First Reading: Deuteronomy 34:1-12
1Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, 2all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, 3the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4And the Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” 5So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, 6and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. 7Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. 8And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. 9And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. 10And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
Psalm 99
1The Lord is King; let the people tremble; he is enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth shake. 2The Lord is great in Zion; he is high above all peoples. 3Let them confess his name, which is great and awesome; he is the Holy One. 4“O mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.” 5Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God and fall down before his footstool; he is the Holy One. 6Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his Name, they called upon the Lord, and he answered them. 7He spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud; they kept his testimonies and the decree that he gave them. 8“O Lord our God, you answered them indeed; you were a God who forgave them, yet punished them for their evil deeds.” 9Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God and worship him upon his holy hill; for the Lord our God is the Holy One.
Second Reading: Hebrews 3:1-6
1Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses — as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
Gospel: Luke 9:28-36
28Now about eight days after these sayings {Jesus} took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” — not knowing what he said. 34As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” 36And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.
Look Both Ways
Isn’t it interesting how life ebbs and flows? We experience times of joy, times of sorrow, and the times in between that are filled with awe, surprises, and epiphanies. It was just a few weeks ago that we celebrated the birth of Jesus with all the decorations, festivities, and family gatherings. As we welcomed in the new year, and the coming of the Wise men seeking Jesus, they revealed to us the fulfillment of prophecy, that Jesus is the promised King. We then relaxed a bit during this season of Epiphany as we addressed the issues of Christian life. Today we find ourselves at yet another amazing event, the Transfiguration of Jesus. In our reading for today, we find Jesus, with Peter, John, and James in tow, going up on the mountain to pray. But this glorious event, like life, is bracketed with the realities of everyday life. The Transfiguration reminds us that we need to look both backward and forward as well, to fully grasp its significance.
It’s interesting that all three of the Synoptic gospel writers begin the story of the Transfiguration in the same way, “after.” St. Luke records, “Now about eight days after these sayings…(9:28). Eight days after what? To see the Transfiguration in context, we need to look at the passages before and then consider the upcoming Lenten season. If you turn back just a few verses in this same chapter, to verse 18, we find Jesus asking the disciples two very poignant questions, who do the people say I am, and who do you say I am. The first question reveals what we need to teach; the second question reveals what we believe and tells us what more we need to learn.
Continuing on, Jesus then drops a bombshell on the disciples by explaining what His ultimate mission is, the road to His passion, death, and resurrection. Jesus then follows this up by explaining our part in His ministry: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Jesus is telling the disciples that our Christian Walk isn’t part-time, it’s all the time. Being a follower of Jesus is our primary identification and mission, everything else is informed by this fact.
Jesus continues, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” Jesus is telling us that we cannot take anything with us when we die. We have a choice, live for the now, for the fleeting and temporal pleasures of this life, or live for God and store up treasures in heaven, where rust and moth cannot destroy, and no thief can break in a steal. The choice we face is to chase momentary pleasures, or eternal life.
Jesus then concludes by saying, “Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (9:23-26). Jesus is clear, we cannot hide our faith: we must be bold in our proclamation. Again, the choice is clear, we’re either faithful to God, or we’re looking out for ourselves. This was a lot for the disciples to take in, and while the disciples are struggling with His words, Jesus invites His inner circle to go up the mountain with Him to pray.
I wonder if the words of the great Old Testament leader Joshua were ringing in their ears, “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
The experience of “The Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus,” as I said, is recorded in all three Synoptic gospels and it’s an account that Preachers, teachers, scholars, and theologians all acknowledge as significant in the life of the disciples. Interestingly, while all three gospel writers record the event, the reader will notice that lots of information has been left out. Yes, there’s still something special and very unique that occurred that made an indelible impression upon the minds of those who experienced it. But the gospel writers don’t tell us everything.
It’s as if there was a shroud of mystery surrounding this experience. What isn’t included in the gospel accounts is, what did it mean to Jesus? What did it mean to the disciples, both then, and later? What did it mean to God the Father, who is the true actor in this scene? And just as important, what does this event mean to us as the current generation of disciples?
Jesus, in telling His disciples that He was going to suffer, and the disciples, quite possibly, for the first time, began to understand that He didn’t come to set up an earthly kingdom, but was here to die, as foretold by the prophet Isaiah, as the suffering servant for the sins of mankind. This, understandably, threw the disciples’ world into an upheaval – Jesus, “God’s Messiah” – die? It was something that not only shook their world, but it was also something they needed to come to terms with. Clearly it took till after the resurrection for them to fully comprehend. In reading this passage, I was left with the question, we often talk a lot about what we’re living for. But do we talk enough about what we’re living from?
It’s fairly common for people to say they’re living for this and for that – but what are we living from? What is the source of our power and strength? For Jesus there is no question: He lived from His mission and His relationship to the Father. In every major experience in the Gospel of Luke, we find Jesus in prayer. Here we find Jesus praying when He was transfigured. And for this event, He took three disciples with him. The outspoken one was, of course, Simon Peter. It’s interesting to imagine what this meant to Peter. At first glance, it seemed to mean very little because he was asleep.
Picture this, God has sent Elijah and Moses, the two greatest historical figures of the Old Testament, Moses symbolic of the Law, and Elijah symbolic of the prophets. Elijah and Moses appear, talking with Jesus and the disciples are asleep. They almost missed this event completely. St. Luke records, “As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning,” and just as this situation was about to be over, Simon wakes up and, realizing what was going on, responded in his usual over-emotional way and says, “Lord, this is great, this is fantastic. We ought to put up three tabernacles to commemorate what has happened here!” Simon is the perfect example of the person who, when they don’t know what to say, still speak.
