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If No Sound
Visions of Glory©
February 14, 2010
Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99 (UMH 819)
2 Corinthians 3:124:2
Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
Amy DeWitte
It’s a very strange
story, this passage from Luke that tells us about the Transfiguration of Jesus.
That is was this Sunday is named for, the story of the way Jesus was
Transfigured before a handful of his disciples. Transfigured is an odd word,
too. It really means to change the appearance of something. Jesus’ appearance
was changed that day. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
It’s a very strange
story, and it seems to be just plopped right there in the middle of the Gospel.
There Jesus was in the middle of the years of his ministry, going around
teaching and preaching and healing and praying and eating and sleeping – all the
things Jesus did on a regular basis - all the normal human things and then some
of the divine-like things. But then something really strange happens. He takes
a handful of disciples – not all the 12 disciples and certainly not the whole
crowd of people that’s been following him. He takes just Peter, James, and John
up on a mountain. Some scholars speculate that the mountain he went up on was
Mount Hermon, because he had been right near there within those few days
before. That’s the tallest mountain in Israel, by the way. The highest places
were thought to be the places closest to God. A little trivia for you. Anyway,
he went up on a mountain with Peter, James, and John and all of a sudden the
Scriptures says that he was transfigured before them. Well, we don’t really
know what this means. It’s the kind of thing you can’t really describe, you can
just tell about, I guess. Mark just says that he was transfigured, he looked
somehow amazingly different, and his clothes were changed to the whitest white.
It doesn’t really say so in the Scripture, but I kind of imagine Jesus glowing a
bit, like he has a halo, radiating glory. And then all of a sudden there with
him were two heroes from the past, Moses and the great prophet Elijah. And
they’re all standing there together, and must be an amazing sight because Peter
seems to want to make it last – and he offers to make Jesus and Elijah and Moses
each a tent to stay in up on that mountain. But as soon as he can offer, out of
the heavens a voice came down, the voice of the Father, saying, “This is my Son,
the Beloved; listen to him!” And just like that Moses and Elijah were gone and
there was only Jesus with Peter, James, and John. It seemed like as quickly as
the scene begins, it’s all over with and Jesus and his followers are back down
off the mountain, back to their everyday lives.
It’s a very strange
story. It’s not quite like anything else, and it’s kind of hard to makes heads
or tails of what it all means, but on the other hand, it kind of reminds me of a
couple of other stories in the Bible. It reminds me of that time Moses went up
on the mountain and he was in the presence of God and when he came down he was
all aglow, from having been so close to the Almighty. The people were afraid
because of this radiance, and so he covered his face except when he was up on
the mountain with God.
And it reminds me of
Jesus’ baptism, when the Spirit descends of Jesus like a dove, embracing him,
and the voice of he Father comes from the heavens and says “This is my Son, the
Beloved,” just like the Father says here. It’s like there’s no separation
between heaven and earth in that moment.
And it kind of
reminds me of that story about Elijah, where there doesn’t seem to be any
barrier between the heavens and the earth, and Elijah is carried up to heaven in
a whirlwind and chariots of fire.
But it kind of reminds
me of another story that hasn’t happened in the story of Jesus quite yet. But
this time it’s not because the stories are so similar, it’s because they seem to
be almost exactly opposite. The story I’m thinking of is the story of Jesus’
crucifixion. Think about it for a minute – Here in the story of the
Transfiguration, Jesus’ clothes are gleaming white, showing his glory. But in
the story of the crucifixion, Jesus is stripped of his clothes and his dignity
and the people cast lots for his garments. In the story of the transfiguration,
Jesus is surrounded by two heroes, Moses and Elijah, but at the crucifixion,
Jesus in flanked on either side by two common criminals. In the
Transfiguration, Jesus’ glory is witness by three males disciples, Peter, James,
and John, while at the crucifixion, it is three women who witness his death. At
the Transfiguration there seems to be a glowing of light surrounding Jesus, but
at the crucifixion, darkness covers the land. Here in the Transfiguration,
Jesus is in the presence of God the Father Almighty, but at the Crucifixion,
Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
There are so many
contrasts between what happens up on that mountaintop and what happens at the
crucifixion. It’s almost like the Jesus is trying to tell the disciples
something, trying to show them something about who he is and what is about to
happen. You see, just a few days before, Jesus had told the disciples that he
was going to be crucified. How were they going to make it through that horrible
situation? What were they going to make of seeing their savior die?
Well, just as Jesus
had told them about his impending death, now he was showing them what was to
come. He was showing them a little of what heaven is like, a little glimpse of
the resurrection. In a way, he was saying, my death is going to have to be part
of this journey, but it’s certainly not the end. There may be darkness and
loneliness and death, but there will also be radiance, and the love of God, and
resurrection. This is just a taste of what would happen Easter Sunday.
And it can be for us,
a little taste of the resurrection as well. Right before the Transfiguration,
Jesus told his disciples that this life of faith wouldn’t necessarily be an easy
journey. He said, if any of us want to be his followers, if we want life, we
will have to take up our crosses and follow him. And living in this sinful,
fallen world isn’t easy. Because of sin, Jesus died on the cross. Because of
sin, there is war and greed and death and misunderstanding and pain and illness
and all kinds of things that are just not right, just not the way God intended
things to be. A preaching professor at school (Richard Lischer) tells the story
of a young soldier in WWI fighting in the trenches with shells exploding all
around him watching men die all around him and he turned to a fellow soldier and
said simply, “We weren’t meant for this.”
Sin has caused all
kinds of things in this world that we weren’t meant for either. But hear this
good news: the scene from up on that mountaintop of Jesus in all his glory was
not just a glimpse of Jesus’ resurrection for the disciples. It is for us, too,
a glimpse of the way God will make all things right for his glory in the days to
come. I want to share with you a song that is so very powerful and hopeful to
me. The song is called “This Too Shall Be Made Right” …
We’re about to enter a
time of the Christian Year called Lent, a forty day journey toward the
crucifixion, toward the cross. It’s meant to be a period of confession and deep
thinking. It’s meant to be a pretty sad period, where we mourn the fact that we
are sinful and we remember the painful sacrifice of Christ. It’s not supposed
to be an easy time of year for us, just as this journey of faith is not
necessarily supposed to be easy for us, this life that we live in a broken world
is not always easy for us. The song we just heard talks about all kinds of
horrible things that just seem like things we have to deal with, things that are
a part of living on earth. Death and revenge and worry and greed and war and
hunger and destruction of the environment. But hear the good news, see the
glimpse of light in the radiant, glorious Jesus – one day this too shall be made
right. When you struggle with the things that that plague this broken world
that we live in, when you struggle with sin or not being able to pay your bills
or having too many demands on you or pain or depression, as you journey through
the valley of the shadow of death this Lenten season, remember the good news –
this too shall be made right.
Copyright © 2009 Amy DeWitte. All Rights Reserved. No portion of
this writing may be reproduced in any form without specific, written
permission of the author.
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