Luke 9:28-36 Common English Bible
About eight days after Jesus said these things, he took Peter, John, and James, and went up on a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes flashed white like lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, were talking with him. They were clothed with heavenly splendor and spoke about Jesus’ departure, which he would achieve in Jerusalem. Peter and those with him were almost overcome by sleep, but they managed to stay awake and saw his glory as well as the two men with him.
As the two men were about to leave Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it’s good that we’re here. We should construct three shrines: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—but he didn’t know what he was saying. Peter was still speaking when a cloud overshadowed them. As they entered the cloud, they were overcome with awe.
Then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to him!” Even as the voice spoke, Jesus was found alone. They were speechless and at the time told no one what they had seen.
Whenever I read a text that begins like this one does: “About eight days after Jesus said these things” --- I want to know what was going on.
Just before Jesus takes James, John and Peter up to the top of Mount Tabor --- we have the story of the feeding of the 5 thousand --- followed up by this intriguing conversation between Jesus and the disciples: (Luke 9:18-27)
Once when Jesus was praying by himself, the disciples joined him, and he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They answered, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others that one of the ancient prophets has come back to life.”
He asked them, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?”
Peter answered, “The Christ sent from God.”
After Jesus asks the disciples who in the world they think he is --- Jesus continues with this --- to me --- rather bizarre admonition.
Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone. He said, “The Human One must suffer many things and be rejected—by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts—and be killed and be raised on the third day.”
Jesus said to everyone, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will save them. What advantage do people have if they gain the whole world for themselves yet perish or lose their lives? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see God’s kingdom.”
I think it is important for us to keep this context in our mind as we look at our story today.
Jesus tells us:
I am going to die – be murdered
Take up your cross DAILY (oh that is another topic in itself!)
Value what really matters
Don’t be ashamed of me
The kingdom will be here shortly (before you die)
Oh yeah --- Don’t tell anybody who I am
And then --- then --- we head up to, what traditions says is the top of Mount Tabor --- or at least a select few do.
In chapter 8 of Luke’s gospel Jesus seems to have designated an inner circle of James, John and Peter.
We climb up to the mountaintop with the disciples to encounter this very strange story.
It begins with Jesus, as he often is, taking time to be present to God when all of a sudden, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became blinding white.
Two people appear and seem to be in a conversation with Jesus. And Luke wants us to know that these are not two ordinary men --- but rather heroes from the Hebrew tradition.
Moses and Elijah
They were talking about what was going to happen when Jesus gets to Jerusalem.
What I love about this story is how Peter, James and John react.
They seem to have been sleeping while Jesus was praying to God and when they woke up, they were startled at who had joined them --- as I imagine most of us would be.
Not wanting this experience to come to an end
Peter suggests building some dwellings --- tents --- or shrines.
Shelters for these distinguished guests
But this mountaintop experience could not be captured.
This experience --- this glimpse of the glory and majesty of God --- was fleeting.
But hopefully --- even thought this experience could not last --- hopefully the disciples were strengthened and renewed by this experience.
Because the journey that they were getting ready to embark on was going to lead them to another mountaintop --- this time one in which Jesus would again be transfigured --- but this time in suffering and death --- and ultimately resurrection.
Can you think of a time where you have experienced the glory of God?
When you have been to the mountaintop?
When I think about mountaintop experiences in my life, I find that I am a heck of a lot like the disciples.
I want to stay up on that mountain and bask in the glory of the experience.
How about for you?
But that is not how it works --- is it?
We don’t get to stay up on that mountain and ignore the world around us --- at least not very long.
Eventually we have to come down.
The truth is --- God wants us to come down
Before the disciples came down from the mountain: the spirit spoke to them and said:
“This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to him!”
Listen
What is it that God wants us to hear? --- what is it that God wants us to see?
When I reflect on the mountaintop experiences in my life, they have usually signaled some momentous change or shift that is about to take place.
God seems to be using those mountaintop experiences to help prepare me --- to have the strength and the courage to face the next chapter of my life.
Because life is not lived on the mountaintop
Life is lived in the valleys and hills that make up our journey.
The sometimes very mundane nature of life.
Whenever I think of mountaintop experiences --- my mind instantly goes back to that speech that Martin Luther King Jr. gave on April 3rd in Memphis Tennessee at the Mason Temple
Martin said:
We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Of course, we all remember that the very next day --- Martin would be dead.
Assassinated by James Earl Ray --- Martin was dead and his dream seemed tenuous at best.
And it still feels that way --- 55 years later --- the promised land sometimes feels like a distant dream.
Frederick Buechner, in his book Beyond Words, mused that maybe the oddness of the Transfiguration is not so odd after all.
It is interesting to note that although Luke tells us that Jesus’ garments shone as bright as a flash of lightning, we are not told that Jesus’ face shone, only that it “changed.”
In the Greek this is literally that the EIDOS of his face changed, the image, the appearance, of his face was altered.
How so?
We’re not told, but it seems that maybe what happened that day is that the true image of God --- shone through in a way the disciples managed to miss seeing most days.
In that moment --- maybe Jesus was the spitin’ image of God his father.
The truth is that we too often miss seeing this in each other.
We all KNOW intellectually that we are made in the image of God.
But too often we don’t live that way.
We rush past each other in the grocery store
Get annoyed when they get into our space on an airplane
Judge them for wearing a mask --- or not wearing a mask
And so, we miss seeing God’s presence in each other.
Frederick Buechner reminds us that there are moments of transfiguration in all our lives.
Certainly not on par with what happened to Jesus but still --- as Buechner put it,
“Even with us something like this happens once in a while.
The face of the man walking with his child in the park, of a woman baking bread, or sometimes even the most unlikely person listening to a concert or standing barefoot in the sand watching the waves roll in, or just having a beer at a Saturday baseball game in July.
Every once and so often, something so touching, so incandescent, so alive transfigures the human face that it’s almost beyond bearing.”
What I love about the transfiguration story is that for just a brief moment the curtain is drawn aside --- and the disciples --- and us of course --- get a glimpse of what is to come.
A glimpse of the image of God
Of the majesty
Or as Martin reminded us ---
“I've seen the promised land. . . . Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
For Luke, this story is the transition from Jesus’ ministry to his passion and it is fitting that we remember it the Sunday before we begin the season of Lent.
Luke will tell us shortly after this story that “Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem” or as Peterson interprets it: Jesus “gathered up his courage and steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem.”
We too are called to called to gather up our courage --- come down from the mountaintop --- and follow Jesus into Jerusalem.
And as we do --- to see the glory of God all around us
And to remember that we are called to be witnesses of that glory and to spread the hope and possibility of the promised land.
WH Auden wrote, September 1, 1939, in remembrance of the Nazi invasion into Poland which marked the beginning of World War II. It seems fitting to be reminded of it today as we have witnessed the invasion of Ukraine by the Russians this past week.
These are the last two stanzas of that poem.
All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie,
The romantic lie in the brain
Of the sensual man-in-the-street
And the lie of Authority
Whose buildings grope the sky:
There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.
Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame.
So let’s gather up our courage ---
We have seen the glory of God
It is time to come down from the mountaintop and join Jesus as we walk with him to our Jerusalem.
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