Sermon for February 14th

“This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.

There are times when I really appreciate the little blurbs placed above the readings in our Celebrate inserts each week. They often give good insight into the readings or background information that you may not have known. But sometimes I believe that they really miss the mark, like the one explaining today’s gospel reading. Here’s what it says, “The conversation about Jesus’ suffering and death is enclosed in a dazzling foreshadowing of the resurrection.”

Today is Transfiguration Sunday, but it is NOT a dazzling foreshadowing of the resurrection. What does the text say? Jesus went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed and his clothes became dazzling white (transfigured). Suddenly the disciples saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to Jesus. They appeared in glory and were speaking about his departure (that is, Jesus’ death), which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. There is no talk here about resurrection. So why does the Celebrate insert decide to bring it up?

Why? Because it’s hard to believe that Jesus’ death on the cross is actually how God shows his glory. The bright shining face of Jesus holds more possibilities we imagine. It’s always a temptation to try and jump ahead to the resurrection and look past the death. But God’s glory is shown most amazingly in the cross of Christ. God has brought the dead back to life before. The prophet Elijah raised the dead, Jesus raised the dead, God even created humankind out of the dust of the ground at the beginning of creation. God had created life before—from nothing. But God shows his glory most dazzlingly by giving his very self over to death in Jesus.

In the passage just previous to Jesus going up this mountain to pray, Jesus says, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.” Is the transfiguration really about the resurrection? Or does this event just make the march to death all that more offensive to us? Yes, there will be a resurrection, but the glory of that resurrection can only be understood if we can handle staring at the cross, with all it’s shame and despair. And Jesus’ transfiguration shows us exactly who is going to suffer from that shame and despair.

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.” Of course! Why go down the mountain ever again? There’s only death and persecution waiting there. Let’s stay up here! Let’s stay where the glory is! Where God speaks out of clouds and where Jesus’ face shines like lighting! Soon, Jesus will be abandoned by his father on the cross and his face will be covered with blood. He will be as one from whom others hide their faces, as the prophet Isaiah puts it, but here, on the mountaintop, we see God’s glory.

Everyone needs a good mountaintop experience sometime. The honeymoon, the winner’s circle, the fifteen minutes of fame. A moment in time where everything seems to be going right and life is amazing. The problem comes when we start demanding that that be the norm or start thinking that those experiences are somehow better, more “divine” and “godly” than the other experiences in life. The love in marriage isn’t defined by the honeymoon bliss, but by the years of careful attention to each other’s needs. Amazingly, love is most gloriously manifested when it goes through the suffering of death. That’s where you see true love. If couples never left the honeymoon suite, never came down from that mountaintop, the true glory of love would never come about. Jesus’ glory is surely shown when he is transfigured and when he is resurrected, but the true glory of God’s love will come across most clearly on the cross of Calvary.

My wife’s uncle is a Methodist pastor in Texas and I’ve heard about an example he gave one time for a group of couples preparing for marriage. I thought this story would be especially appropriate on Valentine’s Day. He took off his wedding ring and talked about how, when he was first married, it was bright, shiny and perfect looking. Now, it has dents and scratches. Marriage, like all relationships, isn’t perfect, it is full of ups and downs, mountaintop experiences and deep down sufferings. But those dents and scratches in a marriage, and in a ring, make it real, make it true, make it a reflection of a long-lasting and steadfast love.

In Jesus’ transfiguration, God is not simply foreshadowing the resurrection, but placing a spotlight on a man headed for crucifixion. Because love doesn’t always look pretty. While we hide our faces from the cruelty, Jesus does not hide his face from us. His disciples abandoned their Lord and still, when the thief being crucified beside him cries out, Jesus hears and promises that God will not abandon him—“Today you will be with me in paradise.” The cross of Christ is a true reflection of God’s glory, for he is most glorious when he is showing his love for you. There is no greater love than this, Jesus maintains, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Why the Transfiguration? God shows the world, in Jesus’ shining image, that God does not expect anyone to take this suffering from him. God does not expect anyone to take this suffering WITH him. God shows the disciples, on that mountaintop, that God will express his love in the fullest way that he can fathom, when Jesus dies alone, God’s chosen one, the lamb of God, sacrificed for the sins of the world—for your sins. And so, when the dazzling light disappears and the cloud passes, it is time for the journey to Jerusalem. The journey to the cross will be made not just by another prophet or charismatic preacher, but by God’s Son. Who will bear the sins of the world? God himself in all his glory. 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. Amen.