In the midst of the hype and glamour of the 2006 Winter
Olympics, some people missed a little known transfiguring moment. No doubt
because of all the hype, and because it wasn’t a particularly glamorous moment,
only the bare facts of the story were told on major news channels.
The facts, as told on most news media, were these.
The event was the cross-country ski relay. If you don’t know how this works, each
team consists of two skiers. The track is a large oval. The skiers alternate
around the track. Lap one, skier number one. Lap two, skier number two. And so
on until the six laps are complete. The Canadian duo was competing and on lap
five one of skier number one’s ski poles broke. In cross country skiing, ski
poles are essential pieces of equipment.
So here was skier number one on lap five with a
broken ski pole. Out of the spectators along the route a man stepped forward
and offered the young woman his ski poles. And although her competition time
suffered somewhat because the poles were too long for her, she managed to
finish her lap. Her partner made up the time and the Canadians won the bronze
medal. In a news interview later, she referred to the man who gave her his ski
poles as her “mystery man.” She did not know who he was.
The part most of us didn’t hear was this. The
“mystery man” who stepped forward with the ski poles was the Norwegian
cross-country ski coach. And the Norwegian team was in fourth place. That meant
if the Canadian team didn’t finish, the Norwegian team would win the bronze
medal. Yet despite that, the Norwegian coach stepped forward and offered the
young woman his poles. The Norwegian coach was willing to set aside his own
years of competitive work with his skiers to see that someone else was given
the opportunity to finish. In addition, he was willing to set aside his team’s
chances for winning.
The best part of this transfiguring moment was the
mail, telephone calls, and emails that flooded the Norwegian consulate and the
Norwegian government offices. Every single response commended the coach for
having handed over his ski poles. The letters and telephone calls talked about
the true meaning of the Olympics. The callers spoke about giving up something
to help someone else succeed. They spoke about making sacrifices for others.
The Norwegian coach’s response in that moment of
sacrifice, was a moment of transfiguration from spectator to self-sacrificing
giver.
Jesus’ transfiguration was and is how Jesus reveals himself
to the disciples and prepares them for the events of the future. The
transfiguration revealed Jesus in his fullness as never a spectator but instead
a self-sacrficing giver. The gloriousness of Jesus’ transfiguration where he is
revealed as a self-sacrificing giver drives home the devastation of the crucifixion
and the meaning of the cross and resurrection.
We expect our transfiguration to be something we do
ourselves. Yet transfiguration is what God does in us and through us. The Greek
verb Matthew’s Gospel uses – that we translate as “get up” – is the same verb
Matthew has the angels use to the women at the empty tomb. The women are told,
“He is not here; he has been raised.”[1]
This also translates as “be raised up,” or “be resurrected.” It’s a command,
not something we do ourselves, of our own volition or desire. And, as a
command, when we answer it we become who God calls us to be: transfigured,
resurrected from spectator to self-sacrificing giver.
Just as in that moment of the Canadian team
accepting their bronze medal, the essence of the Olympic story was revealed. Yet
the essence of the Olympic story was more boldly
revealed in the moment the Norwegian coach handed the Canadian skier his ski
poles. Both of those events have glory and sacrifice contained in them. It is
in the juxtaposition of glory and sacrifice that the story becomes our
story. Something we tell and retell, because it is no longer about us but about
who God wants us to become. God is passionately waiting to transfigure us in
the image of Christ from spectators to self-sacrificing givers. AMEN.
The Rev
Nicolette Papanek
©2017
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