The Feeding of the 5,000. The Transfiguration. How do they connect?
Our parish council is trying something new this year. At our last meeting, they chose a theme story to guide us in ministry for the next 12 months. And the story they chose was the Feeding of the 5,000.
Imagine my surprise when that story pops up just a few verses before the Transfiguration as I'm writing my Transfiguration sermon for this week.
You see, in Luke, the story of the Feeding of the 5,000 and the story of Jesus' Transfiguration are separated only by Peter's confession of Jesus' Messiah-ness and Jesus' confession of what that Messiah-ness will look like--namely suffering, rejection, institutional persecution, death, and resurrection.
A confession of faith and a confession of death. That is what separates these two stories in Luke. Or perhaps it's what connects them.
What do the Feeding of the 5,000 and the Transfiguration engender in the people around Jesus? Amazement. Glory. Faith, one might say. Unfortunately, it's the kind of faith that leads to death. Because it's faith in the wrong thing. After the Feeding, Peter's faith bursts from him with the declaration, "You are the Messiah of God!" And after the Transfiguration, Peter wants to put down roots, build a house, and never leave the site of his Messiah's manifestation. And each time, God says, "Stop it, Peter. You're killing me."
"No, seriously; you're killing me." Peter's faith at this point is faith in nothing more than glory. And when glory disappears, when Jesus' prediction has come true and God's Messiah is betrayed, beaten, bloodied, and bruised...there's nothing left for Peter's faith to hang on. There's nothing left for the crowds to be amazed by. And there's nothing to stop the religious leaders from punishing Jesus for stealing their show.
Faith in glory kills. So after the Feeding of the 5,000, when Peter proclaims Jesus to be the Messiah based only on this show of glory, Jesus "sternly orders and commands them not to tell anyone." And during the Transfiguration, when Peter suggests that it would be good to stop this whole journey toward death, God the Father himself puts in an appearance and gives a little...redirection.
So after all that, Peter, James, and John don't really say much about what happened at the top of that Transfiguration mountain. And who can blame them? I'm guessing one of the reasons they keep it quiet is just because things had gotten so darn confusing. It's a heck of a lot easier to have faith in a glorious feeding or a rapturous transformation than a confusing confession of suffering, rejection, and death. But that, of course, is the foolishness of the cross: the absolute insanity that God--the almighty, all-powerful Creator of the Universe--wouldn't use glory to accomplish His goal...but opts for glory's opposite instead.
Power made perfect in weakness. Glory made perfect in shame. Just wait, Peter; you ain't seen nothing yet.
