Transfiguration 2025

 A child was talking to her pastor.  She said, “Pastor, you must be old enough to have known Moses!”  Her pastor replied, “No, dear I am not!  It wasn’t funny when Ben Franklin said it, and it’s not funny when you say it!”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus has taken his select Disciples up on the mountaintop, the first that he called to follow him.  And suddenly Moses and Elijah appear talking with Jesus.  Why these two?  First of all they are the two most famous characters from the religious tradition, they represent the law (Moses with the 10 commandments) and the prophets (Elijah who goes to the widow at Zarephath and to Naaman who needs healed from leprosy). Jesus has come to fulfill the law and the prophets, so he needs their blessing and maybe their advice.  These two are associated with perhaps never having died but being taken into heaven.  And finally these two have experience with mountaineering.  Moses goes up to the holy mountain to talk to God and receive the commandments.  He is affected by a glowing transfiguration, just as Jesus is here.  Elijah, too, goes up the mountain, 40 days like Moses.  He is hiding from those out to get him, and he listens for God in the storm and in the earthquake, but finally hears God in the sound of complete silence.  That's the other reason they are here, they heard God on the mountain.

Peter's suggesting that they build three booths is appropriate. Because Moses and Elijah stayed 40 days on their respective mountains, maybe he assumes these three are going to want to do the same.  He's expressing reverence for the moment, linking it to the festival of booths, he’s trying to provide hospitality, he's trying to help them stay longer and be comfortable. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus is always being tempted and tested.  Next week we start the season of Lent and Jesus will be driven out into the wilderness after his baptism to be tempted by the devil.  He is tempted to do the ordinary human things, seek human power, seek to prove he has God's attention and protection, seek to satisfy his own needs.  But Jesus has been empowered by the Holy Spirit to do God's mission and that is what he will do. 

This story of the transfiguration is no different.  He's on the mountaintop.  He hears God's voice and God's approval.  Peter's suggestion represents the temptation of the normal human thing to do, build three tents and stay put.  But Jesus is empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the God thing, his mission, which is to go to the people in need of healing and to bring them hope and new life.  There is an urgency to Jesus' ministry that takes him down the mountain sooner, and we get a glimpse of that urgency when we meet the troubled disciples and the troubled family in the valley.

The Gospel writer, Luke, and Jesus are interested in the level ground.  Make straight the way of the Lord, bring the mountains low and the lift the valleys up.  Jesus goes up to the mountain to pray, to have time with God, to be affirmed in his ministry.  His disciples go up, and they are weighed down with sleep, in that realm between sleeping and waking.  In other words, they don’t quite understand yet.  They will again fall asleep at the Garden of Gethsemane while Jesus is praying before his arrest.  Both of these events show the disciples not really understanding the significance of these events.  At the Transfiguration, there is hope.  They do wake up, and they receive the message from God to listen to Jesus.  As much as they would like to, they can't stay there, on the mountaintop, because God is creating a level place.  Not everyone has access to the mountain.  Not everyone can get up there.  There are people in the valleys who need Jesus, so Jesus brings the mountaintop down to those in the valleys.

Here is this family need.  Their child is tormented.  Their family is hurting.  Their village is troubled.  The community cannot be whole because of this child's pain.  Jesus heals this child and in that moment everything changes for the child, the parents, the extended family, the whole village.  In that healing, Jesus brought the mountaintop to them--they experienced the voice of God, they experienced the healing of God, and their whole community was transfigured.  

We need our mountaintop, to go to a safe place to pray and to listen to God's voice. We find that in nature.  We find that at church.  Many of us have a devotional practice of Bible Reading and prayer during the week.  We too get filled with life and light.  We might feel tempted to stay there.  That is a good time to ask ourselves, Is our comfort in the temporary beauty and glory of this moment or in the mission of Jesus? We come to the mountain to pray and be empowered to go and do the mission we are called to. We are invited to come down the mountain and let Jesus work through us to bring healing to others, to bring the mountaintop to a hurting world.  It's a privilege to have a moment to pray, to stand in the presence of God, to climb a mountain and hear God's voice, to wake up to the wonder of this world and all that God is doing.  It is also a privilege to go back down the mountain, to be the body of Christ sharing life and moutaintop with other troubled people.  

I have heard you say how worshiping at Trinity fills you up, gives you that warm feeling of welcome and hope.  It's a privilege to experience that.  We'd love others to come here and experience the same thing, but not everyone can get here, most won’t walk through those doors, but they can still experience Jesus’ love and grace.  We’re invited to wake up from our sleepiness and listen to Jesus, to go with him out into the world. 

How can we go out into the world, into our communities with our cup filled, and listen for Jesus in the hurting ones, be responsive to their needs, and be the body of Christ, bringing the mountaintop to those who can't climb that high? Is it through emergency preparedness, knowing our neighbors and responding to one another's needs?  Is it through volunteering in the community at schools and gardens and Snowcap and Zarephath?  Is it through our Endowment and Memorials grant program, putting money to work serving the community?  Is it through our relationship with Santa Cruz, stretching ourselves to communicate and understand the experiences of people from around the world?  Yes, all this and more. 

We're still listening to God, we're still waking up to the gift of the law and prophets.  We're still following Jesus, up the mountain, down the mountain, and finding that we are changed, transfigured, that our hearts are shining with the light of Christ, and he is working through us as we head into the valley of lent.