St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes, Vicar
Year B/The Feast of the Transfiguration (Transferred)
Exodus 34:29-35; 2Peter 1:13-21; Luke 9:28-46
August 8, 2021
Today we celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration when Jesus went up to the mountain to pray…and while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became a dazzling white… (v. 29). This passage in Luke is called the “Transfiguration of Jesus,” not the “Transformation of Jesus.” Jesus’ inner divine nature, of one being with the Father, did not change. Transfiguration is about outward, visible changes.
In the midst of this dazzling transfiguration, Jesus’s disciples, Peter, James and John, saw him talking with the prophets Moses and Elijah. Moses was representative of God’s covenant with the Israelites, which would soon be fulfilled in Jesus’ death. Elijah represented the arrival of the fulfillment of “all things.” The presence of Moses and Elijah pointed to the kingdom of God that had already come in the person of Jesus, and God’s kingdom yet to come, to be fully realized only when Jesus returns to judge all of creation.
At the time of God’s choosing, the disciples were divinely positioned, on that holy mountain, to receive the truth of God’s Son. In the holy collision of the cosmic and the temporal, the disciples’ human eyes saw Jesus’ outward appearance change as his divinity emanated from his human being.
What happened on that mountain was a theophanic event—a theophany in which there is a visible, human encounter with a deity. When God acted upon Jesus, the disciples were not shielded from the outpouring of God’s glory; they were in the “splash” zone which resulted in a shared epiphany about Jesus’ true identity for the three chosen disciples.
I offer you the image of sunlight that cannot be contained. As the sunlight pours forth from the source, those uniquely positioned might be splashed with the light and some might be bathed in it.
In our Old Testament reading, Moses had been bathing in God’s glory for 40 days and nights on Mt. Sinai. When he came down from the mountaintop, the skin of his face was shining with God’s glory because he had been talking face to face with God. God chose to transfer His glory onto the most visible part of Moses’ body to be witnessed by those who would be led by him.
Similarly, the disciples in our gospel lesson, as spectators in close proximity of the conversation between Moses, Elijah and Jesus, strike me as being splashed with God’s glory. And, when they entered the overshadowing cloud where God said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” they were bathed in God’s glory, and were forever changed. Peter attested to his own transformation in our epistle, in which he gave a first-hand account of the disciples’ experience as eyewitnesses to Jesus’ Transfiguration, and as those who heard God’s voice from heaven. The result, Peter said, was that, for them, the prophetic message of God, “This is my Son,” had been fully confirmed.
As you might imagine, hospital chaplains encounter hundreds of patients and families—encounters which provide opportunities for God to divinely position us to be in the splash zone of His glory or to be bathed in it. A few years ago, I had formed a special, and relatively quick, bond with a patient, who I will call Jack, who struggled physically, emotionally and certainly spiritually. Jack was tired and his body was tired. When I received the call that he had died, I went to his room and saw Jack peaceful for the first time since I had met him. I saw the sunlight pouring from the open blinds bathing his face. As some of you may know, having companioned loved ones at the time of death, there was a very present energy in the room which I felt.
I pulled up a chair and sat with Jack’s body, the room still very heavy with his energy, as I gazed upon his face in the light and in the silence. I cried an ugly cry for a long time. When I was ready to leave, I thought, “Oh no, my face is a mess and my eyes are red.” So, I stood in the room and touched up my face, hoping that I could just get to my office without breaking down, and bumping into anyone I knew. When I left Jack’s room and turned around, my favorite custodian was behind me and wanted to chat. I half-smiled and hoped that she didn’t notice that I had been crying. And she looked at me and said, “Oh chaplain, you are glowing.” I would like to believe that this glow, described by the custodian, was a transference of God’s glory that had been splashed onto me while I was in the presence of God’s beloved son, Jack. Just as Moses did not know that his face had visibly changed, this apparent “glow” on my face, needed to be witnessed beyond what I could see myself.
Perhaps you have had your own mountaintop experience which has so transfigured your outer appearance that people can see God’s glory reflected when you walk into a room. Perhaps you have had encounters with God’s glory that have splashed onto you, having the powerful effect of deepening your faith. Recall that it was while Jesus was praying that God in Christ was revealed to the disciples. So, too, while we are praying, does God reveal God’s self to us. With prayer, we move from being spectators of God’s glory, to those whom God divinely positions to be splashed, or bathed, with it. With prayer, our earthly lives become reflections of God’s glory, used by God, to spill over into a world that cries out to be outwardly and inwardly changed.
With God’s help, and with prayer for steadfastness of faith, may God so use each of his sons and daughters—His chosen—to proclaim the life-giving and life-saving message of the good news of God in Christ. And may God incline the ears and the hearts of all who receive the message to listen to them!
Amen.
