A Person Went to Their Pastor with a Concern. When I Am Doing My Evening Prayers, I Sometimes

Hypnagogialleluia

Luke 9:28-36

A person went to their pastor with a concern. “When I am doing my evening prayers, I sometimes fall asleep before I am done. Is this wrong?” The pastor replied, “What could be better than falling asleep in the arms of our Lord?”

Researchers call that time when we are between being awake and falling asleep “hypnagogia.” It is similar to being hypnotized in that we are more open to suggestion, and we are less likely to question what we are seeing or hearing. In this state, our mind is apparently freer to deal with problems and issues than our waking mind, as we relax the filters we use to detect falsehood and truth, deceit and reality. During this stage, we may have visions that no one else can see.

Manyscientists and inventors have reported having these hypnagogic visions, which then led them to important insights and discoveries. Among the more prominent to have reported these kinds of visions areThomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and Isaac Newton. In each case, they were stumped on how to solve a problem, and they drifted off to sleep thinking about their issue. Upon waking, they would remember the visions, and analyze them. And then, inspired by the vision, they would have a solution to their problem.

Today is the last Sunday in the season after the Epiphany, before we begin the season of Lent. Lent is that season when we work on having a right relationship with God and with each other. Every year, on this last Sunday before Lent, we are given this story of Peter, James, and John up on the mountain with Jesus. Epiphany began with the revelation that God loves us so much that God came to us in Jesus. Epiphany ends with that same revelation, that same love story.

In our reading, we have the story we usually call the transfiguration of Jesus. It is a story where Peter and the other two disciples are heavy with sleep but still awake. They are the disciples most likely to be concerned with the rumors in the air, the changing mood of the people, and the increasingly hostile attention from the authorities. They would be the ones who are at least beginning to see the problems ahead for Jesus and his followers.

These three disciples are likely focused in their prayer on how God may be working through them to solve these problems facing Jesus and his movement. They are in this hypnagogic state when Peter has a vision of Jesus being transfigured, and being joined by Moses and Elijah. It is a vision that affirms again that Jesus is the Son of God, and that we are to listen to him. It is a vision that affirms again that Jesus himself is the answer to all their problems.

Yet, if we didn’t have this story of the transfiguration, we would still find this truth in the rest of the gospel. We would still believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that he is the answer to all our problems. So we don’t really need this story – if it is only about Peter having this vision.

Yet, if we look closely at this passage, we notice that the word “transfiguration” is not part of Luke’s account of what happens on this mountain. The word “transfiguration” is found in the parallel passages in the gospels of Matthew and Mark, but not in Luke. If we accept that Luke’s gospel was written after Mark’s, and that much of Luke’s gospel was based on Mark’s, then we have to ask why Luke made this specific change in the story.

If we only had Luke’s gospel, we would see that what happens to Jesus is not the important part of the story. The change in Jesus’ appearance, as well as the appearance of Moses and Elijah, are interesting, but not crucial, to the good news. We have already heard the voice from heaven declare the same message that Jesus is the Son of God and that we are to listen to him. Luke wants us to see that it is what happens to Peter that is transfiguring.

Transfigured is not a word we use much in regular conversation, so perhaps we need a little help in understanding what it means. Dictionaries often start with the current understanding of a word as the best understanding, but words can change meaning over time. So, to keep this from being a dull vocabulary or history lesson, let me turn to an insight offered by Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And for those of you who have not read the Harry Potter books, Dumbledore is a fictional character created by J. K. Rowling.

It is in Dumbledore’s commentary on “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” that we find a discussion on the original meaning of transfiguration. Specifically, it is his commentary on the tale, “Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump.” In the tale, the kindly witch Babbitty turns herself into a rabbit to escape a magic-hating crowd. Dumbledore felt it was important to point out the distinction between transforming into an animal, and transfiguring into an animal.

According to Dumbledore, someone who transforms into an animal retains all their human thinking and reasoning powers while they are in animal form. This is important so that they can cast the spell to revert back to human form. When they are transformed, they may look like an animal, and move like an animal, and act like an animal, but they are still at their very core the same person. They have the option to appear to the world as an animal, while still retaining the same person inside.

When a person is transfigured, however, they become the new creature. They cannot revert to their previous way of thinking, or moving, or acting, because it is no longer an option for them. The old has passed away, and the new has come.

