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Eat up your cabbage, it's good for you
SERMON – 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 14th February 2010
Revd. Canon David Pickering
Luke 9.33
Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus,
'Master, it is good for us to be here;
I am sure we can all remember in our childhood being told certain things were good for us.
'Now eat up your cabbage, it's good for you.'
Throughout our lives we are bombarded with advice on what is good for us. 'Fresh greens are good for you', 'Exercise is good for you.' and quite famously, 'Guinness is good for you.'
Sometime the word 'good' hardly seems appropriate, especially if you hate spinach and Brussels sprouts. When the taste is almost unpalatable it seems a contradiction in terms to say that it can be good for you.
But usually we accept the advice that they are beneficial to our health and strength. In the same way we know that regular exercise is good for us, even when the thought of it makes us tired.
And of course the occasional glass of stout can be good, even if you don't like the taste.
But there are also many things that we like that are good for us. The advice to eat lots of fruit is much easier to swallow that the need to eat greens!
In today's Gospel reading, Peter announces, 'Master it is good for us to be here.'
Despite the bewilderment, even the fear of the event, it felt good to Peter to be there as Jesus was revealed in his glory and his face changed, and his clothes shone, as he was transfigured. It felt good watching Jesus literally outshining even Moses and Elijah, helping him to identify him as the Messiah. It felt so good, that Peter didn't want it to finish. Not really knowing what he was saying, he offered to build three dwellings so that Jesus, Moses and Elijah could stay there, and Peter could go on watching.
Jesus was transfigured, but it must have been transforming for Peter, James and John, a life changing moment for them also.
Our first reading this morning, this great moment was foreshadowed in Moses when he came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Ten Commandments. 29b Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.
Then in our second reading, Paul takes up this transforming moment from Moses. When Moses met God face to face his own face was changed, changed so much that others could not look at its brightness. Moses had to cover it with a veil.
Paul says that that veil is still there for those who cannot see the glory of God as revealed in Jesus.
If our lives are to be transformed then we need to remove any veil that hinders us seeing the glory of God in the person, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
All need transformation
This morning's gospel reading used to come on the fourth Sunday of Lent, but often got squeezed out by readings for Mothering Sunday.
Now in the Three Year cycle used by all major denominations, the story of the Transfiguration is the Common reading for the Sunday before Lent.
Lent should be a time of transfiguration and transformation. A time when in our relationship with God, we can renew the "It's Good to be here". With God at the centre of our lives, we can say," It's Good to be here".
The Christian life is all about transformation, from evil to good, from sin to forgiveness.
In 2004 to celebrate the Tercentenary of the birth of John Wesley the European Methodist Theological Commission produced a website and part of it spells out the good news of this transformation:
That we need transformation:
1. Personal transforma¬tion so that each of us can fulfill the potential God has given us.
2. Community transformation so that our society can be what God intended it to be.
3. Global transformation so that our world can become the home for all which is God's purpose for it.
That transformation is a real possibility for all: for all people without exception who recognise their need of it; for each society, everywhere, which is seeking real community; and for the world as a whole which longs for justice and peace.
That transformation is available to all: in each life, visibly, through faith in Jesus Christ; in every place, concretely, through the power of the Holy Spirit; and in global relationships, effectively, through the creative love of God.
That transformation is a journey for all: towards individual fulfilment, marked by personal growth in faith, hope and love; towards renewed communities, marked by new visions of openness, mutuality and integrity; and towards a new world, marked by movement towards international justice, peace and care for creation.
When transformation is taking place, then Lord it is good to be here.
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