Transfiguration of the Lord

February 1/3, 2008

Victor H. Nixon

HOW JESUS TRANSFORMS MY LIFE

Matthew 17:1-9

This is the final in the Epiphany sermon series Personal Testimonies of Faith in which our clergy have shared their Christian faith and experience. This sermon explores how Jesus transforms my life.

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Today we observe the Transfiguration of Christ, as told in Matthew’s gospel. On the church calendar, Transfiguration of the Lord traditionally marks the end of the season of Epiphany and transitions us into the season of Lent, forty days of spiritual emphasis, beginning this week on Ash Wednesday.

As we have seen throughout this series, the season of Epiphany celebrates the revelation of God in Christ by recalling stories that tell us something very significant about our Savior’s identity and mission. We saw this revelation in the story of the Wise Men who followed the star to the birthplace of the Savior. We see this manifestation in his baptism by John at the Jordan when the Spirit descended upon him. We observe it as he walks by the sea and calls fishermen and us to follow him. All those texts concern epiphanies, those "aha!" experiences, when the light comes on and we see or understand something about God we’ve never seen or understood before—and which transform us. The story of the Transfiguration also describes an epiphany.

The Bible is full of epiphanies: Moses hearing the voice in the burning bush; Jacob’s dream of a ladder full of angels reaching to the heavens; Job and the voice in the whirlwind; Saul on the road to Damascus. All are epiphanies--experiences or encounters with God. The Transfiguration is no exception.

Jesus and three disciples—Peter, James and John—ascended a high mountain where Jesus was "transfigured" or transformed before them. His face shone like the sun, his clothes dazzled. Two patriarchs—Moses and Elijah—appeared. Peter proposed a commemorative building project, but was silenced by a bright cloud surrounding them from which God spoke: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him!" The disciples fell to the ground in fear. Jesus touched and reassured them, "Get up and do not be afraid." When they looked up, they were alone with Jesus, who told them not to tell anyone about what had happened until he was raised from the dead.

I can’t imagine why should they want to tell anyone! People might think they were religious nuts who’d lost touch with reality in the rarified air on the mountain! You saw Moses and Elijah? Moses has been dead for 1300 years, Elijah for 800 years! You heard God speak from a cloud? Hmm. On the surface, it is a bizarre story, seemingly beyond the realm of our experience, not to mention our scientific, historical sensibilities.(1) Yet, all three gospels record that the disciples witnessed this mysterious phenomenon. Should we just dismiss it? What are they trying to tell us? What is it that Matthew wants us to know and to see? Let’s dig a bit deeper into this strange story. Like many biblical texts it requires that we momentarily dump our scientific mindsets and focus on what Matthew is trying to tell us.

Context is the key for me. All this takes place on a mountain. Many of you know that I love hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, with its majestic vistas. I treasure seeing an elk nonchalantly munching along the trail or a bighorn sheep grazing on Specimen Mountain. I love the smell of spruce and fir trees, aspen quaking in the breeze, walking through snow in August, or fording a cold mountain stream. I am drawn to the challenge of hiking above 10,000 feet, making the summit of a peak, and viewing the world from an elevated perspective. Mountains inevitably turn my thoughts to creation and Creator. I experience God in many places, but inevitably on a mountaintop.

Indeed, I look at this text as a mountaintop experience with God, a metaphor for those epiphany moments when the disciples learned some significant things about God, about Jesus and themselves. In a metaphorical sense, Jesus takes me to the mountaintop along with those first disciples. I may be walking through "the valley of the shadow," or in the doldrums of human existence, or focused on something else entirely, but when I follow Jesus he inevitably brings me to the mountaintop where I experience a new perspective and a new hope.

This story reminds me that Jesus stands in the tradition of Moses the great lawgiver and Elijah the prophetic spokesperson for God, both of whom had their own unique mountaintop experiences with God and consequently took on the mighty powers of this world and called people to faith in God. In so doing, these two historic figures revealed God to people. And now, God tells us through Matthew, there is a third person who will reveal God to the world in a new way. "This is my beloved Son; listen to him."

Through Jesus, the disciples encountered God and God spoke to them. I have theological questions about the nature of God, about the will of God, and the actions of God in human existence, don’t you? One of the reasons Jesus is my Savior is because he is the answer to my most significant theological questions. If I want to know what God is like, I look at Jesus. If I want to know what the will of God is like, I look at Jesus. If I want to know what God has done and is doing in the world, I look at Jesus. This mountaintop story tells me that when I follow Jesus up the mountain, I’m going to learn some theology and when I listen to Jesus I am going to hear God speaking to me.

There are times in my life, just as there are in yours, when I I’m wrestling with an ethical question and there doesn’t seem to be a clear direction between right and wrong—or when those on the far left seem to have no ethics and those on the far right seem to have no humanity—and those in the middle are just as confused as I am. There doesn’t seem to be any clear resolution. This story reminds me that Jesus stands in the great ethical tradition of Moses the lawgiver and Elijah the prophet. Out of that tradition comes Jesus who fulfills the law and the prophets with an ethic of love—love for God and love for others. Jesus’ sermon on another mount provides the basis for that love ethic, found in Matthew 5-7. Most times when I go up that mountain with Jesus I discover the answer to my ethical questions.

There are times when I need an attitude adjustment. For one reason or another I become filled with anger, frustration, and self-pity (usually on sermon preparation days). In such times I’m not much good to myself or anybody else. Often a picture of Jesus praying comes to mind as he dealt with his own inner conflict through prayer, and I am moved to pray also. Prayer transports me to the mountaintop where I am in the presence of God and seek God’s guidance for my life. Prayer leads to epiphany.

When I follow Jesus up the mountain, I experience re-assurance. The disciples were amazed, shocked, and frightened by what transpired; literally fell on their faces in fear. He touched them, reassured them and encouraged them. We live in fearful times—war, the economy, global warming, urban violence, political instability, natural disaster, disease, suffering and death. Sometimes I want to bury my face, not look at another newspaper, nor watch the daily news report, because they are always frightening and disconcerting. Then I recall Jesus touch and his words and I too am reassured that God is always with me, to guide and strengthen me, as we go down the mountain together to reassure others, to seek peace and justice, to relieve suffering.

Worship, for me, is like being on the mountaintop with Jesus. Coming together with God’s people in a community of faith where we can experience God, listen to the Word of God in Christ, pray and sing together, and receive the Sacraments of God’s transforming grace in Jesus. Through broken bread and shared cup I experience the epiphany of Christ’s presence anew and receive assurance that I too am a child of God, called to love and serve others, as Jesus did. And I too am transformed.

As they were coming down the mountain Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone about the vision they had experienced until his resurrection had occurred. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Now you can tell the good news. Thanks be to God. Amen.

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