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Transfiguration Sunday, 03/06/2011
Sermon on Matthew 17:5-8, by Steve Saxe
5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and have no fear." 8 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
It is not my intention to belittle the Transfiguration as described in the gospel...or to trivialize it, but thin for a moment how well it would fit as the half-time show of the Super Bowl! After all, the Transfiguration is certainly is a sensational event!
There are lights: Jesus' face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. Co-stars are involved: there appeared to them Moses and Elijah; and special effects a-plenty: a bright cloud overshadowed them.
There is even an Announcer: a voice from the cloud! You have to admit that all of the makings of a good show are involved! As described for us by Matthew, the Transfiguration has what it takes to be a media event!
Yet before we get too amused or distracted with the similarities between the Transfiguration and the Super Bowl half-time show, we do well to note that Jesus revealed Himself in this transfigured form to only 3 out of 12 disciples. Hardly what one would call a crowd! We must also consider His command: "Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead." Perhaps Jesus was aware of the natural tendency for people to be drawn to such sensational events. Everybody likes a show! But this was no show business, or media-event: it was a THEOPHANY; a revelation of God!
The reaction of the disciples to all of it is instructive, for this is the first time in Matthew that Peter, James & John, the "inner three" are singled out and set apart by Jesus. The next time our Lord takes those same 3 disciples with Him, they will be in the Garden of Gethsemane (Chap. 26), where the same three disciples who see His heavenly glory will also see his earthly agony followed by His death. And at both events, they don't handle what they see very well.
At the Transfiguration Peter got the ball rolling & said, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here. What made it good for the 3 disciples to be there? Was it because of what they thought they could do for Jesus, or was it because of what they were privileged to see? We don't know, but Peter was so impressed by it all that he offered to "do something" and make 3 tents. Perhaps he wanted to "house" or preserve the splendor of the moment by capturing the glory of Jesus, much in the same way that we might digitally record a splendid half-time show. One thing is certain: Peter wanted to DO something for Jesus, whether out of anxiety or awe.
I am certain that on this Sunday of the Transfiguration, we might think that it is good for us to be here. After all, it is Sunday, and faithful Christians are enjoined to attend the services of the church. We may even desire to do something for Jesus. Many of you are highly involved in the life of this congregation; some less so, others not at all. How might we respond to Jesus' glory?
Let us note what happened next: 5 He -Peter- was still speaking when a voice from the cloud said "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." Of the other gospel accounts of the Transfiguration, Matthew alone tell us that God speaks while Peter was still speaking.
Proper manners dictate that it is not nice to interrupt! But God is NOT nice here; & it was Peter who so boldly interrupted the proceedings with his offer in the 1st place! It is as if God were telling Peter, "Shut up and listen to me!" so that St. Peter's plans were stopped in their tracks. What's more is that 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.
In the Transfiguration, this Jesus whom the disciples followed was revealed to be more than an itinerant rabbi, a clever sage, a subversive-political figure or religious trouble-maker! The supernatural special effects made it abundantly clear who Jesus is! "My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased..."
Peter, James and John witness the goings-on and learn that Jesus is God's beloved & the Cosmic Lord of all human history! Whatever beliefs they had about Him were forever altered at that moment. Whatever plans they had for Him were stopped! Instead, we see that they fell on their faces and were terrified. Why would anyone be terrified by Jesus? Would we? Let's return to Peter offer to make three tents here before we consider our answer.
There are 2 sides to Jesus seen in His Transfiguration. On the one hand: Peter, James & Jon realize that He is God...divine and that it was all quite "terrible" because the three disciples also knew that they were sinners. For people who know who God is and what sin is, the idea of meeting God can be very unnerving! For God will not be toyed with or told what to do! He didn't need what Peter had to offer! God had His plan: Peter's part was to listen! The blinding light and the voice from the cloud dashed any notion or idea that the disciples might help God out. Instead, it all exposed Jesus for who He is and how terrible that was to behold!
Do we have any idea how terrible the Transfiguration is? In her book Teaching a Stone to Talk, Annie Dillard writes:
Does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets! Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews! For the sleeping God may awake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us to where we can never return.
But on the other hand, there is another side of Jesus revealed in His Transfiguration besides the terrible! We read: 7 Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and have no fear." 8 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. Let us see how it is that Jesus' touch & voice gets their attention, and they see Him only. Much like those stern, serious and no-nonsense voices of parents and teachers in our memory that prompted us to focus! "Pay attention!"
In all of our plans & activities...in all of our frantic running and doing in the fulfillment of our daily "to-do" lists, it is all too easy for us to forget who we are & what we really need! With our schedules, plans, obligations & the demands on our time, we forget who we are and who Jesus is. We neglect to be mindful of the reality that we are sinners & that God is God.
And so we are reminded on this Feast that we need to stop & listen so that we might look to Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth: whose clothes became white as light, but later were gambled for on another mount. The Transfigured Jesus who was surrounded by Moses & Elijah on the Mt. Of Transfiguration, and then later crucified between two criminals on Mt. Calvary. This Jesus who is declared by the voice to be God's own Son would later be mocked with those same words at the cross!
It is NOT at the Mount of Transfiguration, but at Mt. Calvary where sinful men & women can hope to see God without fear! For it is at Mt. Calvary where Jesus does something! He who is revealed in the splendor and glory of His Transfiguration humbly bears our sins in Himself. God takes our sin by giving Himself. And upon that cross, what is terrible for Him becomes wonderful for those who believe.
Amen!