Exodus 34:29-35
Luke 9:28-43
A Sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church, February 14, 2010
Exodus 34 Moses 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. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him.
But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them.
Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; but 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, the 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 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.
Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.
They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
Now 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.
Just 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.
While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.
Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
When 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.
On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.
Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child.
Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him.
I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”
Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”
While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
And all were astounded at the greatness of God.
I’m sure many of you are hoping that I will explain these passages for you. That I will wrap them up in a nice little package of “that makes sense” so we can go on our way, secure in our illusion that things are supposed to make sense.
But I will not be doing that today. Because whether you interpret the Bible literally or more figuratively, these texts are about mystery. They don’t want to be explained. Right before we enter the season of Lent, as we’ll prepare for the mystery of Easter, these texts stand at the entrance and remind us that God is not to be easily understood or categorized.
Our passage from Exodus is the second time Moses has brought the 10 commandments back to the people. Remember the first time? He came off the mountain to discover the people worshipping the golden calf. But Moses continues to talk with God. The text says that God spoke to Moses face to face, as he would a friend. And Moses asks things of God that we would not. He asks to see the glory of God.
But when Moses comes down from the mountain, the people won’t go anywhere near him. Because his face was shining. Seeing the glory of God leaves him physically altered.
Moses gives the people the instructions from God and then he puts a veil on his face—just so they won’t be freaked out by his appearance. When he is with God, he takes the veil off. This is the opposite of what you think should happen. Moses didn’t need protection from God, but apparently the people needed protection from the glory of God that is evident on his face.
Again, we aren’t sure what the term “glory of the Lord” means, but clearly there are consequences to getting that close to God. It isn’t to be taken lightly. {At the very least, it seems clear that once Moses decided to identify himself that closely with God, once he decided that the veil was more helpful when he was in public than it was when he was with God, he ended up somewhat at odds with his neighbors.}
Whatever the Glory of the Lord is, it clearly leaves us dazzled and blinking from its brightness.
The authors of the gospel accounts of the Transfiguration of Jesus told their story in a way to remind you of Moses. Moses is even there. And Elijah too. The connection between Jesus and the Old Testament Law and Prophets is drawn in bold strokes. They are on a mountain. The word “exodus” is even used, although in our translation, it is “They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure”, speaking of his exodus.
And Jesus face is changed and his clothes become dazzling white. But this isn’t because his momma had access to some really good bleach with which to wash his clothes. This is a reminder of what happens when the glory of the Lord appears to you.
You are transfigured.
You are changed.
And, in Luke’s gospel, this story is placed at the end of a section about Jesus identity. Herod wants to know who Jesus is. Jesus asks his disciples who they say he is.
And Luke answers the question, giving us a very clear answer despite the mystery surrounding the scene. Jesus is the inheritor of Moses and Elijah’s traditions. Jesus is the one on whom God’s glory has shone. Even God gives an answer in God’s own voice—“This is my Son, my Chosen—Listen to him!”
Two thousand years later, we’re still asking that question of ourselves and of each other. Who is Jesus?
A few weeks ago, at our congregational meeting, I shared with you an action the Session had taken in regard to Camp Sawtooth. For this summer, we are not going to send our kids to camp there. We are waiting for the Camp Board to respond when they meet in a few weeks, but many of our concerns about what has been going on at camp are related to this very question. Who do we say Jesus is?
I’ve had some discussions since that congregational meeting about this issue, so perhaps now is a good time to say more. One of our concerns about the camp’s faith statement was the exclusiveness of it. If we didn’t see Jesus exactly the way described in that faith statement, there was not room for us there.
Here is how we described our concerns in our letter:
“While we believe that the birth, life and teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the means through which we understand our salvation, we do not feel it necessary to claim that people who encounter God through other faiths or traditions are “eternally separated from God’s presence,” as stated in the camp Faith Statement. For one thing, it is not our job to determine the fate of other people’s souls. That job belongs to God alone. We commend to the Presbytery and especially to the Camp Board the 2002 document prepared by the Office of Theology and Worship at the General Assembly “Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ,” (available at www.pcusa.org) which reminds us that:
No one is saved apart from God’s gracious redemption in Jesus Christ. Yet we do not presume to limit the sovereign freedom of “God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Thus, we neither restrict the grace of God to those who profess explicit faith in Christ nor assume that all people are saved regardless of faith. Grace, love, and communion belong to God, and are not ours to determine.”
