A MESSAGE FOR THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD
(a link to a worship service including this message on the YouTube channel is found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBzpPisiT2M)
Prayer of the Day:
Holy God, mighty and immortal, you are beyond our knowing, yet we see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Transform us into the likeness of your Son, who renewed our humanity so that we may share in his divinity, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Luke 9:28-36
28Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. 34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” 36When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
Today is the Festival of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. This is the end of the Epiphany season. Transfiguration is always the end of the Epiphany season, although Epiphany is a season that is sometimes quite short and, as in this year, is actually much longer.
We began Epiphany with the appearance of the Magi in Bethlehem before the baby Jesus. Transfiguration then leads us into Lent which will see us witness the crucified and risen Christ. The infant Jesus with the Magi but then the crucified and resurrected Christ. And in the middle, we have this Festival of the Transfiguration. Why? Why is it that we make this stop on the journey from Bethlehem to the tomb? Well, it is going to be that continuity that I think is going to be testimony to why this festival sits here where it does.
The readings for Transfiguration are handled differently than usual. For the last few weeks, we have been systematically going through Luke and now we have jumped forward a number of chapters. We have gone from a sequential reading of First Corinthians, jumping into Second Corinthians. And the reading from the Old Testament is clearly targeted for this day. We have Moses on the mountain and the description of the shine of his face. When he was in the presence of God, he reflected the glory of God, and that glory was reflected off of his face. Throughout that reading it was the testimony, it was the proof that Moses had been in the presence of God. Certainly, Moses could have come out and said he had been in the presence of God and fabricated that. But the people could see, as he approached, the shine on his face and that proof that whatever he was about to say he had learned in the presence of the almighty. So, this glow, this shine, this transfiguration, this glory was a sign of the presence of God on Moses. It was reflected.
We have in this passage for the Transfiguration of Our Lord something quite different. We are told at the beginning of the passage that Jesus, along with Peter and James and John, went up to the mountain to pray. At least Jesus was going to pray. Peter, James, and John were coming with him. And this group should sound familiar. They were on this mount of Transfiguration. They were also in the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was not in glory but in great agony. And there was something that happened similarly in both cases that we will get to in a moment. It was kind of a curious tie between the two events.
Now Jesus went to pray in the gospel of Luke a lot. Luke highlights Jesus’ life of prayer and it was not uncommon that Jesus would go up a hill, up a mountain, and pray there. We also get again this reflection, as it were, of the Old Testament lesson. Moses went up the mountain to be in the presence of God in the cloud, the same cloud mentioned in the Psalm today. Jesus went up the mountain to pray and with him were Peter, James, and John. Peter will go on to be the captain of the apostles. James will go on to be the first head of the Jerusalem Council. And John will go on to be the only apostle that tradition tells us did not die a martyr's death but, on the island of Patmos in exile, delivered to us the vision that he received in the Book of Revelation.
So, the four of them were on the mountain and we are told that, while Jesus was praying, in the midst of his prayer, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothing became dazzling white. Moses reflected the glory of God. It kind of ricocheted off of his face and by putting on a veil he could hide it. In Jesus there was no reflected glory. This was Jesus own glory, the glory of the pre-existent Word of God. See that is timeline we are building here. We have the pre-existent Son of God whose glory was revealed at the Transfiguration. We have the child in Bethlehem visited by the Magi. And now we have this transfigured Jesus, the earthly Jesus, always, always, fully human, always fully divine, exhibiting his heavenly glory, not reflected but in his nature.
His face, his clothes, became dazzling white. We see his glory, at least Peter, James, and John did and suddenly then there ere two men, Moses and Elijah, and they were talking. They appeared in glory. It seems as if they also reflected the glory that Jesus was generating. And what they were talking about was Jesus’ departure, which was farther down the road. The transfigured Jesus would be the crucified Jesus, the Jesus who laid in the tomb three days prior to being raised from the dead, and ultimately ascended into heaven. This was their conversation and Peter, James, and John were witness to this conversation.
