Sermon delivered on Transfiguration Sunday A, March 2, 2014, at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Columbus, OH.
If you would like to hear the audio podcast of this sermon, usually somewhat different from the text below, click here.
Lectionary texts: Exodus 24.12-18; Psalm 2.1-12; 2 Peter 1.16-21; Matthew 17.1-9.
In the name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In our gospel lesson this morning we heard the strange and amazing story of Jesus’ transfiguration. But what are we to make of it with its description of his amazing transformation in appearance? It’s clear from the root of the Greek word that Matthew uses, metamorphoo, from which we get our word, metamorphosis, that Jesus’ change in appearance was not caused by some external source of energy. And what are we to make of the cloud and the Voice? It all seems utterly impossible to some of us because, well, things like that just don’t happen and our science simply cannot explain any of this (we say in all of our 21st century enlightened arrogance). That’s why many struggle to believe stories like the transfiguration and the other so-called mighty acts of power that Jesus demonstrated, e.g., walking on water, turning water into wine, feeding the multitudes, making the blind see, and most of all, Jesus’ body being raised from the dead. We will return to this shortly.
But before we do, we must understand that if we focus on these questions or on the supernatural aspects of the transfiguration exclusively (the change of appearance, the cloud, the Voice, etc.), we will surely miss the deeper story Matthew and the other NT writers are trying to tell us. It is the story of how God is reclaiming his fallen and sin-sick world through Jesus the Messiah, and it is ultimately a story of our destiny as Christians.
God’s rescue story begins with Israel and eventually focuses on Moses, who led God’s people from their slavery in Egypt. And with its echoes from our OT lesson this morning, one of the things Matthew surely wants us to see is that Jesus is like Moses who will lead his people in a new exodus from our slavery to evil, sin, and death. But Matthew also surely wants us to see that Jesus is much more than just a new Moses, precisely because the stakes are so much higher. This is not to diminish the importance of the exodus in which Moses led God’s people because it remains a dramatic example of God’s faithful love for his people and his ability to deliver on his promises to rescue his people from all kinds of slavery. But in Jesus’ transfigured glory, we are given a preview of what Jesus’ post-resurrection glory will look like, a glory that we as Jesus’ people will share with him in the new creation, precisely because he has rescued us from our alienation from God and the death the necessarily results when we are cut off from our Life Source.
And while it would be easy for us to focus on the resurrection and God’s glory revealed in Jesus in this wonderful event, it seems that Matthew is also inviting us to reflect on exactly what Jesus’ path to glory would entail because there is a remarkable series of parallel shared similarities and contrasts between Jesus’ transfiguration and his crucifixion that is surely more than coincidental. For example, in the transfiguration narrative, God himself declares Jesus to be his beloved Son (Matthew 17.5). In the crucifixion narrative we see a pagan soldier declaring to his surprise that Jesus is God’s Son (Matthew 27.54). Both narratives include the number six (Matthew 17.1; 27.45). Could Matthew be pointing us to the themes of creation/new creation in a way similar to what John does in his gospel (cf. John 20.1,19)? And only in these two narratives does Matthew tell us that the participants were terribly afraid (Matthew 17.6; 27.54).
These similarities take place within a series of dramatic contrasts. For example, Jesus is glorified in the transfiguration (Matthew 17.2ff) and shamed at his crucifixion (Matthew 27.27ff). In the transfiguration, a bright cloud sheds its brilliant light on the participants (Matthew 17.2). At the crucifixion, darkness covers the whole land (Matthew 27.45). At his transfiguration, Moses and Elijah, who represented the law and the prophets and who were two of the greatest heroes in Israel’s history, stand beside Jesus (Matthew 17.3). At his crucifixion, two criminals, perhaps representing how far rebellious Israel had sunk, hang beside Jesus (Matthew 27.38). There are other examples, but you get the picture. There are some parallels that Matthew clearly intends for us to reflect on. What does Jesus’ path to glory look like as well as our own?