This is the older meaning of transfigured, unlike today’s definition which is limited to an external change in appearance. But this discussion by Dumbledore raises a problem. If we use the old definition, then Luke was saying that Jesus was only human up to this point. Jesus was not divine until Peter had this vision. If we use the newer meaning, we are suggesting that since the glow and aura around Jesus went away, he was simply appearing to be divine while retaining his humanity.

Both of those options are a problem, because neither possibility is scriptural. The angels declared Jesus as “God with us” at his birth. The Voice of God declared Jesus the Son of God at his baptism. Our theology is that Jesus was always fully human and fully divine. This means that the Jesus who led the disciples up the mountain was the same Jesus they saw on top of the mountain, and the same Jesus who lead them back down the mountain.

The good news is that this scripture passage is not about the change in Jesus – it is about the change in Peter. Peter is the one who is transfigured by his vision that Jesus is the Son of God, and the answer to all their problems.

We miss this because, too often, we treat faith like magic. We use it to escape the hardness of life, the difficulty of making choices, and the lost-ness of being alone in this world. When we treat our faith like magic, we practice our faith as if we have been transformed into Christians. On the outside we may look like Christians, and move like Christians, and act like Christians, but on the inside we are still at our very core the same unredeemed sinners. On the outside we may have the form of godliness, but not the power of godliness, as John Wesley so often stated it. We receive the power of godliness, not by being transformed, but by being conformed – or transfigured – to Christ. It is then that we are made a new creature through the death and resurrection of Christ, as evidenced by our strangely warmed heart.

We may want to appear to the world as a Christian, and we may intend to be a Christian, and we may even be willing to work at being a Christian – but if our faith is nothing more than magic, then we also want to have that option to revert back to our true inner self as needed. And that is OK if being a Christian is about being transformed. But being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not about being transformed – it is about being transfigured. When we have this vision of Jesus as our Lord and Savior, when we find ourselves being able to trust Jesus enough that we are able to fall asleep in his arms, then we can shout “alleluia – praise be to God” for we have been made a new creature by the grace of Jesus Christ.

John’s gospel doesn’t have this story of Jesus and the three disciples on the mountain. His gospel instead deals with transfiguration in a different setting, using different language. Instead of taking place on a mountain top, it happens under the cover of darkness. Instead of involving the core disciples during a time of prayer, it is a member of the Sanhedrin during a crisis of faith. Nicodemus came to Jesus one night and asked what he must do to inherit eternal life.

We remember what Jesus said to him: You must be born again, born from above. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must become a new creature, dying to this life and being raised into a new life. In other words, he had to be transfigured.

John O’Donohue, author of “Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom” picks up on the difference between Nicodemus’ question of “what can I do,” and Jesus’ answer of “this is what will happen to you.” It is this observation that helps us understand that our mountaintop story is indeed a love story. He writes that real love “is not manufactured or achieved by an act of will or intention.” Real love “is always an act of recognition.” To be born again means to recognize Jesus, to have that vision, that Jesus is your Savior and Lord. As our Savior, Jesus lifts us out of the despair and consequences of a sin-filled life. As our Lord, Jesus calls us into a life of grace that is revealed through loving God and loving our neighbors.

It is on that mountain top that Peter recognizes in Jesus the purest, truest love of the universe, the love of God. That recognition transfigures Peter – he can’t go back to being someone who does not know that Jesus is the Son of God. Yes, he still falls short, and is rash, and jumps to conclusions, but he can’t go back to what he was before. He now knows that Jesus is the Son of God in a way that can never be denied in his heart, even as he later denies it before the cross. But it is the cross that confirms what Peter has seen on the mountain, and it is the resurrection that completes the transfiguration of Peter.

What began on the mountain is the change in how Peter sees and knows Jesus. Peter sees that Jesus is love beyond all love, grace above all grace. Jesus outshines the Law of Moses, fulfilling the law of God’s eternal and unconditional love. Jesus outshines the mercy and compassion of Elijah, bringing the power of life-saving and life-changing grace.

There is a mindfulness that comes with being transfigured. You find your focus is on others, instead of on yourself. You notice the presence of God all around you, in ways that are both reassuring and challenging. This mindfulness is an authentic part of being in love. It’s part of what it means to be transfigured, to be born again, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ – you are mindful of others in loving ways, which brings glory to God.

When we are mindful of others, the love of Jesus radiates in us and through us out into the world. This is how Jesus is still at work in the world bringing the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Let us stand and sing for this loving light of Jesus to shine on us today, that we may be transfigured!

FWS 2173 “Shine, Jesus, Shine”