Year A Transfiguration Sunday 2023 What Do You See?

 Year A Transfiguration Sunday, 6 August 2023

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“What Do You See?”

Collect: O God, who on the holy mount revealed to chosen witnesses your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in his beauty; who with you, O Father, and you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

2 Peter 1:13-21

I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to refresh your memory, since I know that my death will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but 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.

So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Luke 9:28-36

Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 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 to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

We see what we want to see. Rarely do we really see. Our mind makes connections. It takes leaps to fill in the gaps. When we are young, we observe everything, which is why it seems like everything takes forever. When we are older, we observe less and assume more. That is probably why time seems to go more quickly the older we get. We no longer have that sense of awe and wonder we had when we were young. That is why when we have some traumatic or tragic event we remember more detail and time seems to slow down.

We all have those life moments, those seconds that get etched onto our hard drives and we will never ever forget them. The Transfiguration of the Christ was one such moment.

Maybe Jesus felt that something special was about to happen. In our synoptic Gospels, this is the event where Jesus turns his face to Jerusalem for what we call Holy Week and all that transpires therein. After this, everything changed.

Jesus calls his closest apostles, Peter, James, and John. And together they go up the mountain to pray. And that is where everything begins:

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 to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 

Jesus is interacting with the Divine. Like Moses in our Exodus reading this morning, there is a physical manifestation of this divine encounter. He was transfigured, there was a change in his person. Dazzling white. Glowing as it were. He exudes what is going on inside. And then, this is where we see the exemplars of the Law and the Prophets coming and speaking of the fulfillment that will come, what will happen in Jerusalem, and his departure. He will leave when he has done what it was he came to do. 

Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 

This was overwhelming. Shutting down is a normal human response to overload. Call it fainting, or passing out. Sleep is another option. Too much to handle, we close our eyes and check out. But the apostles fought it, and were attentive to what was happening.

But, also very human, Peter confuses the preparation for the main event. Jesus needed this affirmation, this attaboy, to go through the coming weeks and final days. He needed this to be sure that what he was called to do was real, and true, and good. He was fully divine and fully human. And in our humanity we all need affirmations and reminders to get us through the hard times. Be it wedding rings, or rituals like baptisms, or whatever to remind us of who we are and what we are to be about. Some days that is all we have to help us through the hard times.

But Jesus did not need a roadside attraction to be reminded of what took place here. He did not need Peter’s tabernacles. But Peter thought he was doing the right thing. Thankfully, this is where God steps in and shuts down Peter’s plans.

A cloud, a covering of the divine, overshadows the mountaintop and covers all.

I used to direct a camp atop the Blue Ridge mountains at the Peaks of Otter in Bedford. There were many a night where the clouds came over and you could not see 5 feet in front of you. One time we were coming back from a movie in Roanoke, and we had someone get out of the car and walk the line down the middle of the Parkway to make sure we stayed on the road. I kept a tire on either side of the line just to be sure. We had no choice but to go on, or I would never have driven in those conditions. Those 5 miles seemed an eternity driving through that pea soup.

In my mind’s eye, that is what it was like on the Mount of Transfiguration. Nothing moved, a holy stillness, and then God’s voice broke through the impenetrable cloud.

Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

This was a very convenient story, or it might seem. Jesus and his special chosen followers, alone on a mountaintop. But later, Peter uses this as his reminder. He uses it as that moment of clarity in his life that made everything that came after make sense.

In our II Peter reading, we have Peter reminding his followers of this reality. He even brings up his demise, which he has been told is soon, and because of the events on that mountain he was okay with that. He had nothing to worry about, Peter had this. He had the Resurrection. Everything that Jesus had said had been justified and proven true, and Peter had no concerns. He was a small part of something huge. A part in the meaning and purpose of existence. He had heard the nay-sayers, and to them, this is his response…

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but 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.

This is no game to Peter. It was not a fraud. If this were a common lie to be important or to start some money-making cult, then Peter and the other apostles would have recanted before they were executed. But they did not. Not a one of them. According to tradition, 10 of the 11 (not counting Judas here) died horrible deaths even when given a chance to recant. They were not selling “cleverly devised myths.”

If you and I were on that mountain, what would we have seen? A thick fog? We may even have slept through it. We see what we want to see, as I began today. Jesus often said “Let he who has eyes see.” and “Let he who has ears hear.” Just because we have them, it does not mean we use them. Jesus knew this, and it is still true. Peter, James, and John were open to what was happening and saw and heard the unbelievable, the miraculous. May we be so open to God in our own lives. And as I tell this story, what is it you hear, and see, and believe. I can only tell you what comes to me.

Friends, in the Transfiguring of Jesus we see two things. Two huge takeaways, at least to me.

First, Jesus is who he says he is. He is the Chosen One, he is the Beloved. We can cling to that and hold that close when we go through the dark days. And we can feel assured that the promises he made us are real, and good, and true.

And even more, second, if Jesus is the Beloved, the Chosen, then we are, too. He came to open the door to the Kingdom for each and every one of us. He came so that we can share in the glory. I am the Beloved’s Beloved. I am the Chosen One’s Choice.

Say that with me. “I am the Beloved’s Beloved. I am the Chosen One’s Choice.” 

“I am the Beloved’s Beloved. I am the Chosen One’s Choice.”

In Christ, we too are transfigured. Our clothes are nothing. We are made as white as pure snow, dazzling white. Those stains from sin are cleansed, and we are made fit for heaven. Grace upon grace. Hope beyond hope. Love beyond measure. I am the Beloved’s Beloved. I am the Chosen One’s Choice.

Today as we remember this day, Pentecost may be the birthday of the Church, but this day is our Remembrance Day. We remember who we are because of whose we are.  Thanks be to God. Amen