Transfiguration of Our Lord
Matthew 17:1-9
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John, and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 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.” 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!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome with fear. But, Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. 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.”
Change
Can you imagine what it must have been like to be Peter, or James, or John on that mountaintop with Jesus during the transfiguration? This person who you had been following and learning from, your teacher and your leader. You would have seen him perform miracles, healings and raising people from the dead. It would have been so obvious to anyone that he was special, sent by God. But, this was something different. One minute, he just looks like an ordinary man, wearing ordinary clothes, the same person that you’ve known all these years, and the next, there’s light coming out of him, he’s glowing like the sun! And, the heroes from your sacred stories, the stories of your ancestors, are there talking to him, Moses and Elijah! I mean, this would be the most incredible thing you had ever seen, would ever see!
And, bless Peter’s heart, he just really gets so excited about things, you know? He’s so impulsive! This is the man who will jump into the lake to swim to Jesus when he sees him walking along the shore. This is the man who would draw his sword and cut off a servant’s ear in order to protect Jesus from the priests. This is the man who would walk on water, at least for a step or two, before beginning to sink and calling out to Jesus for help. Peter’s knee-jerk reaction in this moment is, “This is so cool, I want this experience to last forever! Let’s build three homes: one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, and we can just stay on this mountaintop, forever.” And apparently, God did not have time for this, because God actually cuts Peter off, saying about Jesus, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”
These words were so important for Jesus to hear at that moment, coming just six days after the first prediction of his death and resurrection, in Matthew chapter 16, verse 21, “he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” The transfiguration reaffirms Jesus’ sense of who he is and what he’s doing. This is his identity and mission. And, despite Peter’s initial enthusiasm to preserve this moment, the glory of Jesus’ transfiguration was not supposed to stay on the mountaintop. Jesus came down from the mountain to share that glory with the world, the glory that would be embodied in his crucifixion and resurrection.
This text comes to us as we move out of Epiphany and into Lent, a time of transition, which is likely the reason why this text was chosen for this time of year. This visual transformation of Jesus from his appearance as an ordinary man into divine glory embodies the transition of the seasons. God is all about transition and transformation, metamorphosis and change, and the transfiguration foreshadows the coming resurrection. The transfiguration displays God’s mastery over creation, over life and death. It’s a miracle that forces us to take a step back and ask, “What is God going to do, now? What’s coming next?”
As we move into Lent, into the time of waiting, because we know that the crucifixion is coming, we have to remind ourselves that the story doesn’t end there. After the crucifixion, comes the resurrection. This is the power of God, this is what’s coming next, the life-altering metamorphosis in the midst of death. And, as we might mourn the passing of those who are dear to us, this is God’s promise, that God can make life out of death, and that death will never have the final word.
But, just as we cannot have the crucifixion without the resurrection, neither can we have the resurrection without the crucifixion. Too often, we think of the timeline of Jesus’ life in too linear of a fashion. There’s his birth, his baptism, then the Last Supper, and the crucifixion, and resurrection, and with each event, as we move on to the next, we often leave the last event behind, until it comes up again in our liturgical calendar. But, Jesus was not an ordinary man, and these are not ordinary events. These are cosmic events happening to a divine being. These events are eternal, permanent, on-going, and everlasting.
The birth of Jesus, which we celebrate every Christmas, is not just something to be celebrated at a certain time of year. Christmas is God coming down to be with us, to tell us that we are loved. Christmas is God being made known to us, for now and for always. It happened, it is happening, it will always happen. It’s the same with his baptism, the Last Supper, the crucifixion, the resurrection, Jesus has joined himself to us indelibly, permanently, it cannot be undone. We are God’s family, Jesus is our baptized, crucified, and risen Lord, for now and for always. It happened, it is happening, it will always happen.
So, when we talk about the transfiguration, when Jesus was revealed wholly and fully to Peter, James, and John, it was a revelation to the whole world, to all people, in all times, in every place, that Jesus is the Son of God, fully human and fully divine, come to save us from ourselves, to know us and to love us, for now and for always.
Jesus was so different from what the Israelites thought he was going to be. Their expectations were turned upside down. They were expecting a warrior blessed with divine power. Instead, they got the son of a carpenter, a gentle teacher and healer, who revealed God’s power by emptying himself of all power. He became the suffering servant who died on the cross, a humiliating and very public execution, that put the world’s evil on display for all to see. And, when he was resurrected, God’s showed us that evil is not stronger than God’s love, that goodness and justice will always triumph over hatred and greed, and that we are under the protection of an all-mighty and all-loving Creator.
Many people look to Lent as a time of personal transformation. Many of us give something up during Lent as a type of fast; there were many years when I participated in this tradition. I gave up caffeine one year, and ever since that Lent, haven’t been able to drink coffee, unless it was decaffeinated. There are so many things that we struggle with in our lives, and as Americans, we take a perverse sort of pride in how difficult our suffering is, and how we are able to overcome adversity, especially if we think that we did it all by ourselves. But, God never meant for us to face our challenges alone. We are never alone, because God is always engaged in the struggle with us. That is the whole point of Jesus’ life and teachings. To let us know that we are not alone.
Like all of the cosmic events in Jesus’ life, the transfiguration changed everything. It’s not something that can be easily understood, we have no scientific explanation for it. It was miracle; it can only be experienced. All we can do is sit in the glory of it, sit in the dazzling wonder of it, and trust in the promise that it represents: that God is with us, that the resurrection is coming, and that God’s glory knows no bounds. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
