From the Daily Lectionary for Friday and Saturday of Ordinary Time, Proper 5
Matthew 17:1-13
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” And the disciples asked him, “Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” He replied, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.
The lectionary gospel reading for this Saturday is Matthew’s version of the Transfiguration, the appearing of the Lord in Glory upon the mountain during his earthly life. We will see this story again, because The Transfiguration is one of the Holy Days of the Church Year celebrated as a Feast of our Lord on August 6th, a date chosen because that was the date of the dedication of the first church built on Mount Tabor, located just west of the southern end of the Sea of Chinnereth (Sea of Galilee). For the church historians among you, while some scholars locate the site of the Transfiguration to be on Mount Tabor in Galilee, others say it may have been on Mount Hermon, located farther to the north, near Caesarea Philippi. Still others locate it on the Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem. A little more history: The celebration of the Transfiguration originated in the Eastern Church where the day was celebrated as a feast probably as early as the 4th century. It was much later in the Western Church where it probably started in the late 9th century, and was declared a universal feast in 1457 CE. We read versions of this story in the gospels of Matthew (17:1-13), Mark (9:2-13), and Luke (9:28-36). It is also mentioned in 2 Peter (1:16-18). In addition to the reading during the church celebration of the Transfiguration on August 6th, it is also read on the last Sunday after the Epiphany, leading us into Lent. Many Protestant churches celebrate it on that last Sunday after Epiphany.
So, it is with some risk that I chose to write this reflection on the Transfiguration today, fully aware that there will be more said on the actual feast day on August 6th. Nonetheless we press forward!
What is the significance of this story? Clearly it is a theophany, a revelation of the divinity of Jesus, of God having broken into our world through Jesus. As Jim in his reflections has told us, Matthew in his gospel is trying to appeal to the Jews, trying to show them that Jesus is the Messiah about whom much was written in the first two sections of the Jewish Bible, those being the Law and the Prophets. The Transfiguration shows the testimony to the Messiahship of Jesus by the Law—represented by Moses, and by the prophets—represented by Elijah. So Jesus here is fulfilling both the Law and the Prophets. In addition, the Transfiguration is both a further proclamation and divine confirmation by God of Jesus’ divinity (“This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”), and a foreshadowing of his future glory. It is the glorification of the human nature of Christ, his true nature disclosed, as well as an anticipation of his resurrection and ascension. Some have said that it is a “misplaced” resurrection story, meaning that it is a resurrection appearance which has been transferred back into Jesus’ ministry. Others deny that it has anything to do with the resurrection, but see it as a foreshadowing of the Parousia, or second coming, a “withdrawal-and-return” motif (Toynbee, “Study of History”). The disciples James, John, and Peter represent humanity, and Peter in his offer to build three dwellings (booths or tents) reveals that he doesn’t quite “get it!”, doesn’t understand that Jesus’ time has not yet come, that the “final age” or Kingdom where Jesus with Moses and Elijah will live permanently, is not yet here. Jesus comforts him: “Get up and do not be afraid.” So, to briefly summarize: The divinity of Jesus has been made clear by God, and the disciples have now witnessed it. Jesus is the Messiah about whom the Jewish Bible in its Law and Prophets has spoken. After coming down from this mountaintop, it is on to Jerusalem for Jesus and his disciples. Having seen the light and received the power on the mountain, he has now descended and is ready to enter into the darkness which awaits him in Jerusalem, the final phase of his life on earth.
This is one of several “mountaintop experiences” in scripture. Think of Moses when he encounters God on Mount Sinai. Think of Elijah on Mount Carmel when he calls upon God to reveal God’s self to the worshipers of their gods Ba’al and Asherah. God revealed God’s self on both of those mountains, and on the Mount of the Transfiguration. I think all of these stories can nudge us into some introspection, specifically where we encounter God in our own lives, where as did the disciples in the gospel today we see the divine light of Christ. It is in such encounters, similar to the Transfiguration of Jesus, that we too see God. Transfiguration can be understood as transformation into a higher nature. We too can be transformed, as St. Paul puts it “And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:18). Think of such experiences where you have encountered God, where God “breaks through;” “thin places” where the veil which separates us from God becomes “thin” or transparent, a theophany. They may be powerful “mountaintop experiences” which you will never forget, or they may be little seemingly insignificant events in your everyday lives. Is it in nature? In church? Hiking, painting, singing, gardening, writing, recreation, reading, teaching, preparing a meal for family and friends, seeing the joy in the play and laughter of children? Do you find God in the relationships you have? In welcoming a stranger, helping a neighbor, in your actions to strive for peace and justice? These are all encounters with the Divine. I think our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry would call it The Way of Jesus, or perhaps The Way of Love, so well described in his sermons and reflections in his book The Power of Love. This Way of Jesus is both the work and the fruit of our transformation.
Bob Donnell
Collect for the Transfiguration (BCP p. 243)
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.
