God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. … My sermon is based on our Gospel (Mark 92-9). Let us
pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go
to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we
rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds
and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most
Holy Trinity. Amen.
Generically speaking the word, transfiguration, means a change
in form or appearance. It also means an exalting, glorifying or spiritual
change. Harry Potter diehards define transfiguration as a core subject taught
at Hogwarts, the art and science of changing an object’s form and appearance. That
is not what we understand and observe today.
I want you to understand why we observe Transfiguration today,
that is, why the church places it on the Sunday immediately prior to Ash
Wednesday, why Mark placed it in chapter 9, and what practical application the
Transfiguration plays in our lives.
The church places the Transfiguration on the Sunday immediately
prior to Ash Wednesday.[i] As
a Christian feast, the Transfiguration commemorates Christ’s transfiguration or
metamorphis on a mountaintop in the presence of three disciples. It makes a
great deal of sense to observe it today, because when we look at the church’s
liturgical year beginning with Advent, we see the Sundays after Epiphany framed
by the Baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration. On these Sundays, God the
Father proclaims, “You are my Beloved Son” and “This
is my Beloved Son.”[ii]
Our Season of Epiphany reveals who Jesus is, and emphasizes that
He is God’s Son. We hear this at the beginning of his ministry and as Jesus travels
to Jerusalem, which happens right after the Transfiguration. After this Sunday,
the church observes Ash Wednesday, which plunges us down into the valley of
Lent, which precedes Easter.
In the Transfiguration we get a glimpse the glory of God. That
glory is fully revealed in the Resurrection of our Lord. And although the
Transfiguration is not a prequel to the Resurrection, on this day, we look over
the valley of Lent to Easter. So, imagine looking from one mountaintop to
another, knowing that there is a deep valley between the place where you stand
and the next peak. Today, we say good-bye to Alleluia and anticipate its return
at Easter. This is how our feast fits into our liturgical year.
Mark placed the Transfiguration in chapter 9. When we expand the
text of our Gospel and look at chapter 8, the account is depressing. After
Jesus’ multiplication miracle, the Pharisees demanded a sign, Jesus restored
sight to a blind man, and Peter confessed him the Christ. Jesus predicted his
passion, death and resurrection, and after Peter and Jesus exchanged rebukes,
the Lord stated the cost of discipleship: deny yourself, take up your cross and
follow me. As a striking counterbalance, the Transfiguration reveals heavenly
glory vis-à-vis the humiliation in 8:31, where Jesus said, “that the
Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, chief priests
and scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
Chapter 9 begins with Jesus saying, “Truly, I
say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they
see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”[iii] In this verse, Jesus meant the Resurrection, which all
standing there, with the exception of Judas, witnessed on Easter. Mark closed
the Transfiguration passage with, “As they were coming down the
mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of
Man had risen from the dead.”[iv] In
other words, although the Easter Resurrection is not the sequel to the
Transfiguration, the Paschal Mystery – Christ’s suffering, death and
resurrection – frames today’s passage and allows us to read it in its proper
context.
If we expand the passage to include the whole Bible, we see that
the Old Testament clearly underlies Mark’s Transfiguration account. He opens by
telling us that Jesus took Peter, James and John – the disciples who witnessed
Jesus’ agony at Gethsemane[v] –
up a high mountain. Moses took Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu up Mount Sinai to meet
God.[vi] So,
from the outset, Jesus’ ascent triggered thoughts of a new Sinai experience.
As it was for Moses and Elijah, the mountain was a special place
in Mark for prayer, contemplation, apostolic commissioning, and, as shown in
the Transfiguration, extraordinary revelation.[vii] Elsewhere
in Mark, we read, “After he took leave of them, he went up on the
mountain to pray.” In chapter three, Jesus “went up on
the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him.”[viii]
As I explained earlier, transfiguration means a glorifying or
spiritual change. There are several Old Testament references regarding this
change. In Exodus, after Moses met God, his skin glowed.[ix] Later,
the Psalmist wrote of God, “You are clothed with splendor and
majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment.”[x] And
Daniel described God’s clothing as white as snow.[xi] So,
we see the glorifying or spiritual change when man meets God.
In their transfiguration accounts, Matthew described the change
in Jesus’ face, and Luke Jesus’ face and clothing. Mark described only His
clothes as “radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach
them.”[xii] Mark’s
point was the disciples could not account for what they witnessed, but
identified Jesus through his clothing. This way of identifying Jesus prepared
them for the message from the voice in the cloud.
