Year A 2nd Sunday of Lent
Alternate Reading Matthew 17: 1-9
Title: “The Transfiguration of Our Lord.”
Jesus takes Peter, James and John up onto a mountain where he is transfigured before them.
The Transfiguration scene is yet another step or stop along the way of revealing just who Jesus is. Besides being the Messiah, the Savior, he is also God’s Son. This is a major theme in Matthew. In 1:20 the angel told Joseph that Jesus would be God’s Son. In 2:15 he is so identified by quoting from Scripture, specifically the prophet Hosea. In 3:17 God himself so designates him. In 14:33 the disciples recognize and confess him as such. In 16:16 Peter does so. Here, once again, God himself repeats what he said at Jesus’ baptism.
Though we are not told so, the numinous enveloping of Jesus in the divine environment, must have happened to Jesus more than just this once in his lifetime. In fact, his baptism has all the markings of just such an experience. When Jesus prayed in a focused way, for he was always in conscious contact with his Father, he most likely experienced God’s presence in such an overwhelming way that it had an effect on his surroundings; as well as himself. Perhaps, that is why he would withdraw from his disciples to pray alone. But, this time, this one time was different. He let them observe. Jesus seemed rather unaffected by the whole experience. Once it was over, he returned to “normal,” without much fuss or notice. It was the disciples and their reaction to this numinous event that Matthew concentrates on. He is teaching something here about prayer and about perseverance.
Perseverance first. The disciples needed this experience to both teach them about Jesus’ goal and to confirm them in their own resolve to stick to the program until they themselves arrived at the goal, eternity. That would mean a lot of suffering in the meantime. This glimpse of glory, a solitary glimpse indeed, for no other similar experience is recorded, this glimpse of glory was to be revisited in their minds when things got rough and tough to remind and strengthen them to persevere until the end. It was a great gift and explains why, despite their lapses into confusion, into a this-worldly perspective, such as arguments over who is the greatest, fleeing at the arrest of Jesus, etc. , they did recoup, recover, and remain faithful after all.
Prayer. The disciples had a religious experience, a mystical experience, an experience of wonder. The scene and its aftermath teach that moments of ecstatic union with the Lord are meant to be just that, moments, not abiding experiences. Jesus, his Spirit, remains with us, but sacramentally, especially through his word. We do not yet have the sustained, felt vision and comprehension of the divine presence. We cannot live here in a state of ecstasy. We must learn to pray as Jesus did. Yes, high points of consciousness, but also low points of awareness minus emotion. We must constantly remind ourselves of the invisible presence of God, when we do not feel his presence or any of the effects of his presence, such as we feel in contemplative prayer. Many people who do not feel God’s presence in a particular church use that lack of feeling, as an excuse not to go to church. But, we always have his word. He remains in his word and we are to listen even when we are not on the mountain. That will sustain us, cause us to persevere. God’s presence and power do not depend on our “feeling,” it, only recalling it and listening to it. That form of presence does not require any mountain, setting scene, appearances of Old Testament stars or New Testament saints.
In verse one, after six days: After six days God called Moses into a cloud of glory (Ex 24:16) that covered Mt. Sinai. The story here is recalling the Sinai theophany to Moses. Whether six actual days had passed is immaterial. The Transfiguration scene is to be understood against the backdrop of Sinai. Also, in the festivals of Israel, the first day of the seven-day long feast of Tabernacles, alluded to in verse four, began six days after the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. A Jewish reader would pick up both these references, rather removed from a non-Jewish reader.
Peter, James and John: These three, among the first called, form an inner circle among the Twelve, especially close to Jesus. In the new covenant they will function much as Moses and Elijah, did in the old one.
Mountain: While the storyteller makes clear that this is a real mountain, a metaphor for a place of revelation, yes, but a real place also, he does not identify it. Tradition assigns Mt. Tabor the honor, but it is too far from Caesarea Philippi (16:13) and had a Roman fort on it, full of soldiers, and thus, not private enough, to fit the bill. Mt Hermon, about fourteen miles away, and Mt. Carmel are two other possible candidates. Exactly what mountain is involved here is immaterial, however. It is a real mountain, but has metaphorical significance as a place of revelation, a kind of Galilean Sinai.
