How are you getting to Easter this year?
Year A • The Last Sunday After Epiphany
Exodus 24:12-18 • Psalm 2 or 99 • 2 Peter 1:16-21 • Matthew 17:1-9
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The Sermon
All of us, with
unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror,
are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another;
for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
— 2 Corinthians 3:18
Getting All the Way to Easter
Good Morning. I have a question for you: “How are you
getting to Easter this year? How are you getting from here all the way to
Easter?”
Today is the Last Sunday of Epiphany. It is also
known as Transfiguration Sunday because on this day, on this last Sunday before
Lent, we are present with Jesus up on the Mount of Transfiguration. And we are
looking across the valley that lies under the shadow of death, the valley in
which we live our lives. And as we look south across this darkened landscape,
in the distance we can see the glimmer of Easter, but only faintly because it’s
largely hidden from view. Darkness looms in the distance, and a dark shape
rises out of the shadows and obscures Easter. It’s very dark, but if we look
closely, we can see the faint outlines of three cross-like structures against a
sun-eclipsed horizon. That dark shape, of course, is Calvary, the place of the
Skull, the place where our Lord gave up his life. Some people call it a hill,
but it’s really a mountain. After all, mountains are places where heaven and
earth meet, and heaven and earth certainly met on Calvary, long ago, on a dark
Friday, we call Good.
But again, I wonder, “How are we getting to
Easter?” I pose this question because it is the same question that is
confronting Jesus’ disciples in the events leading up to today’s Gospel
reading.
The Lead Up to the Transfiguration
Today’s
episode that takes place on the Mount of Transfiguration is situated along a
fault line in the narrative of Matthew’s gospel. It is part of the turning
point, for it is at this stage in the story that Jesus sets his face like flint
toward Jerusalem. After today’s episode, Jesus will walk off the mountain of
his glory and begin making his way down into the valley, the valley that will funnel
him toward his death.
But let’s step back and take in some of the events that lead up to
today’s gospel reading. We are at the midpoint of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus is at
the height of his popularity. His ministry of healing and teaching, of
proclaiming the arrival of God’s kingdom in word and deed has generated quite a
buzz. Jesus has fed crowds of 5000 and 4000. He has cured hundreds people,
delivering them from all manner of trouble, sorrow, need, and sickness. He
makes the deaf to hear, the mute to speak, the blind to see. He makes the lame
to walk and the maimed whole (Matt 15:31).
But all of this popularity has attracted the
attention and sparked the suspicion of the powers that be. The Pharisees and
Sadducees confront Jesus. They question him. They lay traps for him. So Jesus
withdraws from public life for a time. Taking his closest followers with him,
Jesus heads North. He leaves his familiar Jewish homeland behind and makes his
way deep into Gentile territory.
While there, Jesus interviews his disciples. He asks
them, “People are talking about me? Who do they say I am?” The disciples reply,
“Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others say Jeremiah or one of the
prophets.” The crowds are getting close, but they don’t quite have it yet.
Jesus is a prophet, to be sure, but
he is more than a prophet. Jesus turns the question on his disciples, “So who
do you say that I am?” Without
hesitation, Simon Peter—the spokesperson for the Twelve—stands up and
announces, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (16:16). It’s a
glorious moment. Peter and the disciples have finally recognized what we
readers of the Gospel have known all along, that Jesus is the Lord’s Anointed,
the very Son of God.
But the moment is short-lived. As soon as his true
identity becomes known, Jesus swears his disciples to secrecy. And from that point
on, Jesus begins to talk openly about the fate that awaits him. He must go to
Jerusalem and endure great suffering at the hands of the elders, the chief
priests, and they scribes. He will be killed, and on the third day he will rise.
But poor Peter is not having any of it. He takes Jesus aside and begins
to rebuke him, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you” (16:22).
Peter’s rebuke earns him an even harsher rebuke in return. For in Peter’s
words, Jesus hears the voice of the Evil One trying to discourage him, trying
to divert him from his vocation. Jesus turns to Peter and says, “Get behind me,
Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on
divine things but on human things” (16:23).
Jesus then calls all of his disciples together,
and begins to instruct them on the nature and cost of discipleship.
If any want to become my followers, he says, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it (Matt 16:24-25).
Servants are not greater than their masters. If
the Son of God has a cross in his future, so do his disciples. No doubt, this
all came as quite a shock. After all, Jesus has been doing all manner of
wonderful and powerful things; God was clearly with him. So how is it that he
will be rejected by God’s people and be killed? And, if this is his fate, how
will his disciples follow him? How
are they going to make it to Jerusalem and beyond? In short, how are they going to make it all the
way to Easter?
The Transfiguration of the Disciples
That’s where today’s episode comes in. Six days after all
of this talk about crosses and death, Jesus takes with him Peter, James, and
John, and he leads them up on a high mountain, by themselves. There, they see
Jesus transfigured before their very eyes. His face shines with the brightness
of the sun, and his clothes become dazzling white. And, as if that were not
enough, two ot celebrities suddenly
appear out of the past: Moses, who represents the Law; and Elijah, who
represents the Prophets. These two extraordinary figures share something in
common. They both had encounters with Yahweh—the God of Israel—on the top of a
mountain, and here they are again on a mountaintop speaking face-to-face with
God in the person of his Son. The message is clear. Jesus of Nazareth is the
One who fulfills all the Law and the Prophets.
