March 2, 2025 Sermon
Sermon title: “The Transfiguration”
Scriptures: Exodus 34:29-35 and Luke 9:28-36
(Other lectionary possibilities include Psalm 99 and II Corinthians 3:12 - 4:2.)
Exodus 34:29-35
The Shining Face of Moses
29Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Luke 9:28-36
The Transfiguration
28Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” 36When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
When I have preached on the Transfiguration before, I have not included any Old Testament selection. But today I have included what we heard from Exodus, because I think it’s good that we see and hear what Luke was talking about. For Luke, and Matthew, too, for that matter, Jesus represents the new Moses. And the fact that we have Moses AND Elijah appearing together represents for Luke exactly who Jesus is. In another context, Jesus is asked what the Greatest Commandment is, and he says that there are essentially TWO greatest commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength, and also Love your neighbor as yourself, And then Jesus says, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Well, look who is here! Moses, who represents the Law, and Elijah, who represents all the prophets. Jesus makes the statement, and the fact that both Moses and Elijah are here together with Jesus spells it out for us. I think one has to be really “thick” not to get this!
Also, there’s something else going on here. Luke tells us that Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah about his “departure” from Jerusalem. The word for “departure” can also mean “EXODUS,” and the “exodus” that Jesus will lead will be a NEW exodus. “Jesus will lead all God’s people out of the slavery of sin and death, and home to their promised inheritance” - in the words of N. T. Wright, that inheritance will be “the new creation in which the whole world will be redeemed.”
There is something funny about today’s New Testament scripture reading. I’m not sure Luke meant it to be funny, but it does make me smile! Peter says, “Master, it is good that we are here! Let us set up three booths or tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!” And we are told that he did not know what he was saying! Have you ever awakened from a deep sleep and said something that didn’t make sense? I have, and I think for me it was because of a dream I was having. In Peter’s case, he was weighed down with sleep, and he HAD to be surprised at waking up suddenly and seeing this strange light all around, and Moses and Elijah, too!
That may be the end of the amusing stuff. But now the serious part. Peter was so moved that he wanted to KEEP EVEYTHING as it was. All of us believers sometimes want to keep everything as it was, but the Lord moves on. Remember that hymn, “Gimme that old time religion”? While it may be a snappy tune and have the words “it was good enough for....whoever,” in truth it was NOT good enough for Jesus or Paul or whoever. We believe in a Living God, and a Living God moves on with you and me and life in general. And look what happened so quickly: Jesus was found alone. This literally was a mountaintop experience, and mountaintop experiences do not last forever. The main point of this story, I think, is the voice of God saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
I am really glad that we believe in the Holy Spirit. The word “spirit” comes from the Latin “spiritus,” which means “breath” or “wind.” The Holy Spirit moves when it wants to, and sometimes we may wish it didn’t! Sometimes like Peter we want to “capture” these wonderful moments with God, but the Living God moves on, with or without us! After today’s wonderful mountaintop experience, Jesus and his disciples descend the mountain, and they are confronted with a man whose son has an unclean spirit, maybe a demon. Jesus is able to heal the young man, but the whole story, coming as it does on the heels of the mountaintop experience of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus reminds us that our Sweet Hour of Prayer doesn’t last forever. And the world awaits. What a great passage this is, with heavenly things and earthly things all woven together. That was life then and life now.
The mountaintop experience Jesus experienced, and then the descent down the mountain back to “reality” if we want to call it that, was preparing Jesus and his disciples for what lay ahead. Yes, more experiences with God, but also experiences “down into the valley, to the place of despair and death, the place where demons shriek and sufferers weep, the place where the son of man will be handed over (to the Romans for crucifixion).” Most of these words are from N. T. Wright, the British scholar and former Bishop of Durham. “The disciples were overwhelmed by the transfiguration and blurted out things they didn’t mean. ((Keep in mind Peter’s cockamamie idea about building little dwellings for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus!)) They were unable to understand how it was that the glory they had glimpsed on the mountain, the glory of God’s chosen son, the Servant who was carrying in himself the promise of redemption, would finally be unveiled on a very different hill, an ugly little hill outside of Jerusalem.”
See why I like N. T. Wright so much? He sees the distinction Luke is trying to draw between the high mountain experience of God, Elijah, and Moses and the terrible crucifixion site where Jesus would die. Without Wright’s insight into what Luke was doing, I’m not sure I would have made the connection.
And I want to point out that N. T. Wright is more than a scholar, more than a high church official. He is also a preacher, and he ends his commentary on this passage this way: “We, too, often find it completely bewildering to know how to understand all that God is doing and saying, both in our times of great joy and our times of great sadness. But the word that comes to us, leading us on to follow Jesus even when we haven’t a clue what’s going on, is the word that came from the cloud on that strange day in Galilee: ‘This is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him.’” Amen. Any questions or comments?
Pastor Skip
