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The Last Sunday After The Epiphany (Quinquagesima)
O God, who before the passion of thy only-begotten Son didst reveal his glory upon the holy mount: Grant unto us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Scripture citation(s): Luke 9:28-43a
A Sermon by
Fr. Spurlock
on
Luke 9:28-43a
✛
Christ's Unveiled Glory
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Between the three varying accounts of Jesus’ transfiguration written by Mark, Matthew and Luke, they all agree on these key points. Jesus goes up on a mountaintop. He takes Peter, James and John with him. His face changes and, along with his clothes, shines very bright. Moses and Elijah appear and are seen to speak with Jesus. A cloud descends. God’s voice is heard, “This is my son; listen to him.”
Now to try and make sense of all that. In the transfiguration God is telling us something about Jesus. He is giving us a peek behind the veil and reveals a bit of Christ’s glory. And as with all wondrous things about Jesus before his death and resurrection; we are only getting a small glimpse into his glory. But what we see in the transfiguration is more than a shining face. There are all sorts of clues that lead us deeper and deeper into the mystery of Christ’s glory.
There is the appearance of Moses and Elijah. These are mammoth figures in the history of Israel. You could have asked any Jewish child in Jesus’ day and they could tell you the stories of Moses parting the red sea and bringing down the stone tablets written with God’s own finger. Or, God consuming the priests of Baal in an inferno; Elijah slaughtering the pagan priests, and riding up to heaven in a chariot. Much like when I was a boy I could tell you about George Washington and the cherry tree and Valley Forge or Abraham Lincoln and his Gettysburg Address and the emancipation of salves. Moses and Elijah are the kinds of giants who walked the earth at the birthing and evolution of the Jewish nation. But what’s more, these two figures, in the popular imagination, came to embody all the law and all the prophets.
So these two giants of old Israel are seen to be speaking with this itinerant rabbi, this miracle worker, this teacher who is sometimes seen to set himself forth as the master of the law, rather than a follower of it. And he plays so bold as to dispute with the interpreters of the prophets, the scribes, priests and Pharisees. But now Jesus is seen to be talking with the law giver himself, Moses and to the greatest prophet, Elijah, whose appearing was said to foretell the coming of the messiah. And so here we have all the law and all the prophets looking towards Jesus.
Moses used to talk to God face to face and his face glowed with God’s reflected glory. It frightened the people so when he turned to address them Moses would cover his face with a veil. Elijah’s ascension into heaven was accomplished through God’s intervention; a conveyance is sent down to carry him up into the sky. But Christ’s glory is different. His face glows, but it can’t be hidden by a veil; indeed his very clothes shine as bright as his face. This is not reflected glory that comes from speaking with God; this is inner glory bursting out because he is God. And later when Jesus ascends into heaven it won’t be by way of conveyance but by his own will and power.
The reflected glory of God on Moses; the glorious departure of the prophet Elijah into heaven are single incidents in time and history. Christ’s glory is not bound by time or space. It reaches back far, far beyond Elijah and beyond Moses to a time before time to his eternal begotteness. There never was a time when Christ was not. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made….and the word was made flash and dwelt among us…..the only begotten of the Father.” Jn 1.1,3,14 And Christ’s glory reaches forward from the transfiguration to his death, resurrection and ascension. And it will reach beyond us and beyond this moment to a future moment when he will return again in astounding glory: the trumpets blast the earth trembling with the opening of graves and the rising of the dead to the life immortal.
That is the glory that Peter, James and John glimpse on the mountaintop. So can they be blamed for being puzzled? Peter says, “Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three booths; one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Lk 9.33 He wants to hold onto this moment. To fix it in time and space, perhaps echoing the comfortable words of God through the prophet Isaiah: “enlarge the place of thy tent….stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.” Isa 54.2 In other words, hunker down and stay put. I will ensure your safety, your longevity, and your prosperity. What more could the three Jewish witnesses have hoped for than to see their master, whom Peter had already confessed as the Messiah, speaking with the law giver and the prophet whose appearing assures the nation that the Messiah has come. Let’s establish the messianic kingdom right now, let’s pitch our tent right here, lengthen our chords drive our tent stakes deep because this is as good as it can get.
But instead of a rebuke from Jesus, “get thee behind me Satan….” God gives the corrective here. “This is my beloved son; listen to him.” Lk 9.35 God knows that Peter and the other disciples were always looking to avoid the cross. So he commands that they listen to Jesus who knows his glory must stretch far beyond this poor stuff: transfigured appearance, hero worship; a work unfinished if it is fixed here. His glory must reach beyond the moment to its fulfillment on the cross and in the empty tomb.
And this moment does pass. The light fades and it is just the same old Jesus. And so they begin their lonely trek down the hillside in time to be Jerusalem bound. And that is the last we ever hear of the transfiguration until many, many years later when Peter recalls the event in a letter he wrote near the end of his life to those in the churches “who have received a faith as precious as ours” He says, “we have not followed cleverly devised fables when we made know to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice declared this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. All this confirms for us the message of the prophets, to which you will do well to attend; it will go on shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the morning star rises to illuminate your hearts.” 2 Pt 1.16-19
If you wish to watch the sun rise you don’t look to the west; but rather you look to the east. And if you wish to worship Christ you have been told that the hour comes when “ye shall worship neither on a mountain or in Jerusalem or even in this temple, but must learn to worship the Lord in your own spirit and in your own heart. Jn 4.21-23 One of the last words Jesus ever says to us in scripture, in the last verses of the book of Revelation is “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify to you in the churches that I am the bright and morning star.” Beloved, please listen to this word from our Lord: if His light can’t be seen to shine from your own heart: his return will be a dark and puzzling day for you. But let it break in and burst out: this love and glory of Christ; let it rise and illuminate your own heart and you will live even beyond the grave to behold his light come again and the glory of the Lord shine upon thee. Isa 60.1
