Think of rumors you’ve heard about a CIA conspiracy to kill President Kennedy. Concerns about fluoride in our drinking water. Claims of Jewish involvement in 9/11. The popularity of the television show The X-Files and Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code. All revolve around the belief that powerful people or organizations are secretly manipulating historical events.
Now, if you’re like me, you find that most of this is crazy-talk. But still we find ourselves drawn to it. There is something within us that tries to make sense of tragic or shocking events, and often we try to pin blame on a mysterious group of people — people who are conspiring to do us harm.
We’re Americans, so we think of ourselves as common men and women — you know, “We the people of the Unites States.” We’re distrustful and even disdainful of powerful elites. When something goes wrong, we look for a conspiracy theory to reveal the secrets of the power people. Shankar Vedantam of The Washington Post (June 5, 2006) makes the point that nothing ever happens by accident in the world of conspiracy theories. Instead, he says, “the hidden hand of the puppeteer is everywhere.”
Of course, it’s one thing to see a hidden hand in the assassination of JFK. It’s another thing to see a hidden hand in the story of the Transfiguration. In today’s passage from Luke, we catch sight of a powerful puppeteer who is working to build us up instead of break us down. God is orchestrating a shocking event — one that terrifies but also glorifies.
It’s a divine conspiracy.
The story begins with Jesus taking Peter, James, and John up a mountain to pray. Suddenly, God changes the appearance of Jesus’ face, and makes his clothes dazzling white. That’s what transfiguration means — “transformation of appearance.” Moses and Elijah appear in glory, and they speak of Jesus’ departure, which he is about to accomplish in Jerusalem. Then a cloud comes and overshadows them all, and the disciples are terrified. The voice of God thunders, “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him!” And as quickly as the stunning spectacle starts, it ends. Jesus is found alone, and the disciples remain stuck in bewildered silence (Luke 9:28-36).
We can call this a conspiracy because it involves a powerful puppeteer, no less a force than the Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. God intervenes in human affairs and manipulates a historical event, turning a mountaintop prayer retreat into an awe-inspiring announcement that God’s Son is Jesus Christ. Look at the story, and you can see that the hidden hand of the puppeteer is everywhere.
But I would call this a conspiracy for another important reason — God does not do his work alone. The word “conspire” literally means “breathing together.” When powerful people plan together secretly, they are “breathing together” — you can just picture them huddling together and plotting away in some undisclosed location. In the same way, when God works with us to advance his will, we “breathe together” with God. God’s ruah — the Hebrew word meaning breath, spirit, or wind — fills us with life, inspiration, and power, and it gives us the ability to push God’s plan into the world.
Take a second now to take a deep breath … and then slowly exhale. Breathe in, and breathe out. You are breathing together with God.
Breathe in. Think of Jesus on the mountaintop, breathing together with God. Breathe out.
Breathe in. Moses and Elijah, breathing together with God. Breathe out.
Breathe in. Peter, John, and James — confused by what they are seeing, but beginning to breathe together with God. Breathe out.
Whenever people breathe together with God, they become part of his divine conspiracy.
So, what does it mean for us to be breathing with God today? We are invited into the Lord’s conspiracy, and challenged to be part of a network of cells operating all over the world. Within these cells, we breathe with one another, but more importantly we breathe with God. We allow God’s breath — God’s ruah — to fill us with life, to inspire us, and to give us the power to push his divine agenda.
But what are the specifics of God’s plan? To figure this out, we have to go back to that original meeting on the mountaintop. There, the conspiracy is hatched, and the plan begins to unfold.
At the beginning, Jesus is praying. There is no better way to begin the process of breathing with God than to follow Jesus in this practice. I have found that prayer doesn’t so much change God as it changes me — it turns me away from myself and begins to bend me toward God. Prayer is not about asking for things and then getting what I want — instead, it is about asking for God’s presence and then getting what I need. God’s presence and power in a time of challenge is usually what I need the most — God’s presence and power when I am being pulled in ten directions here at church, when I am filled with anxiety or temptation, or when I am facing a tough parenting decision at home.
Prayer can change my attitude and bend me toward God. It all begins with taking a deep breath, and beginning to breathe with God.
