I love that old saying, “you can never fully understand a person until you have walked in their shoes.” I understand that the expression is a proverb that dates back to a Cherokee tribe of Native Americans that said “Don’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.” Apparently the expression really took off in popularity when Nelle Harper Lee put her own spin on the proverb in the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” In it she says “you never really know a man until you understand things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Two things occur to me. One is just how important it is for us to try and understand each other, to try and be empathetic to others, the way they feel and their circumstances. The other is just how hard it is to do this. In fact we may be able to get kind of close to understanding another person, but we will never fully get there. Have you ever watched maybe read a biography or watched a movie about a person’s life and said to yourself “I had no idea!” “I had no idea!”
The gospel reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for Transfiguration Sunday, February 27th, Luke 9:28-36 says…
About eight days after Jesus said these things, he took Peter, John, and James, and went up on a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes flashed white like lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, were talking with him. They were clothed with heavenly splendor and spoke about Jesus’ departure, which he would achieve in Jerusalem. Peter and those with him were almost overcome by sleep, but they managed to stay awake and saw his glory as well as the two men with him. As the two men were about to leave Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it’s good that we’re here. We should construct three shrines: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—but he didn’t know what he was saying. Peter was still speaking when a cloud overshadowed them. As they entered the cloud, they were overcome with awe. Then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to him!” Even as the voice spoke, Jesus was found alone. They were speechless and at the time told no one what they had seen.
This is literally a mountaintop experience for Jesus. Moses and Elijah are helping him think about the future and reflect on his calling. If we try to put ourselves in Jesus shoes I suspect this was a powerful experience for him. And what does Jesus do after this experience? We are told that Jesus comes down from the mountain with Peter, James, and John and that the crowd comes after him and A man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to take a look at my son, my only child. 39 Look, a spirit seizes him and, without any warning, he screams. It shakes him and causes him to foam at the mouth. It tortures him and rarely leaves him alone. 40 I begged your disciples to throw it out, but they couldn’t.” 41 Jesus answered, “You faithless and crooked generation, how long will I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” Jesus spoke harshly to the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.
It’s hard for us to know what Jesus is thinking and how he’s feeling but he seems pretty frustrated here. Jesus says “You faithless and crooked generation, how long will I be with you and put up with you? If we were watching a documentary at this point In the story I would probably say, “I had no idea.” Jesus had his hard times but he walks down from the mountain back into the challenges and messiness of ministering to the world. Responding to God’s call in our lives is so often messy and complicated and yes frustrating. And so God gives us the mountain. God gives us those moments that are life changing, that help us have new eyes to see, when we respond God is faithful and walks with us down the mountain to answer God’s call on our lives. When we try and put ourselves in one another’s shoes we know there are mountain top moments and messy and difficult times. God meets all of us us in both places. My old friend, Harry Parrish used to sing a song that says, “Life is easy, when you’re up on the mountain, And you’ve got peace of mind, like you’ve never known, But things change, when you’re down in the valley, Don’t lose faith, for your never alone, For the God on the mountain, is still God in the valley, when things go wrong, he’ll make them right, and the God of the good times, is still God in the bad times, the God of the day, is still God in the night.” Amen.