February 26, 2006

Foot-in-Mouth Disease

2 Kings 2:1-12
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9

A young man goes off to his first semester at college filled with great expectations and confidence. After he has been there about a month, he sends an email home to his father: "Feather in my cap; elected class president." Two months later he sends another email to his father: "Another feather in my cap; accepted into the best fraternity." One month later, a third email: "Still another feather in my cap; got leading role in class play." Now into the second semester, about two months later, he sends this final email home ... to his brother: "Flunked out! Prepare father; tell him to send money for me to get home!" The brother emails back: "Father prepared. Prepare yourself. Father says to take those feathers out of your cap, put them on your shoulders, and fly home!" (i)

Have you ever had something like this happen to you? Sometimes we feel the need to say something clever so others will see just how smart we are, and then when we do, we confirm just the opposite beyond a shadow of a doubt. I couldn't tell you how many times I myself have been plagued by foot-in-mouth disease, when I've opened my mouth, inserted my foot, and chewed heartily. And usually the experience is not pleasant. But the Apostle Peter, starring prominently in our gospel lesson today, is the consummate foot-chewer, one who suffers from a chronic case of foot-in-mouth disease.

About a week before today's episode, down by the seacoast, Jesus and his followers have an interesting discussion regarding his future and their discipleship. During this discussion, Peter forthrightly declares that Jesus is the Messiah, but soon after, more true to form, Peter receives an ear-pinning rebuke from Jesus, when he puts his foot in his mouth by arguing with Jesus and questioning why he must suffer and die. We heard the latter part of this story last Sunday.

Six days later Peter, James, and John accompany their Master up the dizzying heights of a nearby mountain. There, right before their eyes, Jesus is transfigured in a dazzling light show, his clothes made whiter than white, as the detergent commercials would say. Then, before they get a chance to catch their breath, standing with Jesus, talking with him, are two of the greatest figures in Jewish salvation history - Moses and Elijah. Peter, for reasons we will explore shortly, blurts out the suggestion that three booths be built, one for each of them, some kind of permanent memorial, something that would perhaps encourage them to stay, that would enable this incredible moment to last. Before anyone can respond, a great cloud overshadows them all, and a voice proclaims that Jesus is the Beloved Son, and is someone who should be listened to. Suddenly, the cloud vanishes, Moses and Elijah also disappear, and Jesus and the three disciples remain. They then return to the valley below, back to their normal everyday lives, with strict instructions from Jesus to tell no one. Quite a bizarre tale, isn't it?

That's an overview of the story. Now let's dig deeper into this foot-in-mouth disease that afflicted Peter, and that afflicts many of us. Why did Peter, why do we, keep opening our mouth and putting in our foot? Probably one of the greatest negative motivators is fear - fear of others, fear of our situation, fear of who knows what. The young college man in our story was afraid to tell his father the truth about himself. He was afraid to admit that being a freshman was a daunting task, that the workload was overwhelming. So, the feather in his cap routine was used to convey the feeling that everything was going just great, that college was a breeze. Socially he probably was a feather, floating on the air of acceptance from one success to another. But scholastically, he was a stone, and all the feathers in the world couldn't help him as he sank out of sight academically. If he had revealed his well-founded fear of academic failure to his father, instead of only communicating the fluff, he might have discovered a sympathetic or even a helpful ear. I remember only too well my freshman year of college, when I almost flunked out. Thank heaven, my parents were sympathetic, and saw me through to a successful conclusion.

Fear often prevents us from facing reality. Fear prompts Peter's silly suggestion to build three little booths for the dignitaries on the mountain. Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, are awesome figures of faith. Furthermore, they had died centuries before. Just standing in the presence of ghosts would put fear into anyone. Also, Peter may still be smarting from Jesus' recent stern rebuke, "Get behind me, Satan." If Moses or Elijah had ever gotten wind of that, yikes. Peter fears for his own safety, because he knows that these two had sent to early deaths more than a few weak-spirited, wrong-headed trouble-makers in their time. Peter is a simple fisherman in a fearful situation much too complex for his meager understanding. Fearing that he might say something that will get him in trouble, he offers to do something, to use his hands, not his head. Unfortunately, like most fear-motivated actions, his plans go awry and again he's left with egg on his face and a foot in his mouth.