Now how they discerned it was Moses and Elijah, well, we are not told. It could have been the content of the conversation. It could have been identified within that conversation. And why Moses and Elijah? Some, including myself, have tried to define this pretty carefully. I have over the years talked about what the theories are, what it is that other scholars have identified as the reason for Moses’ and Elijah's presence. We have Moses the giver of the law and Elijah of the prophets and we have the law and the prophets, the whole council of Hebrew scripture. Perhaps we have Moses who accompanied the people to the promised land but never entered and did not get any farther than the River Jordan and we have Elijah who was taken up to heaven at the River Jordan. We also have their roles in the messianic prophecies that Elijah would come before the Messiah came and that Moses would testify to this. And we also have the fact that Moses and Elijah were two of the greatest prophets of the Hebrew tradition, the key spokespeople of God. Both of them met God on a mountain. Moses went up the mountain and received the commandments God. Elijah went up on the mountain and was visited by God, not in great tumult but in absolute silence.
But we know they were there, the three of them, talking in glory and we know what they were talking about Jesus’ departure, that next step on the timeline we are on. Now the thing I pointed out earlier that was kind of an interesting connection between the mount of Transfiguration and Gethsemane was this attack of slumber. In the garden, Peter, James, and John were there and they did indeed fall asleep. Jesus woke them up and asked if they could not even stay awake an hour. No, they could not. I do not think that was a judgment on Jesus’ part. I think they would have stayed awake if they could, but it seemed impossible.
Here they managed to stay awake. I think, in the darkness of the garden, after the Passover meal, and the somberness of the event it was harder to fight off slumber. But here in the transfigured glory of Jesus, the presence of Moses and Elijah, there was much more to keep them alert and fight off being weighed down with sleep. And since they did indeed stay awake, they witnessed this conversation between Jesus and Moses and Elijah. They saw their glory. They saw Jesus in glory. They saw it all.
Now at some point, and we are not told what the entire content of the conversation was, we know it was about Jesus’ departure. But what they said, who said what, we are not told. We are told that at some point the conversation ended and Moses and Elijah were leaving him. And we were not told how they arrived. They just seemed to appear. And it seems that they were going to now disappear. Do they fade from view? There seems to have been a process. Just as they were leaving him there was an indication that Peter had.
Any way, they were leaving, the conversation was over, and so Peter said to Jesus: “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And Luke gives us the comment that Peter did not know what he said. Well, again, we have this question, and it is a question I have tried to answer over the years. Why did Peter want to build these tabernacles, these tents, these dwelling places for Jesus and Moses and Elijah? Well, it was an amazing moment. I mean, there was Jesus and Moses and Elijah! It could simply be that Peter wanted them to stay. This was an amazing time. “Let us stay here. Let us stay with you.” Peter also heard the conversation the three of them had and he knew it was about his departure. Again, it was about Jesus dying. And so was there something in Peter here that said “Let us stay here so we do not have to go there, so that does not have to happen. Let us stay and push the pause button and not go further.” Perhaps the two things could indeed go together.
I have in the past also identified the sense of the of the coming of the Day of the Lord as involving the Feast of Tabernacles with Moses and Elijah being present. Peter could have discerned that this was Moses and Elijah and if they were talking about Jesus’ departure, about his fulfilling his mission, then it must be time for tabernacles and so let's build some. Maybe. I think, as with why Moses and Elijah are there, why does Peter want to build these tabernacles we will never know for certain. And I think that is okay. I think what Luke presented us was that this was the scene of glory, the scene of wonder, and that should be our focus - the wonder, the glory that was shining off of Jesus, the wonder of the presence of Moses and Elijah, the wonder of this conversation, and indeed the wonder that it was coming to a close. All of that was part of the event and I take some comfort in the fact that Luke said Peter did not know what he was saying, did not know why. We do not either. I think that is okay.
While Peter was saying this, there appeared a cloud. Now the cloud again was referenced in Psalm 99. Moses went up into a cloud that was hiding the top of the mountain. This cloud was the presence of God. Peter would have known that. Peter, James, and John, as all the other apostles, were raised as observant Jews. They have known their own scriptures and would have known a cloud meant the presence of God.
