Listen.

“Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt,” Mark Twain supposedly quipped. No, it’s that very common human tendency, that none of us are free from, where instead of facing a reality that’s unpleasant, painful, hard or unpleasant about ourselves, we deny it. Sometimes we are conscious of our denial as an outright lie to protect or promote ourselves but more often it’s an unconscious psychological mechanism that does its work of the distortion of reality behind the scenes so we don’t even recognize it as false. It’s almost like we fall asleep to reality, to the truth of the matter, and have no motivation to awaken from that dream.

What this passage from the Gospel of Matthew makes clear is how central to Jesus his healing ministry was. Jesus was a healer. Someone described that his healing activities are so prominent in the Gospels that Jesus is either on his way to heal someone, coming from healing someone or in the midst of healing someone. Healing was so front and center that you could make the point that it was the point of it all.

I’d like to believe there’s joy here in this passage of the transfiguration of Jesus, that it’s not actually a solemn scene. I wonder at times if there is much more lightheartedness and laughter even in the scriptures than we allow for. Are we too serious sometimes? Am I too serious sometimes? I think probably so, here in our very serious worship services where there is no foolin’ around.  The kids give us permission to let loose a tiny bit and laugh and be antsy and be a little playful but then they leave we’re like “ok now, settle down, it’s time we get to adult things and get serious!” 

Jesus and the disciples went up to the mountaintop and Jesus became radiant and the disciples were terrified and Peter blows it again by suggesting memorials might be built and God gets angry at him and now Jesus must go down the mountain and walk his death walk to Jerusalem. And here we go into Lent and have to give things up and be disciplined and serious and have ashes rubbed on our faces this Wednesday and be reminded that we are going to die one day and that we are nothing but dust! 

Maybe you’ve heard about the kid at the funeral who hears the severe minister say “we are but dust” and the kid turns to his mom and says ”what the heck is butt dust?”

Stop this is not funny. This is serious. But seriously maybe we do a disservice to some of this when we make it only serious. Cause I think some of it has got to be joyful, right? Of course the passion and the crucifixion that we’ll come to at Holy Week is in no way joyful but we haven’t entered into Lent yet and we are not at the point of Jesus’ suffering and death and in Jesus there must have been equal parts joy too right? If he was fully God and fully human then his suffering and sorrow must have been as deep as any humans and his joy and enjoyment must have been as deep as any as well. Many Christians do the suffering and sorrow and judgement quite well, but give short-shrift to the joy and playfulness and and lightness that is equally in God if not more so in God. I mean, look at creation and tell me God is not playful as well as serious!