The Rev. Kathi Johnson
Transfiguration, Year A – March 2, 2014
Text: Matthew 17:1-9
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
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Grace and peace be with you, from
God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today is the final Sunday after the
Epiphany of Our Lord – Epiphany being the season in which we see Jesus revealed
again and again as the Son of God. Today is what we call the Transfiguration of
Our Lord – so called because of our Gospel story today in which Jesus is
transfigured – changed – up on the mountaintop with some of his disciples.
The Transfiguration falls in the
midst of Jesus’ ministry. With his disciples, he keeps talking about what will
happen to him – that he will suffer and die and be raised. A few days before
the Transfiguration is when Jesus shuts Peter down – “Get behind me, Satan!”
And so, by this point, the disciples are in the throes of their relationship
with Jesus, and they’re starting to hear more and more that following this
Teacher, Jesus, is going to have some challenges for them, for Jesus keeps
talking about taking up crosses and following him.
And then it comes – for Peter,
James, and John – they are led to the high mountain to see Jesus in a whole new
light – a transfigured light – a light that shows them the very glory of God,
there, on a mountaintop. And as if that glorious vision isn’t enough, then
appear Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets – and they are
there, alongside Jesus, setting Jesus into very special company.
Peter wants to capture the glory.
He wants to capture it and dwell in it, and he offers to build some shelter up
there on the mountaintop for them. But God doesn’t even let Peter finish
talking before interrupting him: “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well
pleased; listen to him!” And the disciples – overwhelmed by it all – the glory
of Jesus, the appearance of Moses and Elijah, and now this voice from on high –
they cower in fear.
And then, it is all over – and
there is Jesus, reaching out to them, reassuring them of his presence and
telling them not to be afraid.
For Peter, James and John, this
vision of God’s glory is not just for that mountaintop experience. This vision
of God’s glory is also meant to sustain them for the work that is yet to be
done after they leave the mountain, as well as for the difficult time that is
ahead.
For they do leave the mountain, and
they pick up their travels again, following Jesus throughout Galilee and Judea,
and eventually to Jerusalem – eventually to his final week, his last supper,
his betrayal, his trial, his crucifixion, his resurrection. Maybe the
mountaintop vision of God’s glory fades somewhere along the way for them. But
what doesn’t fade is the fact that they are captured by God – they are
enveloped by God in all of this.
Thank God that the love of God
doesn’t depend on us being able to see it or touch it or grasp it in some way.
The love of God just is.
There are “mountaintop” moments in
which we can see and feel God without any kind of doubt. These are the times
when we are reassured through revelations of God’s beauty, God’s power, God’s
glory.
There are many more moments in
which we must simply rely upon the promise of God to be with us always, “to the
end of the age.”[1]
These are the times when we get out of bed in the morning to drink the same old
coffee, drive the same old drive, see the same old people, and say the same old
things. Maybe the love of God doesn’t reveal itself to you when you’re doing
laundry or mowing the lawn or filing paperwork. That’s OK – because the love of
God is still there.
It can be so tempting to look for
Jesus always in the bright and shiny mountaintop moments. And yet, in this
scene, God doesn’t say, “Behold my Son, focus on his glory and that alone.
Remember him only as bright and shiny Jesus.” God says, instead…”Listen to
him.”
Listen to him.
Listening to Jesus means paying
attention at the times when it may not be readily apparent that Jesus is even
there or that God is even active. Remember last week, when I said that any old
yahoo can love their friends – but Jesus calls us to do the hard thing of
loving our enemies? Well, any old yahoo can notice Jesus when he’s standing
there, in gloriously bright and shiny robes. But we are called to follow the
Lord down from the mountain, follow him in the regular days and weeks of our lives.
During this week, we begin Lent for
another year: forty days – plus Sundays – which the Church sets aside as a
special time for focusing on self-examination and repentance. At the end of today’s service, we will hide
away our glorious “Alleluias,” not pulling them out again until Easter.
For Lent, some people will give up
chocolate or caffeine – others will take on some kind of spiritual discipline.
We’ll have opportunities for fellowship and worship here, certainly, to help
you observe holy times for Lent.
Whatever it is that you do for
Lent, I encourage you to keep hold of the words of God coming out of the cloud
to the disciples during the Transfiguration: “This is my beloved Son…listen to
him!” Take the time, and pay attention to the moments when the glory of God is
hidden. Jesus is still there – in those moments – in those days and weeks –
Jesus is still there. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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