Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then 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.” 5While 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!” 6When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
9As 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.”
(Following verses omitted in Lectionary)
10And the disciples asked him, ‘Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ 11He replied, ‘Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; 12but 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.’ 13Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.
Transfiguration
+ In nomine Domini. Amen.
The Season of Epiphany begins and ends with a voice from heaven. In Matthew’s Gospel, in Chapter 3, at the Baptism of Jesus “…a voice from heaven speaks, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’” And now in the story of the Transfiguration in Chapter 17, that same sentence is repeated. The two stories are the bookends of the Season of Epiphany, the Baptism of Jesus anticipates his Transfiguration and the Transfiguration of Jesus looks back and remembers his Baptism.
Both stories are symbolic narrative. Both stories are meant to say something about Jesus, what Jesus means. What we have here is symbolic story celebrating that in Jesus heaven and earth come together, or we might say, God and humanity meet. The first takes place in a river, the other on the top of a mountain, but either way, both stories emphasize the connection between God and God’s Creation. God has something to do with humanity, and humanity has a relationship with God.
The Gospel Storyteller Matthew is always pushing another theme, that Jesus is not an aberration, Jesus is not an invention; rather, he is in line with the whole Story of God with God’s Creation, the whole Story that began with the promise to Abraham, found it’s centre in the Exodus, came to fruition in the Promised Land, was bound up in the words of the Prophets, survived captivity in Babylon, found new meaning in the Return to Jerusalem, and now “in these last days” (as we often pray in our Eucharistic Prayer) come closest to us in this Jesus of Nazareth.
When we look at the Transfiguration itself, we understand this theme. Jesus goes up on the mountain with Peter, James and John (the leaders of his followers), and while he is there his appearance becomes changed, his “figure” is “transformed”, he shines like the whitest white, the most dazzling dazzling. Then, alongside him appear Moses and Elijah – Moses the Giver of Law, and Elijah, the forerunner of the Promised One. The voice speaks. The disciples are overcome with fear and dread. Jesus assures them, he comes over to them and touches them, “Don’t be afraid.” They walk down the mountain side.
Now the best part of this story is, unfortunately, left out of the appointed reading. It’s the best part, which if you had a Bible in front of you this morning, you would see this … in verse 9 where our Lectionary cuts off the reading, comes Matthews explanation of the significance of the Transfiguration in his story of Jesus, remembering that Matthew always pushes the theme that Jesus is not an aberration in the God Story, but is completely in line with the Story.
10And the disciples asked him, ‘Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ 11He replied, ‘Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; 12but 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.’ 13Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.
Do you remember the sermon some weeks ago when I described the “Cave of John the Baptist” rather recently excavated in a Kibbutz outside Jerusalem? How archeologists have discovered some petroglyphs on the wall of the cave (actually historically first a cistern and then a ritual bath) drawn there most likely by the followers of John …? The figure of a man with wild hair wearing animal skins carrying a staff with other hand upraised?
You see for someone hearing this story of the Transfiguration, it all made perfect sense … “Of course this is the Anointed One! We know that before the Messiah can return, Elijah must first come back. And he did … John the Baptist … so this is indeed the Messiah!” … that’s the point Matthew is explaining in those ‘left-out’ verses.
For Matthew Jesus’ Transfiguration is a vision – a prophetic vision for all humanity, a vision that will give birth to even more visions. It’s a vision of glory and splendour and awe – Peter grabs onto this with his, “If you want me to, I can build three shelters here on the mountain so we can stay ‘in the moment’” … but it’s also a prophetic vision, a vision of the power that will call all of God’s people, young and old, women and men, as God’s prophets, as God’s spokespeople speaking into the world a message that is found on the lips of Jesus and discovered in the works of Jesus, that there is a new way, a different path, a life that heals and does not kill, a following that brings peace and understanding, not war and distrust, a gathering of people into community not dispersed into guarded tribes suspicious of another’s looks or speech or dress or belief or … and this seems most appropriate right now, in this time, in this place … not suspicious or jealous of the human rights that all people share by their humanity, that humanity itself a gift from God.
Ultimately, and yet not with the sense of finality, Transfiguration must take shape in humanity, it must appear in human beings, that’s what Matthew is saying. We, you and I, must be transfigured. Not that we are to shine like Jesus, but that we are to be transformed in our thinking about Jesus and his mission our mission to the world.[1]
Currently it might mean that our mission is one that insists that Christians stop using Jesus like a club with which to beat up other Christians and especially non-Christians … to insist that this is not the vision of Transfiguration. It might mean that our prophetic vision takes shape in bringing to the attention of the leaders of government in the world that using persons with mental illness and mental disabilities as human bombs is not the vision of Transfiguration. In fact anything which takes us away from loving our neighbor as ourselves, anything that stands in the way of that, prevents that, obscures that … is not the vision of Transfiguration.
But … when we are transfigured and transformed and reshaped and remolded around Jesus … then we do make the prophetic vision come alive and live, we are faithful, and we change the world.
[1] Thank you Pastor Brian Stoffregen at CrossMarks Christian Resources for this insight.
Deo Gratia
The Rev. Benjamin Larzelere III