Trinity Episcopal Church
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Last Sunday After the Epiphany
February 18, 2007
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Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99:1-9
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36, 37-43a
Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA
About eight days after Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God, 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. On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astounded at the greatness of God. ( Luke 9:28-36, 37-43a)
The Meaning in the Story
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop
“Paparazzi Peter.”[1] There he was, standing at the top of the mountain staring at Moses, Elijah and Jesus. This was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. But, oh oh. No film. No camera. No nothing.
It is easy to sympathize with Peter’s predicament. Peter would have done us all a big favor if he had been better prepared. We could visit today the shrine built to immortalize the moment if only he had been ready.
Imagine your grasp of twentieth century history without Abraham Zapruder’s 26 seconds of film, shot with an 8-millimeter camera on November 22, 1963. Without that, we would have far less of an idea of what likely happened on the Dallas street opposite the book depository that infamous day.
Think for a moment how the triumphant experience of July 20, 1969 would be diminished if we did not have the scratchy audio and the grainy footage of Neil Armstrong taking “one small step for man,” or the footage of Walter Cronkite taking off his glasses and exhaling in relief when Armstrong told Houston that “the Eagle has landed?”
Just last weekend we saw The Queen at the local movie theatre, and through the blend of original and fictional footage directed by Steven Frears, we relived the terrible, tragic events that led to the death of Diana, the “people’s princess” as she was pursued by the paparazzi on August 31, 1997. As I watched that movie, I could easily and clearly remember sitting on the edge of the bed in my house in Little Rock, getting ready for church when the newscaster related the story. I remembered Father Chris Keller standing in the pulpit speaking about how Diana’s accomplishments on behalf of so many transcended the various tragedies that characterized her personal life.
The records of these historical events do more for us that just help us recall the who, the what, and the when. They help us to remember and connect the facts with the emotional interpretations and feelings that the facts produced. The images and sounds are what give meaning and value to the past. But they do something even more remarkable. Vivid records in film and tape and such rekindle for those of us who lived them, or ignite for the first time those who have come after, deep feelings that have the power to transform individuals and even whole nations. When viewing a monumental achievement, the historical record forces us to ask “How can we reclaim that same spirit again?” And when we review the tragic consequences of hatred, fear, power, or unrestrained pathological curiosity, we are moved to say, “No, we will not do this again.”
Peter, of course, did not have a camcorder, digital camera, or tape recorder to capture the extraordinary moment he witnessed along with James and John. It was a mountaintop experience; a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence for three ordinary men who, as disciples, were still trying to figure out just who Jesus was and what it meant for them to declare that he was the “Christ.”
No one really knows what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. Nobody even knows where the Mount of Transfiguration really is, although Mount Tabor in the Jezreel Valley is the traditional site.[2] All we have are texts from Matthew, Mark, and Luke telling us that Jesus and his three closest friends climbed a mountain to pray and somehow entered the presence of God and saw something of God’s kingdom while they still stood on the earth.
The gospel writers had a purpose in describing what happened the way that they did (Mk 9:2-9; Mt 17:1-3; Lk 9:28-36). They needed to demonstrate in a way that would be understood by their peers that Jesus Christ was who he claimed to be. According to Old Testament law, three witnesses were required to attest to any fact (Dt 19:15). So, in all three accounts of the transfiguration, we are given the names of the three disciples who accompanied Jesus and who stood as human witnesses to the glory that was Christ’s. There were also three heavenly witnesses, Moses, Elijah, and the voice of God from heaven. Therefore, the Old Testament law of three witnesses was satisfied both in earth and in heaven.
But let’s not get hung up in the rhetoric or the facts themselves, as we might think we understand them. Because to do so would deny the meaning of the event and the importance of the story for our lives today. We remember the transfiguration as part of our sacred story because it speaks about something wondrous and miraculous, something incredibly radiant and mystical.
The story says that Peter was the disciple who grasped the importance of the moment. He sensed that God was among them in the here and now. God was no longer a deity “outside” history, but rather God was with him in ways he had yet to understand. For James, John and Peter, the mountaintop experience showed Jesus to be the most godly person they had ever encountered.
The transfiguration can be viewed as a highly personal thing that happened to Jesus. But I think it is incomplete to picture Jesus as a serene and untouchable glowing source of divine power, above the trials and temptations of the world. The meaning of the transfiguration comes in the very worldly, very earthy, and very giving Jesus who bestows godly goodness on those who need him. That’s why I think Luke includes the healing of the boy just after Jesus and his disciples come down from the mountain. When Jesus was transformed, he clearly understood his call to ministry, and he went to work. For him, time was growing short.
Peter on the other hand saw the transfiguration as the end of the process. “Master, it is good for us to be here.” He had just witnessed something extraordinary, and he wanted to stay there. He had caught a glimpse of that elusive Kingdom of God Jesus had been talking about, and he wanted to build a shrine or some such. For, Peter that mountain was the place; he had arrived.
But God told him to listen to Jesus. And what did Jesus say? Because Jesus went immediately to work, I suspect he said something like this. “What do you mean, ‘It is good for us to be here’? If we stay here, Peter, who will take care of the widows and orphans? Who will cure the sick? Who will fulfill the words of the prophets? To whom will the words, ‘They parted my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing’ apply? … To whom will ‘They gave me gall as my food and with vinegar they quenched my thirst’ relate? … If we remain here, how will all that I said come to pass? How will you take the keys of the kingdom of heaven from me? … If we stay here, everything that was said through the prophets will come to nothing.”
Jesus is not a character from a story. He is not just a person from history. The person of Jesus had real meaning to the people of his day, and continues to have real meaning to us right now. The transfiguration is a story that says the divine transcendent God has the power to transform and change lives – including the unnamed possessed boy and his father, James, Peter, John and Jesus himself. And if that is true, then God has the power to transform our lives too.
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Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; but whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
1 The LORD is King; let the people tremble; *
he is enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth shake.
2 The LORD is great in Zion; *
he is high above all peoples.
3 Let 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.”
5 Proclaim the greatness of the LORD our God and fall down before his footstool; *
he is the Holy One.
6 Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his Name, *
they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.
7 He 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.
9 Proclaim the greatness of the LORD our God and worship him upon his holy hill; *
for the LORD our God is the Holy One.
Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.
About eight days after Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God, 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. On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astounded at the greatness of God.
O God, who before the passion of your only begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
[1] Term borrowed from Timothy F. Merrill, Exec. Ed. “Filming the Transfiguration.” Homiletics, March 5, 2000. Accessed 15 February 2007 at http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=2743.
[2] http://www.mustardseed.net/html/ptabord.html
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Copyright © 2007, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
15 February 2007
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