The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13 So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14 To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”
15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18 Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. – Exodus 24:12-18
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Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8 And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
[9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” 10 And the disciples asked him, “Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 11 He replied, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; 12 but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.] – Matthew 17:1-8, [9-13]
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We are heading into Lent this week – already! It seems like we just put the Christmas stuff away.
But before we head full steam into Lent and Easter we have one more special day to observe: Transfiguration, which is today.
So far this year we have been in the season of Epiphany, that time in the church year when the Messiah is ‘revealed’ to the world and to us. In the season of Epiphany we get to know Jesus: first as a child, and then as a young man at his baptism; we see his first miracles; we hear his first teachings. We’ve seen how the crowds have taken to Jesus and follow him everywhere. Meanwhile Jesus is teaching his disciples so that they will be able to share what they’ve learned with others.
Now, as our calendar turns to Lent, in Jesus’ life there’s a darkness looming on the horizon. The disciples are still living in the spirit of Epiphany: Jesus is still being revealed to them, and they are still learning; but Jesus’ message has taken a darker turn. The focus now turns to sin and evil in the world, and how God is going to deal with it. Jesus has just told his disciples that he is going to die and then rise again. But the disciples seem to have missed the ‘rise again’ part, and they are troubled and confused about what Jesus means when he says he’s going to die. After all, how can the Messiah die? But they’re afraid to ask, especially after Jesus chews Peter out for saying “no way Lord!”
It’s exactly at this point in time – this juncture of events – that the mysterious event called Transfiguration takes place.
Before we dig into the reading from Matthew, I’d like to share some background from our other scripture reading. The events of the Transfiguration parallel another mountain top event, which we read about in Exodus.
The Exodus story took place about 1500 years before Jesus was born. I’d like to look at these two mountaintop events side by side so we can see the similarities and differences:
- In both cases God chooses specific people and invites them to the top of a mountain:
- In Exodus, God invites Moses and Joshua – Joshua, who will become Moses’ successor at the end of Deuteronomy.
- In Matthew, Jesus invites Peter, James, and John – all three of whom will be leaders in the early Christian church
- On both mountains God is represented visually by the presence of a cloud at the top of the mountain.
- In both cases, when a human being goes inside the cloud, that person is transformed; they glow or shine.
- In Exodus, Moses had to wear a veil over his face from that time onward to keep from frightening the Israelites.
- In Matthew, the glow comes onto Jesus, Moses, and Elijah – but only for the time they were on top of the mountain.
- Side note: in New Testament times, Christians believed that the righteous would receive new, glorified bodies in heaven; so this transformation of Moses and of Jesus is considered a foretaste of heaven.
- On both mountains, God has a message to give to the people.
- In Exodus, the message is the Ten Commandments along with the rest of the Jewish Law.
- In Matthew, the message is a confirmation that Jesus is God’s beloved son, the Messiah, and the disciples need to listen to him.
- On both mountains, God’s message includes law and prophecy, commandments and teaching.
- On both mountains “heaven and earth are overlapping on the mountaintop”. The Hebrew word for what’s happening in the cloud is mishkan, which can also be translated “the Lord’s dwelling place”.
In addition to all this, in Matthew, the disciples are met by Moses and Elijah, representing the law and the prophets. They are there to talk to Jesus “about his departure” – that is, about Jesus’ death – which will happen just a few days later in Jerusalem.
Jesus was in a unique position: he was God in the flesh, and at the same time completely human, so he had to learn (the way we all learn) by reading and by talking to people and by praying. Jesus was not born knowing everything. So at this point in his life, he has direction about the next steps of his mission from scripture and from prayer; but with the cross in sight, certainty becomes crucial. And the people who know the Law and the Prophets best would be Moses and Elijah. It must have been quite a comfort to Jesus to talk to these two men who knew God and walked with God, and to hear them confirm that he was indeed on the right path.
That path would lead Jesus down the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Sorrow, to torture and to death on the cross. So today, as we come to the mountain of Transfiguration, we turn away from the joy of Christmas and the light of Epiphany into the darkness of Lent.
But we’re not in total darkness yet. Today, on this day, we see a brilliant light – a light so bright that it is actually a foretaste of what is to come after Calvary. The way we see Jesus at the Transfiguration, in this overwhelming light, is a dazzling glimpse of the new world to come.
