Transformations and morals

Sermon for Epiphany VII, 2025, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY
Text: Exodus 34:29-35, Luke 9:28-43a

In memory of Mildred, who read my sermons.

This is the last Sunday in Epiphany, a season that is longer this year than we’re used to, and a lot has happened during it. Epiphany starts with the visit of the three wise men, or Jesus’ baptism, which we read this year, and that was two months ago, so it is not part of the “feel” of the church or the service this morning. But, here we are, having heard who Jesus is revealed to us through his baptism, his first sign at the wedding in Cana, reading from Isaiah in his synagogue, Simeon’s prayer of release from life at the sight of the infant Messiah, and now the revelation of Jesus’ identity in the glory of God and in the company of Moses and Elijah. Every week, we have heard Jesus being revealed as the Son of God in a different way, all signs that the kingdom of God is near. And now, in this scene of unearthly transfiguration, the nature of Jesus is revealed to Peter, John, and James that caps what we have heard as we turn toward Lent. And Peter’s reaction? “Hey, let’s build a house!”

Last fall, Father Andrew recommended a book to me called The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt that I have since read. It has helped me understand what morals I hold, and why. Dr. Haidt has proposed 5 moral pillars that shape our personal and social morality: providing care and avoiding harm; promoting fairness and stopping exploitation; expecting loyalty and dealing with traitors or apostates; recognizing authority and blocking anarchy; recognizing sanctity and removing degradation. These pillars describe and categorize the moral judgements we make and can be found in scripture making them familiar. Dr. Haidt makes the point that we tend to emphasize perhaps two pillars over the others, leading to differences in what each of us considers moral and just. It is also harder to build morality on all five pillars, rather than on just one or two. (See here for further discussion)

As I read the book, I saw how I prioritized care and fairness over loyalty, authority, and sanctity, and I saw the value in prioritizing more than just those two. To do that, I have to negotiate the relationship between first century scripture and 21st century reality to build a morality that satisfies the demands of both. Some might call this apostasy because I don’t prioritize scripture, others may call it indecision because I hold them equally important. I call it courage to define my morals in a world that didn’t stop changing after the Gospels were written. Our encounter with God through prayer, scripture, and worship are how we are transformed, like Jesus, in God’s glory. Our clothes won’t be dazzling white, and our faces won’t shine like Moses’ face, but we will be changed, our life will change, and what we see as right and wrong, moral and immoral, will change.

I mention the moral pillars because if God is as powerful as we believe, then we can’t not be transformed in how we think, act, and judge what is moral or not as we live a Christian life. We can’t not be afraid to become someone different as our morals evolve. The big question in our transformation is how are we changed beyond words? That is a hard question to answer because the source of our change may not be clear. It may come from self-centered reasons so that we look moral, or it may be from a desire to live a truly scripture-based life. We may be tempted like Peter and make a big deal out of it, focusing on the fact that we’re different now and ignoring the wider implications of that change.

We are confronted by decisions and choices from our transformation that were inconceivable to the authors of the Bible, yet we try to remain true to God’s eternal word in ancient scripture. If you ask around, you will hear people say that being changed by God-centered life is a good thing. But if you ask them what that will look like, you will get different answers, some of them contradictory because of our different morals. That is the problem we face at the moment in our community and social conversations as we live in and sustain a moral society. We have lost sight of our transformation because we get hung up on what it should look like. We can’t see the forest for the trees.

At this moment in our nation, we are wrestling with questions that touch on morality like should we prioritize the rule of law over compassion? Should we prioritize purity over diversity? Jesus had something to say about those two questions. What are we willing to give up for a sense of security? What do we now decide is moral and what is not, and why? Many voices around us are debating those answers. As we work on our answer to those questions, the answers are important because they reflect how our faith guides us in determining our morality, and our faith has to be more than just words. Our morality needs to make sense as it emerges from our transformation and it needs to direct our actions and thoughts if it is to be real and permanent.

There is no doubt that we have been changed by our faith that comes from our encounters with God in scripture and in prayer, but we are still a work in progress. We need the season of Lent to understand where in our lives and faith we have yet to be transformed, where the gaps are between our faith and our morals. The questions I mentioned are just a part of our self-examination during Lent, and the gaps are just a part of our penitence. We should not be afraid of changing who we are, or feel that we have to defend how we change as we move through Lent. If we listen to and are guided by Jesus, rather than our moral righteousness, we will become who God made us to be. Jesus went up a mountain and was transformed. We will go up the mountain of Lent, to be transformed at Easter and beyond.