Sermon 2/14/2021 “Transfiguration”
Preacher: Jo J. Belser
Location: Church of the Resurrection at VTS in Alexandria, VA
Text: Mark 9:2-9
Day: LastEpiphany, Year B, during a pandemic
I visited our new church building this week, the one we are building around the corner in the West End of Alexandria. The building is done, essentially, but the finishing touches remain. You know, “touches” like turning on the water and paving the parking lot. They laid the carpet in the offices this week, though.
I took our seminarian with me, so I got to see the project through his eyes. For a moment—a long moment—my eyes stopped seeing the protective plywood on the floor of the nave, stopped seeing the wood trim waiting to be stained and installed, and stopped seeing the construction-related things in the room. For a moment—a long moment—I saw the nave with the chairs we have on order, with our altar and its new paraments, saw our new baptismal font and processional cross, and BEST OF ALL, I saw you there. Our organ was playing and you were singing, OUT LOUD, not just in your heads and hearts. It was quite a vision.
Have YOU ever had a vision, a moment when you saw a different reality—a deeply true reality—whose usually hidden nature was revealed? Apparently, that’s what happened to Peter, James, and John, Jesus’ innermost circle of disciples. Jesus took them up a mountain. Jesus went there to pray, Luke says (Lk. 9:28), but Luke’s gospel always emphasizes prayer.
I’ve been wondering about transfiguration this week. That’s what we call what happened to Jesus on that mountain. My online dictionary defines transfiguration as, “a complete change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state.” That’s how we think of transfiguration: a major change, a complete makeover so that our very appearance is altered.
Because Jesus’ appearance was so drastically changed, we say Jesus was transfigured. In fact, the WORD transfigured was first used in English to describe the change in appearance of Christ. Today we use the term a bit more broadly to mean, “a striking change in appearance, character, or circumstances. Its synonym is metamorphosis.
By the very definition of the word, Christ Jesus was transfigured on that mountain. But the marker I want to place on that event is this: Jesus’ character wasn’t changed. And neither was Jesus’ circumstances. Just before climbing that mountain Jesus had asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Their answers of John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the prophets contrasted significantly with Peter’s head-of-the-class answer, “The Messiah” when Jesus’ questions turned to, “But who do YOU say that I am?” (Mk.8:27-30)
Scripture tells us that this was when Jesus “began to teach them that [he] must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (Mk 8:31) Then Jesus called the “crowd with his disciples” and told them, “If anyone wants to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross, and follow me,” warning that those who did would lose their life—and yet somehow gain life.
That’s when, scripture tells us, most of the crowd went home. And then, because we are still dwelling on Jesus’ circumstances, Mark says that six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain and began to radiate light in front of them. In Jesus’ case, his character remained unchanged, but his APPEARANCE was altered. I wonder, though, was Jesus’ appearance really what was changed, or were Peter, James, and John just finally able to truly SEE Jesus for who and what he had been all along, the human son of God who embodied God so fully, so completely, that he ALAYS shone with God’s light?
Before every worship service, I pray that we who lead worship will let the light of Christ shine through us, so those who see us will see God. I am an imperfect conduit of God’s light, but can you imagine how much pure God-light JESUS must have radiated on that day?
I suspect each of you have seen this God-light I’m talking about. Sometimes you—we—see God in the beauty of his creation. Sometimes we meet someone who radiates love and holiness, and we draw close to the warmth of their God-light.
Today’s lesson reminds me that Jesus’ disciples were the ones who were truly transfigured on that holy mountain that day. THEIR circumstances had changed, if for no other reason than they had “seen the light” of Christ. They knew beyond doubt, then, who he was. And their circumstances had changed, also. Luke’s gospel says they heard Jesus talking to the two long-deceased prophets, Moses and Elijah, and their conversation was about “the Exodus Jesus was about the accomplish at Jerusalem.” (Lk. 9:31)
All of this, taken together, suggests a major topic of Jesus’ discussion agenda was “turnover.”
- Who would carry on Jesus’ mission after he was gone?
- How would the world know God had come and suffered death for us, had in fact defeated death?
- Where would Jesus’ few remaining disciples get the fortitude to take up Jesus’ cross and follow him through their own “Exodus” from this life to THEIR Promised Land?
Moses would have reminded Jesus about Joshua, his assistant, who led the people into Canaan and became a successful leader of the twelve tribes. Elijah would have reminded Jesus about Elisha, HIS assistant, who took over his master’s mission as told in our first lesson today. The presence of both would have reminded Peter, James, and John that these two were foretold to appear when the Messiah had come.
The three disciples then got their instructions from God that day, got their “Marching to Zion” orders. The voice said, “[Jesus] is my Son, the [Messiah]; listen to him.”
All of this must have convinced Peter, James, and John to pick up THEIR crosses and follow him—they were faithful to the end. Many, many years later, the testimony of Peter about that day was recorded this way,
“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.”
I wrestled with the “take away” message for us at Church of the Resurrection from today’s gospel lesson. As you know, as you live and breathe, WE have been transfigured, in appearance AND in circumstances, if not also in character. And aren’t we following Christ Jesus all the way to OUR Exodus from this life? The mantle was long ago passed to us. Who will we pass Christ Jesus’ mission on to at Church of the Resurrection?
In a way, we needn’t worry about who will come after us; that’s up to God. But in another way, that’s the perennial challenge in any organization that lives well beyond the death of its original members. Whoever OUR successors will be, they will have a beautiful, right-sized, mortgage-free new “house” in which to worship, one equipped for livestreaming. In the end, we just need to do what Christ Jesus said and take up our cross and follow him. And, as God spoke on that mountain that day, “Listen to my beloved Son and do what HE says.”