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So what exactly happened on this mountain top? Jesus starts the day by inviting three disciples to come with him – the three men who, after his resurrection and ascension, would become the leaders of the first Christian churches. These three men needed to know beyond any doubt what Jesus is called to do and what his mission is.
The four of them walk up the mountain to the very top, which was not an easy hike; and suddenly Jesus’ appearance is changed: his face shines like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white – “bright as a flash of lightning” is how Luke describes it in his gospel. And then they were joined by Moses and Elijah, who are also shining brightly, and they are having a conversation with Jesus about Jesus’ departure.
Then just as the conversation was winding down, Peter offers to build shelters (or dwellings or booths, depending on your translation) for Jesus and his guests. But while Peter is still speaking, a cloud covers the top of the mountain and God’s voice is heard saying “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” Hearing this, the disciples fall facedown on the ground in fear; but Jesus touches them and says “get up; don’t be afraid” – and they get up and look around, and everything looks normal. Just like that. Jesus is back to his everyday self.
That’s where our reading ends today, but there is a little bit more to the story in Matthew. On the way down the mountain, Jesus tells his disciples not to tell anyone what they’ve just seen until after his resurrection. Hearing this, the disciples ask him, “Why do the scribes say Elijah must come first?”
To our ears this sounds like an odd question – but the disciples are referring to ancient prophecies of the coming of the Messiah, and the prophecies of the coming of God’s Kingdom. From their point of view in time, the disciples can’t see what we see today, namely that God’s Kingdom arrives over a period of time and not all at once. From their point of view, when Jesus rises from the dead, history should stop right there and the reckoning should begin. But God chose to let history continue, until all of us (including you and me) were present and accounted for. So we now live in a world where Jesus’ Kingdom is both now and not yet. Jesus is king but has not yet been crowned. It’s kind of like King Charles over in England in that sense – he is legally king but his coronation hasn’t happened yet.
At any rate, Jesus answers their question by saying: “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that Jesus was speaking to them about John the Baptist.” (Matt 17:11-13)
So John the Baptist came before Jesus; and when Jesus returns again, someone like Elijah, someone like John the Baptist, will come before him. This is something we can be watching for.
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So what does the Transfiguration mean for us today?
- We can be confident that Jesus is the Messiah. The apostle Peter, in his second letter to the churches, says:
“…we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father… saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.” (II Peter 1:16-18)
What Peter and the other disciples saw was just a glimpse of the glory to come at the end of time. Peter says that this “was not a mystical experience but a flesh and blood reality in the presence of witnesses” – in other words, there were enough eyewitnesses to the Transfiguration and to Jesus’ glory that it would stand up legally in court.
We can be confident that what we read here is true and is guaranteed by witnesses.
- Focus on Jesus. That day on the mountain Peter raised a lot of eyebrows for his suggestion about building booths for Jesus and his guests. Many writers and theologians have poked fun at Peter for this, or criticized him, and I think this criticism is unfair. There are many good reasons why Peter might have suggested building booths. For starters this heavenly vision would have reminded any Jewish person of the “feast of Tabernacles” which was a holiday that looked forward to life in heaven. It might also have been a way to honor Jesus’ guests – and in that culture it would have been rude not to offer hospitality.
God does not scold Peter for his words. God basically just shifts the focus: God says, “this is my beloved son, listen to him” which puts the focus back on Jesus. So that’s #2 – focus on Jesus.
3. We can carry the glory of the Transfiguration into the season of Lent. The Transfiguration holds a promise for the future for all of us – the glory of the Kingdom of God to come. Carry this light into the darkness.
4. Find hope in our Lord Jesus and in his glory. We can find hope in the knowledge that God and Jesus do not avoid suffering or sorrow, and they are not ashamed of it as they enter into our world and our lives. In our sorrows and in our struggles, from day to day, God and Jesus are on our side. We can find hope in this
5. Remember that this is the beginning of the victory over sin and death. Jesus’ death was horrific, but it’s the beginning of the final victory. As Paul sings in I Corinthians: “Oh death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? For death is swallowed up in victory…”
6. Finally, and always, God says: “Listen to him”. Listen to Jesus.
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- God is faithful
- God is working out his plans through us
- God’s kingdom is surely coming – so we keep our ears open.
Let’s pray together: “Lord, During this upcoming Lent, grant that we, seeing by faith the light of Jesus’ face, may be strengthened to bear our own cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory… Amen.” – Fleming Rutledge
Preached at Carnegie UMC and Hill Top UMC, 2/19/23
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