Last Sunday After the Epiphany (B)
Reverend Gregg Wood
When I was serving Zion Church in 2010, the Bible Study Group and I studied the Book of Acts. We focused on one verse, Acts 1:8, as illuminating the whole message of the Book of Acts and the purpose of the Church after the Day of Pentecost: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” It is a clear mandate, telling the disciples that they are to proclaim the good news of salvation and eternal life in Christ, starting with their own environs and people they know (Jerusalem and Judea), moving then to strangers and adversaries (Samaria), and finally “to the ends of the earth.”
Do you know what the official, corporate name of our national church is? It is the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. That official title relates directly to the Book of Acts and to our purpose as a church.
The mission of the church is both foreign and domestic. In the most obvious understanding of the phrase “foreign and domestic,” it means there are individuals within our own nation, even our own neighborhoods, who have yet to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ; and there are individuals who live in places outside of those domestic boundaries to whom the mission of the church is extended. Thus the mission of the church is to the whole, wide world.
It can be seen in today’s gospel reading, the telling of the events on the mountain that we know as “the Transfiguration of Christ,” that from a different perspective, the foreign and domestic mission exists not only wherever the gospel has not yet been accepted, but also within ourselves, we who are the church. We often are in need of preaching to ourselves.
But from either perspective, the Transfiguration speaks of God’s power. The appearance of Jesus in dazzling white garments, the overshadowing cloud, the voice of God, and even the command to wait to tell, all has to do with the power of God released for the sake of the mission to be successful. The power of God.
The beginning and the end of the mission of the church is meant to be conducted in the power of God.
That conclusion is found in today’s gospel reading, and pointed to in another verse from the ninth chapter of Mark that is not included in today’s reading. The first verse of Chapter 9: “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
Indeed the Kingdom of God has come with power. From the work of God in creation, through the prophets as we heard in the story of Elijah and Elisha, to the conception of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the miracles of Jesus retold in this season after the Epiphany, and now to this moment on the mountain.
This power of God is intended to be revealed to the world, both foreign and domestic, through Jesus in the preaching and proclamation of the church, the Body of Christ.
You see, as both Matthew and Mark record, it is not simply that Jesus “was transfigured,” but that “he was transfigured before them,” the three disciples. It is not simply a display of power; it is for the benefit of the witnesses, to remind them, and us, of the eternal name Emmanuel, “God-with-us.” If God is with us, then so is His power; and that is exactly his intention.
Sometimes, though, is it not difficult to see the power in the church? We all have stories about how the church has faltered in its mission to the world, rather than portrayed the life-changing, transfiguring, transforming power of God. St. Peter wasn’t the only one who blundered occasionally.
Take for example, the bloopers in church bulletins, which are often very funny, although sometimes they hit a little too close to home. A bulletin from a Methodist congregation read: “Don’t let worry kill you. Let the church help.”
Another church bulletin, prompting the Prayers of the People, read: “Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.”
Certainly, there will always be failures within the church, but if the beginning and end of the mission of the church, the Body of Christ, is meant to be conducted in the power of God, then where in the gospel do we find our guidance for doing it properly?
In regard to that Mission, one major failure of the church has always been paying so much attention to ourselves that we neglect the mission of proclamation. It might be because we have decided we have to be polished as Christians before presenting ourselves to the world. But who will ever achieve perfection to prove their worth? Those first disciples who accompanied Jesus on the mountain -- Peter, James, and John – certainly were not perfect. Yet God worked through them mightily despite their imperfections.
How can we be bearers of gospel truth when we ourselves continue to be in great need of the healing Love of God? Placing ourselves into the gospel story, we desperately want to be the recipients of God’s call as His “sons and daughters” whom he loves. And yet there is only One about whom God is speaking at that moment. And through that Son, Jesus, the love of God is revealed to all of us. We can’t set aside Jesus.
We need to know what Mission is. Our guidance here in the Gospel of Mark will be found in Jesus’ instruction to the disciples. As they come down the mountain, their eyes are turned back to what just happened.
What did they see? They saw the power of God revealed in and through Jesus Christ.
And what did they hear? They heard the voice of God saying about the Son of God, “Listen to him.”
Here, then, is the most basic definition of the mission of the church: pointing to Jesus and telling others that the Almighty God has proclaimed who he is; and to do what he says.
This is what a missionary is called to do, just as the three in our readings today were called to be apostles and called to be witnesses on the mountaintop. We pray for missionaries and for their sometimes perilous work in foreign or domestic lands, who also have also seen Jesus and have heard from God the Father. We pray that we all may understand our baptismal duty to point to Jesus and proclaim him as the only Son of God, the Lord and Savior.
**I am indebted to the Rev. John Eaton of the Episcopal Church of Tulare, California, and a sermon of his on the Episcopal Church’s website, for some of the thoughts in today’s sermon.**
