Matthew 17:1-9
The Last Sunday after the Epiphany / Year A
St. Peter writes, “We did not follow
cleverly devised myths.”
One evening a couple of months ago I was
trolling around Netflix for something
to watch and came across a documentary called Helltown, USA. A brief blurb
stated it explores mysterious occurrences in and around Boston Township,
Ohio. Well, immediately I was hooked
because Boston is a small, mostly abandoned town in what is now the Cuyahoga
Valley National Park just about 10 miles north of where I grew up. As a teenager I used to ride my bike in this
area and ski on the sloops at Boston Mills, but I was never aware of strange events
associated with the area.
Well, the documentary is like many in the
genre. It features interviews with
experts and people involved in what happened, recreated footage using low-paid
actors, and a few images of photographs of actual events. This one chronicles the mysterious
disappearance of two children back during a time when I used to ride my bike in
the valley, even showing old video footage of a real Cleveland TV station’s
news report. How did I not know about
this at the time? How did my parents
ever let me go into this area alone?
There was another account of teenagers
trespassing in a forbidden area who are attacked and killed by a violent
creature, which authorities claim later was a bear. This happened when I was an adult living in
the area. Again, how did I not know
about this?
Then there were the members are an army
surveying team sent to explore the area after local residents are ordered off
their property – somewhat irregularly – to make way for the National Park back
in the early 70’s. Several of these men
are killed by a group of satanic ritualists.
How in the world did I not know about this? It happened practically in my own
backyard.
The documentary goes deep into the history of the region and tells the
story of Native Americans and their encounter with a mysterious horned man-like
creature. Early settlers in the area
encounter this same hostile being and go through all manner of incantations and
offerings to placate the savage beast. Why
didn’t they teach us about this in school?
The documentary goes on to suggest the beast killed the children and
the teenagers, the military personnel were slaughtered for a ritualistic
offering, and the army built a hidden underground base to capture and study the
creature. The documentary crew uncovers
evidence of the facility, determines it housed something, but whatever it was
appears to have broken free and escaped, leaving a trail of carnage in its
wake.
Well, I sat dumbfounded by all of this so I did what any sane person in
the year 2020 would do… I go to the internet and Google Helltown, USA. Well, the website popping up first develops
the stories of the documentary in fantastic ways and I am left to ponder how I
could have grown up so uninformed and unaware.
But eventually I click on a link describing Helltown, USA as one
of a growing number of programs known as a “mockumentary.” It is designed to look like a real
documentary (especially the conspiracy types), but is so over the top it is
actually a satire of all the others… the Bigfoot, UFO/Roswell, Fake Moon
Landing, Kennedy assasination theories, etc.
Mockumentary! My final question
of the night was – you can guess it – How could I have been so gullible? I swallowed the hook, the line, the sinker,
the rod, the real, the tackle box, the fishing boat, the trailer, and the truck
pulling it. Geez, am I a dope or what! I could say the truth was as obvious as the
nose on my face, but this morning I don’t want to draw any more attention to my
nose than necessary!
The season of Epiphany always ends with a
reading of an account of the Transfiguration.
Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain to
pray. The three disciples fall asleep
and when they awake Jesus is standing with Moses (the giver of the Law) and
Elijah (the founder of the prophetic tradition). Jesus himself is radiating the full glory of
his divinity. God’s voice thunders from
the heavens: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased; listen
to him!” It is such a vivid description
of a fantastically unimaginable event it almost feels like an alien
encounter. Nice try, but I am not going
to fall for this one. Fool me once,
shame on you. Fool my twice, shame on
me.
What strikes me about today’s readings is
what Peter writes in his letter: “We did not follow cleverly devised myths… we
have been eyewitnesses of his majesty.”
It seems there are sceptics even back in the day… “You are just making
up a good story.” “You are telling a
whooper of a tale.” “I am not,” Peter
responds. “My friends and I saw it with
our own eyes!”
The Transfiguration tells us Jesus is
something much more than a good moral teacher.
He is more than a special rabbi or religious figure. The Transfiguration takes this option off the
table. If true, it demonstrates Jesus is
God in human flesh – divinity and humanity united in one person. This is what the story proclaims, but can we
trust it?
There are three options. The first is this: Peter and the others are
lying about what happens on the mountain.
It is, as critics suggest, merely a cleverly devised myth. But why would they do this? Could it be (my favorite conspiracy theory
documentary phrase) they want to perpetuate Jesus’ message by making him appear
to be more than human? But, if anything,
a lie like this makes the message more difficult to believe. Even if successful, such lies shifts the
focus away from the message to the miraculous, a limelight Jesus seldom seeks
during his ministry.
And think about this, if the Transfiguration
is just a hoax, why would those who propose it give their life to it? Why would the apostles leave their lives,
travel far and wide, and endure joyfully all kinds of hardship, struggle,
persecution, ridicule, and martyrdom for a lie?
Not one of them ever confesses to anything other than Jesus as the Risen
Lord. Peter, when he is executed, states
he is not worthy to die the same way his Lord, so he requests to be crucified
upside down. Does this absolutely
disprove the lie possibility? No, but it
makes it highly unlikely. This explanation
raises more questions than it answers.
A second possibility is the disciples are
mistaken. They really do believe they
see what they see, only it didn’t really happen. They were, after all, asleep. Perhaps in waking up they are confused,
foggy-headed, and bleary-eyed. In the
state between sleep and wake, all manner of confusion and dreaming takes
place. Maybe they awake and the sun is
rising directly behind Jesus. It blinds
them and from their vantage point he radiates a kind of glory. But how do three adults get confused in the
exact same way? How do they have the
exact same dream? How do you account for
the appearance of Moses and Elijah? How
do you account for the voice of God? How
do all three disciples have the same erroneous experience? It seems unlikely.
The third option is to accept the
eyewitness account given by Peter as being historically accurate. It really did happen. It is an option not without its challenges. Can we really believe people from centuries
before can reappear on earth and carry on a conversation with Jesus? And how do the disciples know it is Moses and
Elijah, two people who have been dead and gone for a millennium or more. There were no pictures of them or paintings. Perhaps Jesus identifies them to the
disciples after the encounter concludes.
Next, you have to wonder if God has a voice that can actually be heard
by human ears. And finally – and most
critically – you have to believe God can and did take on human flesh. This is the faith Peter holds, but it takes
faith to hold it. It is not a provable
fact.
The liturgical season of Epiphany is a time
of revealing; revealing to the world Jesus as God’s Son. It begins with the visit of the magi who are
the first gentiles to meet the child Jesus.
It continues with Jesus’ baptism when a heavenly voice identifies him as
“the Beloved.” Some years we read of
Jesus’ first miracle – turning water into wine.
Other stories – such as calming the sea – demonstrate Jesus as the Lord
of creation. This year’s readings focused
only on his teachings – his moral vision for the Kingdom of God on earth. And, as I said, we always end the season with
the Transfiguration.
It begs you to ask, “Well, what do I
think? Am I convinced Jesus is God in
the flesh, or am I not impressed? Can
such a fantastic claim possibly be true, or is it a cleverly devised myth? Will I follow Jesus on his Lenten journey or
will I watch from afar or will I walk away?”
The Transfiguration demands an explanation and a response. If it is a hoax, then don’t fall for it. If you deem it to be truth, then you must
give your life to it – hook, line, sinker, rod, reel, tackle box, boat,
trailer, and truck.
