TRANSFIGURATION
SUNDAY
FEBRUARY
23, 2020
MATTHEW
17:1-9
“A
TRANSFIGURATION, A TOUCH”
1Six days later,
Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high
mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and
his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly
there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then
Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I
will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for
Elijah." 5While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud
overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the
Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" 6When the
disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But
Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid." 8And
when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. 9As
they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about
the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."
A
sonnet entitled, Transfiguration, from British poet, Malcolm Guite.
For that one
moment, ‘in and out of time’,
On that one
mountain where all moments meet,
The daily veil that
covers the sublime
In darkling glass fell
dazzled at his feet.
There were no
angels full of eyes and wings
Just living glory
full of truth and grace.
The Love that
dances at the heart of things
Shone out upon us
from a human face
And to that light
the light in us leaped up,
We felt it quicken
somewhere deep within,
A sudden blaze of
long-extinguished hope
Trembled and
tingled through the tender skin.
Nor can this
blackened sky, this darkened scar
Eclipse that
glimpse of how things really are.
Malcolm
Guite, Transfiguration
A
glimpse of how things really are.
What
a curious thing to say about the transfiguration. I say it’s curious, because
the transfiguration confounds us, and defies easy explanations. We don’t
necessarily understand it or know what to make of it. So, what does the poet
mean?
In
the moment of Transfiguration on the mountaintop, heaven touches earth,
divinity is embodied in humanity, and in Jesus we see what God intended the
perfect creation to be. Engulfed in light; emanating light; becoming as light,
there is Jesus, the fully human Jesus touching his disciples to calm their
fears as he radiates his unity with the divine light. Life on earth how it was
meant to be. A glimpse of how things really are.
And
yet, at the same time a glimpse of how far we are from how it was intended to
be when God, in infinite wisdom and a sudden burst of creativity spun the stars
into the heavens and exploded life on earth in the garden which is now a
distant memory. Perfection was imparted into every facet of creation, including
humans, in the perfect love of the divine creator – who created in love. Creator
and creation in perfect unity, but now, as we are all to aware, a creation
beset with war and anger, a thirst for revenge, a lust for unchecked power and
complete domination, all too imperfect, all too flawed. Creator and creation
separated by a divide, a chasm that cannot be filled by the most righteous of
efforts of the offspring of God’s love. Except by intervention of the
God/Human, Jesus, child of God, child of Light, child of Mary, the embodiment of
the perfection God intended.
Such
a blending of human and divine is foreign to us in our modern existence. We
don’t see it. We don’t experience it. It is almost inconceivable. What we so
more often see is the imperfect human side of life. The parts of us, deep
within the recesses of our being where little light shines that are envy,
jealousy, insecurity, and even enmity. We have felt that envy for the blessings
of another – their athletic grace, their physical beauty, their wealth beyond
our attaining. We are familiar with our jealous preoccupations with the ability
of another to be witty and smart. We are pierced at times by our insecurities
that remind us we are not as good as, not as much as that successful person. We
have known the heat of anger because we simply hated another human.
These
are the parts of life with which we are more familiar; which we experience in
ourselves and in others. The disciples were not unlike us, you know. They lived
in the milieu of negative human behaviors and emotions and experienced such
themselves. Thus, we know that they had ambitions to sit next to the throne of
Christ in eternity, to be the best of the best of the disciples.
They
too, like we, did not necessarily know what to make of a Jesus transfigured
before them in a shower of light and divinity. And so they cowered. They
covered their eyes and their heads. They fell to the ground. They feared. And
they retreated. It was only when Jesus reached down and touched them that they
were comforted. When his human hand made contact with them, their humanity was
settled.
And
then it dawned on them to worship. In the presence of the God/Human Jesus who
emanated the holiness of the One creator of all that is in a moment in time
before their very eyes they thought to stop, worship, honor, commemorate. It
was a moment in time like no other had experienced before. Maybe worship was
the only thing they knew they could do.
When
heaven and earth are transfigured in the One, in this Jesus, who touches us
with healing and wholeness, perhaps worship. And then, his hand, lifting these
disciples from their cowering pose, leads them down the mountain. Down from the
place of worship and into the place of real life, as we are fond of calling it.
Outside the walls of the church. And in their descent from heaven come to earth
in Jesus, the man with whom they walk, he says to them, tell no one what you
just saw, what you heard, how you felt. Keep it a secret unto yourselves, until
after I die. And they know right away, yes, they are certain of it, he just
told them he would die while they were yet alive in that real world at the base
of the mountain.
And
what does that mean that he will die before their eyes? Didn’t they just
witness glory? Didn’t they hear the very voice of God? Doesn’t that change
things? He was transfigured in their presence for goodness’ sake! Doesn’t that
change everything?
Does
wealth and power still prevail if he is gone? Is might still right when Jesus
returns from earth to heaven? Are the weak left to the mercy of the powerful?
Are the poor to remain poor?
Didn’t
heaven and earth come together in this man just at the moment they reached the
pinnacle of the mountain? Did not Moses and Elijah bear witness to the awesome
and unchecked governance of the Prince of Peace?
Tell.
No one. Until I am gone.
A
transfiguration. A touch. Voices of prophets. The thunder of God. And then,
silence.
When
you are atop a mountain sometimes you are surrounded by clouds. I went to Mt.
St. Helens in Washington in 2005. The higher I drove the deeper I was in the
clouds. Visibility was almost nil, but it wasn’t dark. The sun above the clouds
shone through, but that didn’t help my seeing, until at once the car exited the
cloud and the bright sun was all around, and there in the distance was the
volcano as clear as it could be.
You
can see a long way from the top of a mountain. You can see all the way to a
cross on a hill far away. Jesus did. Tell no one until I am gone, he told them.
And down the mountain they went back among the people clamoring for health and
wholeness, clamoring to be free from slavery to ruthless masters, clamoring for
a messiah to save them and take away all the earth and leave only heaven
behind.
But
that cannot be. Yet. In Jesus, earth and heaven touched, and in his glory he
was transfigured on that day so long ago, atop that mountain that seems light
years away from us.
And
so we worship, and we wait, and we pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven.
Nor
can this blackened sky, this darkened scar; Eclipse that glimpse of how things
really are. Come, Lord Jesus, come.
