Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday – March 3, 2019
Year C RCL
Jesus took
with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And
while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes
became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to
him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was
about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now 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. Just 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.
While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were
terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that
said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" When 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.
Today is the
last Sunday before we start the season of Lent.
`Wednesday is Ash Wednesday when we enter into a time of preparation for
the feast of Easter. It is a time we are
called to listen to God in our lives and to prepare our hearts to go with Jesus
to Calvary on Good Friday and to witness with the women the empty tomb on
Easter. The last Sunday before Easter we
always read the story of the Transfiguration.
A story that the commentators always talk about being difficult to
understand and difficult to preach. I
actually love the transfiguration. In
part that is due to it being the central theme to one of my practical theology
classes in seminary.
Up to this
point in our Gospel narrative of Luke Jesus has been traveling through the
country and healing the sick and casting out demons. Except in Nazareth where the crowds almost
throw Jesus off the cliff! Jesus has
sent the disciples out to also proclaim the good news and to heal the sick in
the communities that Jesus would be passing through. During his travels – and just before this
part of the narrative Jesus asks the disciples who do people say he is, and
they reply one of the prophets, perhaps John the Baptist come back to life – which
would be strange since John was beheaded after Jesus started his ministry! Then Jesus asks the disciples who do they say
he is! At which point Peter proclaims
that Jesus is “God’s Messiah!” Peter
gets it… for now…
So now we
have Jesus with Peter, James, and John up on mount Tabor - what we now call the
Mount of the Transfiguration. Jesus is
withdrawing with his inner circle to pray – which we see Jesus doing regularly
after a lot of healing ministry – Jesus is practicing what we would call today
good “self-care”. And something
remarkable happens.
Jesus is transfigured – a strange word transfigured – Jesus is
changed. Suddenly he is glowing as he
encounters the holy. Just like Moses
glowed after encountering God on the mountain as Moses received the Law so
Jesus glows. It is the same dazzling
light emanating from Jesus that the women will encounter when they see the
risen Christ on Easter Day. And the
disciples – although we are told they are weighed down with sleep – are awake
and witness this amazing change. They
witness the glory of God shining forth through Jesus. And they witness Moses and Elijah talking
with Jesus about the next phase of his ministry. A ministry that will set Jesus’ face toward
Jerusalem where he will confront the rulers one too many times and finally be
put to death. The word Luke uses for
departure is the same in the Greek for Exodus.
Moses and Elijah – two prophets that led people through an exodus away
from pain and suffering into relationship with God talk about Jesus’ upcoming
exodus. An exodus where Jesus will show
us the way from pain and suffering to a love that is indescribable.
Jesus exodus
is not just about a journey of forgiveness.
David Lose, a preacher nary that I follow said “Yet it’s easy to forget
that the cross is not simply, or perhaps even primarily, about making
forgiveness possible (Jesus has already been doing a lot of forgiving up to
this point), much less paying God off for our sin, but rather is about freedom,
release from captivity, and establishing an open future.”[1]
Jesus is
taking us on an exodus to turn our world right side up. An exodus that challenges us to act at all
times out of a place of love. An exodus
that leads us to operate out of an instinct that recognizes that our call is to
provide healing to the sick, and to feed the hungry, as a primary
motivation. Jesus is leading us during
lent on an Exodus away from the greed of the world to a place where all of God’s
beloved creation is seen as good. A
journey that seems impossible to take at times – especially when we see the
huge polarization that is happening in our society. How are we to love those that refuse to love
the immigrant, those who refuse to feed and clothe the naked?
It is not
easy, but Jesus is calling us to love all of God’s beloved creation. Even to the point that we love our enemy and those
we feel are doing wrong. And we love
them by modeling and showing that there is a better way. A way that God calls us to model just as
Jesus showed us a way of Love. A love
that will lead to the cross. A love that
will stretch out God’s arms of love and call God’s beloved children to God’s
embrace – even
on the cross. And that is not easy, but
God is there to help us and to remind us that we are God’s children and we are
called to continue to bring about God’s dream of love to our communities and to
the world.
[pause]
One of the
parts of the transfiguration story that I love is the disciple’s reaction to
seeing the Devine shine through Jesus and witnessing Moses and Elijah. Peter wants to build three dwelling on the
mountain so that they can preserve this moment.
Peter who just before this confessed Jesus as the Messiah – the one who
is to bring about the work of God’s salvation – now wants to create a shrine to
God. Peter wants to freeze this amazing
moment. I can imagine Peter creating
this place for Jesus, Moses and Elijah and putting up road side signs to come
and see the spectacular transformation.
A little like driving up the coast of California and seeing the signs to
see the mighty wonders in the redwoods.
And I always chuckle that now on the mount of the transfiguration, where
tradition tells us that this event took place, there is a church building. And in the church building there is a large
Jesus chapel and two side chapels – one for Moses and one for Elijah. The current church only daters from the 1920’s
but it is built on the site of churches that go back to around the 4th
century. So it only took 400 years or so
for Peter to get his dwellings on the mountain!
When we
encounter the Holy we too want to preserve the moment. We want to capture it so that we can find in
again when our lives are difficult. I
have experienced some amazing breakthrough s of God’s love. I have experienced them in some unlikely
places with some unlikely people. I
experienced God’s love breakthrough when I was a hospice chaplain and had
people who had for most purposes lost their voices to Alzheimer’s or dementia
suddenly speak coherently just before they passed away. I have experienced the joy of God’s love when
a homeless member of this congregation brought me a sandwich when I was
studying for finals in the clergy office while I was in seminary. And I certainly experienced it when I was
ordained here in this space. All moments
that I would love to encase in amber so that I can return to them over and over
again.
The last
thing that happens during the transfiguration is that the heavens open and the
voice of God is heard. It should sound
familiar this time as it echoes the voice we heard at the time of Jesus baptism
in the River Jordan by John. This time
God says to us "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" God’s voice was not for the benefit of
Jesus. It was for Peter, James, John… and
us. Because like Peter we sometimes
listen to God, we sometimes get why Jesus walked among us in human form and
sometimes we don’t.
Just like
Peter who at one moment declares that Jesus is “God’s Messiah” and in almost
the next breath cannot believe that Jesus will go to Jerusalem and will be
crucified. Like Peter we cannot
understand how Jesus willingly set his face to Jerusalem. We cannot understand how the love that was
born in human flesh on Christmas Day would be hung on a cross and seemingly
die. We cannot see those outstretched
arms on the cross for what they are – the arms of love outstretched and
desiring nothing more than to draw us into the love that would not die. Calling us to turn around. Metanoia – to repent – to turn around. Calling us to work to change our world into
one that operated from an economy of love instead of from an economy of greed.
This lent we
are called to listen to Jesus. We are
called to set some time aside so that we will be able to hear God calling us
into love.
One way is to
join a Lenten study group. Loreen
Kleinschmidt and Anne Slakey will be leading a Lenten Study Group that will meet on Saturday March
9, 10-noon in the church. Next Saturday’s
topic will be Sacramental Rites. The book they have been using is Walk
in Love: Episcopal Beliefs and Practices by Scott Gunn and Melody
Wilson Shobe, which is available at the Cathedral bookstore or online.
This is the
second half of our 2 part study. If you weren’t part of the first half but
would like to participate, now is the time to join.
On this
transfiguration Sunday and during lent I invite you to find ways to listen to
Jesus. Find some time to listen to his
call to love. To listen to Jesus’ call
to us to be partners in bringing about a love that is indescribable. A love
that refuses to die – even on the cross.
Amen.
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