Transfigured (LuKe 9: 28-36) 2/10/13

Have you ever met someone famous? I’ve shaken hands with a couple governors and Congressmen and also Bob Hope. I’ve had my picture taken with Captain Kangaroo. Once I played a round of golf with a University President. Another time I met Willie Mays, the great baseball player for the New York Giants. One can’t help but be slightly awed in the presence of great success or fame. Maybe we quietly hope that their success will rub off on us.

The Gospel of Luke records a meeting of normal and famous people. We call it the Transfiguration. It is eight days after the miracle of the Feeding of the 5,000 outside Bethsaida. Matthew and Mark tell the same story and they say it’s six days. Let’s just call it about a week later. Jesus goes up on a high mountain. The mountain was thought by the ancients to be Mt. Tabor. We don’t know for sure. There were other mountains in the area where it could have taken place. Today, Mt. Tabor is home to the Franciscan Church of the Transfiguration and the sight of many Christian pilgrimages. From the top, one can see all the surrounding countryside. Whichever mountain it was, it wasn’t that far from Jerusalem and it was high, according to the accounts.

 Jesus takes the big three apostles: Peter, James and John, with him. What happens on that mountaintop is miraculous. It is also a different sort of miracle from all the others in the Gospels, for this miracle comes to Jesus instead of coming from him. According to Luke, Jesus and the disciples are praying. The other gospels don’t mention this. Luke tells us that as Jesus was praying, his face was altered and his clothing became dazzling white. We have seen something like this before. Remember the story of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 34? Moses comes down from the mountain after having talked with God and his face is shining. He has been in the presence of God and it shows. His face is so bright that the people are afraid to come near him.  Now, here on this mountaintop, these three men find themselves in the presence of God.

Moses and Elijah are visiting with Jesus. Can you imagine? They have been dead for hundreds of years, but here they are in the flesh, so to speak. They are talking about his departure and what he is to accomplish in Jerusalem. The Greek word which we translate as departure is exodus (ecodoj). The departure, or exodus, to which they are referring, is Jesus’ death in Jerusalem and his journey back to glory. Moses, who represents the Law, and Elijah, the greatest of the Prophets, are talking to Jesus about his last job on earth and his return home.

Peter, James and John are asleep, apparently in a deep sleep. Only Luke records the event this way. As they become awake, they see this event unfolding. They have trouble looking at Jesus and his friends, for they are clothed in the glory of God. It is too much to look upon. I’m visualizing them as they try to look. They must have to shield their eyes from the brightness. Their hands cover their faces. I imagine there might be a great heat accompanying the bright light emanating from the men.

What’s going on here? Jesus has just come from a great miracle where thousands have been fed with virtually nothing. He comes to the mountain to pray. Soon he will be in Jerusalem. Soon he will be arrested. Soon he will be crucified by the very people he came to save. So Jesus comes to the mountain to pray. He knows what lies ahead. He knows he must undergo a test that no man can withstand, but that is exactly what he is expected to do. So he comes to the mountain to pray, to get ready, to get re-enforced.

I’m thinking this is one of those moments of which the Son of Man has no foreknowledge. He comes to the mountain to pray. I’m sure he is used to getting plenty of feedback from God the Father, but not like this. Jesus prays, probably for awhile, because the disciples fall sound asleep. This is not the last time these three will fall asleep on the job. Remember their same failure in the Garden of Gethsemane? Jesus prays for strength to follow his Father’s will on the last night of his life and the disciples fall asleep.

But on this occasion, Jesus receives a visit. The All-Star team comes down from above and stops in on Jesus. They remind him of how far he has come. They remind him of the glory that awaits him upon his arrival back in heaven. They give him a pat on the back and some high fives. The scene is so powerful that Jesus takes on the outward appearance that manifests the glory that God has reserved for him. And the three disciples get a glimpse into what it looks like to be glorified.

Peter is you and me. He looks at the most glorious sight we can imagine and he tries to normalize it. The Law and the Prophets personified are leaving and Peter says no, wait, let me make some shelter and we can build a campfire and roast some marshmallows. Good old Peter. When in doubt, just blurt out something and hope. James and John are not heard. They are just watching, probably entranced by the scene that is unfolding. I’m reminded of another time when Peter acted without thinking. He stepped out of a boat and walked on water to come to his Savior while the others held back and watched. Peter is a man who makes mistakes. But Peter’s mistakes are the kind we should applaud, because his mistakes are made while trying to do something, as opposed to the mistakes we all make by doing nothing.

While Peter speaks, he and all the others are enveloped in a cloud. To be more accurate, they are surrounded by God’s presence. Within this cloud comes a voice. It is the voice of God. Stop here and try to capture this image in your mind. You have been in the presence of two great figures from history and your leader, all three of them in more light than you can bear to see, and then a cloud surrounds all of you…and it speaks. There is nothing normal about this scene. All of it takes on the aura of surreal, of superhuman. There is nothing to compare it to. It must have been overwhelming for these three men. This is what happens when human nature comes face to face with God.

Then from the cloud comes the voice of God in a divine endorsement almost identical with those words heard at Jesus’ baptism. Matthew’s gospel says “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Mark and Luke just call him the beloved son. Luke adds the phrase: “the Chosen One.” All three end with a command: “Listen to him.”

In the next instant, Moses and Elijah are gone and Jesus again stands alone. But not so alone now as he was before he started praying. His prayer has been answered. Jesus has not only direction; he has God’s approval. The Law and the Prophets back up his actions and propel him toward his destiny. God once again renders a divine endorsement of his Son and his Son’s actions. And the endorsement is punctuated with a three word command for not only those three disciples, but for us. “Listen to him.”

Listen to him. Look back to the call of Levi in the book of Deuteronomy (18:5), where Moses says to God’s people: “…the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord…” Levi and his tribe were called by God to be the priestly tribe of Israel. Here, it is once again made plain to these three men to whom they owe not only their allegiance and obedience, but also to whom they should look for instruction.

Perhaps we can see now why Peter, James and John accompanied Jesus up the mountain that day. Although it was an answer to prayer for Jesus…a moment set aside to prepare him and give him encouragement for his last great sacrifice, it was also a window into heaven for those three mortal men. Coming down the mountain, they were told to keep the events they had seen to themselves. They did so until after Jesus’ death and resurrection. But they had seen. They remembered that day and the things they had seen. Although they had their missteps on the way to the cross, they finished strong, didn’t they: Writers of the New Testament, missionaries, pillars of the faith, martyrs.

We need to learn the lesson of the Transfiguration. It’s not just something marvelously mystical, full of clouds and angels. It’s much more than that. It is advice and counsel from our Father. Listen to him. What simple, direct, wonderful advice. It comes straight from God. Listen to him. He is our prophet. He is our leader. He is our teacher. Listen to him. He is…our Savior!