Lightning Flashed From Heaven, The Rev. David R. Williams, Transfiguration--Year B--Aug. 6, 2006
 
On this the day of Transfiguration of our Lord, we also recall a moment in history when the world was transfigured by an explosion of the first wartime atomic bomb--the place Hiroshima, Japan.
 
“Somewhat white or yellow, like millions of lightning flashed from heaven.  It was like hundreds of strobe flash bulbs had gone off at one time.”
 
One routine day with his friends, Jesus asks three of his disciples to take a journey up a mountain with him to pray. Peter, James and John will be forever changed by their experience on the mountain with Jesus.
 
“The appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.” Later, “A cloud came and overshadowed them.”
 
Up to this point in their relationship with Jesus, Peter, James and John know Jesus is different.  They realize he might even be the Messiah.  Peter had recently said to Jesus, “You, Jesus, are the Christ of God.” 
 
The identity of Jesus is becoming more evident, though the disciples do not yet realize that their own selfhood is about to be turned upside down.
 
“He never knew who he was,” Willy Loman’s son says at his father’s funeral. “The man never knew who he was.” 
 
The melancholy story of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s play, “Death of a Salesman,” reminds us of the importance of Transfiguration moments in one’s life. 
 
“I can’t understand it,” his wife says walking away from Willy’s grave, “There were a lot of nice days.  When he’d come home from a sales trip; on Sundays, making the stoop; finishing the cellar; putting on the new porch; when he built the extra bathroom and put up the garage.  You know something; there’s more of Willy that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made.”
 
On the mountain, the disciples see Moses and Elijah, firm images of their Jewish tradition – images of law and prophecy.  Deeply embedded in those beliefs, Peter momentarily realizes he can create his own Trinity by building shrines for Jesus, for Moses, and for Elijah. 
 
Speaking for all the disciples, Peter’s suggestion comes from what he thinks is right – what he believes to be foundational.  Peter is eager to remain right there in that place – on the mountaintop with Jesus, and Moses and Elijah.  His beliefs do not have to change, nor does he have to travel anyplace else.  Peter, James and John can stay right there.  
 
Jesus must be a brand new Moses lawgiver, a reasonable explanation – that is until the voice thunders from the theophany of brightness and then from a cloud. “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to Him.”
 
Listen to HIM. Not to Moses, not to Elijah.  Listen to Jesus.  And the disciples fall silent.  Apparent to the disciples is God differentiating, separating Jesus from Moses and Elijah.  The disciples hear that everything they have served and believed-- the Moses law and Elijah prophet at the heart of their tradition and faith--is not the same as Jesus. 
 
“Listen to Him” means to hear a Jesus who pushes beyond a personal religion--maybe even leading them to a deeper spirituality.
 
“Listen to HIM.  Listen to Jesus” changes everything.  Will the disciples really listen?  Will they change? 
 
“Willy never knew who he was,” his son admits at his father’s grave.
 
The disciples fall silent.  They realize they just might not be who they thought they were – a terrifying moment.    
 
A New Moses, a new Elijah, takes form in the person of Jesus.  Listen to Him, God says.  Maybe even a new promised land – a newly chosen people of God. 
 
Willy held on until the last. A weary, elderly, disengaged salesman of a product--Willy never changed. 
 
Two hundred fifty years ago, a group of seasoned statesmen participated in a revolution of independence rooted in theological promise. The “promised land” was created through documents declaring independence and natural, God-given right.
 
Nothing stays as it was.  Everything changes in this ransfiguration of a new nation.  For Willy Loman, renewal never happened.  For the leadership of a nation revolting in favor of religious and life freedoms, renewal happened. 
 
The mountaintop Transfiguration applies to us as today’s Willy Lomans. Mountaintop Transfiguration applies to us as nations of the world. The travel to a promised land can be bloody and sometimes cruel.
 
Jesus, on the other hand, turns our worlds around. 
 
We live with violent wars throughout the world: Nepal, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, to name a few. Violence, power and force have become status quo, even secondary to diplomacy or détente.
 
Listen to Him—Jesus--God’s voice says from the cloud. To know Jesus is to move beyond accustomed belief.
 
“I was just a first grader of elementary school,” a current schoolmaster writes about a day in his past. “It occurred on the morning when it was a hot, sunny morning with the blue sky. I went to school with my big sister who was a third grader.  We were on summer holiday, so we had a summer lesson in a neighbor’s big house where some teachers would come to teach us.  As usual, our mother saw us off til we turned the corner of the street.” 
 
Jesus took with him Peter and John and James. They went up on the mountain to pray.
 
“At 8:15 when we were doing our routine of cleaning the school. Each pupil was squeezing the rag or wiping or brooming the floor. I was also working with my sister.”
 
The appearance of the face of Jesus changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 
 
“As the water in the bucket got dirty, we talked wild about which of us should go to the sink to get fresh water.  My sweet sister offered to go into the well cottage to get and fetch fresh water I was continuing to clean the gate.   
 
“Then it happened….somewhat white, or yellow like millions of lightening flashed from heaven. It was like hundreds of strobe flash bulbs had gone off at one time.”
 
Sixty one years ago today on this day of Transfiguration, 20,000 people instantly died in the Japanese city of Hiroshima as the first atomic bomb was used in conflict.  A world war soon ended.
 
The Japanese teacher who shared his first account notes survived.  His family did not.  
 
On that day, August 6, 1945, everything changed.  The world changed.  
 
May we all heed the call from the voice in the mysterious cloud on the mountain: “This is my Son, my Chosen. Listen to Him.” 
 
Listen to Jesus.  Listen. 
 
Amen.