In any case, today we have a chance to think about this a little bit, not only because of the Olympics, but also (more importantly for us in church today), because our gospel reading presents us with that same core concept that we see expressed in the podium of the Olympics. You may think I am a wee bit crazy, but I see that podium in our scripture reading. Jesus is glorified on a mountain top along with Moses and Elijah. Isn’t the Olympic podium a little mountain in itself, it is certainly a raised platform? And are not the athletes glorified on their little mountain? They shine with the accomplishments of their Olympic prowess. Gleaming medals are hung around their necks. There they stand, in their moment of glory, transfigured into the gods of Mount Olympus, admired if not worshiped by mere mortals like you and me who could never, never perform the feats they have managed to accomplish. That’s not so different, is it, from our gospel story which has Jesus, Elijah and Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration, shining with the glory of God for a brief moment while the disciples look on in awe, admiring the scene, worshiping the transfigured ones? We Christians can readily picture Jesus with the gold medal; Moses and Elijah can be a toss-up over the silver and bronze.

We need to have Jesus up on a podium today. We have come to the end of the season of Epiphany. Lent begins this coming Wednesday - Ash Wednesday. Epiphany is the season of recognizing Jesus as the light of our lives (maybe even the light of the world if you are an old-time Gospel singer). During Epiphany we have seen Jesus acknowledged by God as God’s Beloved One, with whom God is very pleased. We heard that from the voice in the clouds in Jesus’ baptism... and didn’t we hear that voice again in the Transfiguration story today? Then we saw Jesus begin a ministry of calling disciples, giving them their jobs to do. The ministry continued with acts of compassion and healing; and also with profound teaching - a new law from God, we said last week. This Jesus is indeed an Epiphany of God; an Anointed One - a Messiah - a Christ - an excellent Christ... The gold medalist when it comes to being Christ. So, at the end of the season of Epiphany we have to have Jesus on the Epiphany podium, just to be sure that Jesus is indeed the most excellent manifestation of God in our lives. And let me tell you, we need this assurance because very soon Jesus will be stepping off that podium, going down the mountain, traveling away from the exhilaration and the glory, towards humiliation and suffering, and abandonment and execution in Jerusalem. That’s going to be a very tough path to travel and when Jesus tells us, in a little while, “Pick up your cross and follow me,” we’re going to feel like heading for the hills (back to the hills!) instead of walking through that valley of the shadow of death. The only thing that will get us through that valley is the memory of the podium today, the knowledge that Jesus is, after all, the excellent Epiphany of God. It’s a good thing we are here in church today, isn’t it, on this transfiguration Sunday - pity those who are missing it. Who knows how they will ever make it through the season of Lent, let alone through the agony of Good Friday?!

The Olympic analogy is not quite right, however, and we need to say a few more things about our Transfiguration podium. First, we need to ignore the gold, silver, and bronze categorization thing. Although many Christians would jump at the chance of giving Jesus the gold, Elijah the silver and Moses the bronze; that is not the intention of the gospel writer. The three glorified persons simply represent the Law (Moses), the Prophets (Elijah), and the Gospel (Jesus). The fact that Moses and Elijah are there on the mountain with Jesus is meant to show that Jesus too is worthy to represent a perfect revelation from God, just like Moses, God’s spokesperson for the Law, and Elijah, God’s spokesperson for Prophecy. They are really meant to be a team rather than a hierarchy. They share the same limelight, the same platinum medal. When Jesus gets on the podium, the glory is shared as it will be on any podium that Jesus gets onto.

Moreover, it must be said that the transfiguration podium is not a photo-op. Did you notice in the story that the disciple Peter wanted to capture the moment by building a little shrine there on the mountain? Peter says to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.” (Mt. 17:4) Peter wanted to put the scene in a box. If he’d had a camera he would have wanted a picture. Splash the picture on the front page of the Olympic Games section of the Toronto Star. But no, this is no photo-op, it is not the latest news, it is not something to gossip about. In fact Jesus forbids the disciples to tell anyone about the story, not until after the whole Lenten journey is finished, not until the Gospel is proclaimed in all its fulness. What this means for us is that the Transfiguration story is meant for those who have made a serious journey through the season of Epiphany. It is meant for those who will then make a serious journey all the way through Lent, allowing the Transfiguration experience to give them strength along the way. Then when the true victory comes with Easter, then will be the time to celebrate the Epiphany of Jesus in all its glory.

