It is Good for Us To Be Here

Matthew 16:21-17:8, Psalm 41:7-12

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.”

Most of the things we hear as children are sort of like background noise – it’s all there, it all contributes to our experience of growing up, but few events really stand out as memorable.  There’s one story that I heard growing up in Catholic schools that has always stuck with me and has really helped me understand some of the things that we see and hear about.

The story is about Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a name that probably doesn’t mean anything to most of you. She was a 17th century French nun and mystic, and the originator of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is even today still popular in many Catholic circles. Well, it seems that as a young nun Sister Margaret Mary caused quite a stir in her convent because, she claimed, Jesus would come to visit her and speak directly with her.

When the priest came to the convent, he told Sister Margaret Mary: Look, Jesus doesn’t come and talk to you. That’s not how it works. Maybe in biblical times things like that happened, but not any more. But Sister Margaret Mary insisted, I see Jesus on a regular basis and he talks with me. Finally, the priest got exasperated and said, OK, look. Here’s what I want you to do. The next time Jesus comes to talk with you, ask him this question: What was the last mortal sin that I confessed? There’s no way you can figure that on your own, so if he tells you the right answer, then I’ll believe you.

The next time the priest came to the convent, he called for Sister Margaret Mary. Does Jesus still come and speak with you. Oh yes, Father, he does. Very well, did you ask him the question I told you to ask. Yes, Father, I asked him. And what did he say? What did he say was the last mortal sin that I confessed? He said, “I don’t remember.”

Which is the right answer, isn’t it?

I don’t know if Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque really did see Jesus in her convent. I am a modern person, I know a little about science and psychology and I have to confess that I’m skeptical. But I will say that Sister Margaret Mary knew Jesus very well. I’d even say she knew Jesus better than the convent chaplain did. And whether she saw Jesus with the eyes in her head or the eyes of her heart, does it really matter? To experience the presence of God, to really know how glorious and beautiful God is and how amazingly wonderful is the gift of life and existence and the universe, to feel in tune with it all, even if only for a brief moment – this is an experience most of us have only rarely, if ever. And if you have ever had one of those moments when it all comes together and it all makes sense and everything is good – you know it is very difficult to put that experience into words, to explain to someone else, or even to yourself, what it is. How we describe that experience matters much less than what we experience, who we experience, in those moments when God’s presence and grace are clearly perceived.

I have no doubt that what Peter and James and John saw and heard on the mountain of transfiguration was real. But it’s also the case that at least some of what they saw and heard was something they knew above all in their hearts. For example, how did Peter know that the two people Jesus was speaking with were Moses and Elijah? I mean, if Moses walked into church this morning I don’t think I’d recognize him. I don’t know what Moses looked like; I couldn’t tell him from Adam. Or Elijah. And neither would Peter have known. Yet somehow he knew. It was that kind of experience.

So how can we tell whether the experience of the disciples on the mountain of transfiguration is real? How can we tell whether the experience of Margaret Mary Alacoque is real? Well, if everything we really need to know about God is already given to us in the Scriptures, and if God and Jesus don’t change – which they don’t, then a genuine experience with the divine will be resonant with what we already know about God in the Scriptures. For Sister Margaret Mary, that was the test – the Jesus she claimed to speak with sounds a whole lot like the Jesus we know from the gospel.

True moments of revelation are like this – they don’t tell us anything that we couldn’t have already known from the Word. God has already said what we need to hear, God has already shown us what we need to see. There is no new information that Peter and James and John receive on the mountain of transfiguration – they already know that the glory of God is present in Jesus, they already know that Jesus is constantly in conversation with Moses and Elijah, with the Law and the Prophets, they already know that Jesus is the Father’s beloved and that they should listen to him.

So what’s the point of the Transfiguration, then? Because the disciples needed a reminder of what they already knew. As we read today, Jesus has just begun to teach them about what will happen in Jerusalem at Passover, about the cross, and about resurrection, but the disciples don’t want to hear it. It makes them nervous, it makes them afraid. And so God gives them this moment of clarity, this moment of clear vision of who Jesus is, this moment when they can fully perceive the true glory of God in Jesus, because the day is coming when Jesus won’t look gloriously transfigured – when Jesus will look humiliated, in pain, abandoned, when Jesus will seem to have failed.

It is not new information that the cross will be followed by resurrection. It’s already right there in the psalm today – Everyone is against me, even my closest companion whom I trusted, with whom I broke bread, will betray me – ahem, Judas. But you, O Lord, be merciful to me and raise me up. This is how I will know I am your beloved with whom you are well pleased – you will not let the enemy triumph over me, you will set me before your face forever. It’s all right there in the Word. Of course God makes all things work together for good, no matter how bad things may get in the meantime. But when the moment of testing comes, we tend to forget.

And in fact Peter and James and John would forget, when the moment came. Even the experience of the transfiguration didn’t save them from losing faith and running away. But perhaps it’s what brought them back. Perhaps it’s what helped them to have faith that the way of Jesus is indeed the right path, even if it means taking up the cross and following in his footsteps.

We can never hear often enough that God is good, that God wants good for us, that God does make all things work together for good. We can never be reminded often enough that there are moments in life when we know this and can see it clearly, when God’s presence is real and palpable, because the days are coming when it will not be clear, when everything seems dark, and the only way forward is with faith in a God who doesn’t always feel present or glorious. On the threshold of Lent, in a time of uncertainty and threatening storm clouds, remember this: God is good, God is faithful, God is present for you, the cross is never the end, God is leading all creation to glory, it is good for us to be here.