February 19, 2023 - Transfiguration Sunday
Rev. Mary Erickson
Hope Lutheran Church
2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9
Strength for the Journey
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
The season of Epiphany culminates today with our meditation of the miraculous transfiguration of our Lord. The season of Epiphany sheds light on Jesus’ identity. It begins with the light from the celestial star alerting the Magi to the birth of a king. It led them to the young Jesus in Bethlehem. During the successive weeks, we witnessed how Jesus’ identity was further revealed. His baptism reveals him as one divinely endowed. He changes water into wine, he has power over storms, he heals the sick. He preaches in a way that captivates his hearers with the wisdom from on high.
And now on this final Sunday, light once again reveals Jesus’ identity. But this time, the light isn’t external, like the star. It comes from within Jesus himself. His very appearance is changed, he becomes something greater than human. His true, divine inner nature is revealed to Peter, James, and John.
The three disciples see heavenly visitors join Jesus. Moses and Elijah appear and converse with Jesus.
They barely manage to function during these marvelous revelations. But when the divine voice booms from the bright cloud and speaks directly to them, that’s when they lose it. They collapse to the ground in mortal fear.
It’s a marvelous and dreadful thing. When Peter, James and John experience all of these things, it’s so awesome that it’s crossed the line into dreadful.
They’re like the prophet Isaiah when he stood before the throne of God. The heavenly angels sang so loudly that the foundations of the temple shook. Isaiah cried aloud in fear and dread,
“Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
There was a stark incapability between Isaiah’s human nature and that of God. Standing before the feet of the Almighty God, Isaiah became all too aware of his own flawed and broken nature.
This kind of dread consumed Peter, James and John. They were overcome with awe at the realization of Jesus’ divinity. Their friend wasn’t just their bosom brother; he wasn’t merely their teacher and leader; he was divine. Here stood God in the flesh before them.
Jesus bends down and touches his terrified friends. “Don’t be afraid,” he says. When they look up, the awesome moment has passed. The cloud is gone, Moses and Elijah have gone, and Jesus looks like his usual self.
They leave the mountain top, but the moment will never leave them. They will remember it always. Years later, Peter will reflect on it in his second letter. His epistle relates what he witnessed:
“… we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.”
It was a moment that stuck with Peter for his entire life. The three disciples came down from that sacred place on the mountain, but they carried the potent memory with them. They carried the sacred with them.
When we experience moments of godly awe, the reality of the universe and the nature of our lives are reframed. We see our world, we see our neighbors, we see ourselves in God’s true light. These holy moments help us to make sense and reinterpret the true nature of our earthly reality.
When we come to worship on Sunday mornings, we’re making a weekly trip to the mountain top. We gather as God’s people, we pray. We listen to the word of God and gather around the holy table. In these things, we worship in awe, we encounter the living Christ in word and sacrament.
And then we leave this place. We come down from the mountain, we depart this holy space. But the memory of the holy, the awe goes with us. And just as Peter’s remarkable encounter on the mountain stuck with him for the remainder of his life, these holy encounters do the same with us.
Our regular worship practices place us in the presence of our Lord. In prayer, in reading devotional material, in gathering with others for worship, we come face to face with Jesus and his redeeming love. In these moments, we stand in his presence. His grace -filled love envelops us. We are filled with awe and wonder.
Experiencing this holy moment, we comprehend the world and ourselves as revealed in God’s light. This holy moment transforms us, too. It lingers with us as we return to our daily rhythm. We’re strengthened for the journey.
As we leave the holy mountain, the sacred goes with us into the profane. And we are never the same.
