deuteronomy, "Surely the LORD your God has blessed you in all your undertakings; he knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing."

God is faithful, God is generous, God is gracious, the Lord is God.