At this point some of us will want to throw our hands up in the air and ask rather impatiently, “Then why doesn’t Matthew just come out and say that?” This response is not unlike high school students who, after struggling to wrap their minds around a difficult and complex topic, often get frustrated and blurt out, “Just give us the answer so we can get on with it!” But just giving the answer will not result in the deeper and more satisfactory kind of learning that comes when we have to wrestle with issues and stories and think them through on a far deeper level than our desire for superficiality often demands, a desire that stems from the fact that we too just want to get on with it. And if Scripture really is God-breathed as Peter claims in our epistle lesson, then it should not surprise us at all that the biblical writers were capable of writing nuanced and subtle stories that demand deeper thinking and more than just quick, superficial answers.
All well and good you say. But returning to our initial questions, how do we know the transfiguration actually happened? And what’s the point behind all the comparisons between the transfiguration and crucifixion? Both excellent questions that will allow me to finish this sermon in a timely manner! How can we trust the narrative despite the fact that it seems too fantastic to believe? Because fortunately we have an eyewitness to the transfiguration and we need to pay attention to what Peter says in our epistle lesson. Evidently there were doubters and scoffers in Peter’s day as well as our own because he states emphatically that the transfiguration is not some cleverly devised myth. Why? Because he was an eyewitness to it and can testify that it happened. And if we think about it, if God really does exist as we believe, and if he really is omnipotent, stories like this should not surprise us at all, even if they are beyond our understanding and boggle the mind, because nothing is too hard for God. Nothing. So unless we are willing to call Peter and the other apostles liars or crazy (or worse), we have no reason to doubt that the transfiguration really happened as described.
Based on that, and on who Jesus was, Peter goes on to tell us that this confirms the whole world of biblical prophecy was true, messy and diverse as that world was. In other words, based on Peter’s experience with Jesus it all made sense in retrospect. God had indeed rescued his people in and through his Messiah, but not as they had expected. The Lord of glory had become human and rescued his people by hanging on a cross for our sake. And Jesus’ resurrection, which the transfiguration previewed, proved it. Perhaps this is why Jesus warned his disciples on the way down from the mountain not to tell anyone about what they witnessed until after he had been raised from the dead. There are some things we just cannot understand without the proper perspective, and the perspective of Easter is certainly necessary to help us reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ transfiguration.
But there is more than just future hope in the transfiguration. When we take stories like the transfiguration and resurrection seriously, Peter reminds us that they become like a light shining in the darkness to help us navigate the difficult waters of our mortal life with all its doubts, fears, and uncertainties. To fail to take the stories of Scripture seriously and reflect on them continuously effectively removes the light contained in Scripture, including especially the light of Jesus, so that we are enveloped by the darkness once again.
This all helps us make the connection between the transfiguration and the crucifixion because like Jesus’ path to glory, our path to glory is also through faithful imitation of Jesus’ suffering love. If Jesus really is the prophet (and more) who is to follow Moses so that we are to obey him (cf. Deuteronomy 18.15)—and if we believe what Peter has just told us, Jesus most certainly is that prophet (and more)—it becomes necessary for us to take seriously Jesus’ command to us to take up our cross and follow him. How is Jesus calling you to take up your cross and follow him?
Whatever that looks like, remember this. Jesus partook of God’s glory on the mountain of transfiguration and through his suffering obedience to the Father. And Jesus gives us this same glory when we give our lives to him. In practical terms this means that it is possible for us to actually obey Jesus’ command to us to take up our cross. We do not have to live in the darkness of our sin and brokenness (there’s that exodus theme again). Because we can partake in the divine nature through the power of the Spirit, it is possible for us to have, e.g., goodness, knowledge, self-control, godliness, and love. To have these attributes means that we are truly walking in the light of God’s love and presence right here and now. This also means that we can give up our programs of self-help or self-improvement, programs that are utterly futile, and let the One who can accomplish all things work his way and will in us to utterly transform us in the way we’ve just described, a way not unlike the metamorphoo Jesus experienced.
Think on these things, then, especially as we prepare to enter the season of Lent this coming Wednesday. The transfiguration reminds us that resurrection and life is our destiny and that because it all really happened, that same power is available to us right now as we struggle to live faithful lives, i.e., as we struggle to take up our cross. Take advantage of that power right now and learn the story of your salvation thoroughly because doing so will allow you to really take hold of the Good News that is yours, now and for all eternity. To him be honor, praise, and glory forever and ever.
In the name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.