Ever watch the movie “When Harry Met Sally”? At the very beginning of the movie, there are
interviews of how people met each other, how they finish each other’s
sentences, and some remember as clear as day how they met, some constantly
correct each other on the details? It
seems like a fairy tale that only a few people ever achieve. And yet, all but the last interview with the
main characters are based on true stories.
Some of them seem wildly impossible, like the one where both people were
born in the same hospital seven days apart, lived one block away from each
other, even worked in the same building for six years, one on the 5th
floor, one on the 14th floor, and met on a holiday in a hotel in
another state. Sometimes truth is
stranger than fiction.
From time to time, we hear incredible stories that are
far-fetched. Like the girl who grew up
to marry her grandma’s math teacher’s grandson in Old Strathcona in
Edmonton. Despite the girl’s dad and the
boy’s dad growing up kitty corner from each other as children, the girl and the
boy never met until they were in university and had no idea how close their
families were. Both sets of grandparents
were very committed United Church members, but even though they lived on the
same block, they went to completely different United Churches in Edmonton. (For the record, I thought his name was Jim, not Tim!) It’s an example of how truth can be stranger
than fiction. And yet they are true.
The story of the transfiguration is one of the gospel
stories that seems too strange to be true.
And for those bible geeks like the Jesus Seminar in the ‘90’s who liked
to dissect scripture and analyze it until it was dead and dusty, this was a
scripture that they disliked unless they could look at it symbolically. Matthew’s gospel is drawing parallels between
Jesus and Moses as he writes his gospel for Christian Jews who honor and
respect both Moses and Elijah as so holy they both saw the face of God. For those of you who may not remember those
old testament stories, Moses was the one who rescued the people of Israel from
slavery in Egypt, defying the Pharaoh, and getting the 10 commandments from God
who wrote them on stone tablets for all the people to see. Elijah was a prophet who challenged the
followers of Baal to a worship fight and dared them to get their god to burn
the sacrifice on their altar, then when they failed, Elijah poured water all
over the altar he dedicated to Jhwh God, and God lit the sacrifice on fire
anyway. Elijah also was the one who was
described as riding a chariot up to heaven instead of dying like the rest of
humanity. So, Jesus hanging out with
Moses and Elijah is a big deal. It would
be like if we ran into a friend and he or she had to take a conference call
with Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny, and you knew that it was real and not a fake. You would think of your friend very
differently, wouldn’t you?
That’s what Peter, James and John thought. All of the sudden, this wise leader was
elevated in their eyes to something special, something unique, something
unbelievable. And yet he was still the
humble, kind and caring man they had learned to trust while they followed him
around Galilea. And when he asked them
to keep their experience a secret, they did.
It kept his followers around him from treating him any differently than
just an inspiring speaker and teacher.
But for Peter, James and John, it cemented their trust in Jesus as the
leader they desperately needed. The leader who would help them live at a time when
their country was occupied by a foreign power, where they had little or no
human rights, and didn’t know where their next meal would come from or if their
jobs as fishermen would survive the competition from rich Roman fishing
companies.
We struggle to know what is true and what is fiction. Within hours of the incident at Tumbler
Ridge, ugly rumors and outrageous claims were circulating. People were demonizing a vulnerable minority
of our society. They ignored facts,
going straight to paranoia and fear. And
now, with artificial intelligence producing videos that look appear real, we
are going to need to on our toes. It’s
one thing to watch ninja kittens doing complex and flawless workout sessions
but another thing to be able to recognize a video that has been faked so well
it looks true.
Leadership that we can trust is important especially
now. When our very province is debating about
staying in Canada, we need to be careful who we listen. At a recent RCMP chaplaincy workshop,
trustworthy leadership was described as authentic, purposeful, vulnerable,
compassionate, empathetic and putting the needs of others before their
own. Our psalm describes what happens
when leaders choose to put their own selfish agendas first. Their power will collapse and their authority
will disappear. History shows that the
psalmists are right, leaders who put their own desires ahead of God’s agenda
for a peaceable, community will find that they lose all they desire. And history shows that when we trust Jesus
more than AI, more than leaders who promote fear and hatred for selfish gain,
when we trust Jesus transfigured, the world changes for the better for
everyone. We come down the mountain,
ready to act with compassion, justice and the assurance that God loves us all
in good times and in challenging times. Truth
is stranger than fiction, because when we choose love over hate, we heal
ourselves and the world. May we all trust
Jesus as our leader who transfigures our world to become a better place even in
difficult times like these. Amen.
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