NRSLuke 9
28Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothe became dazzling white. 30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.32Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.33Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"-- not knowing what he said.34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" 36When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
May the glory of the Lord shine on you and all yours; for the sake of Jesus the Messiah. Amen.
There’s an old song with a verse that goes like this:
Sunset glow from a hill
Let it flow take your fill
Mona Lisa smile
One such a perfect moment
Makes it all worthwhile
Autumn night crystal clear
Mystic light seems so near
Such a perfect moment
Nothin’ you can say
One such perfect moment
Gets you through the day
—(Mose Allison, “Perfect Moment”)
Today’s gospel is about “one such perfect moment.” For maybe just a minute or so, time stood still, and Peter, James, and John beheld the glory of God in the person of the transfigured Jesus. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples had a true mountaintop experience. They were granted a view of God’s staggering beauty in the changed expression and glistening garments of their master, God’s Son, our Lord Jesus. For one such perfect moment, Peter, James, and John got to eavesdrop on the counsels of God, and the experience left them both ecstatic and exhausted, spent and speechless, reaching for more while still reeling from too much.
The story behind the Transfiguration actually begins eight days earlier. That’s when Jesus told his disciples, under orders of strict secrecy, that, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (v. 22). The impact of those words on the disciples must have been devastating. Remember, the disciples had left everything to follow Jesus, the man they believed to be the very Messiah of God (Luke 9:20). But here was Jesus saying that he was about to be tortured, rejected, and murdered before being raised to glory. How could that be? What was he saying? It didn’t make sense to them, and both Matthew and Mark tell us that Peter actually rebuked Jesus for what that apostle considered nonsense.
Some things you can’t explain, but you can show, and that’s what Jesus does on the mount of Transfiguration. After predicting his own death and explaining to his disciples the true cost of discipleship, Jesus headed for the hills to pray. But this time, rather than going off to pray in solitude, Jesus takes with him Peter, James, and John, the core leadership of his now very confused apostolic community. While in prayer on that mountaintop, Jesus is transfigured. The glory of the Lord descends upon him, his face is changed, and his clothes become dazzling white. Representing the Law and the Prophets, Moses and Elijah appear and talk to Jesus about his departure, or in the Greek, his exodus, which he is about to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter, James, and John are weighed down with sleep, the way they will also sleep while Jesus prays on the Mount of Olives before his crucifixion (Luke 22: 45). But Peter eventually rouses himself to see Moses and Elijah as they are leaving Jesus. Again, he doesn’t understand what’s happening. Maybe he thinks that Jesus is part of a holy league, and borrowing from the Jewish tradition of booths, or Succot’, Peter offers to build three dwellings for the three holy men. And that’s when a brilliant cloud envelopes them, the same way the glory of the Lord surrounded Moses, and from that bright cloud they hear the voice that says: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
It was just a glimpse, barely a peek into the glory of God. Even then, the disciples couldn’t take it all in. Maybe that’s why they suddenly became weighed down with sleep. T.S. Eliot once wrote, “Human beings cannot bear very much reality.” True. But what Peter, James, and John could bear was enough for them to continue their journey with Jesus to Jerusalem, “the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it” (Luke 13: 34). In one such perfect moment, they had seen enough to keep putting one foot in front of the other as they followed Jesus down the mountain on a path they could not understand toward a destiny they could not comprehend.
Of course, we’re on the same path. Jesus tells us, and very bluntly, that following him is murder. You might even say that Jesus warns us, as he warned his original disciples, that we can’t follow him without taking up our crosses (Luke 9: 23), and we all know what people do with crosses. Jesus made it very clear that if you take up his name some people will persecute you, and dump on you, and say all kinds of terrible things about you (Matthew 5:11). You can even end up on the wrong side of the law and find yourself dragged before courts and judges (Luke 21: 12). And when this kind of stuff comes our way, when we start making some serious down payments on the costs of discipleship, we often react like Peter. We think, “Whoa! I must be on the wrong bus. I thought this was the Jesus Express to heaven. Glory, glory hallelujah! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition! Nobody told me nothing about forgiving people I hate, or foregoing my pound of flesh, or having to put myself out for people I wouldn’t invite into my home. ” It’s really hard, and except for our little glimpse of glory, that one such perfect moment, we’d chuck it and look for some other savior who will give us a better deal.
But where, you might ask, do we get this glimpse of glory? Clearly, I’m not glowing with the majesty of the Lord. Unless you’re on some very powerful medication, I don’t expect you’re seeing Moses and Elijah on either side of me. So where’s the brilliant cloud and the booming voice? Where’s the mountaintop experience? It’s here, in this bread and in this wine, with these words, “The Body of Christ given for you,” “The Blood of Christ shed for you.” I know, it’s not the heavens torn asunder. It’s not angels singing and waves crashing. Some people don’t even take it very seriously. But it’s here, the glory, the fullness, the presence of the Lord, and entirely, completely, totally for you. And it is enough.
In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
