On the Transfiguration
“For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.” 2 Peter 1:16-18
Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday has always been a bit of a dread for this preacher. It's a confounding, mystifying text, one that does not easily lend itself to a fifteen-minute sermon. In just a few short verses (more or less, depending on the Synoptic text), we are confronted with a Gospel lection that overwhelms with its Trinitarian, Christological, anthropological, and eschatological implications. The event is too ineffable and glorious; we sympathize with Peter, who can't understand what he has witnessed but just wants to sit awhile and commemorate the wonder of it all. Moses, Elijah, AND Jesus, in all his divine glory, the God-man perfectly on display? Yes, it is a challenge to preach!
Many Christian bodies have established observances of the Transfiguration of the Lord. In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, it is a major feast day (although observed on a different date than Protestants), indicating something of the Transfiguration's ability to draw us deeply into the mystery of the divine life. Even though my own denomination does not follow an established festal calendar, most United Methodist churches will observe Transfiguration Sunday. It is placed as the last Sunday in Time After Epiphany (Ordinary Time) and the beginning of Lent, serving as a bridge between a season focused on discipleship and one centered on repentance, self-examination, and preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Theologically and liturgically, the Transfiguration of the Lord confronts us with truths we disciples desperately need to receive, especially as much of the culture becomes increasingly hostile to the claims of the Christian faith. The Transfiguration offers us theological fodder for times when Christian claims seem to have lost their currency in so many spheres, even within churches. Here are three learnings from the Transfiguration that strike this preacher afresh this year.
1. The Transfiguration teaches us that bodies are good.
Gnostic ideology, that ancient heresy that elevates knowledge and spirit and denigrates physical matter, runs rampant in contemporary culture. Disembodied, individualized notions of the self are sacrosanct, evidenced as people manipulate and modify their physical bodies to live out their “truth.” In an instant, the Transfiguration does away with all of that. When Jesus was revealed in his glory and majesty on that mountain and joined with Moses and Elijah, these three evidenced that citizens of God's kingdom are embodied. The eschatological glorification of believers in the new creation will include physical AND spiritual realities. Perhaps the Transfiguration was resounding in Paul's mind when he reminded the church in Corinth of our future hope: “This body that decays must be changed into a body that cannot decay. This mortal body must be changed into a body that will live forever” (1 Cor. 15:33). Our identities and our bodies are gifts from our creator, and the best is yet to come.
2. The Transfiguration reminds us of the preeminence of Jesus Christ.
Moses, who received the Law, and Elijah, the greatest of Israel’s prophets, represent the fullness of the Jewish tradition and the promised messianic hope. As Moses and Elijah meet Jesus on this mountain, one cannot help but recall Moses encountering God on Mount Sinai, and Elijah battling the false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. And God intervened at the end of both Moses’s and Elijah’s lives; according to the Scriptures, God buried Moses himself and carried Elijah away in a chariot of fire while he was still alive. Because of these divine interventions, the Jewish people believed that both Moses and Elijah would return at the end of the age. The same God who gave the law to his people and who showed his power through Elijah is revealed in the second person of the Trinity, and those witnesses—disciples then and now—are instructed to listen to him. The past and the future of all creation comes together in the present in the glorified person of the perfect God-man.
3. The Transfiguration points us to proper discipleship.
Two points are salient here regarding the life of faith. First, Peter’s response to the overwhelming scene before him is to commemorate the event, to capture the encounter. After all, this practice has precedence in the Old Testament (think of Jacob’s dream at Bethel or stone memorials erected during the Israelites’ wilderness wandering). Peter’s response seems congruent with others in Biblical times and disciples since who attempt to contain the ineffable presence of God. I see myself in Peter. There seems to be a strong desire within us humans to try to hold on to transcendence; however, this can quickly become an attempt by humans to manage God, rather than to allow God to reveal himself to his people in whatever way he sees fit. Second, each of the Synoptics record Jesus and his disciples ministering healing and deliverance immediately following the Transfiguration encounter. Moments of divine meeting, instances of communion with Jesus Christ, are meant to empower us for service and lead us to minister to the hurts and needs of those around us, especially as believers encounter the realities of evil. We need the Transfiguration to remind us that God has work for us to do, and we do not go it alone.
Secular thought—and even much church teaching—tends to reduce religion to ethics, to see the point of faith as making people nice. The Transfiguration will have none of that. This moment touches on embodied existence, reminds us that Jesus Christ is both God and man, and emboldens us to live as his disciples. In Jesus’s transfiguration we see that the final purpose of our faith is not self-improvement; it is that we ourselves become transfigured as sons and daughters of God in blessed union with our Lord and Savior, ready to serve him in all things.
Evan Rohrs-Dodge is senior pastor of St. Paul’s UMC in Brick, NJ, adjunct instructor at United Theological Seminary, and a member of the Firebrand Editorial Board.