Today is NOT the Feast of
the Transfiguration. But we do commemorate the Transfiguration event
every year on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany. The short answer
as to why we do that is because the Season of Epiphany is all about
making Jesus known to the world. On the Feast of the Epiphany we
celebrated the arrival of the wise men and the manifestation of
Christ to the Gentiles. His baptism was about being made known as
the Son of God. The following Sundays were all about making him
known to the world through our actions. And today we get a glimpse
of the totality of Jesus through the Transfiguration event.
As with most scripture passages, there
are a lot of options we could focus on. What is the significance of
six days? What is the significance of the mountain? Moses and
Elijah are there representing the Law and the Prophets. The desire
to remain in that place. The raising of the disciples. All of this
and more are embedded in this story. But I want to look at the
transfiguration event itself.
What exactly does it mean to be
transfigured? At its most basic, to be transfigured is to be changed
or transformed. On a personal level, when you get married you are
changed and transformed into a husband or wife. When you have your
first child, you are transformed into a parent. But that's only a
partial explanation because it doesn't get to the depths of what is
going on. And if you follow this line of thought too far, you might
come to the heretical conclusion that Jesus was transformed, or
changed, into God at this event.
The transfiguration story is an
apocalyptic story. Thanks to books like “The Late Great Planet
Earth,” and the horribly awful “Left Behind” series, many
people today have a mistaken idea that “the Apocalypse” is an
all-out end-of-the-world destructive event. The actual definition of
apocalypse, however, is simply a revealing. An apocalypse, or an
apocalyptic event, is simply a pulling back of the curtain, or a
lifting of the veil, so that we can see the true nature of something.
Toto pulling back the curtain was an apocalyptic event, as it
revealed the true nature of the wizard.
One of my commentaries has a great
example of the transfiguration. The author recalls a scene
overlooking a lake on a bright sunny day. The reflection of sunlight
off the water was almost blinding in its brightness. But then a
random cloud floated by, overshadowing the people, and removing the
glare off the water. In that moment, he says, you could look deep
into the water and see the rock formations at the bottom of the lake.
That, I think, is the best explanation
of the transfiguration event: a revealing of the true nature and
depth of who this person Jesus really is.
All of us here at St. John's have
experienced, or are experiencing, our own transfiguration event. We
are all being transformed and changed. My family has settled in and are being transformed into easterners. In last week's
Wednesday Word I compared the Celebration of New Ministry to a
wedding; that wedding is transforming all of us into a new
relationship of priest and people. But those changes, those
transformations, don't get at the heart of what is going on.
I have mentioned this before, and it is
self-evident to anyone who enters here – this place is extremely
beautiful. Like the sun shining on the lake, it can sometimes blind
us to the point where we can't take it all in. And that's too bad,
because sometimes that blinding beauty hides the depth of this
parish's true nature.
If you attended the installation, you
will recall the moment in the service when I presented a variety of
gifts to people who serve in the many ministries that take place
here. And you will recall all of those people gathered up here
around the altar. That is just a partial glimpse of the depth of
this parish. That is a pulling back of the curtain, a revealing of
who we really are. That was an apocalyptic moment. That was a
transfiguring moment. In that moment, the Holy Spirit overshadowed
us and allowed us to see how wonderfully deep we are.
Thursday, and continuing through today,
was and is our transfiguration moment. One response to this event is
to imitate Peter and say, “It is good for us to be here; let's
dwell in this place for ever.” That response, however, is based on
the overwhelming beauty of the place and not on its reality.
The reality of Jesus is that he is much
more than a beautiful, dazzling bright figure. He is God incarnate.
The reality of this place is that we are much more than a dazzlingly
beautiful sanctuary. We are living members of the body of Christ.
At the end of today's gospel Jesus and
the three disciples come down the mountain. Jesus orders them to
tell no one about the event until after the resurrection. And a
little later in Matthew, the group is confronted by a man asking that
his son be healed from a terrible, self-destructive disease.
Like the disciples, we have come down
off the mountain. Like Jesus and the disciples, we are confronted by
people needing the healing power of Jesus. Unlike the disciples, we
are free to tell the story.
This Epiphany season is all about
making Jesus known to the world. Like Jesus, we have been
transfigured and both the beauty of this place and its depth have
been revealed. And now, like the disciples, we need to come down off
the mountain. The question for us all as we move forward is this:
How will you proclaim both the beauty and the depth of who we are to
the world around us?
Amen.
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