Last Sunday after the Epiphany B

The Rev. Marguerite Alley

February 19, 2012

Are You My Mother?

Let me tell you a story. It is a short story, but a touching story. It is not a true story, but it is very much the truth. It is not a story about anyone in particular, but it is a story about us. Once upon a time there was a bird, and she laid an egg. She left her nest in search of food for the day when the egg would hatch. While she was gone, the egg did indeed hatch. The baby bird couldn’t find its mother, so rather than patiently wait, and being somewhat impulsive and of a mind that surely he could do anything, he set off in search of his mother. He asked everyone he came upon, including a large assortment of animals and even an old car. Each said no they were not it’s mother and the baby moved on.  Finally the baby came upon a steam shovel named Snort and it was Snort who returned the baby bird to his nest where he finally met his true mother.  You may recognize that as being the wonderful and charming children’s book by P. D. Eastman called “Are you my Mother?”  I sometimes wonder if we aren’t  metaphorically just like this baby bird. We are born hungry and we begin looking for our mother the moment we are born because we know deep down that she is the only ne who can feed us. If we don’t immediately see her, we begin searching. Since we do not know what she looks like we don’t really know what we are looking for. So, we ask everyone and everything “Are you my mother”?  Metaphorically speaking we ask money “are you my mother”? We also ask fame, education, status, cars, jobs, titles and a host of other things “are you my mother”? Can you feed me?

Each of these replies  No! I am not your mother”! So we are faced with a dilemma: we can “bed down” with one of these folks, knowing full well that they are not our mother, and cannot fill that role or we move on and keep asking. Some of us choose the former, and some of us choose the latter. To carry this metaphor a bit further, let’s say that we come upon a flock of birds. We are excited because they look just like we do…assuming we know what we look like. And we immediately latch onto them because they look and sound so much like ourselves. After a while though, we begin to notice some differences….their song is not exactly the same as ours. Their looks are not exactly a match….and most important none of them has lost their baby. Again, we are faced with a dilemma: do we stay because them seem familiar or do we go? They are so much like us…but not quite…and they are not looking for us or welcoming us to their flock. Finally, we encounter Snort the Steam Shovel. Snort is big, ugly, noisy and very scary. He scoops us up and deposits us right back where we started and right then our mother returns with food for us and we are united. In our metaphor the role of Snort can be played by any number of big, scary, noisy things. Addiction, health scares, relationships, loss, grief, anger. Really the list is endless.  I hope you can see the many ways this children’s story is our own story!

Now let’s look at the Gospel. Just before our passage for today begins, Jesus is in the villages of Ceasarea Philippi with his disciples. He asks them “who do you say that I am”? It is almost as though the disciples had asked “are you my mother”?  They answer as best they can, he teaches them more about what will happen in the days to come. Now, in today’s passage, Jesus gathers Peter, James and John and leads them out away from the others, to a secluded place on a high mountain. (we know how God loves this sort drama on big, high cloudy mountains! Kind of like Snort!) Right in front of them, he is transfigured into something other. This moment serves as another teaching tool in the revelation of who and what Jesus really is. He is standing with 2 of the most important prophets of the Jewish faith …….yet he is the one is glowing, He is the one who is brilliant white.  Peter, being very excited and touched by this revelation suggests that they build three dwellings so that they can stay and savor the moment.  And  suddenly, a voice from the clouds proclaims “This is my son, the beloved, listen to him”.  In this moment we are led to some very important revelations. Of course, we immediately see that God demands to have the last word. We all know what lies ahead for Jesus…so God chooses this moment to transfigure “hell” Jesus’s suffering, into heaven for a moment. But there are other revelations in this moment as well. Of particular note is the fact this transfiguration does not occur in private. It is not an affirmation for Jesus. Jesus has known all along that he was God’s beloved…or that God is “his mother” so to speak. This revelation is for the witnesses. It is for the public.

Today is the last Sunday of the Epiphany season. During this season we have learned about Jesus and the role he was meant to play and we have been called to be “light for the world”, a role which becomes really important in the dark days of Lent to come. Today also happens to be World Mission Sunday where we remember our mission projects and missionaries around the world. If we might look back to our metaphor for a moment, I think we sometimes get a bit mixed up as to what our mission really is. Is it our mission to show others who our mother is even though their mother may look a lot different than our own? Are we to assume and say to them this is our mother, therefore it must be yours as well? Is our mission to find out for ourselves who our mother is because we have not yet met her and we are hungry for what only she can give us? Or is our mission to re-affirm for ourselves who our mother is because we do know who she is and what she looks like, but because she doesn’t look like other mothers, we have begun to question?  As a church what exactly is our mission? The Gospel says (at least to me) that we are called to seek out the transfigured Christ in each other and in the world.  It also says that we are called to “listen” to the voice of Jesus, and to each other. No where does God say, “preserve his words in a book and treat them like an historic artifact. Look at them, adore them and them go home a glow with the knowledge that you have seen them.” God says “listen to him”…..subtext, absorb, think about, reflect upon, incorporate. 

 Here at Emmanuel we have recently taken some important steps to be transfigured before our witnesses. We have made intentional steps to be more welcoming, to be better stewards of creation, and to care for each other more intentionally and carefully. This is our public transfiguration. Each of us also has many opportunities in our daily lives for individual public transfigurations. The trick is to see them for what they are, to listen for the voice of Jesus, and to be willing to stay on that high scary mountain until we are certain whose voice we are following. As we begin our Lenten journey this year, I pray you will consider the ways in which you might be transfigured. This transfiguration might involve some anxiety. It will also involve letting go of our impatience, our strong willed independence, and our constant need to ask  “are you my mother”? And when we return home, perhaps in the bucket of a Steam Shovel named Snort, we will have learned that if we had been a bit more patient, we would have been fed, by the only one who can feed us.