But the revelation of Jesus’ glory does not stop
there. Suddenly, a bright cloud overshadows the disciples, and out of the
cloud, they hear the voice of God: “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am
well pleased; listen to him!” This is the same voice that was heard at Jesus’
baptism, and it is speaking the same words. Except for that last bit; that last
bit is new. Listen to him!... Listen to him!... Those words are meant for the disciples. In fact, the whole
transfiguration of Jesus was for the sole benefit of the disciples. Just look
at the pronouns that are used. Seriously, when you go home today, take a
bulletin with you. Then, this afternoon, read through the transfiguration
story, and highlight the third-person plural pronouns, the “theys” and the
“thems.” This is a technique that we teach at my school; it’s called marking
the text.
When you do this, when you mark the text, you will
see that what take place on the Mount of Transfiguration is directed at the
disciples. For example, the text doesn’t just say, “Jesus was transfigured,” it
says, “Jesus was transfigured before them.”
Likewise, it doesn’t just say, “Suddenly there appeared Moses and Elijah,” but
rather, “Suddenly there appeared to them
Moses and Elijah.” And the episode continues in this vein, “a bright cloud
overshadowed them,” “Jesus came and
touched them,” “And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.”
By the way, that is an assignment. Next week, I want to see some highlighted bulletins. You can place them in the offering plate. Just make sure your name is on it so that you can get full credit.
So what’s the significance of all of this? Why does it matter that the Transfiguration
was put on solely for the benefit of Jesus’ disciples? And how exactly does it
benefit them? Let me answer the first question first. When Jesus is
transfigured before the disciples, it isn’t Jesus who is transfigured so much
as it is the disciples who are transfigured. Jesus isn’t becoming the Son of
God; he already is the Son of God. When he is transfigured on the mountain,
Jesus is not becoming something that he wasn’t before; he is revealing himself
to his disciples. As one author put it, “The transfigured Jesus is changed, not
in essence, but in the way he is seen.” In other words, on the Mount of Transfiguration,
it is the disciples’ vision that is being transfigured. Jesus’ disciples are
being given the gift of sight, the gift of seeing Jesus in all his glory, the
gift of seeing Jesus as he truly is.
But why is that important? How does that benefit
them in their discipleship? Because that is how the disciples are going to get
to Easter, and that’s how we are going to get to Easter.
Getting All the Way to Easter
As we all know, Easter is the time when we celebrate the
Resurrection of Jesus. But Easter is not only about Jesus’ resurrection, it is
also about our resurrection. Easter
is about our participation in the
resurrected life of Jesus, our participation in his victory over death. Yet,
there is no Easter without Calvary; no resurrection without death. And that’s
the purpose of Lent. Lent is a journey to Easter, but a journey that
necessarily takes us through the valley of deep shadows.
But how can we make that journey? Where can we
find the strength and courage to take up our cross and follow in the footsteps
of our Master? If only we could see the light of Easter at the end of the
tunnel, then we might be willing and able to make the journey. But Easter is
hidden from view by Calvary; Calvary dominates the landscape, so much so that,
as we get closer and closer to Easter, all we can see is the outline of our own
cross coming into focus.
On Ash Wednesday, we will hear these words from
the Book of Common Prayer:
Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith. I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word (BCP 264–265).
Sin, self-examination, repentance, penitence—those
are not exactly inspiring words. I mean if you were to pick up a travel
brochure, and a vacation was described as being filled with prayer, fasting,
and self-denial, who would want to go? So again, where do we find the strength
and courage to make the dark and difficult journey of Lent? We find it on the
Mount of Transfiguration. When our vision of Jesus is transfigured, when our
eyes behold the brilliance of the Son of God, when see Jesus as he is (if only
for a moment) and we bask in the light of his unconditional love and
forgiveness, then we can do almost anything. We can walk through the valley of
the shadow of death and fear no evil, for we will know that our Lord is with
us. And we will find that even his rod and his staff are a comfort to us
because he cares for us.
We find encouragement and empowerment on the Mount
of Transfiguration because it is there that we are granted a vision, not only
of who Jesus is, but of what we become as we follow him to Calvary, a vision of
what we become as we take up our cross and engage in the work of
self-examination, repentance, and prayer. “The transfiguration of Jesus offers
a glimpse of what is possible, not only for Jesus, but for all humanity.”[1]
As one author puts it,
Who is Christ? Who am I?... The dazzling light that shone from the face of Jesus reveals to us his true stature as the eternal Son of God. It reveals to us also the highest potentiality of our created nature, our ultimate vocation as human beings.”[2]
So beloved, “I invite you,…, to the observance of a
holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and
self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” It can be a
long journey so travel light, that is, travel by the light of Christ who loves
you, who empowers you, and who will guide you all the way to Easter, all the
way to the resurrection life that awaits us on the other side of Calvary.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] Lori Brandt Hale, “Luke 9:28–36 (37–43): Theological Perspective” in Feasting on the Word; Preaching the Revised
Common Lectionary: Year C, Volume 1 (eds. David L. Bartlett, Barbara Brown
Taylor; Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox, 2009), 454.
[2] Andreas Andreopoulos, This Is My Beloved Son: The Transfiguration
of Christ (Brewster, Mass.: Paraclete,
2012), from the Forward by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware.
Delivered on Sunday, March 2nd, a.d. 2014
at St. John's Episcopal Church (Wichita, Kansas)
The Scriptures
