Transfiguration

Luke 9:28-36

Exodus 34:29-35

Today is Transfiguration Sunday. It’s the last Sunday before Lent starts and we celebrate the glory of God and God’s acts of salvation through Moses and Jesus—both human beings, both chosen by God to be messengers to the people.

In the popular Twilight saga, there’s something interesting about vampire skin. Like traditional vampires, they do not go out into the sun—but not because they are afraid, or find the sun deadly, but because their skin changes. It’s not painful for them, but if they do it in front of mortals, they will instantly be revealed as something completely other.

When vampire Edward wants to reveal to his human girlfriend just how different and scary he is, he takes her to a meadow and steps into the light. As the sun filters through the trees and hits his skin, he shines with a bright white light, as if his skin is made out of thousands of diamonds—vampire purists make lots of fun of these sparkly vampires. But when mere mortals see this dazzling skin, they are amazed, afraid, intrigued.

This past week, it’s not difficult to imagine something ordinary transformed into something glistening white, but it may be hard, by now, to fully appreciate that glory and beauty especially when it’s still hurting your back or threatening your life with killer icicles.

When Moses goes up the mountain to talk to God, he stays for forty days. God gives him the commandments by which the Hebrew people will live. God blesses Moses with this information, with this conversation, with this time together—but he doesn’t force Moses to see his face, he turns a back to Moses, to save him the pain of seeing God’s face. When Moses comes down off that mountain, to the Hebrew people who are waiting below, his face is shining, a dazzling, white light. They are reluctant to approach him and for their benefit, Moses hides his skin with a veil.

This story of Moses stretches to our Gospel lesson today, extending God’s faithfulness all the way from the Hebrew people in the wilderness to Jesus and his disciples. Jesus, John, James, and Peter go up a mountain to pray—to be with God. And as the three disciples are fighting to stay awake, the see Jesus with Moses and Elijah, and Jesus is suddenly transformed into a glorious, glowing being, transformed face and bleach white clothes.

This glowing effect is the glory of God. In Hebrew the term is Kabod, This is very close to the Hebrew term for horns, which is why if you are familiar with Michelangelo’s statue of Moses you may remember that he has a set of horns coming out of his head! But it actually means “to be loaded down with riches.”

This glory comes from proximity to God because God has seen Moses and seen Jesus—has validated and blessed them—because they’ve been seen by God or have been in God’s presence—seen the way God sees them, as glowing, lovely beings. And they are so loaded down with the glory of God, that this light of God shines out of them.

Oil of Olay is really missing out here on the best skin care regime EVER: drink lots of water and pray daily.

So as we look at our own dull winter skin, what does that say about us? Have we ever shone with the light of God? Is it just covered up with the grime of the world? Is there anything particularly glorious about any of us?

A fun trick, with any story, is to think of which character we identify with the most. Do we pick the most glamorous and heroic character or do we go with the underdog? In today’s stories, do we identify with Moses and Jesus—with the messengers of God, or do we identify with the less than faithful Hebrew people and the disciples.

For me, I’ll have to go with the one who’s yawning through the whole thing, who’s fighting off sleep, and just about misses the entire event altogether, and when he realizes what’s going on, is still clumsy at responding to the wonder if front of him, the scripture even says he didn’t know what he was saying. I identify with Peter.

I’d love to tell you that after a week of sermon preparation that I’m glowing after basking in the presence of God. I imagine that most of us are really like Peter, looking at something amazing: prophets returned from the dead, Jesus revealed as God, the voice of God in a cloud, and thinking okay, let’s build some tents, let’s figure out how to make this permanent maybe that’s how we all are—ready to build something insignificant, to focus on something we can understand—creature comforts and preservation—and not looking to where Jesus is going next, hoping to settle down in comfort, maybe take a nap, instead of moving onward to Jerusalem and all the mystery and terror that will hold. Come to think of it, I’d much rather take a nap on that mountain, build a small commune for Elijah and Moses, instead of travel on toward Jerusalem, to fear and persecution. Peter may be a coward at times, but sometimes the safe route is rather appealing.

But then we completely miss the point. If we fall asleep, we pass the holiness, we’re blind to the glory, we are not amazed or dazzled by the presence of God.

The Transfiguration points to Jerusalem, points to the rest of Jesus’ work, points to the tragedy, the disaster, and the blessed restoration. Thanks be to God.