Another cause of foot-in-mouth disease, another reason why we too often open our mouths when we probably should keep them shut, is the power of silence. If I were to suddenly stop talking and just stand here ... the silence would make most of you (and probably me) very uncomfortable, and I'll bet that someone would soon break the silence. Some folks don't even like the 20 to 30 second time of silence in our morning prayer. Being with another person and not saying anything is hard to do, because it's risky. When we're talking, we're moving (some of us more than others); we're hard to grasp and hard to hold; we can still escape. (ii) But being silent requires trust and faith; we risk being vulnerable to another. Peter fills the gap in the conversation between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah by suggesting a construction project. He puts his foot in his mouth by speaking when he should have been silent. Fortunately for him, this time the content of what he says is not questioned. And yet the voice from the cloud still reprimands: "This is my Beloved Son. Listen to him." In other words, Peter, hush! Be quiet!

Finally, the third way we often end up with foot-in-mouth disease is by trying to take control of a situation and have the last word. When we think we're in control and completely independent, we sometimes find out just how dependent on others we really are. Perhaps you heard the story about the late Bishop Fulton Sheen (actually, I just heard the same story about Billy Graham, so who knows if it is true, but it's a good story). Bishop Sheen was scheduled to speak at Town Hall in Philadelphia, and decides to walk the few short blocks from his hotel to there ... and he gets hopelessly lost. He stops a couple of teenagers and asks for directions. One of the kids asks the Bishop, "What are you going to do there?" He replies, "I'm going to give a lecture on 'How to Get to Heaven.' Would you care to come along?" "Are you kidding?" answers the teen. "You don't even know how to get to Town Hall." (iii)

Peter wants the magic moment on the mountain to last, he wants to control the situation. Take-charge people are like that. But he doesn't realize just how much God is in control. The voice in the cloud steers him in a very different direction, away from controlling his own destiny, to encouraging him to accept God's destiny for him, to accept the gift of lifelong discipleship. Only when we can relinquish control in our lives to God, and, as the expression goes, "let go and let God," only when we can live as genuine disciples of the transfigured, transforming Christ, will we fully experience the glory of the living Lord. Mountaintop experiences are as powerful and dramatic as they are because these are moments when we are least in control, and when God is most in control. To successfully overcome foot-in-mouth disease we need to let go ... of fear, of words, and of control itself.

Final thoughts on our lesson for today. Jesus and the disciples do not stay up on the mountain; they descend into the valley below, back to their everyday lives, back to the sick who need healing, to the disputes that need settling, to the suffering that needs caring, to the important work that needs doing. But there is one big difference from how they were before - now they have glimpsed the future, now they have glimpsed the glory. And we who have the gift of faith, we've seen this also. Once we've glimpsed the glory, once we've caught sight of the future God has in store for us, then life will never be the same again. When in the midst of life's crises - hunger and homelessness, injuries and deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism around the world, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, mudslides, cancer, heart disease, bird flu, AIDS, and other terrible afflictions, even some unknown changes coming for Pilgrim Church - when in the midst of all of this we get a glimpse of hope, of resurrection, of new life, of an assurance that "we shall overcome," then we can be sure that life will never be the same again. (iv) And that's okay, because we won't be alone, mo matter what we have to face.

Christ will be with us in the valley. That's a promise. Jesus went before us into the valley, and suffered and died, so that our valley traveling would not be so hard to bear. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me ..." Even now, Christ goes with us into the valleys, whatever kind they are, and walks with us through doubting, fearful, and uncertain times. We cannot stay up on the mountaintops; the valleys are where we're supposed to live. That's where the action is, where God wants us to be. So, come down from the mountain; God's work needs to be done here, and we're the ones God has called to do it. Amen.

The Pilgrim Church of Duxbury
Rev. Kenneth C. Landall

i Homiletics, Jan-Mar. 1994, 2/13/94.
ii Ibid.
iii Ibid.
iv Anne G. Bonney, Biblical Preaching Journal, Winter 1994, 2/27/94.