SERMON, LAST EPIPHANY (Transfiguration), Ex. 34:29-35, 1 Cor. 12:27 - 13:13, Luke 9:28-36

Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant, and he did not know his face was shining. He veiled his face when he was with the Israelites, but would remove the veil when he went to speak with the Lord.

Jesus went up the mountain to pray and be with God. While he was praying, his face changed in appearace and his clothes became dazzling white. The three disciples with him, Peter, James and John, saw Jesus in his glory.

These are the two transfiguration stories. We get them both in Year C on the last Sunday after the Epiphany, and on the Feast of the Transfiguration on August 6. We don't get this Old Testament version every year, but every year we hear the gospel story of the transfiguration from Matthew, Mark or Luke. And every year, it seems, we hear a sermon about Peter wanting to stay in that place. And every year we are told that Christianity can't hide out on the mountain, but that we need to come down and be with and among the people.

I was poking around the blogiverse last week, as I usually do, and came across a comment made by someone who said something about hearing a sermon on the transfiguration where it was the disciples who were changed, not Jesus. And since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery . . . I've been thinking about that comment.

What if the transfiguration wasn't about Jesus or about Peter wanting to stay or about coming down off the mountain? What if, instead of everything you've heard before, what if the transfiguration is about how the Israelites sawMoses, or how the disciples saw Jesus?

Church teaching says that Jesus was fully human and fully divine. The transfiguration episode may have been the disciples' first glimpse of that divinity within Christ. The transfigured appearance, Moses and Elijah (the Law and the Prophets), the overshadowing cloud . . . these were all signs that Jesus, the man, was more than just a man. In this event, these three disciples may have seen Jesus for who he really is -- the Son of God.

The transfiguration, then, didn't change Jesus. He was already human and divine; son of Mary and Son of God. The change was with the disciples because they saw past the veneer of humanity into the presence of God.

In today's passage we have a guide as to how to look at other people. Last week, remember, we talked about the kingdom of God being among you, or within you. The kingdom of God is within you, and the king, God, dwells within his kingdom; which means that God dwells within every one of us.

Let me put it like this: we were created in the image of God. We all have a little spark of divinity within us. In human terms, we were also created in the image of our parents. When you look at my daughter, you can catch glimpses of her mother and me. We all have an image of our parents within us, and we all have an image of God within us.

What would happen if we looked at other people as if they were transfigured, as if God dwelt within them? For starters, we might be a whole lot more patient. For as bad as the human race appears to be, it would seem that God has infinite patience with us. We should be as slow to anger as God.

Another aspect is to be forgiving. Every week we say the general confession, asking God to forgive us our sins, known and unknown. And yet, we leave here and sin again the following week, sometimes that very day. And every week, God forgives us. What would it take for our views of other people to be transfigured so we could be as forgiving as God?

What would all this take? It would take love. As Paul wrote, love is patient, love is kind, it isn't envious or boastful or rude. It doesn't insist on its own way. It bears all things and endures all things.

God is love. If God is within us, then love abides in us. And if that is the case, then we can be transfigured to see those around us in a new light. We can be transfigured to be patient and forgiving. We can be transfigured to bear with one another and endure with one another, even when we disagree -- especially when we disagree.

The story of the transfiguration has many aspects to it. But maybe the most important aspect is that it isn't about Jesus at all, it's about us and how our view of those around us can be transfigured.