In verse two, he was transfigured: “Transfigured,” actually translates the Latin Vulgate , transfiguratus est, and it has stuck as the translation of the Greek metemorphothe, which means “transformed.” The word is used in English, “metamorphosis,” a change of form. What is described does not exactly conform to the Greek idea of metamorphosis, a change in earthly form, and so we can understand the Latin translator trying to get at that difference by coining a new word, “transfiguration.” Neither does what is described conform to other uses of the Greek word elsewhere in the New Testament In the only other two places where it is used Romans 12:2 and 2 Cor. 3:18, it means an interior transformation. What is described here is a physical and physically visible change in outward appearance, but only a glimpse of a heavenly form. This transformation is not to continue on earth. Jesus was not forever changed in outward appearance. The change went back to “normal,” before he descended the mountain. The Jews by now were familiar with an apocalyptic notion that the righteous would take on a glorious heavenly “form,” in the Eschaton, the second coming of Christ. We can presume that Peter and the others had heard of this and had some inkling that they were witnessing an example or fulfillment of that notion.
His face shone like the sun: Moses’ face is so described when he came down from Mt. Sinai, Ex 34: 29-35.
His clothes became white as light: This emphasizes that this was a physical change, not merely an interior vision or experience. Jesus becomes a being of light, shining through the “clouds,” of clothing, transparent to his disciples in the fullest sense of the word.
In verse three, Moses and Elijah appeared to them: Both had conversed with and received revelation from God on Mt. Sinai. Both had been taken up into heaven, transported and transformed, in a mysterious way. Both were expected to return at the Eschaton. Moses represented the Law and Elijah the Prophets, that is, the Old Testament. As they fade from the scene, “pale by comparison,” Jesus fulfills law and Prophets by surpassing them. He remains. In conversing with them, Jesus shows he is conversant with the Old Testament, came not to abolish but to fulfill or surpass, the Law and Prophets, Matthew 5: 17-20.
In verse four, three tents: So far, no one has been able to explain what this remark means. Mark 9:6 comments that “He hardly knew what to say” and Luke 9:33 states, “But he did not know what he was saying.” Since Matthew likes to smooth over any confusion of the disciples’ part, he glosses over the matter by continuing with “While he was still speaking…” Virtually every commentator observes how these proposed tents are a reference to the Feast of Tabernacles during which people would live in temporary tents as a reminder of Israel’s desert wanderings. While this might shed some light on the context of the remark, it does little to elucidate the remark itself. The larger context does offer a possible interpretation, however. Peter confessed Jesus as Messiah and Son of God in 16:16. Right after that Jesus told him and the disciples that his mission would involve suffering and death. Peter objected to such a thing and Jesus reprimands him for it. Clearly, Peter did not like to even think of suffering or “crosses.” His statement here might well mean something like, ”Let’s stay here, in this moment of awe and ecstasy, but if we cannot, let’s at least erect a memorial, a shrine, a monument for our memory so we can return to it in the hopes of repeating it.” Peter did not want to go down the mountain and return to the molehill of ordinary experience where suffering and cross take place. We should keep in mind, however, that this is reading into the text something it does not clearly say. A further point. There were Jewish Christians in Mattew’s circle who wanted to keep the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah, on the same footing as the New Testament, Jesus. Peter’s wish would put them on an equal footing and that would not do. Thus, his wishes did not come to fruition and the text makes clear that “they saw no one else, but Jesus alone in verse eight.”
In verse five, bright cloud: There is really no such thing as a bright cloud. This is clearly religious, symbolic language, expressing the revealing “bright” yet veiling or hidden, “cloud,” presence of God, which descends and envelops the scene. God is perceived not directly by sight but only through his word. The “word,” here is an exact repeat of what God spoke at Jesus’ baptism, except “Listen to him,” is added. There will be no shrines, no memorials, no monuments of magnificence, only memories and one mandate: Listen to Jesus. Listening to his word is listening to God and he will interpret the meaning of the eternal experience in the midst of life, down the mountain, on the molehill.
In verse six, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid: Prostration was a sign of humility and worship. Fear, both being scared and awed simultaneously, was an appropriate reaction and response to the divine felt presence. The disciples knew who was there. They were having a religious, even mystical, experience.
