Light is the Image of God - 11 February 2018 - Transfiguration

As we come to the end of the season of ordinary time after the Epiphany, the scripture stops us abruptly with anything but the ordinary. Here is another epiphany, a manifestation or showing forth of God in Christ. This is the most vivid such manifestation in the gospels, prior to the resurrection, if you set aside the epiphany of the angels of the incarnation. This manifestation can be seen as a foretaste, of the resurrection appearances, and perhaps a sample of the vision of God that we anticipate seeing, as St. Paul tells us, not “in a mirror, dimly,” but “face to face.” . . . –– Sara Webb Phillips

Mark 9:2-9

Profound spiritual experiences are a normal part of discipleship to Jesus, and may become more frequent in times when we are intentional about letting him draw us nearer to himself, as we do every Sunday when we gather around his table, and as we do every year during Lent as we seek personally and corporately to reorient our lives even more to his way. But those experiences are not the end we seek. Instead they are powerful reminders, pointing us back to the power, wisdom and glory of Jesus.

As we are pointed back to Jesus, the Father's voice continues to remind us to listen to him. Not to the power of the experience, not to the prevailing wisdom of the day, not to hopes for glory for ourselves or others—but to the words and teaching of Jesus.

We as the institutional church must confess that we have not always followed this directive well. We have listened to philosophers or kings or emperors or scholars or psychologists or televangelists or church marketing experts or leadership gurus, perhaps thinking and believing in all sincerity that we were listening to Jesus in and through them. To be sure, sometimes we were.

But our first call, as church, and especially as we all engage this Lenten journey which begins just three days from today, is to listen to Jesus himself. We have his words, his teachings recorded in the gospels. . . . During Lent itself it is to [the] Lord . . . we ultimately turn—not only to hear his words, but to learn again, or perhaps for the first time, how to do them.

. . . Today we are on a high mountain with Jesus, looking out over the spiritual battleground that lies ahead for each of us. –– Taylor Burton-Edwards

2 Kings 2:1-12

Elijah's ministry ends dramatically as he is taken into heaven in a chariot of fire. The wonderful storytelling draws out Elijah's final journey with repetition of narrative elements. The listener's sense of expectation increases as Elisha will not be dissuaded from following his master. At last “the mantle is passed” and the story turns its attention to Elisha. –– Aaron J. Couch

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Paul pictures the gospel message as open and clear but acknowledges that for some, its truth is veiled. It is Satan, the “god of this world,” who has blinded them so they fail to see the glory of Christ. Those who believe “see” the glory of the Creator God revealed in Jesus Christ. –– Aaron J. Couch

Taylor Burton-Edwards is the Director of Worship resources for the United Methodist Church.

Aaron J. Couch is a co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon.

Sara Webb Phillips is a United Methodist minister serving North Springs UMC in Sandy Springs, Georgia.

Homily Service 39, no. 3 (2006): 35-46.

Up on the Mountain –– Transfiguration, Year A –– 26 February 2017

Who is this rabbi? Many biblical parallels link Jesus and Moses and the prophet Elijah but the Transfiguration, in particular, with awesome white light and the voice from above points to a divine being.

Savior. Healer. Teacher. Friend. Social activist. Prophet. All are common ways of identifying who Jesus was. But how often do we hear Jesus referred to as a mystic? Let us define a mystic as one who. . . regularly engages in prayer and worship and who has experienced communion with God.

That Jesus was a mystic is implied in the Gospels. John's presentation of Jesus' discourses and his account of Jesus' ministry, passion and resurrection are filled with the language of mystical union, or oneness with God. Gospel narratives report how, after intense periods of healing and teaching, Jesus went off by himself to pray. . .  Nowhere is the suggestion that Jesus was a mystic stronger than in the story of the Transfiguration.

. . . The Transfiguration marks an occasion when he let others in on the experience. Why? Perhaps because Peter, James and John were his closest friends and confidantes. Or maybe because they needed encouragement. Or it could be that such an experience would give them authority after his death, as Peter reminds the early church in 2 Peter.