So we look ahead at the Lenten season ahead of us, and there at the end of Lent, I see another podium. Again, you may think I am crazy, but does not the pattern repeat itself again: three characters elevated on a hilltop, on a very tragic podium this time? This time the hill is called Golgotha, (meaning the Place of a Skull) and the characters are three criminals, being executed by crucifixion - their naked bodies nailed to wooden crosses. Jesus is one of those three persons hanging on those crosses and the story of Jesus is not complete without this crucifixion podium. In fact the Epiphany of God in Jesus is not complete without this crucifixion podium; another reason, of course, why the transfiguration podium can’t be publicized until that other podium has also had its say.

We have the whole season of Lent to reflect on the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus and what the Cross of Christ may have to say to us, but today we have to acknowledge at least that the gospel is incomplete without the cross. Actually, of course, the Cross of Christ makes Christianity what it is. It represents the essence of what God has done in Jesus... which is to bring us into communion with God... which is to help us out of the clutches of evil, or, in more familiar Christian language, which is to save us from our sins. The death of Jesus then, represents for Christians a kind of cure from sin which must be embraced in order to live in good health. Following the teaching of Jesus is in itself not a cure for the disease of sin in the human condition. As a Christian, if you agree that Jesus is God-with-us and you practise everything that Jesus taught, you still cannot live in full communion with God, unless you have been cured from sin by the cross of Christ. A common analogy for this is to think of someone who has a fatal disease. Even if that person lives impeccably, eating the healthiest of food, with plenty of exercise and clean living, without a cure for the disease, all that clean living is in vain. Only after a cure for the disease will the clean living be of benefit, to maintain the good health brought about by the cure.

Many preachers will tell you that the average Christian is only a nominal Christian; a Christian only in name. Yes, such a one will acknowledge Jesus as God-with-us and yes such a one tries correctly to follow the teaching of Jesus, but when it comes to being truly saved by the cross of Christ, such folk have not yet seen the light. I believe that there is some truth in what these preachers say. I agree that yes, very often we are only nominal Christians and that it seems enough for us to affirm the divinity of Jesus and live the gospel as best we can. I also agree that what is missing in this picture has something to do with the cross of Christ. But we must be very careful indeed about the way we see the cross as an instrument of salvation. For many Christians, the cross has become a lucky charm that is hung on a wall or around one’s neck. For some it is some sort of sentimental thing, the “Old Rugged Cross” to be cherished and clung to. For those who see themselves as soldiers of Christ it is an ensign of battle to be lifted high before the ranks of Christian imperialism that go out to conquer the world. But these views of the cross and other views we could list fail to capture the real meaning of the cross and actually, there is probably no one adequate explanation or way of expressing just how the crucifixion of Jesus cures the curse of sin that permeates the human condition. But we can say at least that in the crucifixion God does something big against evil. And our attempts to resist evil need that something big of God to make them effective. We cannot conquer evil by ourselves. I cannot do it, you cannot do it, George Bush cannot do it, even with all the might of the greatest superpower on earth. It is like the nursery rhyme: the bad stuff has had its way with us... Humpty Dumpty is broken; all the king’s horses and all the king’s men cannot put Humpty together again.

The work of Jesus on the cross does put Humpty together again. Jesus joins Humpty Dumpty and Jesus joins those two broken criminal companions hanging on the other two crosses in their brokeness. On the cross, Jesus joins me in my brokeness and you in yours. And so God enters completely into all that is broken in our world, God enters into all that is broken in our lives, in order to pick up the broken pieces and put them together again. In order for God to do that work of redemption, we have to allow it to happen by joining Jesus on the podium on Good Friday, a podium onto which we are invited. Responding to that invitation means we have to acknowledge we are essentially in the same boat as those two criminals hanging there with Jesus. Deep down, we are just as broken as they are; we too are tainted by the brokeness of the human condition. We too have our dark side and we need to let that dark side be crucified with Christ, as the bible says, thereby allowing God’s healing presence to clothe us with new life.