In verse seven, Jesus came and touched them: The disciples had been on the frontier of eternity, in contact with a dimension of reality hitherto unknown to them. Humans are not equipped physically or emotionally to stay there; at least, not in our present physical form. The human touch of Jesus, like a gentle waking them up, bringing them back to ordinary reality, must have been very comforting. They knew now, firsthand, why God does not show himself in all his glory all the time. Humans could not survive it. It is just too intense. Yet, they will bring the truth of that world back with them and learn from Jesus how to live in the light of that truth all the while living at the foot of that mountain, in ordinary daily life. They had something similar to what those who have had “near-death” experiences describe.
In verse eight, Jesus alone: Jesus eclipses the two greatest Old Testament figures. He embodies God, but in human form. They should never look on Jesus again in the same old earthly way. He is the window to eternity and the mouthpiece of God.
In verse nine, do not tell the vision to anyone until.” The disciples are not told to forget the vision, only to keep it to themselves, until after the resurrection. Then, no political interpretation of Jesus’ Messiahship will be possible. Having seen a glimpse of what the resurrection means, they can now accept suffering, Jesus’ and theirs, in that light. Jesus is God-man, not Super-man.
Sermon
In eternity the glory or presence of God will be both transparent, we will not have to look for it or look into reality to see it, and constant, it will never go away, be hidden or seem absent. The “glory,” is reality as it really is, as God sees it. And we will see it. Certainly, not “all of God,” or God as he is in himself, but as much of God, as God has deemed to reveal and we are capable of experiencing. In other words, a whole lot more than now, even though “now,” is quite a lot itself, a whole lot better than “nothing.”
God is always present. We are not always aware of his presence. Yet, sometimes, amidst the clouds of daily life, there is a break and the sun or light shines through and we see him, as much as we are capable, not his “face” or “body,” for he has neither as we would define the terms. We, like the disciples at the Transfiguration, glimpse his glory and feel his presence. We are not yet on the other side of that cloudy curtain, like Moses and Elijah, but we do get to peek in, like a sort of holy voyeur. And we do get to listen in, even though we do not understand the language of heaven yet. Jesus knows this language and can translate it, so can the indwelling residence Holy Spirit, into human words and he can point out to us the eternal dimension in human experiences. These special experiences have been given names like “oceanic experience,” by Freud, “religious experience,” by Dewey, “mystical experience,” by saints, “aesthetic experience,” by poets and artists, “experiences of wonder,” by Sam Keen, or just wonderful experiences, by most of us.
Even when the clouds return, however, the presence, the real presence, remains. Though it cannot be seen with physical eyes, it can still be heard. The clouds, results of sin, can block out our vision of God, but not our hearing of his voice. Clouds cannot do that. The voice, the Word of God, penetrates the clouds of human, one-eyed perceptions and speaks through them, in spite of them, giving us verbally a vision we cannot see optically. Praying, thinking, reflecting, meditating, contemplating in the “presence,” of the word of God can evoke a felt awareness of God, but even more importantly, it communicates God, with or without the feelings of numinosity.
Who has not said downright silly things to God in prayer? Who cannot identify with Peter, saying something to God because we think we should? Promising to do something -- like building not one but three monuments to the moment? God graciously ignores or maybe laughs at, such inept overreach. Yet, it is in prayer, that we receive the strength to do what is consistent with that vision. Sometimes we can misunderstand what that vision means, like Peter did, but we trust the Lord’s Spirit will bring us back into line. In this case, it was the Lord himself who told Peter and the others to rise above their fear and the Father himself who said that listening to Jesus would do the same thing for them as seeing him transfigured before their eyes. It may not feel as numinous, but it will be as luminous. It is an experience available always and everywhere, no mountain needed. The glory of God is invisibly present and growing within us 2 Cor. 3:18. It does sometimes break through to our consciousness and can even become visible to others. When we see the glory of God shining through others we call them “saints,” whether canonized or not. For the most part, however, we reflect and repeat the experience of Jesus who lived with his disciples in normal guise and ways, even though the resurrected Jesus lives within us under cover of “cloud.” The process- cross first, then resurrection- is not a rigid one or a once in a lifetime one. It is lived, lived out, repeated, reflected in virtually every experience. At the end, it will stop happening and there will be no more “cross.” For now, “cross,” cannot be ignored or avoided. It is to be embraced as part of God’s plan to have his glory shine all the more. Because we get glimpses of fulfillment along the way we are confirmed that his way is the only way to get where we are going. The mountain experience was for the disciples just such a moment. They were ecstatic and wanted never to come down, until Jesus reminded them that the only way they got there was to “climb,” to suffer what was necessary to arrive at the top. The vision was pure grace, but the journey to it required their cooperation with that grace. Thus, their suffering, like his, is redemptive, of redeeming value, helping not only them to arrive at the goal, but others to follow in their imprints.
