A few years ago a talk radio station in San Francisco conducted a call in poll. The DJ invited listeners to express their opinion. Thirty-five percent of the respondents said "yes," 33 percent said "no" and 32 percent were "undecided." One listener, aghast at the large numbers of undecided's, protested, "It's this sort of apathy that's ruining America." The only problem with all these responses … was that the radio station had never posed any question. People were calling in with a vote or opinion when no question had been asked; this episode for some is a now famous example of the extent to which our society has moved into the sphere of uncivil discourse.
The world we live in … where it is hard to find any quiet … where it increasingly seems everyone has an opinion or wanting their 15 minutes of YouTube fame. Or perhaps this is just a symptom of larger issue.
For example, in a study of the Lutheran church in the 1990's it concluded that 90% of all Lutherans rarely or never spoke to anybody about their faith. Furthermore, the study found that those who were active, active in that they attended church about three times a month, it was found that only 12% spoke among their family about faith once a week. Does this point to a larger issue? It seems that in one case we may be speaking too much and in another way not enough.
Then there is also the important point that as Christians following Jesus Christ we are not to remain silent before injustice. In the words of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel "...to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all..." Or perhaps we have heard or read of South African Bishop Desmond Tutu or Americans Rev. Martin Luther King Jr's or San Francisco Board of Supervisors Harvey Milk in that those who remain silent side with the oppressors.
So which is it to be ….shouting our lungs out to be one among many in this culture or to remain silent in the face of wrongs for example? Well, there are no easy solutions but perhaps we can find some guidance. Interestingly in our gospel today the disciples may have behaved with surprising wisdom after witnessing the Transfiguration event on the mountaintop.
Jesus appears radiant seen conversing quietly with Moses and Elijah. And out of the presence of God as a cloud we hear the words of God who affirmed that Jesus was God's beloved and for the disciples to listen to him. Our initial opinion is that the three disciples invited out of the twelve not only did not understand what they had seen---they were amazed and awestruck at what they had heard. They were also confused.
But what we may not remember is that this confusion had not begun here on the mountain but had started long before. Consider how disturbing Jesus' first passion prediction must have been to the hearts of his disciples. According to the gospel of Luke, the disciples had just returned from their first missionary excursion flushed with success. Jesus had miraculously fed a crowd of five thousand, and Peter finally had the insight to name Jesus "Messiah." However, instead of praising the disciples, Jesus responds by foretelling the ominous future that awaits him as the Messiah.
Now as found in all the Synoptic gospels --- Matthew, Mark and Luke --- as three of the disciples, Peter, James and John joined Jesus in his mountaintop prayer retreat, they must have been deeply disturbed by Jesus' prediction. Then, suddenly, there are prophets and dazzling lights and descending clouds and a voice too awesome to withstand. The voice declares, "This is my Son," but it also orders the disciples to "Listen to him."
In other words, how can Jesus be the Messiah, the Son of the Divine, at home in conversation with the likes of Moses and Elijah --- and yet be doomed to the suffering and death he has revealed to them? What kind of Savior is this? Confused beyond reckoning, the disciples choose to do what? The disciples chose to say nothing and let the future unfold without their commentary.
What does this lesson teach us? First, this event is an important reminder for all of us that there are some important times when saying nothing is the wisest insight we can offer --- both individually and as the church. Sometimes, the most significant, substantive and spiritual thing we can do is to say …. nothing. What is called the Transfiguration took place during an experience of private meditation and prayer --- not during a public speech or one of Jesus' tutorials to his disciples. Although an amazing event, it was also an intensely personal experience.
For example, nowhere is it written that after we become Christians, we suddenly see all and know all and have an opinion on everything. Or if remaining silent is not possible that I have an answer for everything.
The longer I have been a pastor the more I realize that sometimes we, too, need to stay in place, to meditate, to just sit down and wait, until the word and power from on high arrives. Or until that time comes "I don't know" can be good theology. It is ok to say "I don't know" or "it's a mystery" to the complex issues that we face as Christians.
Perhaps at times we need to remember the words of Matthew 7:6 which cautions, "Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you" which simply means that sometimes a "word fitly spoken" is no "apple of gold" if it is doomed to become applesauce.
Second, the response of the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration can teach us one more thing when we have to chose between remaining silent or speaking and acting on God's word --- trust in God's faithfulness. God has not left God's people without guidance, without help, without hope ever. From Moses to Elijah to Daniel to Jesus, perhaps to Mark writer of this "good news" (Mark 1:1), and including many more persons of faith, we continually are helped to see the way of God in the world, as well as the promise for God's future for all of us.
Part of that faithfulness includes trusting the glimpse that others have had: all the twelve, for instance, were not part of this experience today at this event on the mountain top and Peter, James, and John did not talk about it until after the resurrection. But the glimpse, even of others, perhaps even later in life, is a gift to all of us from God.
No one really knows all of what happened during the six days Jesus shared with the trio of disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. Moreover, nobody even knows where the Mount of Transfiguration is. All we really know is that Jesus and his three closest friends climbed a mountain of prayer and entered the presence of God. Something wondrous and miraculous happened to them, something so radiant and mystical that the afterglow never left Peter. Years later, Peter remembered this day, different from all other days, and wrote, still in a kind of holy hush: "We had been eyewitnesses of his majesty." (2 Peter 1:16). God's faithfulness withstood the passage of time.
Finally, both in Acts and at the end of his gospel, Luke records Jesus' command to his disciples to "Stay in [Jerusalem] until you have been clothed with power from on high." Other translations state that the disciples are to stay until they receive "the Word from on high" (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4). Part of speaking out or remaining silent is discerning when the best moment or time is.
Today is Transfiguration Sunday --- it is the last Sunday of one Church season before we enter another --- the one that follows --- Lent. One journey has ended and we know a lot from that journey. The miraculous birth of Jesus born in Bethlehem, that he had loving parents, and as an adult at his baptism began a ministry teaching, healing and performing miracles with disciples.
But is that enough? Today is the day when we remember, each year, Jesus being transfigured on a mountaintop --- as I have said before we call this whole season an epiphany that concludes today. An epiphany is a sudden and unexpected manifestation by God.
Are we silent about God when we are to be speaking, trying to hold on to what we think we know about God, sheltered in one season in our relationship with Jesus Christ? Or have we spoken too much interrupting others? Or are we too quick with our answers when perhaps all we need to say is: "I don't know."
Perhaps it would help to ask are we ready to trust in the journey God has before us, to listen to Jesus --- the journey to death on a cross? Are we ready to trust in the journey God before us to speak about Jesus and against injustice --- the journey to death on a cross? Either way, let us grow in wisdom for remember both journeys end in the same place, the love of God on the cross. Amen.

