The Last Sunday of Epiphany

Preached by The Very Reverend Robert Neske, Dean, at Saint Mark’s Pro-Cathedral, Hastings, February 14, 2010

Jesus transfiguration on the mountain is last of the great epiphanies that marked our Lord’s earthly ministry. For Peter, James and John this event would become a profound memory, but also a critical moment in their own ministries, though they would not understand this until after the resurrection, for the transfiguration revealed, if only for a moment who Jesus really is and who he would become. Being and becoming.

 Jesus has been speaking to his disciples about the cost of discipleship; he has also been speaking to them of that day when the Son of Man comes “in his glory and the glory of the Father and the holy angels.” The significance of the transfiguration is that three of the disciples are about to see Jesus’ glory.

 Of course the disciples had no idea as to what was about to take place when Jesus called then to come away with him to the mountains. Remember that Jesus would often retreat to lonely places in order to get away from the demands of the crowds. Luke hints that this all may have taken place during the Feast of Tabernacles, the Fall harvest festival which also called Sukkoth. As a good portion of the population would have been in Jerusalem to observe the festival, this would indeed have been a good time to get away and so it is that Jesus and the twelve make their way to the mountain; but only Peter, James and John accompany him to the top.

 Unlike Matthew and Mark, Luke does not identify the mountain and in truth it is of little significance one way or another, except as a high place where God might be sought; as ancient tradition in Israel held that God was to be found on the high places. It is there that while praying we are told: “the appearance of his face changed.” Another translation says “altered” while still another says: “became different.” Unlike Mark and Matthew, Luke doesn’t use the word ‘transfigured’ at all. This is because the change in Jesus appearance allows the three apostles to see Jesus ‘glory’ (doch). This is the same word Luke uses to describe Moses and Elijah – the doch is meant to reflect not only heaven, but the Presence of God infusing their being. This is what the disciples see in Jesus as well, they see who Jesus truly is for the first time. Previously Peter had confessed Jesus to be the Christ, but now he sees the truth of his confession; Jesus is indeed the Christ the Son of the Living God.

 Moses and Elijah are speaking to Jesus of his departure; which is an inadequate translation of the Greek which uses the word exodus; the implication being that Jesus is to accomplish a new exodus for the People of God, a new deliverance, a new liberation from slavery and oppression. Remember that the symbol of Israel’s past liberation was Moses who led the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt to the edge of the Promised Land; while the symbol of restoration was Elijah, at whose coming again it was believed that God’s kingdom would be restored.

 As the divine conference ends, Peter tries to hold on to and enshrine the moment, as people so often try to do with life-changing events. Simon Peter would like to make booths, which was one of the customs of the Feast of Sukkoth, a reminder of when the Israelites lived in tents and of a time when God tented among his people; but before he and the others can begin building, the Cloud overshadows the mountain. The Cloud is the presence of God, again bringing us back to Mt Sinai when God appeared to Moses in a cloud. Out of the Cloud there is a voice that in retrospect they will realize was none other than the Voice of God. As God spoke at the Jordan, at the time of Jesus baptism so the Voice of God is heard now with the same message; “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.”

 Yet in that moment what the three disciples were seeing was Jesus as he would become at the resurrection, they beheld his glory. Remarkably, the three kept silent as to what they had seen and heard; considering the fact that these three, both individually and collectively had a gift for saying and doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, this was quite an accomplishment.

 Or perhaps they weren’t really sure at to what they had seen; perhaps they thought it a dream; or the more likely case, they didn’t speak of it because they had no words for what they had seen and known. They had stood in the Cloud, they had heard the Voice of God, and they had encountered the Divinity and by all rights should be dead. What were they to do with this knowledge? They did not so and so remained silent until after the resurrection. Because in that moment they had come to know the truth, that what Jesus is they too could become.

 Jesus’ transfiguration invites the followers of Jesus to reconsider our understanding of Christ, especially as we approach the coming Season of Lent. The key word or phrase for us, as it was for the disciples, is doch – which means glory to be sure, but also means belief and truth; for when we use the word orthodoxy, the word literally means ‘right’ glory’, but is understood as right belief, in other words, the truth of our faith, and our hope. Why is this important?

We live at a time and in a culture, where the truth of the Christian faith is under attack; where the name of Jesus is regarded as a joke or an epithet; where the old heresies denying his divinity, denying his unique identity as the only begotten Son of God have found a new home with those who advocate “progressive Christianity” which is in fact no Christianity at all, as it denies the basic tenets of our faith, the Trinity, the reality of the Incarnation, the Atonement,  the resurrection itself and the saving power that comes through faith in Jesus the Christ, who died for us and rose for us that we might become the children of God through faith.

 Yet it is through faith that we too see Christ for who he is , our savior, our Lord, our redeemer, the one who has delivered us from sin and death and offers us the way to eternal life that we might become as he is, and share in his glory for eternity.