Overshadowed

Psalm 50

1A Psalm of Asaph

The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.

3Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.

4He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

5”Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”

6The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah

7”Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.

8Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.

9I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your foals.

10For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

11I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.

12”If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and all that is in it is mine.

13Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.

15Call me on the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me”

16But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statues, or take my covenant on your lips?

17For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.

18you make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers.

19You give your mouth free reign for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.

20You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother’s child.

21These things you done and I have been silent; you thought I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

22”Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.

23Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God.”

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God

Mark 9:2-10

2Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6He did no know what to say, for they were terrified.

7Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus. 9As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.

This is the Word of the LORD

Thanks be to God.

English majors are a peculiar group. We’ll sometimes use ten words when one will do just because we love the the words feel in our mouths. Other times we’ll spend hours searching for the one precise word that replaces ten, because the difference between the almost right word and the right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. While other fields of study may prove more lucrative, there is a pride in being an English major that lingers long after the courses are all passed and the degrees are received. “I have a business degree, I studied history, I majored in Physics, I was a music major back in college,” but the English major says “I am an English Major.” We’re a peculiar group, more than just a little bit weird.

And yet every English major will tell you that there have been moments in their lives when the words they love so much will have failed them. No matter how advanced their command of our shared language, there are moments of mystery in our lives when we are overshadowed by something so awe-inspiring that we do not know what to say. This is the first time your child grabs your finger or laughs at something you did. This is the ocean as a thunderstorm rolls in. This is a sunset from the top of a mountain. This is the eclipse at the moment of totality. Words can call it to mind, but they cannot capture it.

Encounters with God are like that. God is infinite and omnipotent, triune and transcendent. Even with a sackful of big words and a wall full of diplomas, the nature of God remains a mystery that can only be grasped by faith.

God is not like us. We are all created in God’s image, Genesis 1 is clear on that. It is not, however, clear on what that means. One of my favorite theological quotations is by Anne Lamott, “You can be sure you’ve created God in your image when he hates all the same people you do.” Or, like the Psalmist points out, when God tolerates your sins but judges those of other people. “These things you done and I have been silent; you thought I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.” God is not like us, God shines forth with holiness that roils creation and cannot be contained by mortal words or the projection of human imagination.

When God shows up, the world shakes loose. God’s presence, throughout scripture, is announced by radical and terrifying acts of creation. “Our God comes and does not keep silence,” writes the Psalmist. “Before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.” And in this morning’s gospel passage, we see Jesus heralded by wonders as well. “And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.” Overshadowed by the glory of God shining through their Rabbi, Peter, James, and John experience one of those moments of mystery, when words fail. Which unfortunately doesn’t stop Peter from talking.  “Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did no know what to say, for they were terrified.” They are witnessing the holiness of God up close, and this mystery is radically different from anything they had experienced before. Their response is terror.

But we are not left in terror. God does not abandon us to fear, either in the Psalm or in the Gospel. The worldrending presence of God reminds us that God is God, and we are not, but we can know something of the mysteries of God. Just because we cannot know everything does not mean that we know nothing. When God speaks from out of the cloud that Overshadows that Transfiguative mountaintop, God tells us how to know him: “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to HIM!” You want to know the mighty one, God the LORD? This is God’s Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” You want to know the God who calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people? This is God’s Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” You want to know the God who tells us “Call on my in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me?” This Jesus of Nazareth, who calls himself the ‘Son of Man,’ who is a human like us in every respect, and yet is without sin, is God’s Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” When he predicts his death and resurrection, listen to him. When he teaches in parables, listen to him. When he shows love for God’s people by healing them and freeing them, listen to him. When he tells you “This is my body, broken for you,” Listen to him. 

Then Jesus does something curious, something that shows up a good bit in Mark’s Gospel. “He ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” Jesus tells them to keep this profound revelation as a secret, at least for now. The disciples don’t get it, but I believe Jesus does this so that people don’t think they understand everything until the crucifixion and resurrection, when Christ is most himself. We don’t understand the beginning of the story until we know how it ends. We don’t understand the mighty one, God the LORD, until Christ shows us the salvation of God.

We are overshadowed by the presence of the mighty one, God the LORD, but we can still see because we are following the dazzling light of Christ. Although words will fail even the most articulate among us, we can come to know God through Jesus Christ. We can experience the presence of God in our midst by remembering together around this table. How it happens is a mystery, but we believe that we are elevated by the power of the Holy Spirit to sit at table with our heavenly Father. It’s an experience that is a mystery, but it’s one we share with believers in every time and place in the concrete mystery of the table.

God is God, and we are not, but around the Lord’s table, we get Christ more fully, and so we are able to know God better as well.