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The Last Sunday after the Epiphany, February 3, 2008

Exodus 24:12-18, 2 Peter 1:16-21, Matthew 17:1-9
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT

The Rev'd W. Lee Shaw

The Season after the Feast of the Epiphany is about the showing forth of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. The stories point to his unique place in the Biblical tradition as God Incarnate, fully God and fully human. Thus we end this season with stories of theophany, the showing forth of the glory of God. We have the story of Moses going up Mt. Sinai to receive the tablets of the law. We have a record of Peter’s memory of the experience we read of in Matthew’s Gospel, the Transfiguration of our Lord. As we move from the showing forth of Jesus as the Messiah to the season of a holy Lent in preparation for the Feast of the Resurrection, we recall his glory revealed to three of his closest disciples.

In each of these readings there is the aspect of the miraculous and a touch of the reality of human life. For example, Moses has taken the elders of Israel partway up the mountain. Now he parts company with them and takes Joshua the next part, before he alone goes into the cloud of glory. I would think that if I had been invited by Moses this far up the mountain, I would be pretty well in tune with the import of this trek and the spiritual aspects of climbing this particular mountain. I would hope I would be pretty much in line with the importance of this event not just for me but for all concerned. Yet, Moses gives rather specific instructions on his departure, wait here for us, but if any of you get into any arguments or disputes, then take them to Aaron or Hur who will act for me.

What? We have quarreling and quibbling even on Mt. Sinai? Moses was a very wise leader and knew well the weakness and frailties of men and women. He made provision for a conflict resolution team in his absence.

Likewise the author of 2 Peter notes that Peter heard the voice of God. He also notes that how we interpret the stories of God is not about us individually or about cleverly devised myths, but rather about the community of the faithful discerning the will of God through the Holy Scriptures, for all of this came through men and women as moved by the Holy Spirit. So it is for men and women together to discern the will of God in community and this we do regularly in council and counsel with one another through prayer and study.

He also gives a wonderful promise that if you pay attention to the message received it will be as a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. What a beautiful image for the comprehension of the word of God in our lives as individuals and a community of the faithful.

Matthew’s version of the Transfiguration is very close to Mark and Luke, for he and Luke borrow heavily from Mark’s account. A few things seem clear to me: this is a very special event and these three men have been chosen because of their relationship with Jesus. It is also a mystical and frightening event to be in the presence of the power of God. In each account we read how the disciples were afraid, especially as they entered the cloud and heard the voice of God.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews notes. Peter, James and John know this first hand. Yet they witness to this event and tell the story for others to record and for us to read. When we are overwhelmed with clouds of uncertainty, fear is often the natural reaction.

Peter gives voice to it to his fear and uncertainty. He is afraid and so he chatters. Lord, it is good for us to be here, let me make dwellings/monuments for the three of you here. Peter wants to freeze the moment and glorify it with a dwelling place or monument. He wants to keep this experience as it is and not let go.

But that is not what Jesus wants and that is not how life works. We build monuments to the dead, not to the living. We worship a living God. We move on from an experience on the mountain top to life of ministry in the valley.

In each Gospel, Jesus and the disciples leave the mountain top experience of the Transfiguration and return to the valley of real life. This is most powerful in Mark’s Gospel with the healing story of the boy taken by the demonic (i.e. epilepsy) and the father’s confession of, I believe, help my unbelief. In each Gospel narrative, they return to the work of the reign of God in the real world.

Here is the key for us. We each will have, or have had, mountain top experiences of spirituality, of touching the holy, of being in touch with the holy. Many times we wish we could stay there. We ask, Why can’t it always be like this? But we do not, cannot, stay there. We need to return to our real world and live and minister here. Those experiences of the mountain top, the transfigurative experiences of our life are important and key, but they are not where we do ministry, and not where we live. We return to the valley to do our ministry, just as Jesus, Peter, James, and John did.

We live in the here and now. We minister to those around us in the here and now. Those moments of insight, of transfiguration, of revelation, of the holy are given as food and strength and insight along the way. But we are not given to stay there. We are called to be with one another, strengthened by the revelation, the transfiguration of Christ in our lives until the day dawns and the morning star rises in [our] hearts.