A Sermon preached on the Last
Sunday after the Epiphany, March 3, at St. Augustine’s Wiesbaden
Exodus 34: 29 – 35, 15; 2 Corinthians 3: 12 – 4: 2, 42-50; Luke 9: 28 – 43a
Our Gospel reading this
morning is all about the event we call the Transfiguration: that moment on a
mountain top, traditionally Mount Tabor, when Jesus is physically transformed
so that “the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling
white.” (Luke 9:29) And as a key part of this experience, Moses and Elijah
appear and are seen to be talking with Jesus. At the Wednesday Bible Study, one
of the questions asked about this episode was, why did Moses and Elijah appear?
Another one was, and how did Peter, John and James recognize them?
Moses and Elijah stand
for the law and the prophets. The Gospel writers always emphasize that Jesus
came to fulfill the law and that he stands in the succession of the prophets.
When Jesus is asked (Matthew 22:36-40) which commandment in the law is the
greatest and introduces the great commandment (love God and love your neighbor
as yourself), he says that “On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.” Moses and Elijah’s presence is physical proof that Jesus’ teaching
and the path he is now on, the path that is leading him to Jerusalem, is in
accordance with God’s previous revelation.
And how did they
recognize them? Not because Elijah had parked the chariot of fire he had been
taken up to heaven with, nor because every bit of shrub spontaneously caught
fire. If you were expecting any Old Testament figure to appear, as a faithful
Jew in Jesus’ day, it would be Moses and Elijah. Moses had died, but mysteriously.
“He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab …. but no one knows his burial
place to this day.” (Deuteronomy 34:6) And for that reason some Jewish teachers
taught that he had not died but was taken up into heaven like Elijah. Also,
Moses himself had predicted (Deut. 18:15) that “God will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among your own people.” According to the Book of Kings (2
Kings 2:11), Elijah certainly did not die, but ascended in a whirlwind into
heaven. To this day at Passover meals a place is set for Elijah. And when Jesus asks, (Luke 9:18-19) “Who do
the crowds say that I am?’ (The disciples) answered, ‘John the Baptist; but
others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets.” Their
appearance on the mountain top is also a further sign that Jesus is not Elijah
returned, or the second Moses, but someone much greater: God’s Son, God’s
Chosen.
It is unique to the
Anglican/Episcopal tradition that we always have the story of the Transfiguration,
and some closely related readings from Exodus and one of Paul’s letters, on the
last Sunday after the Epiphany. We have a Feast Day of the Transfiguration, but
not until 6th August. And the other churches that use the RCL won’t
have today’s readings until the second Sunday in Lent. But I think our choice
makes a lot of sense. This Sunday acts as a hinge between Epiphany and Lent.
This story connects the Epiphany themes of the light of Christ and of his
revelation, with the Lenten theme of the way of the Cross, the road to
Jerusalem, to “his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.”
(Luke 9:31) At the Transfiguration, Jesus’ path to glory through the Cross is
confirmed by God. The story is a segue, “a smooth transition,” from one season
and from theme into another.
But there is another
important segue in this extract too. In all three Gospels, the Transfiguration is
immediately followed by a healing episode. The story does not end on the top of
the mountain, nor does Jesus get to go straight to Jerusalem. He comes down
from the mountain and is met by a great crowd. And from that crowd a man, a
loving and caring father, shouts, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is
my only child.” (Luke 9:38) His son suffers from uncontrollable fits: the story talks about
a demon spirit, the symptoms sound like epilepsy. He even has a fit while Jesus
and the father are talking. No one, not even Jesus’ disciples, has been able to
heal him and so Jesus must act: “he rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy,
and gave him back to his father." (Luke :42)
Meeting human needs immediately
follows the encounter with God. In fact, the two are connected. As we know from
the Old Testament, the form of worship acceptable to God is never just
something isolated, nor a stand-alone ritual: In Proverbs (21:3) we are told
that “to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than
sacrifice,” and according to the prophet Hosea (6:6) God “desires steadfast
love and not sacrifice.” While even Jesus seems a little frustrated that his transcendental
mountain-top experience is over, that is not where we can stay. We have to come
down, or in our case, every Sunday, we have to go out into a broken and hurting
world. The two belong together: in worship we encounter God in Word and
Sacrament, in the Eucharist we are strengthened and renewed, but it is also in
the act of healing and mercy that the greatness of God is shown.
At the Transfiguration,
Jesus’ commissioning by God is renewed, using very similar words to those God
spoke at his Baptism. “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (Luke 9:35) At the Transfiguration,
Jesus’ mission, what he was sent for, is confirmed. He has been sent to
transform the world and to heal the world, this is what he will accomplish at
Jerusalem in his death on the cross, when our own sin dies with him, and in his
resurrection, when we rise again with him, given new life and renewed for
mission.
The voice from the
cloud says, “listen to him, listen to Jesus!” His commission to us is to love
God and to love one another. His mission to us is to go into the world, to tell
people about the love of God and to show this love to the world. The disciples may have
“kept silent and told no one any of the things they had seen,” but that is not
our role, we must speak and act.
World Mission Sunday,
which as I mentioned in my weekly email is commemorated today, reminds us of the
many different ways we can and should act:
Helping those in need,
advocating for the disenfranchised, supporting migrants, working with children,
the elderly, or the marginalized of society. Our church reminds us that it is as
important to care for the elderly next-door neighbor and for the poor in our
neighborhood, as it is to look beyond ourselves and our own cultural and
geographic context. To care for those who are in desperate economic situations,
those living in war zones, those who are victims of famine, victims of
oppression, victims of violence, victims of injustice, and the homeless and
migrants of the world.[1]
We cannot each do
everything on this list, which is not even exhaustive. But whether through some
little act of compassion or friendship, through regular participation in one of
our outreach ministries, or through our financial support of the ministries of
our worldwide church, our worship of God is not complete if we do not give the
world some sign of God’s love. To see and encounter God, as Peter, John and
James did on the mountain top, and as we do here in worship, is to be changed –
changed for good.
Amen.
[1] Examples taken from:
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/globalpartnerships/following-way-love
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