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.

Danger and Fear Meet Salvation – 13 August 2017 – 10th Sunday after Pentecost/ Lectionary 19

Matthew 14:22-33

 Still seeking solitude (cf. 14:13), Jesus went up the mountain alone to pray; the narrator repeats that he was still there alone when evening came. Two forces came down the mountain toward the disciples in the boat: first the wind, and they battled it fiercely. . . But when they saw a man walking through that storm toward them, they were convinced they were really in trouble. . .  They cried out in fear, but Jesus identified himself and said, “do not be afraid.”

. . . Peter was at once doubtful and confident: “If it is you,” he said. . .  Jesus did not chastise him for the test, but invited him to come, and so Peter did…until a strong blast of the wind slapped him in the face and brought him back. Perfect fear drives out faith, but not entirely: Peter cried out for salvation and Jesus' hand found him.

For the second time Jesus questioned a disciple's “little faith,” this time asking, “why did you doubt?” Once again the wind stopped, but this time the disciples do not ask who it might be, rather they worshipped the “Son of God.” –– Paul E. Koptak

1 Kings 19:9-18

Alone on the mountain and afraid of political and religious forces that are out to get him, Elijah waits for the Lord to come. He looks in all the wrong places for God’s presence: wind, earthquake, and fire. But the Lord was not in the powerful and destructive energies that visit Earth regularly. Instead, the Lord was in the silence which Elijah could “hear” and it caused him to recoil by covering his face.

Prof. Robert E. Bornemann, who taught Old Testament at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia held that the literal translation of the Hebrew for “sound of sheer silence” is “the sound of silence pulverized.” That is, God’s presence came to Elijah in less than silence, in crushed silence, in sound––even sound!––that was broken.

In the broken “voices” of this world, we find the presence of God. And from out of that brokenness, the voice of the Lord spoke to Elijah with assurance that his people would remain and survive.

The voice at the mouth of the cave gives Elijah the command to appoint new leaders with the assurance that he is not alone: a remnant of seven thousand remain and will survive judgment (1 Kgs 19:13–18). –– Paul E. Koptak

Romans 10:5-15

Paul draws from Hebrew scripture to support his claim that “Christ is the end of the law [telos can mean the termination or the goal. . . ] so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (v 10:4).

Each half of that claim is taken in turn; the “righteousness of faith” marks the telos of the law in the righteous life of Christ, and so it is offered to all. Paul quotes Moses from Leviticus 18:5, “the person who does these things will live by them,” thought by many to refer to Christ, the fulfillment of the “righteousness that comes from the law.” He then draws from Deuteronomy 30:11–14 to show that the “righteousness that comes by faith” neither brings Christ down from heaven nor up from the grave. Those works belong to God. . .  

In a mirror repetition of verse 9, Paul adds that one believes with the heart and is justified. . . and one confesses with the mouth and is saved (v 10). The righteousness of faith is for everyone, Paul says three times: he quotes Isaiah 28:16 in verse 11, affirms one Lord of Jew and Greek in verse 12, and quotes Joel 2:32 in verse 13.

. . . Isaiah thought messengers of good news ran on beautiful feet (Isa 52:7), even though he knew that not everyone would believe. So the church finds its great commission in evangelism and worship: “O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples” (Ps. 105:1). –– Paul E. Koptak

Paul E. Koptak is professor of communication and biblical interpretation at North Park University Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois.

Homily Service 41, no. 3 (2008): 145-154.

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.