A Sermon preached on Feb. 23, 2020 (Last
Sunday after Epiphany) at a Family Service at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
2 Peter 1: 16-21,
Matthew 17: 1-9
Who can show me Jesus? Point to some image or picture of him? [e.g. crucifix over altar,
pulpit, charred crucifix in entrance] We don’t usually have any other pictures or
paintings of Jesus here in our church, except soon, during Lent, when we will
put up the paintings we use for the stations of the cross. So, all of our images
of Jesus either show him on or have to do with the cross. But that is not the
picture of him that is being painted in today’s Gospel reading, the story of
the Transfiguration.
“And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun,
and his clothes became dazzling white.” (Matthew 17:2) This is the picture of a
divine being, almost a being of light, and this godly identity is immediately confirmed
by the voice from the bright cloud saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with
him I am well pleased; listen to him!” (17:5). You should know those words,
they are the same ones we heard a voice from heaven say at Jesus’ Baptism, (Mt.
3:17) in the Gospel passage read on the first Sunday after the Epiphany. We
begin and end the Epiphany season with this revelation about Jesus’ true identity.
And it is on this mountain top,
traditionally identified with Mount Tabor in Galilee, that the disciples get to
see the fully divine Jesus in all of God’s glory for the first time.
They have seen him every day, ever since they chose to follow him, and
in every act of healing and compassion some of that divinity has shone through.
But this is a spectacular confirmation that Jesus is both sent by God and is of
God. In the words of the author of the 2nd Letter of Peter: “we had
been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the
Father when that voice was conveyed to him.” (2 Peter 1:17) A couple of weeks
ago we heard Jesus say, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or
the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil.” (5:17) The figures of
Moses – the Law/Torah – and Elijah – the prophets – who appear at the moment of
transfiguration are further evidence that Jesus fulfils both in his person. God
first sent the Law, and then the prophets, and now God’s Son.
But actually, the Jesus of the Transfiguration and the Jesus of the
Cross are one and the same. Both events are about seeing who and what Jesus is
– they reveal something about his nature. And the mountain top transfiguration of
Tabor and the hilltop crucifixion of Golgotha are also not as different as they
seem. Sure, in one case we have Jesus revealed in glory and as divine, his clothing
shining white, flanked by Moses and Elijah, covered by a cloud of light, and
with a voice from heaven confirming him as God’s son. In the other case Jesus
suffers a shameful death, is naked, flanked by two criminals, and a cloud of
darkness covers the land at the moment of his death. Yet at that very moment the
centurion echoes God: “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Mt. 27:54) According to
the theologian Tom Wright, the Transfiguration allows us to understand and
interpret the Crucifixion. We must “learn to see the glory in the cross [and] learn
to see the cross in the glory.”[1]
As Paul writes, we proclaim Christ crucified and in glory – however foolish
that may sound (cf. 1 Cor. 1:23).
Jesus is God, but also a vulnerable, suffering, compassionate God. Jesus
is King, Messiah and Lord. And Jesus is fully human, our sibling, and our servant.
Jesus is all-powerful and Jesus dies for us. The Jesus of the Transfiguration is
important and true, but we must be careful to not get so blinded by that light
that we forget the Jesus of the crucifixion, the one who even shares death with
us.
But coming back to my opening question, I want to show you another Jesus,
right here in this church. You see Jesus shares his divine light with us. In
the same passage I quoted earlier, the one about salt and light that we heard two
weeks ago, Jesus told his followers: “In the same way, let your light shine
before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your
Father in heaven.” (Mt. 5:16) And later in Matthew’s Gospel he will say “Then
the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let
anyone with ears listen!” (Mt. 13:43) Listen … the same words we heard from the
cloud: This is my Son …. Listen to him! Because this is important. We share in
the light of Christ, the same divine light with which Jesus was transfigured.
We receive the light to use it just as he did, to give glory to God, and to love
and serve one another. Where is Jesus? He is in everyone who serves and who is
served. Listen to our Baptismal Covenant: “Will you seek and serve Christ in
all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?”
I’ll show you Jesus. Turn and face one another. Look at each other. There
he is. He is in you. And not just here in this room. Go outside (not yet, after
the service, after Communion). Jesus is in anyone and everyone you see, whether
they know it or not, and it is our job to let them see Jesus in us and find
Jesus in themselves. To quote Thomas Merton:
If we believe in the Incarnation of the Son of God,
There should be no one on earth
In whom we are not prepared to see,
In mystery,
The presence of Christ. Amen.[2]
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