Signs and symbols of mystical experience are all here in Matthew, just as they are in Exodus: a high mountain, “his face shone like the sun” and a cloud. Still more spectacular in the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah are present, God speaks the same words spoken at Jesus' baptism (Matthew 3:17), with the addition of the words “Listen to him,” and there are credible witnesses to see and hear. –– Diane Stephens

Matthew 17:1-9

There are many biblical allusions in the passage to the theophany on Mount Sinai. First there is the setting itself—a mountain. Then there is the time notation, “after six days,” which may echo Exodus 24:8. Jesus' face “shone like the sun,” an echo of Moses' countenance after meeting God (Exodus 34:29). Jesus' garments also are transformed, becoming “dazzling white.” This may be an allusion to Psalm 104:1–2 and/or to the “white as snow” clothing of the Ancient One in Daniel 7:9. Moses is present on both mountains, as is the cloud. Matthew has changed Mark's name order (“Elijah with Moses”), so that the two Old Testament figures “Moses and Elijah” can more clearly represent the Law and the Prophets, whom Jesus fulfills. The heavenly voice speaks as at the baptism of Jesus, adding, “Listen to him.” –– Joseph McHugh

Exodus 24:12-18

When Moses met God on Mount Sinai. . . the loftiness of mountains and the power of fire characterized God's distance from lowly people. God could not be seen, but God could be heard and God's voice thundered from a burning mountain. –– John Paul Salay

2 Peter 1:16-21

The introduction to 2 Peter in the New American Bible observes: “2 Peter . . . appeals to tradition against the twin threat of doctrinal error and moral laxity, which appear to reflect an early stage of what later developed into full-blown gnosticism. Thus [the writer] forms a link between the apostolic period and the church of subsequent ages.” The mention of the Transfiguration is part of this appeal to tradition. –– Joseph McHugh

Diane Stephens Hogue, an elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA), is a spiritual director, retreat leader, faculty member in the Credo program of the PCUSA, and affiliate faculty at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Joseph McHugh is a freelance writer who writes on scripture and other religious topics.

John Paul Salay is Loyola University’s Minister of Liturgy and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).

Homily Service 41, no. 1 (2007): 131-141.

Encountering the Holy – 7 February 2016 – Transfiguration

Our readings for today speak of several momentous encounters, intimate times of worship, life-altering episodes with God that are so transformative that they visibly reflect a change in the countenance of Moses and compel Peter to want to “do something.”

Likewise, when we experience such moments, we are destined to be changed. . . . Paul understood this when he spoke of “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” Encountering the holiness of God will alter the way people see us and the way we relate to others. – Chris L. Brady

Luke 9:28-36 [37-43]

The fact that this event is situated on a mountain and contains a command links this episode with that of Sinai. The three gospels place this episode immediately after Jesus states that he was destined for execution and that those who follow him can also expect to lose their lives. These are the specific points to which the divine voice command was to “listen.” – Regina Boislair

Exodus 34:29-35

No doubt the lectionaries assigned this pericope because a Christian reading of it associates the radiance that the Israelites witnessed in Moses' face with that of Jesus' transfiguration witnessed by Peter, James and John. This segment has two traditions: 34:29–33 speaks of a single incident following Moses' descent from Sinai with a second set of tablets while 34:34–35 speaks of repeated experiences of the Israelites of Moses radiance after his conversations with God. . . .  Moses' radiance and veiling illustrate his special role and calling as mediator between God and the Israelites. – Regina Boisclair

2 Corinthians 3:12–4:2

There are a number of concerns with respect to this selection. First, the message of this passage is an expression of Christian supersessionism, a premise that claims that Judaism and the covenant with Israel were abrogated by Christ. . . part of a teaching of contempt towards Jews and Judaism that most churches have officially rejected.

Second, the passage rightly recognizes that Jewish understandings of their own scriptures are not the understandings that Christians take from these texts. (Paul calls this veiling and compares it to the veil Moses put on his face to mask the effects of the glory of God from the Israelites.) …[B]iblical scholars and the Pontifical Biblical Commission have called special attention to the fact that while Christian readings of the scriptures of Israel are legitimate and of primary importance for Christians, such interpretations cannot displace the understandings of that would have been given to the text in their original social location in Israel and in the Jewish community. . .

. . . This having been said, Paul treats Moses as a type of apostle. Both are ministers to the glory (presence) of God.

…The lectionary sees a connection between the glory that caused Moses to be veiled and the transfiguration of Jesus witnessed by Peter, James and John. In this instance there was no veil and Moses and Elijah also appear as affirmation of Jesus' role. – Regina Boisclair

Regina Boisclair, a Roman Catholic biblical scholar, teaches at Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage, Alaska.

Chris L. Brady is lead pastor of Wilson Temple, United Methodist Church, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Homily Service 40, no. 3 (2007): 26-40.