And so, they were terrified as they entered the cloud as this cloud took over the top of the mountain. They knew they were going into the presence of God, and they knew to be frightened. But there was no reason to fear. Out of the cloud came a voice. Now it was the cloud, so we know whose voice this was, the voice of God. “Then from the cloud came a voice that said “This is my son, my chosen. Listen to him.”
And then it was over. As suddenly as it started, it was done. They all went up to the mountain to pray with Jesus. Jesus went to mountains to pray a lot. They did not go up expecting anything particular. The nine apostles who were left behind did not expect anything other than Jesus was going to pray for a while and then he would come back down with the other three and they would go on to whatever was next. But something did happen, something amazing and wondrous happened. And then it was done.
And the question, of course, is why. Why had this occurred? Had it occurred for Peter, James, and John? Was this Jesus’ way of saying “Here is who I am so as we go forward into what I am about to do in Jerusalem you will know who I am, and you will be able to stay strong.” We know in chapter 9, Luke literally says “Jesus turned his face to Jerusalem” and Jesus would not be stopped. He would not be hindered. He would not be distracted. He was going to Jerusalem, and he knew why he was going to Jerusalem. Moses and Elijah and he had discussed it. Now, if the whole point of the Transfiguration was to get Peter, James, and John ready for what was to come, well, it seems that the event was a failure. Peter, in the garden when Jesus was about to be arrested, did not say, “Oh, the plan is unfolding.” No, he took a sword and cut off a guy's ear trying to protect Jesus, trying to stop it from happening. When they were in the high priest's courtyard as Jesus was being interrogated, Peter was asked if he followed Jesus, he did not say, “Yes, on the mount of Transfiguration I saw Jesus in all his glory and yes, I am here to follow him.” No. He denied even knowing Jesus three separate times. If this was to ensure their faithfulness for what was to come, it did not work. All the apostles scattered
when Jesus was arrested and sentenced to death. So, if it was solely for them, well, it did not work.
Was it for Jesus, fully human and fully divine? Maybe this event was a time to get that fully divine, fully human connection together and refuel, plug in. Maybe at this moment Jesus needed it. Maybe. Would Jesus have forged forward into what was to come without it? Likely. But it did happen. And who was it for? Maybe for Jesus and Peter James and John and not so much the rest of the apostles right away because remember, Peter, James, and John said nothing. They said nothing about what happened. So maybe for Jesus maybe a bit for them after the resurrection and Jesus’ ascension. Maybe then they put it together. Maybe.
However, it was also for us.
I would like to take us back to that timeline. The pre-existent Word of God who was then incarnated in Jesus, this baby that was visited by the Magi, this Jesus who was fully divine and fully human, here to do what he goes on to do. This Jesus. This transfigured Jesus that was always present. The Jesus that traveled with them. The Jesus who calmed the storms, that fed the multitude, which healed the sick. This is that same Jesus. There is not the glorified Jesus and the earthly Jesus. They are Jesus. The Jesus that went to the cross was this Jesus. The Jesus that laid in the tomb was this Jesus. The Jesus who was raised from the dead was this Jesus. And indeed, the Jesus that ascended and sat at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us, to be our High Priest, was this Jesus.
All the same Jesus. We have for almost two years now been worshiping in person here at Trinity. And we have been able to have Holy Communion all of those Sundays. It has been a blessing. And as I stand here at this altar and consecrate the bread and the wine and celebrate the real presence of the body and blood of Christ…it is the same Jesus. As my wife would say: Jesus yesterday. Jesus today. Jesus tomorrow. All the same Jesus. Jesus is this kind of moment of humanity, of divinity, of glory, of love, of compassion. Always, always, always, all that Jesus, all the time.
And so, the Transfiguration stands today for us. This is the Jesus that calls us, that loves us, that redeemed us. This is the Jesus who sent us his empowering Holy Spirit that we might know these things, live these things.
Always the same Jesus. Thanks be to God.
Be safe. Be well. God bless you all.
Pastor Greg
