Last Sunday after Epiphany

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Last Sunday after Epiphany
PROPER: Year C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: February 22, 1998

TEXT: Luke 9:28-36 - "The Transfiguration of Christ"
"And while he was praying the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking with him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure (exodus), which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. . . . Then from the cloud came a voice that said, 'This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!'"

ISSUE: The transfiguration is a mystical experience, foreign to the American mind set. It reveals Jesus as unique with the great men, Moses and Elijah. The event punctuates the high esteem in which Jesus is held by the early church, as God's chosen Son who now is worthy of being listened to, as was Moses and Elijah. It is the epiphany of Jesus as Lord who will lead a new exodus through his Cross and Resurrection to the Kingdom of God. It is both a mystical epiphany experience and preparation for the passion.
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The Transfiguration experience of Jesus in today's gospel reading is probably one of the more difficult parts of the Scriptures for us American people to appreciate. It was indeed a mystical experience of the early church. It is a vision, a kind of dream state, or altered consciousness state of being for Jesus and his close disciples: Peter, James, and John. The Transfiguration expericence is reported in the three synoptic accounts of gospel: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But Americans like what they can control and prove, and are somewhat distrustful of mystical experiences. Yet, the first century Mediterranean culture was nearly so adverse to these mystical experiences. For the early church the dazzling Jesus on the Mountain top had great significance and meaning. It was not something to be disproved or to be skeptical about, it rather conveyed for these people great wonder and meaning.
In the event as told by Luke's gospel account, which is one of the more earthy accounts. Remember that Jesus' Beatitudes that we read last week were not on a mountain, but on a plain. Jesus takes his closest disciples to a mountain top, a high place for prayer. He takes with him Peter, James, and John. While they are on the mountain, sleepy as the disciples are, they share a common mystical vision. Jesus is seen with two angel-like figures of Moses and Elijah. Moses had been called to be Israel's leader out of the burning bush on the mountain side. Moses was also Israel's great law-giver who himself had gone up on a high mountain to receive The Commandments. He came down from the mount with his face aglow revealing the glory of God. Elijah also had a mountain top experience as a great prophet on Mt. Carmel, where he called down fire from heaven which ignited his water drenched sacrifice. Elijah was the prophet revealing the power of Yahweh-God over all the other gods. Moses's grave site was never known, and Elijah was swept away by God on the chariot of fire. The Transfiguration account places Jesus oin the midst of these great spiritual men, and he too is seen to be dazzling, on fire, aglow with the Glory of God. Jesus is the dazzling new burning bush. Jesus is the chariot of fire.
The disciples witnessing this magnificent experience hear Moses, Elijah, and Jesus discussing Jesus' "departure." The accurate or more literal translation is "exodus." They are discussing Jesus' exodus that is his impending departure through crucifixion. He becomes the leader who leads his own through his death on the cross to the Kingdom of God, as Moses had led his people across the Red Sea into the Promised Land. Those who stay awake, those who remain faithful see the dazzling fiery Glory of Christ. They hear the voice of God saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him." This event is another one of those momentous events as was Jesus' mysterious baptism when God claimed Jesus as his own, and proclaimed him as Son.
For Luke, for Matthew and Mark, for the early church this mystical event was a prophetic proclamation: Jesus is Lord. He shares the honor of the great ones, Moses and Elijah. He is the fulfillment of all the Law and Prophets. He is the living outward real manifestation of the dazzling Glory of God, Son of God, listen to him! His disciples are in utter awe and wonder. Peter wants to hold onto the moment building a booth of memorial. They are awe struck and contemplate the experience in silence. They saw in Jesus Christ the Glory of God, the truly great Epiphany. There is an enlightment that takes place as a result of the event: Jesus is Lord and his way of bringing salvation and hope to the world is through his death on the cross and his resurrection. His journey, then, to Jerusalem is set.
What I believe is help for us today in the understanding of this passage is to remember that Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain to pray after discussing some difficult issues. Jesus had been discussing his own death, and the fact that all who followed him would have to take up their cross and follow him. For the disciples that followed Jesus, they lived in a time of great distress. People died young. Very few children grew lived long enough to grow to adulthood. Disease and pain were rampant. Many were the socially poor and excluded. Furthermore the disciples of Jesus faced alienation from their families. Earliest Christians faced exclusion from their families and friends, not to mention persecution. These times were dark for many people. They climbed a mountain to pray with Jesus to pray.
What brings any of us to knees to pray? Though we all know that we are supposed to pray without ceasing, the fact of the matter is that we are most consciously aware of our need to pray when we are in or facing a crisis. It is times of crisis that we look for miracles and mysterious events or signs to deliver us. We too pray that we will escape our pain whether it is physical or mental anguish. We pray in times of crisis for help, for guidance. We may pray that God will jump right in and change things. We pray somehow that God will miraculously and mysteriously be with us as our deliverance.
When we feel alone with a problem don't we want some companionship from God? It is sometimes hard to be alone when we have lost companionship with someone we have loved. When we are afraid of the future and what it may bring, our own illness or death. All of us face dark moments, moments of distress, guilt, shame, fear, doubt, uncertainty, anxiety.
In moments of shame and guilt, when we bear a burden of being foolish, don't our hearts need a sense of healing and hope that we can be restored and redeemed? There are, of course, great moments of darkness in our human mortal lives.
Jesus invited his closest disciples to be with him at a time of prayer as he himself faced a very dark and difficult time, anticipating the cross and the shame that it implied. Their times of darkness became enlightened and dazzled by the living Christ. They came to experience the Glory of God in Jesus Christ. The experience did not take away the fact that Jesus would be excused from facing the cross, but it led them all to see that whatever the pain and suffering that they would face, God would be with them and see them through the difficulty of their exodus and lead them into his Kingdom. It is Christ who is the burning bush, the flaming chariot, the light and the enlightment of God whose forgiveness and love leads us into His Glory.
We may all want to pay more attention to our need to be prayerful. We may want to pay closer attention to our dreams. We may all want to develop a spiritual life in our reading, our prayer, our love of music and poetry, that we may be enlightened by the brighter Glory of God and hear his voice that leads us through even death to the Promised Land of forgiveness, love, and hope.
This day is one of transition. It reveals the great Epiphany of Jesus as Lord, and the dazzling hope of the world. It is also a day and passage of great spiritual meaning that calls us into a deep spiritual relationship with the Lord as we enter the Lenten Season.