Standing In Awe

February 27, 2022

The Transfiguration of Our Lord

Hope Lutheran Church

Rev. Mary Erickson

Luke 9:28-36

Standing in Awe

Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Every year in February, there’s an amazing natural phenomenon occurring at Yosemite National Park. It lasts only for about two weeks and it involves Horsetail Falls. The waterfall is situated on the eastern side of El Capitan. Under ordinary circumstances, Horsetail Falls definitely isn’t the most spectacular of waterfalls. In fact, its water only runs while there is snowmelt. During the rest of the year, the falls cease to run.

But during this brief, two-week period, the angle of the setting sun illuminates the falls and surrounding mist with the dying embers of its rays. The ordinary waterfall is transfigured into a river of fire.

Every year photographers gather like pilgrims. They’ve come to capture the magic of Horsetail Falls and the setting sun. It’s not a guarantee that they’ll see it. There needs to be sufficient snowfall to create runoff, and if the sky is overcast, the sun won’t provide the necessary illumination.

But they come, every year. They come, hoping to see the transformation of the waterfall into a river of fire. They arrive early in the day and stake a territory so they can witness the few minutes when water miraculously changes into fire.

What they come for is awe. In that moment of marvelous transformation, they’re filled with awe.

Awe is a feeling that overwhelms us when we’re in the presence of something extremely grand or vast or powerful. When we’re captured by awe, it’s not uncommon to feel small in comparison to the phenomenon or the being before us. Awe fills us with wonder and maybe even some fear. An awesome experience demands our attention – it makes us fully present to the moment.

Our reading today from Luke captures a moment of tremendous awe for Peter, James, and John. The three disciples had accompanied Jesus up a mountain. They went up to that isolated place to pray. But while they were praying, something most awesome occurred.

Jesus’ appearance changed before their very eyes. His face was somehow altered and his clothing became dazzling white. And then two men stood next to him. It was Moses and Elijah, the two great men of faith from the Old Testament. Together, these two figures represented the Law and the Prophets of the Hebrew scriptures.

The three disciples were utterly and completely overwhelmed by awe. They realized they were in the presence of the divine. They suddenly had a new understanding of their close friend and rabbi, Jesus. In one way, it answered questions they’d long wondered. Like, when Jesus calmed the raging storm. “Who is this,” they’d asked, “who is this, that wind and sea obey him?” Or when he’d cast a legion of demons from a possessed man and sent them into a herd of swine.

Peter had already taken a guess at who Jesus was. When Jesus had asked him, “Well, who do you think I am?” Peter replied, “You are the promised Messiah of Israel.”

But now, beholding him dazzling and transfigured, they witness the fullness of his essence: Jesus is not just the Messiah; he’s also divine. And to stand before the divine is an awesome reality.

Peter is overwhelmed with awe. He doesn’t know what to do or say. He blubbers on about building lean-tos for Jesus and Moses and Elijah. But then a mysterious cloud rolls in and overshadows them in divine fog. And from the mist a voice speaks, the voice of God: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”

It was a moment that would stay with Peter for the rest of his life. Years later, in one of his letters he recalled this holy, awesome moment. He had witnessed Jesus’ glory with his own eyes! he had heard the divine voice with his own ears! This reverential, holy moment stayed with him. It gave him strength in times of want and direction in moments of confusion.

This mountain top moment wasn’t lost on Jesus, either. Luke says that Moses and Elijah spoke to Jesus about his “departure.” That word in the Greek text is “exodus.” That’s a word that carries a lot of weight. The exodus journey delivered the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt. It was a journey of liberation.

And now Jesus will accomplish an Exodus in Jerusalem. When Elijah and Moses are speaking to Jesus about his exodus, they mean his crucifixion. They’re saying something about its significance. Through his death on a cross, Jesus will usher in the holy deliverance of God. Surely, this awesome encounter encouraged and strengthened Jesus towards his terrible destiny.