Even Luke picks up on this. Luke said that Peter didn’t know what he was saying. It’s just Simon babbling again – open mouth, insert foot. The mountain top wasn’t the Temple in Jerusalem, nor the Holy of Holies with the Arc of the Covenant, we cannot confine God, nor can we stay forever on the mountain. Life and ministry must go on. Our call as disciples is to obedience, to take up our cross daily, and to go. This call is affirmed by the Father Himself, Jesus is the Chosen One, the One we are to listen to and obey.
When the cloud appears, Simon is afraid. First, Jesus is Transfigured, then Moses and Elijah appear, then an ominous cloud, and suddenly there’s the voice of God: “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” Let’s face it, we might be more like Peter than we want to admit. The disciples have just awakened and have no idea whatsoever of what’s going on, and then Jesus tells them to keep it to themselves. First, they didn’t understand it and second, it would be of special significance to them later. So, what did it mean to the disciples in that moment? Most likely confusion, but later it would all make sense. Next, we must ask, what did it mean to God?
Why did God do this? Why did God send Moses and Elijah back from heaven just to talk to Jesus about what was to come? I believe there were two reasons. First, was to reveal Jesus’ divine nature. Still reeling from Jesus words about His passion, death and resurrection, then coming to terms with the fact that Jesus is human and how all this could be, the Father reveals Jesus’ divinity. This was accomplished in His changed appearance. This also forces them and us, to acknowledge that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine. Theologically speaking we call this a hypostatic union. We know that, Jesus, being fully human, experienced all the same difficulties and emotions that we experience, and this includes fear. Did Jesus willingly come to take our sins to the cross? Yes. Did He come in human flesh so He could relate to His creation on a personal level? Yes. However, that doesn’t mean that He didn’t struggle with fear, doubt, and questions.
St. Luke, nor the other gospel writers, revealed to us the content of the conversation between Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, but we do get a hint in verse 31, they “spoke of His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” Again, when we set this statement beside the verses from earlier in the chapter, we get a pretty good idea what the topic of the conversation was, they talked with Jesus about His impending passion, death, and resurrection. This brings us to the question, what did Jesus think of all this? We cannot know for certain what He was feeling and thinking, but we can say that His final trip to Jerusalem weighed heavy on His mind. So, we’re back to asking, what did God think of all this?
Again, we cannot fully know, but with His announcement, we can get a glimpse into one of His thoughts, of how proud He was of Jesus. From other passages, we know that God is a loving and proud parent. Think about it, is there anything more satisfying to a parent than to see your child, whom you love, go out on their own and accomplish exactly what you equipped them to do? Could God simply have been sharing some of those heavenly, parental feelings when He said, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him?” I don’t think it too big a stretch to think that God wanted to show us how pleased He was with Jesus. All parents do it from time to time.
When I was 9 years old, I joined the Royal Rangers. The Royal Rangers is a boys program patterned after the Boy Scouts that was sponsored by the church denomination I was attending. Like the Boy Scouts, the Royal Rangers are divided into age groups, and in each age group there are levels to achieve. I entered as a Pioneer and before I turned 14, I completed all four levels. At age 14, I was then transferred to the Trail Blazers group. Like the Pioneer group there were levels that needed to be completed to achieve the final award, the Gold Medal of Achievement. The Gold Medal of Achievement is comparable with the award of Eagle Scout.
At age 18, I was able to complete all the badges I needed to be awarded the Highest award in the Royal Rangers and one Sunday evening, there was a short ceremony at the church where I would have this medal pinned on me. I remember vividly being called up front where my father stood, beaming with pride and he was given the honor of pinning that medal on my uniform. I can remember my dad telling me just how proud he was of me as he pinned that medal to my chest and then hugged me, tears welling up in his eyes. For my father, all the hours of help, encouragement, and effort were realized as he embraced me in that moment. He spoke but a few words, “son I’m proud of you,” but the pride he felt spoke volumes to all those in attendance that night. God the Father, said, “This is my Son, the Chosen, Listen to Him.” Few words, huge message.
God knew the cost Jesus was about to pay and He knew the pain and suffering He was going to endure. God also knew what was a stake, the redemption of humankind. For us to be reconciled to God, once for all, Jesus had to come, to live life in human flesh and die for the sins of the world. This is how God chose to reveal Himself to us, in the person of Jesus. I heard this statement this past week: “God bared his face in Jesus Christ.” Jesus came to us, to live among us, to be tempted like us, and to pay the price for sin that you and I cannot pay. He had a choice, and He chose the path that led to Calvary.
I hope by now you can see why the Transfiguration of our Lord is such an important event. What happened on that mountain not only reminds us of Jesus, the Divine Son of God and Him glorified, it also reminds us of His humanity and of His sacrifice on our behalf: that Jesus came in the flesh to live, to serve, and to suffer and die for our sins.
On Wednesday, we will have our Ash Wednesday service. During the service we will be reminded of our mortality, that, “you are dust, and to dust you will return.” It’s a reminder that through Jesus, we were created from the dust of the earth, in the image of God. And as the writer of Hebrews reminds us, “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this [comes] the judgment” (9:11). We were born in sin, and without Jesus, we would die in our sins.
As you reflect on the Mountain top experience of Jesus’ glorification, remember that we cannot simply remain on that mountain, we must come down. We must also remember to look back and forward and recall why Jesus came; He willingly came to live, to serve, and to die for our sins. He came to show us the Father, and His love for us. You and I, as faithful followers, have a call from our Lord; we’re called to take up our cross and follow Him each and every day.
Amen