A Sermon preached on Last Epiphany: 2 March at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
Exodus 34:29-35, 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2, Luke 9:28-43a
I know I’m probably dating myself with this example, but there’s a wonderful scene in Mel Brook’s “History of the World Part I” where he, playing Moses, comes down from the side of the mountain carrying three big stone tablets and announces theatrically: “Behold I bring you the 15 Commandments!” And then one of the tablets slips out of his hand, falls on the ground and shatters, at which point, and after a quick doubletake, he then says: “Behold I bring you the 10 Commandments!”
I’m not going to speculate about what the other five Commandments might have been. Interestingly, the story we heard this morning from Genesis is actually about a set of replacements for the for the two stone tablets with the 10 Commandments. When Moses had originally brought them from down the mountain (Exodus 32) he had discovered the Israelites busy worshipping the golden calf and out of anger, “he hurled the tablets down and shattered them in pieces at the foot of the mountain.” (Exodus 32:19) But God is a God of second – and more – chances and so, with some argumentative help from Moses, he gets to go up the mountain again with two new tablets where God declares “The Lord is a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” (Exodus 34:6-7)
Now the reason we have this reading today is of course because of the physical transformation that has happened to Moses that Christians consider to pre-figure or model Jesus’ transfiguration. Being in the physical presence of God, for 40 days, has physically changed Moses so that the skin of his face shines as he reflects God’s glory. This becomes a symbol of his authority. Whenever he tells the Israelites what God has commanded, “the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining.” (Exodus 34:35) In this way, Moses is set apart as the sole revealer of God’s will for his time and as someone who is unique in terms of his intimacy with God.
In the Transfiguration scene in Luke’s Gospel something similar happens, Jesus’ appearance is also changed and his clothes become dazzling white. In my imagination I just see him as a figure of light. Moses – personifying the Law – and Elijah – standing for the prophets – also appear as the first sign of Jesus’ authority. We are reminded of what Jesus says in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” The cloud, recalling both the cloud that enveloped Mount Sinai while Moses spoke with God and the cloud that leads the Israelites through the wilderness, is a sign of God’s presence. Finally, Jesus’ role as the new revealer of God’s will and as someone truly unique in terms of his intimacy with God is confirmed the words spoken from the cloud: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (Luke 9:35) But Jesus is so much more than Moses’ successor. His transformation comes from within, it is the divine nature shining through.
Knowing the story of Moses, I wonder if Peter is hoping for some kind of personal transformation too: Does he think that the longer he can spend on the mountain, the more likely this transformation will happen to him? Is that why he wants to build the three dwellings? Or is it just that he wants to prolong this special moment – and perhaps, this event follows the first passion prediction, keep Jesus away from a certain death in Jerusalem? It is in any case a misunderstanding. Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem and – through his death and resurrection – into his lasting glory cannot be stopped. The purpose of the Transfiguration is to strengthen and empower Jesus for the difficult path ahead, to reassure the disciples and to give them a framework of interpretation and understanding for what will initially look like a defeat. It is only in light of the resurrection, and looking back to the Transfiguration, that they fully understand Jesus' majesty and glory, and that the path to victory often leads through suffering and setbacks. Celebration awaits in the future but now is a time for response and action.
Peter is not entirely wrong of course. The Transfiguration does also point to the possibility of our own transformation - a gradual process, and one that will last all our lives. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul says that we are transformed when we look on the glory of the Lord revealed in Jesus: “All of us are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
How can we be transformed even if there is no convenient mountain handy and no Jesus to take us up with him? There are many different ways of experiencing the presence of God. Praying, which is the reason they all went up the mountain in the first place, is certainly one very good way, whether we pray on our own or collectively at church. We can also experience God’s presence at church: in the Word and in the Sacrament. But not just there. Peter, John and James, and Jesus, cannot stay on the mountain, just as we can’t stay in church. They had to come down to complete Jesus’ mission, just as we have to come out and back into the world. The more we open ourselves to God and to God’s son, the more we should be open to the needs of the world that it is our calling and mission to serve.
All three accounts of the Transfiguration, in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, are followed by the story of the boy who is possessed by a demon and suffers from fits, who needs healing and release that the disciples cannot yet provide. One of the renaissance artist Raphael's most famous paintings, The Transfiguration, has both scenes: The Transfiguration at the top and the healing of a possessed boy in the lower part of the painting.
The mountaintop experience is followed by an everyday failure to trust. The Transfiguration called the disciples to listen to Jesus, have they not listened enough? Their failure to heal the boy indicates their failure to fully accept the task and the power they have been given. In the version of this story in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus explicitly says that they could not heal because they still have too little faith in themselves.
The voice from the cloud says, “listen to him,” do what Jesus says and go where Jesus sends us. In the Anglican Communion, today, the last Sunday in Epiphany is also designated as World Mission Sunday (confusingly, the RC version is in October!). Some years ago, the Anglican Communion defined what we call the 5 Marks of Mission as a holistic definition of mission, of what Jesus sends us out to do. They are:
- TELL: To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
- TEACH: To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
- TEND: To respond to human need by loving service
- TRANSFORM: To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation
- TREASURE: To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth
This mission, that is God’s mission, is in itself transformational. We are being transformed into the image of Jesus not for our own benefit, but to act on his behalf, to become bearers of God’s glory and love and mercy in the world. Step by step we can transform the world. And at the same time as it is God’s presence that transforms us, where are we more likely to encounter the presence of God than in service and where are we more likely to experience Christ than in those we serve? Amen.
