Sleepers Awake
Luke 9:28-36
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
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Before sitting down to write my sermon, I often read the text multiple times following the monastic practice of Lectio Divina (Lt. Divine Reading). It's a way to spend time with a piece of Scripture in contemplative meditation, letting certain words or themes pop out at you. Today I was struck by the disciples succumbing to sleep or fatigue. The disciples are representative of our weariness. And it appears that just as we catch our breath from one disaster, another appears. It's enough to make anyone want to lay down and take what a colleague calls a "disco nap." We're tired, fussy, and like a child who needs a nap. So where do we turn to find restorative rest? And perhaps the bigger question is whether or not we will wake in time to see the miraculous work Jesus is about to do in our midst and understand its impact on our lives?
Living as people who are exhausted doesn't benefit anyone. On the contrary to what our economic philosophy tells us, grinding through our work doesn't produce favorable results. Exhaustion only compounds the existing issues and tends to create new ones. Don't believe me? Well, we only need to refer to our first Scripture reading to find out how well we function when we're running on an empty tank. The people began to quarrel and rebel against Joshua (who wouldn't after being enslaved and mistreated for many years?), who let them build a golden calf. Moses comes down with the first set of tablets, and he is so appalled by what he sees he throws down the newly minted Ten Commandments in rage. Moses then heads up the mountain again only to find his moment of rest and spiritual awakening before he heads back down where the people see his face radiating.
I don't do my best work when I'm tired or angry or hangry, for that matter. Actually, I don't believe I could name a single person who does their best work when left on the last tick of their energy bar. It may not feel like you're down to the last drop of energy, but it seems that there is a general malaise that continues to plague our spirits. It's as though something doesn't feel right (perhaps because something isn't right) or like we are going through the motions of just doing enough to get to tomorrow. With everything that piles on, it's enough to drive us back into bed and curl up under the covers and wait until spring arrives. Have we been moved to a state of spiritual sleep? Are we physically numb? We are in a time of resetting, a time of reprioritizing our lives so that we can be awake in time for the divine call.
We should find solace, or relatability, in the fact that the sleep or fatigue or whatever you want to call it impacted the disciples as well as us. Though if we get a little shuteye, it may just be enough so that we are alert and ready when the moment of transfiguration occurs. Over the course of the past couple of years, I've talked about the malaise that seems to hang over our heads. So I'm curious what you've done to address it, if anything, which, if you haven't yet, I understand? What have you done to create space for the holy, the unexpected holy, to enter in and make a change? Because even as we go about our lives cultivating these spaces, we may not feel the immediate difference; however, the potential is there for us to wake up, to pay attention when the unexpected moment catches us. And during the events of our world today, we could use such a moment of divine revelation.
As we prepare to embark on our Lenten journey, there's something I would like us to consider. We often think of Lent as being a time of shedding, a time where we let things go, like chocolate. Yet, Lent is much more than a time of letting go. Funny enough, the word "Lent" is derived from the Old English word lencten, meaning spring or springtime. What if we use this Lenten season to not focus on depriving ourselves of meager things such as sweets, but focused on what kind of person, what kind of community, God is calling us to become? What if we took to heart this understanding of Lent, that being we are in a time of slumber, but will soon wake and bloom like the flowers in spring, revealing how our hearts have been transformed. May we cultivate space in our heart for the Spirit of God to take hold and ready us for when we are called to wake and bear witness to the wonders of God.