This is a Transfiguration issue.
Regardless of what we think about other faith traditions, our job as Christians is to be good Christians. Our job is to claim our identity as followers of Jesus. It is not our job to make claims for the other faith traditions.
This is a Transfiguration issue because as we approach Easter in the coming weeks of Lent, we have to figure out what it means for us to claim that Jesus is Lord. We follow a Savior who died on a cross, and who was raised by God to eternal life. This is not the narrative that the world tells. In the world’s narrative, we follow people who succeed. People who wield power. But in Christ, we follow someone who continually passed up opportunities to wield earthly power. We follow someone who was humiliated as a criminal on a cross. What does this mean for you to claim this?
Whether you see the gospel stories literally or figuratively, you still are confronted with the question—who do you say Jesus is?
We’ll enter the season of Lent this week with Ash Wednesday. I invite you to join us this Wednesday for worship at 7 pm. And I invite you to consider adding a question to your spiritual practice. As you’re reading the Bible, as you are praying, I invite you to take time in Lent and ask the question Luke answers in this text—who you do say Jesus is?
I am not going to answer the question for you, but here are a few things I noticed in this text that I’ll leave with you so you can do your own pondering in your heart.
Don’t erase the mystery. When the disciples saw Jesus transfigured, they wanted to build some tents. I personally, want to design a brand of laundry detergent called TRANSFIGURALL—for those Dazzling and Blinding Whites! But we should fight all of our tendencies to just explain the mystery away. Maybe our challenge during Lent should be to learn to live comfortably with unanswerable questions.
Don’t sleep through the important moments in life. The disciples were “weighed down with sleep”, even though their teacher was now blinding white and talking with Moses. They managed to stay awake this time, but will have similar troubles on Gethsemane while Jesus is off praying. How often do we live our lives distracted with our attention divided? I don’t know if the disciples were tired because they stayed up too late the night before watching TV or because they were wasting time watching youtube videos. Maybe they were just busy from working and driving the kids to basketball games and soccer practice. But they almost missed the mystery of the Transfiguration. While this text is clearly about more than this, I do think this text is a reminder for us to pay attention, and to be present in our lives so that we don’t miss the mysteries when they show up.
And the final thing I noticed is this:
There is a connection between God’s glory and suffering—both human and divine. We are seeing Jesus today at the transfiguration, shining with the glory of God. But in a few weeks, we’ll see him in the midst of suffering, suffering death on a cross. Jesus’ story doesn’t stop here on the mountain with his shining glory and hobnobbing with Moses and Elijah. He comes down off the mountain, knowing that he is heading for the cross. And when he gets off the mountain, he is faced with human suffering too. A man begs him to heal his child after the disciples had been unsuccessful in their attempts.
Jesus does not say to the man, “do you know who I was just talking with? Do you know how shiny I was?”
Jesus just heals the boy. He doesn’t have any words for the father. But he does have words for the disciples—words for the church. “You faithless and perverse generation—how much longer must I be with you?” The disciples had seen the transfiguration with their own eyes, yet it hadn’t translated into an ability to help someone in pain and suffering.
As we ponder the question about who Jesus is and what it means for us to be the best Jesus followers we can be, we should remember this too—having the best answers and understanding of Jesus doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t translate into helping people who need it.
How does our understanding and experience of Jesus translate into how we treat the people we meet?
I don’t know why the disciples were unable to heal the child. Maybe they were too distracted by the events on the mountain. But I think Jesus strikes such a harsh tone with them because it is so important that they get this right—you have to come down from the mountain and help the people you meet.
We have many blessings here at Southminster. In the midst of this economy, we are stable. We are in a position to really make a difference in our community and our world. But it will take concerted effort on our part to make that happen. I invite you to consider your response to Jesus transfiguration. How can we come down from this mountain and really heal people? I have great confidence that the Spirit will show us the way. Let us have eyes to see and hearts to respond.
Amen.