Next, two Old Testament figures appear. Verse 4 states, “there
appeared to them Elijah with Moses.” All the Evangelists used the
word ‘appeared.’ Luke used the same word to describe the what
occurred after the two disciples returned from Emmaus. He wrote, “The
Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”[xiii] Likewise,
Paul used the word when he wrote of the Resurrection to the Corinthians.
Christ “appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to
more than five hundred brothers at one time … He appeared to James, then to all
the apostles. Last of all … he appeared also to me.”[xiv] The
word ‘appear’ conveyed the presence of God in Jesus, the Second Person of the
Trinity.
Onto the Old Testament figures. Unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark
reversed the order when he wrote that Elijah and Moses appeared to the
disciples. We quickly think they represented the Prophets and the Law, but the
text begs us to dig deeper.
Note that Mark mentioned Elijah twice already – immediately
prior to John the Baptist’s death and Peter’s confession.[xv] In
the minds of Jews during Jesus’ time, Elijah’s appearance meant that the time
of fulfillment was near.
While Moses represented the Law, he lifted eschatological –
or end-time hopes – as Israel awaited the Messiah. Two Sundays ago, we heard
Moses say, “The Lord your
God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your
brothers—it is to him you shall listen.”[xvi]
Therefore, in the minds of Jewish people, the appearance of
Elijah and Moses fulfilled every hope, for the glorious end-time had now begun
with the coming of Jesus.[xvii] To
the righteous, such an appearance brought delight, but to the sinful, scorn. As
with Jesus, people rejected Elijah and Moses. In particular, Elijah was a model
for suffering at the hands of the ungodly.
Responding to the unfolding action of the Transfiguration, Peter
proposed what he thought a brilliant idea. Actually, his proposal was a clumsy
way for a practical man to express what to do at such a time. Given that God
declared and commanded, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him,” Peter’s
proposal to put Elijah and Moses on par with Jesus is even more out of place.
Mark reminded readers how inappropriate Peter’s idea really was,[xviii] but
first, the cloud.
In between Peter’s suggestion and God’s command came the cloud,
a theophanic motif, or a sophisticated way of saying how God showed himself. In
Exodus we read, “The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of
cloud to lead them along the way.”[xix] And
later, “When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would
descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. When the people saw
the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would
rise up and worship, each at his tent door.”[xx]
Transfiguration’s cloud on the mountain and the voice of God
that spoke from it echoed what occurred to God’s people in the Sinai. In short,
as God spoke there, God spoke here.
The Transfiguration remained the disciples’ private event until
after the Resurrection. It encouraged them to persevere. Before the
Transfiguration, the disciples could only focus on Jesus Crucified; after it,
they could focus on Jesus Resurrected. Biblically and liturgically, we look
over the valley of Lent and see the Risen Lord on Easter Sunday.
Having examined why the church places the Transfiguration
on the Sunday immediately prior to Ash Wednesday, and why Mark placed it in
chapter 9, we now examine what practical application the Transfiguration plays
in our lives.
Returning to Peter’s proposal, we see it was inappropriate.
Tents were dwellings of the world to come. Peter wanted the vision to last and
to withdraw Jesus from this earth.[xxi] Fortunately,
the voice commanded Peter to “listen to him,” a message
Peter did not like.
“Listen to him,” is a message we, like Peter, dislike and
disregard. To listen to Jesus requires intimacy. To listen requires intimacy,
but after 30 years of counseling couples preparing for marriage, counseling
couples enriching their marriage, and counseling couples dissolving their
marriage, the complaint underlying all faults is, “You’re not listening.”
Now, if the person with whom you are most intimate informs you
that you are not listening, how often does our Heavenly Father say it? I know
He tells me multiple times throughout the day. I am sure He reminds you too.
First, let us presume that God wants us to listen to Him.
Evidently, He does, for early in Mark, Jesus summoned disciples, created The
Twelve and called them into fellowship with him. We read, “He went up on
the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. He
appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him
and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.”[xxii]
That they might be with him was the first duty of the apostle. Before preaching or
casting out demons, they were to be with or in
fellowship with Jesus. This is part and parcel of the portrait of the
fully human Jesus. He needed a support group. He longed for fellowship. He
lived as a person in community, not as an isolated prophet. These were not
merely Jesus’ pupils, but his friends and coworkers. He appointed them for
fellowship and to witness.[xxiii]
Jesus calls you into fellowship with Him. He calls you to be
with Him. The Father calls you to listen to Him. Throughout each day, how much
time do you fellowship with or listen to Jesus?
