February 27, 2022 Sermon
Sermon title: "The Transfiguration"
Scripture: Luke 9:28-36
(Other lectionary suggestions include Exodus 34:29-35, Psalm 99, and II Corinthians 3:12 - 4:2.)
Luke 9:28-36
The Transfiguration
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.
The Scripture reading we heard today is called the Transfiguration, and that is also this sermon's title. I hope you noticed that the ecclesiastical color for today is white, in honor of the Transfiguration. There are some scholars who have suggested that what we heard today happened AFTER the Resurrection, not before it. It probably doesn't matter when it happened, but the reason it happened is to show Jesus' special relationship, not only to God, but also to Moses and Elijah.
You may have heard me say this before, but Moses represents the Law, as given at Mount Sinai - and Elijah represents all the prophets. And the idea in the reading that we heard today is that Jesus may represent the coming together of the Law and the Prophets. Also, you may remember that elsewhere in the Gospels, Matthew, I think, Jesus was asked which was the Greatest Commandment, and you probably remember his answer: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength, and the second greatest is like unto it: Love your neighbor as yourself. And then Jesus said, "On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." And what did we hear in Luke's Gospel today? Jesus meeting with the two representatives of all the Law and the Prophets.
It is interesting that in today's reading we are told that Peter wants to make a little booth for Jesus and one for Moses and one for Elijah. Why? Why does he want to do that? It could be that Peter is so overwhelmed that he wants to stay in that wonderful spiritual state forever. Have you ever been that way, wanting to stay in some wonderful moment? Boy, I have! And it doesn't have to be a spiritual moment. It could be a wonderful day at the beach, at Disneyland, on the ski slopes. Or a wonderful moment right here in church. Whatever the moment, WE SIMPLY DON'T WANT IT TO END! But that is not how God created the universe. Everything changes, everything moves on. We didn't read it today, but right after today's Scripture lesson, Jesus and the three disciples he had brought with him go down the mountain, and they are confronted with reality in the form of an epileptic child. His father begs for help as the child foams at the mouth. Wow! From the mountaintop right back down to dirty, nasty reality. That's life! That's God's creation. We may want to stop time. We may want to build little houses for Jesus and Moses and Elijah....but we can't. We must move on. We must do the Lord's work. As I was writing this, I thought of one of our hymns, either "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah" or "God of Grace and God of Glory". The tunes, the melodies are the same. In one of them is the phrase, "Songs of praises, songs of praises, I will ever give to Thee (Give to Thee!), I will ever give to Thee." What if that is NOT WHAT GOD WANTS? Maybe God wants a FEW songs and praises.....but if all you do is sing praises to God, you'll never get to the work that God wants done! And you know that work: feed the hungry, heal the sick, raise the dead, speak a kind word to someone who needs it, give something to a dirty, homeless person, maybe get a little dirty yourself Maybe forgive someone you've had a hard time forgiving, maybe listen to some lonely soul who is SO boring! Jesus and God call us to do hard things sometimes, and they aren't fun! But that's what being a Disciple is like, that's what carrying a Cross in our day and age looks like. We want to stay in that magical moment, but we can't because God won't let us.
There is a Lutheran minister in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, by the name of Tim Page. His take on Peter wanting to stay on the mountain top sounds like this: "Peter wanted to stay where he was comfortable and everything was good. In him, we see a truth about all of us in that we want God to cater to us: our goals, our ideals, our beliefs. Let's be honest: at the depths of our souls, we want the best for us: our families, our lifestyle, our bank account, our political party, our school. To a degree, adults are not any different from children." The Rev. Mr.Page goes on to say that he sees the Apostle Peter as saying this: "Jesus, let's just stay here. Why go back down into the mix of a hurting world? Do we have to?"
But Jesus chooses "to return to a broken world", and by doing that, "he was showing his three closest disciples what it is he came to do. Not to stay where everything is comfortable and good, but to show up in the lives of others to serve and share God's love." This minister, Tim Page, does give Peter credit, because he did follow Jesus down the mountain. "Regardless of his weaknesses, his past, and even his insecurity, he still never left Jesus' side. In that relationship, his faith grew when he put his needs aside in order that others would be blessed. He showed up to the point that the Christian church, the reason we are here to worship today, is because of Peter's leadership in sharing the gospel message in the world." As I mentioned, the Rev. Tim Page is a Lutheran minister, and not a Catholic priest. It's quite remarkable that this Lutheran says such good things about Peter, who is regarded by many as the first pope!
I said a moment ago that Jesus and the disciples came down from the mountain top and got back to reality. One scholar says that Luke is trying to say that Jesus was coming down into the Valley of the Shadow of Death. He had just been with God, Elijah, and Moses, wondering if he had chosen the right path of suffering and dying. What do you think the word "departure" means? When Jesus "departed" Jerusalem, he DIED. THAT is what "departure" means. The word also means "exodus", and what Luke is trying to say here is that just as Moses and the Israelites "departed" Egypt from the house of bondage, Jesus' "departure" was to be an "exodus" from sin and death. Pretty heavy stuff, right?! Remember that in the 19th century the Gospel writers were called "the Four Evangelists". They want you to believe as they do, and so there is a lot of theology in their work, not simply storytelling. Moses went up the mountain to see God.....and so did Jesus. See? Luke is saying. Moses had a special relationship with God, and so did Jesus. Moses led his people out of the house of bondage, and now Jesus was, too, although the bondage Jesus is concerned with is sin and death. Something else: the voice of God speaks, and says, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" Remember when Jesus earlier tells the disciples that he must suffer and die, and Peter says to him, "No, that's not going to happen to you"? That's when Jesus says, "Get thee behind me, Satan!" In today's Scripture lesson, when God says, "Listen to him!", that may be another rebuke of those who say Jesus doesn't have to suffer and die. "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" The whole passage is about Jesus seeking God to be sure he has chosen the right path, and talking about his "departure" - i. e., DEATH! - at Jerusalem. It's as if God is telling the rest of the disciples, at least the ones who were there, that Jesus knows what he is doing, and he is doing the right thing. Listen to him!
Want more symbolism? Jesus went up this mountain, this HILL, really. When he comes back down into the valleys of despair and sickness and death, he will bear the brunt of human cruelty on a Cross. And where? On another hill, just outside Jerusalem, from which his "departure" will take place.
Obviously, the disciples were confused, but hopefully they would remember THIS moment, when Jesus was transfigured. And the British scholar N. T. Wright says that we might experience confusion, too. He says this: "We, too, often find it completely bewildering to know how to understand all that God is doing and saying, both in our times of great joy and our times of great sadness. But the word that comes to us, leading us on to follow Jesus even when we haven't a clue what's going on, is the word that came from the cloud on that strange day in Galilee: 'This is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him.'" Amen.
Pastor Skip
