Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Picture yourself as a member of a small group here at St. Paul’s. Your leader has chosen you, and a few others out of that group, to accompany him on a spiritual retreat and hike.
You climb with him up the mountain for a hike. You’re excited for what your leader is getting ready to teach you. Maybe more excited that you have been one of the few singled out for special learning.
And your excitement grows as you make it to the top. Maybe you’re a little tired from the hike too. You set your water, maybe your pack, down. You get out your notebook, ready to write down what your leader says. Ready to collect his wisdom.
And when you look up, there’s something different about him. Suddenly he has become very bright, bright as the sun even. You have to block your eyes he’s so bright. But you catch a glimpse of something else before the light completely blinds you to everything else. There, right next to him, are two of the greatest people in your faith. One of your greatest prophets and one of the greatest law givers.
And you are freaked out. This is completely unexpected. Not just because you had no warning, but just in general. When does this sort of thing ever happen? When has this sort of thing ever happened to you?
This is what it would’ve felt like to experience the Transfiguration. It was a completely unexpected event, as we see in the disciples’ reaction to it. And it is an event that even after over 2000 years, we still don’t completely understand what is going on.
Here is what we do know about the event. The place where the Transfiguration occurred was a place where the veil between our world and Heaven above is almost see through. It was a place where you can hear God a little more clearly. It is what we often refer to as a thin place.
And a thin place it truly was. Because it was at this time and place that we see a great deal of the truth of Christ Jesus revealed in visible glory.
And the first truth revealed is the glory of Jesus as the Christ. Not only does He shine like the sun, but He is clothed in white. And not just white, but dazzling white. The purest of purest clothing possible. Just as He is the purest of purest persons in this world.
And in shining, we see Jesus in all the glory of His divinity. Part of this world, and yet also beyond anything we could possibly comprehend.
But the other truth of this event is something we can comprehend. We see both Moses and Elijah with Jesus, talking to Him. On one side, the bringer of the law from Mt. Sinai. On the other, one of the greatest prophets. So great that, like Moses and now Jesus, he had his own revelation on a mountain. So great that he was taken up in a fiery chariot to be with God. So great, that it was said his return would mark the coming of Messiah to God’s Chosen People.
As we have been learning these past weeks, Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. He has come to fulfill all that the Law and the Prophets teach us. He is what everything has been pointing to. He is the culmination of it all.
And that is the truth we see in the Transfiguration. The True glory of Christ Jesus as God and Man and as the culmination of all that God has shared with mankind from the beginning.
And because the disciples, just like us, often have a hard time understanding, God makes it very clear by saying “This is my Son, the beloved; with Him I am well pleased.”
And then God tells us, “Listen to Him.”
Because this Transfiguration is not only for the disciples. It is there for us as well.
That is why it is so important to try and live into this Scripture. Because by putting ourselves in the disciples’ place, we witness with them the physical glory of Jesus Christ. Through them, we can witness Jesus in His fullest glory. We can know He is the completion of all of God’s work among us. We know He is the completion of God’s work in the world to reconcile us to Him.
And in knowing that Jesus is here to bring all into completion, to bring us back to God, why would we not listen? Because not only does what He have to say of importance, it is also the way to life and Truth for us all.