To put that into perspective, let me read a snippet of A
Man’s Guide to Spiritual Disciplines. [xxiv]
“A young businessman told me, ‘I really don't have a lot of time for prayer and Bible reading.
I have young kids, I'm building my career, and I'm very active in my church.’
When I was in that same mindset, I took a suggestion from
management guru Peter Drucker. I sat down with a piece of paper and charted how
I actually spent my time. Drucker says everyone has expectations about what
their chart will say, and without exception, everyone is surprised by what they
actually find. I discovered that I spent one to two hours every night watching
television. … I started going to bed early instead of watching TV, and getting
up two hours earlier in the morning. People sometimes think I'm crazy to get up
at 4 a.m., but that's okay. I'm in conversation with God.
Martin Luther is famous for commenting, ‘I have so much to do today that I'm going to need to spend
three hours in prayer in order to be able to get it all done.’ We must
learn to see prayer as the most powerful and efficient use of our time.
If you want a close relationship with Jesus, you can have it,
but you must cultivate that relationship through conversation.”
If you want a close relationship with Jesus, you can have it,
but you must cultivate that relationship through conversation. Listen to him.
Pray.
Responding to the unfolding action of the Transfiguration, Peter
proposed what he thought a brilliant idea. Actually, his proposal was a clumsy
way for a practical man to express what to do at such a time. A selfish, sinful
or worldly way for a good man.
When we scrutinize many of the brilliant ideas we propose, we
see that they are actually clumsy, selfish, sinful or worldly. While this
observation makes me squirm with remorse, regret or revenge, I know it is true.
Like Peter, I do not listen to Him because I do not take time
to listen to Him. I am too busy for prayer and Bible reading. I have
young kids, I'm building my career, and I'm very active.
Do I make choices based on listening to Jesus or to a sinful
world and my sinful self? Are the choices I let my children make based on the
teachings of our church or the values of our culture?
Friends, your presence here, listening to me, tells me you
want a close relationship with Jesus. You can have it, but you must cultivate
that relationship through prayer. Listen to him as he prepares to take his
disciples to the mountaintop.
“Calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said, ‘If
anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man
to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return
for his soul?’”[xxv]
From here, the mountaintop of Transfiguration, I can see our
Risen Lord on Easter morning and when we gather in fellowship with Him. Today,
His Word washes away my sinful inclinations and thoughtless ideas; enriches my
choices and relationships. His Body and Blood nourish me for the journey
through Lent’s valley and life’s trials. His Spirit enlightens my mind and
moves my heart to love deeply as Jesus loved.
Between now and Ash Wednesday, chart how you spend your time.
Throughout Lent, instead of watching TV or reading social media, turn in early
and spend that amount of time in conversation with God each morning. If you
want a close relationship with God, you can have it, but like the people Jesus
called into fellowship, you must cultivate that relationship through prayer and
conversation. When you do, may the peace of God
that surpasses all understanding keep your heart your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
[i] Arthur Just, Lectionary Podcast, Transfiguration of Our
Lord. https://www.facebook.com/ctsfw?fref=nf
[ii] Mark 1:11; 9:7
[iii] Mark 9:1
[iv] Mark 9:9
[v] Mark 14:32-42
[vi] Exodus 24:10
[vii] LaVerdiere, 42f
[viii] Mark 3:13
[ix] Exodus 34:29-35
[x] Psalm 104:1-2
[xi] Daniel 7:9
[xii] Mark 9:3
[xiii] Luke 24:34
[xiv] 1 Corinthians 15:6-8
[xv] Mark 6:15 and 8:28
[xvi] Deuteronomy 18:15
[xvii] R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the
Greek Text. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (2002), 352f.
[xviii] France, 354.
[xix] Exodus 13:21
[xx] Exodus 33:9-10. See also Ex 40:34-38; 1 Kg 8:10-12
[xxi] Peter Edmonds, The Way Companion to the Sunday Missal.
Oxford: Campion Hall (2014), 16.
[xxii] Mark 3:13-15
[xxiii] Ben Witherington III, The Gospel of Mark: A
Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmanns Publishing Co.
(2001), 151.
[xxiv] Patrick Morley, A Man's Guide to the Spiritual
Disciplines: 12 Habits to Strengthen Your Walk With Christ. Chicago: Moody
Publishers (2007). Adapted at http://www.christianitytoday.com/moi/2011/006/december/too-busy-not-to-pray.html
[xxv] Mark 8:34-37