In the story of the Transfiguration, Christ’s appearance suddenly changes. His face is transformed, and his clothes become dazzling white. As a sign of his intimacy with God, the face of Jesus becomes radiant — Matthew says it “shone like the sun” (Matthew 17:2). Jesus shines like Moses coming down off Mount Sinai, with a face so bright that the people are afraid to come near him (Exodus 34:29-30).
Once you start breathing with God, your appearance is going to change. This was true for Moses. It was true for Jesus. It’s true for me. And it’s true for you. When you are in a divine conspiracy, you look, sound, and act like a different person. You offer your enemies a smile. You speak the truth to your neighbors. You live in love, as Christ loved you. You act in ways that are kind and tenderhearted, forgiving others as Christ has forgiven you (Ephesians 4:25-32). You begin to live a transfigured life, a life that is transformed by true intimacy with God. I’ve seen it here at FPC, when people come back from youth leader training, from a women’s retreat, from a Great Banquet weekend, from a day of working with the homeless in our hypothermia program. Check out today’s Sunday bulletin for a variety of truly transformational opportunities.
Next, Moses and Elijah appear, and talk about God’s plan for Jesus — in particular, they speak of Christ’s departure, “which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem” (v. 30-31). Now this is a difficult topic, since it involves Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection. But it is an essential one, since it contains the most important events in God’s divine conspiracy. Through his death on the cross, Jesus brings us forgiveness of our sins. Through his resurrection on Easter morning, Jesus gives us the gift of new life. Moses, Elijah, and Jesus are conspiring together about this world-changing plan, and although Peter wants to build three dwellings to capture the glory of the moment, Jesus knows that God’s divine conspiracy cannot be arrested on the mountaintop (v. 33). It has to move directly toward the cross.
As Peter is speaking, God’s voice thunders out of the cloud, clarifying the identity of Jesus. “This is my Son,” says the Lord God Almighty, “my Chosen, listen to him!” (v. 35). God is making the point that Jesus is his unique son and his chosen servant, the one through whom God is working out his conspiracy of salvation. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life — the Savior who has come to reconcile the world to God.
Too often today, we downplay the uniqueness of Jesus, seeing him as just one of many wise and compassionate spiritual leaders. We fall into the trap of “truthiness” — a term coined by comedian Stephen Colbert. Truthiness refers to something known intuitively, instinctively, or “from the gut,” without regard to evidence, logic, or intellectual examination. Truthiness is found in a sweet and sentimental understanding of Jesus, one that perceives him as kind, gentle, meek and mild. This grasp is intuitive and instinctive, and it has some merit to it — but it ignores a piece of crucial evidence.
Look at the evidence provided by the Transfiguration. Examine it. Breathe it in, deeply. This event reveals that Jesus is an exalted Lord, the Chosen One of God, a heavenly king with power to change the course of history. King and king and Lord of lords — that’s the truth about Jesus, not the truthiness. Once you’ve seen this side of Jesus, you’ve got to pick up your cross and follow … or get out of the way. Once you see the glory of Jesus, you are challenged to sit up and take notice when God says, “This is my Son … listen to him!”
That’s the challenge of Christian living, in a nutshell: Jesus is the Son of God … listen to him! In every time and place, listen to him! In every stress and challenge, listen to him! In every trial and temptation, listen to him!
When the voice of God stops speaking, Jesus is suddenly left alone with his disciples. Luke tells us that “they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen” (v. 36). The disciples had been stunned by this experience, hit hard by an unfiltered blast of the power of their divine master. It took them some time to recover from the shock of being drawn into a divine conspiracy.
For us, however, the end of the story is different. We know what it means to breathe with God. We’ve had time to get used to the fact that Jesus is Lord. We are beginning to understand the significance of his suffering, death, and resurrection. We know that God’s conspiracy has begun, and that it continues to impact human lives and change the course of history. We know that there are opportunities for us to join the conspiracy by teaching a church school class, advising the youth group, joining a women’s circle, attending a men’s retreat, helping the homeless, exploring an adult education class, participating in a Great Banquet weekend.
Only one question remains. Take a deep breath now.
Are you in? Amen.
Sources:
Vedantam, Shankar, “Born with the desire to know the unknown.” The Washington Post, June 5, 2006, A2.