Although God is completely present always and everywhere, humans experience his presence in varying degrees of intensity.
Although the degree of intensity is completely a gift from God, a daily diet of sustained prayer increases the chances of having profoundly felt experiences of God being present.
Even such intense experiences do not remove the “cloud,” surrounding God’s presence, for the cloud not only “hides,” God but protects the person having the experience.
Listening to Jesus, the God-man who lives in the divine presence, will do the same thing for human beings as being in the intense awareness of God’s presence themselves.
The way to glory is through suffering.
Transfigured: This very interesting word, a word used only in this context, has a lot to recommend it. True, “transfigured,” is a Latin neologism, and not an exact translation of the original Greek (metemorphothe), meaning “transformed,” but it has stuck as an appropriate translation of what the inspired author intended to say. It does not really describe what actually happened. The author had to use comparisons- his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light, metaphors for transcendence. Like the appearances of the risen Lord who “transcended,” earth but appeared to his disciples “in glory,” in a “transformed,” body, the vision the disciples experienced and Matthew is the only evangelist to use the term “vision,” for what happened, was not that of a ghost, but of an interactive person through whose earthly body the glory of God became transparent. So, “transfigured,” is a good word because it includes both the heavenly and earthly simultaneously, as did the earthly body of Jesus. Normally, indeed except for this singular event, the transparency of glory did not shine through in a way that others could actually see it with their physical eyes, though they might sense it with their spiritual acumen. “Transfigured,” expresses the truth contained in the Church’s understanding of the creedal term “resurrection of the body.” The disciples did not see a ghost or an angel but a human being, that is, Jesus, as he would look when he along with Moses and Elijah, “appeared in glory,” (Luke 9: 31). Thus, all of matter, all of God’s creation, will share in this glorified state at some point in the future and can share in it now, though “under a cloud.” This scene shows us not only a “glorified,” human body but clothes as well, representing all the matter in the universe. This matter, indeed, all matter, is positively affected, “saved,” if you will, because of its having been touched by the saving grace of Jesus. It reveals to us that the goal of all creation is glory and the means to that glory is through the disciples of Jesus who now contain within themselves the glorified body, that is personal presence,” of Jesus the Lord.
Transcendence: If the transfiguration was a singular, once-in-a-lifetime, event, transcendence, which is represents, is not. We have many experiences of transcendence, of being lifted up or going beyond our ordinary perception of reality. Listening and entering into the spirit of music is a prime example. We listen to music a lot because it raises us up out of the doldrums of routine and tedium, out of the otherwise drab and dreary world we live in and transports us to an alternative “vision, ” of reality. We see the ordinary world “transfigured,” into a place we would really like to live. The dirt, dust, grit, grime and gray, the molehill, of daily life can be left and we can go up the mountain. We can listen to what the music, both the tune and the words, says and enjoy, if only briefly, the exuberance of life that ordinariness can hide. And, unhappily, we must come down from the mountain, turn off the music, and return. But, we return having been positively affected by the experience. For most people, transcendence, is but one song away. Like Peter, we want to erect a monument so that we can return to the experience. So, we memorize the song and sing it even when the music is not playing. That is what we Christians do. We memorize the word(s) of God and practice them in daily life and in our mind we are singing the Lord’s tunes, behaving as he would. This “transfiguration “experience was meant to fortify the disciples for suffering and music does the same for us. So does love. Others may not be able to hear the music but they can certainly see us dancing to it. Amen.
