As we celebrate the Transfiguration today, we consider the ways in which we still tend to respond like Peter, I use a personal story to talk about deep theological meaning, and we ponder what it means to let the fullness of all that we are to shine forth in the presence of God.
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Today is Transfiguration Sunday in the church calendar used by many Protestant congregations. Many of the mainline Christian denominations follow a common calendar that helps us follow the teachings of Christ throughout the year. As we have touched on before, this Church Year serves several purposes: as an instructional tool, as a continuous cycle of celebrations, and as a means of delineating the rhythm of time (similar to other types of calendars).
Connected to the calendar itself is a series of suggested Scripture readings for each Sunday and special celebration. Through these suggested readings, the seasons are further defined. In addition to the colors and the images of the season that we may use in our worship spaces or bulletins, the readings further flesh out the meaning of the season. So the readings for Advent speak both of the coming of the Messiah as well as the coming of the Kingdom. And the readings following Easter Sunday refer to the Resurrection appearances of Christ. In this way, we are constantly, week after week, reminded of and prepared for the journey that is both Christ’s ministry and our own.
The Sunday’s since we welcomed Christ into the world at Christmas have focused on Jesus becoming known to the world. This includes his birth, the announcement to the Shepherds, his presentation at the temple, the visit of the magi, his Baptism, the call of his disciples, and the beginning of his teachings.
Today we witness a story of Jesus ascending to a mountain top with a few of his disciples. I think this is a fairly familiar story for most of us. We recall Jesus going to the mountaintop with his inner circle, Peter, James, and John. While they are there, Jesus becomes dazzling in their sight, his clothes shining brightly. Perhaps we remember as well the return of the voice from heaven, claiming Jesus just as the voice had at his baptism. These are certainly the highlights of the story, perhaps the key pieces for us today as we consider what it means for Jesus becoming known to the world. But there is more here that we should consider both to understand what is happening in the story as well as what is happening in our world today.
After Jesus is transfigured before them, Elijah and Moses also appear and are talking with Jesus. Considering both lived hundreds of years earlier, I am curious how the disciples recognized the two early Jewish leaders. Was there something specific about their appearance from tradition that suggested who they were? Or perhaps Jesus told them after the fact?
However it is that the three disciples recognized who Jesus was talking to, the appearance of these two key figures of early Judaism is meant to show that Jesus is the culmination of all that has come before in the law (represented by Moses) and the prophets (represented by Elijah). This was an important point in that early community and still for us today. Jesus was born into a Jewish community. His earliest followers were Jewish and would have recognized all of the hints and allusions to the Hebrew Scriptures found in Jesus’ story. And here we have a scene that brings to mind not only the story of Moses going up the mountain to talk with God and receive the ten commandments, but also of Elijah going up the holy mountain to behold the glory of God.
This reinforces the belief that Jesus is indeed the one foretold – the Messiah that would come to fulfill all that is in the law and the prophets.
Then of course we have to deal with the response of the disciples. In all three gospels where this story appears, Peter is the one to suggest, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines--one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Mark 9:5, CEB). I love that our reading today follows this suggestion up with the note that Peter says this because he felt he needed to respond but didn’t know how because he was in fact terrified. Peter simply knew that this was an amazing experience in the presence of holiness, so his response is to try to hold onto that experience right there in that place.
Everytime I read that part, I am reminded of our modern world. We talk about “mountaintop experiences.” We have entire industries built around providing or encouraging these types of experiences--experiences that transcend our day to day lives and give us a sense of something higher, perhaps holy.
We see it not only in our day to day lives, but in religious circles as well. People have an experience of the divine while on pilgrimage or on a mission trip, and then they want to stay in that experience or recreate the experience so that they can feel exactly that way again and again and again. But Jesus doesn’t go along with this. He takes his disciples back down the mountain, back to everyday life. They can carry that knowledge with them, but they can’t stay on the mountaintop.
It is the same for us today. We can and do have experiences of the divine in our lives. Perhaps it is a sunrise while staring out across the waves of the ocean. Perhaps it is a sense of the holy in the midst of worship. Perhaps it is the feeling of peace we get while serving others. Jesus reminds us that it is good to have these experiences and remember them, but we also must return to everyday life instead of trying to stay on that mountain top.
As we consider our experiences of the divine in our own lives, we also need to consider the ways in which we are connected to this story of Jesus and his disciples. Several years ago when I was in seminary, I took a class called “Worship and the Arts.” It was a great class in which we explored the interaction of art with the sacred stories we tell in worship. One of our assignments that term was to develop a work of art based on a biblical story.
I started writing poetry in high school and all through college. In seminary, I adapted this and began writing prayers and hymn-texts. So when it came to this project, I wanted to stretch myself with another form of artistic expression. I chose to try my hand at painting instead. I did a painting based on the story of Moses on Mount Sinai from Exodus.
In the background were the pillars of smoke and fire that had guided the Israelites across the desert. Then in the center of a mountain range were two glowing circles. One had two rays coming out of it symbolizing the two rays of light coming out of Moses’ head (translated as horns in Latin, leading to art depicting Moses with horns in the middle ages). Perhaps the rays of light were how the disciples had recognized Moses on the mountain with Jesus in our story today.
In the center of the other circle, I made the sign of a cross. You see, in addition to the story of Moses on the mountain that was my primary focus, I also had this story of the Transfiguration in my mind. And as I thought about the encounter that Peter and James and John had on the mountain top, I began to think about the final episode of the TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the two-part series finale, Captain Picard has a vision and is guided to bring a star ship to the same point in space at three different times over his life. The result is a rupture in space-time such that in the final minutes of the episode, all three ships from all three times appear at once.
And so I wondered. What if Jesus is not meeting with the spirits of Moses and Elijah? What if Jesus is literally meeting with Moses and Elijah in their own times? What if somehow this experience that Jesus and his followers have is the same experience that Moses had on the mountain and the same experience that Elijah had on the mountain?
There are other examples of this idea of experiencing historical events in the present in Christian tradition. For example, in Holy Communion, we are participating in Jesus’ last meal with his disciples as well as the great heavenly banquet that we will all enjoy in the future. Like an octave in music, each Sunday worship participates in every other Sunday. Baptism is a participation in the dying and rising of Christ.
If we think about it this way, perhaps we can begin to find our place in the stories of those that have come before, because there is something to be said for seeing ourselves in the stories and experiences we read in our Bibles. Each week, we gather in this place. Like Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, we come into the presence of God. And hopefully we are transformed by our encounter with God.
Or perhaps it is less a transformation and more that what is truly within us finally shows through if only temporarily. I think in our story today it is less that Jesus was transformed and changed in that moment and more that the reality of all that Jesus is shone through his exterior for a moment. Jesus carried the fullness of God within him. While the disciples knew it to a certain degree, his human exterior often hid what was truly within him. But for that one moment on the mountain top, the fullness of Jesus showed forth.
This can happen to us as well. Sometimes our true nature is hidden beneath what appears on the outside, and it can be hard to let our true nature out. Whatever the reason we feel the need to hide our true selves, it can be difficult to show who we really are. For some, like Jesus, being in God’s presence allows the truth to shine through. Sadly there are some for whom the Church is a place where the truth is denied, pushed down, and kept hidden.
For a time on that mountain Jesus was transfigured. Jesus who had the body of a man also contained within the fullness of God. And his disciples glimpsed the true one hidden by the outer form.
I hope that as we gather in this space, we may come into the presence of God.
May we be transfigured and transformed by this encounter with God that our true nature may come out.
May we create a space that is safe for all people to bring their full selves into the outside of God.
And then may we go forth with our memories of the divine to continue our ministry in the world.