Transfigured and Transforming

Today’s Gospel recalls one of the most mysterious, yet most detailed, episodes in Jesus’ life. Christ has gone up the mountain - to pray - and He has selected Peter, James and John to go with him. There, as he prays, His face, his robes, everything about Him, begins to glow a shining white. As the three disciples look on, Moses and Elijah appear, and speak to Jesus. Luke even recounts the exact topic of their conversation: Jesus’ upcoming “departure at Jerusalem.” A cloud then overshadows them all, and, for the second time (remember Jesus’ baptism?) God Himself speaks to them: “This IS my Son, my chosen; listen to him!” And then – just as suddenly - the cloud disappears, Moses and Elijah are gone, and there stand Jesus and his disciples alone – and silent – on the mountain.

Surely that was some kind of prayer Jesus was offering, for truly Peter, James and John had witnessed – had participated in – a holy and supernatural event. They were stricken wordless, (which, for Peter in particular, was a miracle in its own rite!) More importantly, the disciples’ hearts and minds – their very beings – were caught up - engulfed - into a real life event – far beyond any human reality. They were living their own “burning bush” moment in the very presence of Almighty God. And they were brought to utter, awed silence.

This was all too much for the disciples to comprehend, so how are we – some 20 centuries later – to do any better? If only we could dismiss Jesus’ Transfiguration as a “cultic hallucination” or “religious delirium.” But there were too many witnesses, and too many similar accounts of this event for us to dismiss it as anything other than a real, if mystical, experience.

Sowhat are we to do with the Transfiguration? Why did Christ alter Himself at this time and place, and why are these particular people included as witnesses and participants?

By way of context, one week before today’s journey to the mountain, Peter had stunningly declared that Jesus was God’s Messiah. We all know that Peter was the least likely of the disciples to have come up with such a thing on his own; only the Holy Spirit could have provided Peter’s words. Now, today, God Himself takes Peter’s words and displays them – writ large – through this truly mysterious encounter.

Of all the possible OT leaders of Israel, only Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus. Both these men had, centuries before, experienced YHWH’s presence at another mountain: Mt. Sinai. They had each heard the voice of God; they had seen, in their earthly physical life, the Glory of YHWH. And they each had received authority – God’s Authority – as representatives of the Law (in Moses’ case) and the Prophets (for Elijah.) They had been (under the Old Covenant) the ambassadors of YHWH’s authoritative, guiding hand. Now, in today’s Gospel, we observe Jesus – not simply as the Ambassador of God’s authority, but as the very glowing Person of God’s Glory. With Jesus’ Transfiguration, the three disciples saw - displayed before them (and now before us) the passing of God’s torch-light, from the Old Covenant to the New. The Law and the Prophets have been superseded - not by another who reflects God’s magnificence, but by the One who IS God’s magnificence. Jesus didn’t simply mirror God’s Glory, He emits God’s Glory. On that mountain top, the disciples saw Divinity for themselves - no longer dimly, in a mirror, but face to face in brilliant wonder. They were present in that moment when the partial was replaced by the complete; the Law and the prophets which had pointed toward the Messiah, were superseded by THE eternal Messiah in glowing flesh.

If Moses and Elijah represent the Old Covenant passing the torch to the One who fulfilled all the Law and the prophets, then what was the role of Peter, James and John? These were, after all, simple, uneducated Jews with little or no formal education or religious training. Yet, the Book of Acts tells us that these three men, in particular, became pillars of the church in Jerusalem after Christ’s resurrection. Some think that this James became the first bishop of the Jerusalem church. Peter became a powerful evangelist, the author of two epistles, and the first pope at Rome. And John, “Jesus’ beloved disciple” wrote the most mystical and theological of all the Gospels, along with three of the Epistles, and the Book of Revelation. Apparently, these three ordinary men, in particular, had received a special equipping to do the work of forming and developing God’s church, with unique authority and power.

So perhaps at least one lesson we might glean from Christ’s Transfiguration is that our God – in that stunning moment – mightily displayed the passing of His torch – from the Old Covenant Law and Prophets to the Living Christ – and through Christ – back out into the continuing march of all human history – in the lives and ministries of those three disciples in particular. From that moment, we see that the ancient history of God’s dealings with humanity changes and moves out - through the person of Christ - into these empowered Apostles - to the church – and down through the centuries to all who believe in Christ today. That means that we – you and I – are the inheriting witnesses to the miracle of Christ’s Transfiguration. Astounding!

Yet, even now, the fact of Christ’s Transfiguration stretches all of us; most everything about this experience is beyond rational explanation. And it is there – when we bump up against the limits of what we deem “rational explanations” that Christ shines his light onto the self-elevating pride that has darkened human souls since we so unceremoniously left Eden. Maybe another of the lessons of Christ’s Transfiguration is that human rationality has its desirable place, but it is not the boundary of reality.

Perhaps all we can say, in the end, is that this inexplicable encounter really happened, to real people, and that only God Himself could have done it.

I may be going where angels fear to tread, but my prayer for us today is that what happened to Peter, James, and John would happen for us – for you and me. Not that I expect a holy cloud to roll in through those doors, but what I do expect – what I do know – is that the Christ who displayed himself so miraculously, so specifically to those disciples – is the same Christ we worship today. God is limitless, and if He decided to appear to us in the middle of this service He absolutely can do that. Christ’s Transfiguration shows us what we can Expect from our God – especially when we pray as Jesus did on that mountain. He is the God of infinite, unfathomable power. If we do not believe that this is the God we worship – we are wasting our time, and we are blind to the torch God wants us to receive and carry in our lives.

This is a deeply challenging, even troubling, thought. What if you or I are limiting God’s Call and empowerment of our lives? What if the God we pray to is too small? What if you or I don’t expect enough – or believe too little? If this makes you feel uncomfortable, you are in good company. The Transfiguration is followed immediately in the gospel by the disciples’ failed attempt to heal a young boy of demon-possession. It seems it took the completed wonder of Easter for even the disciples - who knew Jesus personally - to realize both how limitless God’s power was, and that that power was entrusted to them for His glory.

The point is that God is a God of Wonder and Miracles, and Hope and Provision – always, everywhere, and forever. THAT is a God who flashes with magnificent power, and makes all things possible – even eternal life.
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It is fitting that Christ’s Transfiguration is our Gospel reading on this last Sunday of Epiphany. The season of God’s “fireworks” ends with the ignited Christ, whose light will now lead us, starting this Ash Wednesday, into the darkened wilderness of Lent. It is God’s Grace that we enter Lent’s self-reflection, from the mountaintop display of His exposed Glory. He has given you – passed on to you – His light for your path, and you can anticipate that God will accomplish something wondrous on your journey – and all to His Glory.

Today, Christ shows us that we can Hope extravagantly; we can Trust irrationally; we can live eternally – because we can Believe completely. Our God Lives; Our God Reigns; and Our God wants to shine into even the darkest corners of your shame and fear – and transform even that into His glistening Glory. Receive His shining torch-Light, and go forth rejoicing in the power of our Savior! Our Transfigured Lord will transform your life!

Thanks be to God. AMEN