Transfiguration Sunday
Luke 9:28-36
"Glory, Praise and Movement"
28 ¶ Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white.
30 And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah,
31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem.
32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, and when they wakened they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah" --not knowing what he said.
34 As he said this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.
35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silence and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
"A teacher in a Sunday School class was reading the story of the Transfiguration. As she read, she noticed one little boy seemed confused. When she was finished, she asked him, "Johnny, why don’t you tell us where Jesus was in this story.
He replied,, "Oh, he was on a mountain."
"Yes, that’s right",said the teacher, "Do you remember why he was up there?"
Johnny answered with a confused look, "I guess that’s where his arithmetic class was held!!"
The teacher looked at him and wondered what he meant. "What do you mean, arithmetic class?"
"Well". Johnny replied, "The Bible said, ’Jesus went up on the mountain and there he BEGAN TO FIGURE’"
The teacher smiled and said,’ The scripture said He went onto the mountain and there He BECAME TRANSFIGURED - NOT BEGAN TO FIGURE "
Johnny didn’t understand the Transfiguration and I dare say many of us don’t either. The gospel lesson says, "And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered and his raiment became dazzling white." Jesus was changed, he was transformed and in this process two figures from the past came to meet him, Moses and Elijah. This was a marvelous experience for Jesus because it gave him the heavenly assurance he was on the right path, the path to Jerusalem and the cross. He was assured of his place in the Father’s plan of salvation as two others appeared who had been in that same plan.
We can read the story, we can understand the words, but what does it all mean? What does it mean for us this transfiguration??
I think the best way for us to understand this event so we aren’t as confused as Johnny was, is to look at 3 key words, glory, praise and movement. .
First glory. This word glory is used many times in this text. It means awe, wonder, splendor Christ in all of His glory means in all of His godly might, in all the splendor of heaven. In this transfiguration, Jesus becomes again as God. As John’s gospel says, the word was with God and the word was God. Jesus was the word of God and now that word of God became like God again. He became the king and lord of life. He broke forth from this life, to be what He really was, God the almighty.
Have you had to fly in a airplane on a cloudy rainy day? I have and as the plane climbs up toward the clouds, you can see the rain, the lightening all around. To be in the middle of that is to see some powerful and scary power. However the plane keeps climbing and then all of a sudden you have climbed out of the clouds. You can look down and see the thunderheads and the lightening streaking across the sky. But around the plane now is the brilliant sun, the deep blue of the sky. It is calm and it is peaceful. You settle back in the seat no longer tense, no longer afraid of the wind, the rain and the lightening. Now you can sit back and enjoy the quiet of the ride, the beauty of the sky, the peace.
The transfiguration was just that kind of experience for Jesus and the disciples. They for a moment, left the clouds, the rain, the brokenness of this life to go up the mountain to be with Jesus. They went to see from where Jesus had come from, to see where they would go because of him.
Yes there is an awe, a beauty, a glory about Christ which fills our lives with peace and contentment. That glory gives to our lives the quiet and radiant peace which allows us to have the strength and the courage to handle all the brokenness of life.
"A man was asked by a pastor to come to church for 4 Sundays, He was a skeptic but the pastor thought if he, would come maybe he would be convinced to accept Christ. At the end of the fourth Sunday, the man approached the pastor and said, "I have given my life to Jesus Christ."
The pastor was pleased and said, "Tell me about it?"
The man looked at the pastor and said, ""Well, Pastor it wasn’t your preaching. The man paused for a moment. He went an, "On the third Sunday morning, I saw an elderly lady fall down on the icy roar. I stopped to help her and I saw the radiance on her face, even in the midst of such difficulty.
So I asked her what gave her life such a radiant glow and she said simply, ’If you knew my Lord Jesus Christ and felt his love in your life, you would have the same look of radiance on your face.’
"I became a Christian," the man said, "because of the glow on that woman’s face was like a light shining into the darkness of my soul."
The glory, the light, the radiance of the Transfiguration is still with us as we allow the spirit of Christ to enter our lives and transform us into his children.
As that glory, that awe, that wonder, that radiance transforms our lives, we become happy, we want to sing praises to God for his act of deliverance, his transform in act in our lives.
And that brings us to the second word, praise.
A poem by Wordsworth says:
I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thought; a sense of sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man ;
An motion and a Spirit that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
Add rolls through all things,"
That presence is God himself through Christ and the Spirit entering our souls and then we drop to our knees in an act of worship as we praise Him for his glory. As we are filled’ with his love, as we feel his transforming power as we come to the knowledge that Jesus is God himself in the flesh for us, then and only then do we turn to him with our praise, our joy, our spirit filled with loud voices praising God almighty for his wonderful deeds
As we accept Jesus as God incarnate, as God with flesh on, then the glory becomes brighter and brighter. As the glory shines more, the praise becomes louder and louder. As our shouts of praise become louder and louder, our acceptance, our welcoming of Christ becomes deeper and deeper in our soul. A life of a Christian is not a static one, but it is always changing, growing, maturing, accepting, comprehending, absorbing this love of Christ for the self in new and vibrant ways.
A pastor says in the Augsburg sermon series the follow:
’ "But not until God stepped into his own creation as a man, not until he came to be our brother, not until he suffered for the guilt of sin and died by crucifixion, not until he broke the death grip and destroyed the force of hell had He revealed himself in all his love, compassion, mercy, pity, grace that satisfies our desperate need.
I see as each of us makes this his own confession. I see my Lord not as a man who points the way, but as the God who is the Way, not as a good teacher who dropped in to teach some truth, but as the God who is the Truth, not as revealer of a better life, but as the God who is the life."
And that brings us to the final word, movement. We encounter the glory of God, we praise him for it as we learn to accept him, then he calls us to listen, and then to act. The text says, "And a voice came out of the cloud saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to Him’"’
There is a sense which we must still listen to Jesus as he guide us down the journey of life. His speech is always the same, he tells us of the love the Father has for us then he challenges us to love one another in the same way.
There is a plan, a map, a direction to our lives as we listen to Christ. Peter wanted to stay on that mountain, to stay in the peace and the glory of that moment, but Jesus said no. They would descend from the mountain, back to the valley, back to the brokenness, back to the pain and heartache, back to the people, back to where ministry needs to be done.
A hymn tells of this power of Christ as the glory of Christ brings us to sing praises as we accept him as Lord then He moves us out into action.
Listen to the lines of the Battle Hymn of the Republic - ~
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored
He has loosed the fateful lightening of his terrible swift sword
His truth is marching on
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat
Oh, be swift my soul to answer him; be jubilant my feet
Our God is marching on
In the beauty of the fillies Christ was born across the sea
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me
As he died to make men holy, let us live to make me free
While God is marching on
Can you feel the sense of action, the movement, the going forward with Christ. We listen, then we act.
We let our lifestyles show people the radiant face of one who knows Christ, who has praised Christ, who has worshiped and server him. One who has listened and followed him.
Let us act so that all might believe, all might be transformed, all might be made radiant, by the love of Christ.
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale
