Last Sunday After Epiphany

Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a]
Luke’s account of the Transfiguration has its roots in Mark’s version of that story. Jesus’ encounter with God in the company of the great Israelite prophets has an even earlier example which is included in the Gospel of Peter. That book is one of the non-canonical gospels, of which there are several. These books represent diverse records of Christian tradition for about the first three centuries after Jesus’ life and ministry, but they were not ultimately selected to be included in the Bible. In that older version, the resurrected Jesus is accompanied by two men who seem to be Moses and Elijah as he exits his opened tomb.
When you try to classify the Transfiguration story, it is difficult to do. It has some things in common with the stories of Jesus’ baptism – like the heavenly voice proclaiming Jesus’ authority. But like that older strand of tradition from the Gospel of Peter, the story of the Transfiguration could also originally have been the story of a post-resurrection appearance that was modified and put in a different place. And, it could have been an authentic religious experience of Jesus which happened to be witnessed by two of his closest followers, who eventually told others about it.
We hear this story on the actual Feast of the Transfiguration – August 6 or the Sunday closest to it. But we also hear it on the last Sunday after Epiphany. You could think of this day as having similarities to the Feast of Christ the King – the last Sunday before Advent begins. Both of them look back toward the season that is ending and forward toward the season that is to come. The Transfiguration is a particularly dramatic story of God’s manifestation in the world in the person of Jesus, which is what Epiphany is about. For the early church with roots in Jewish tradition, it is an ultimate expression of his authority, placing him in the presence of Moses and Elijah as their peer and even their successor. Jesus remains as the two of them depart and the divine voice proclaims his divinity and authority.
But on Wednesday, we enter Lent. Next Sunday’s gospel begins a narrative leading up to Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday in which Jesus is tested and his authority and sense of mission are formed and expressed through trial and crisis. The Transfiguration story is a reminder, before we enter that time of testing and trial, of its ultimate meaning.
We live out our faith through the traditions of the church year in a manner that is is dynamic; it is cyclical and seasonal. That expression and experience of the season is meant to be at the heart of worship. Considering that made me think about my husband who is a southerner by birth. He has a passion for a food called grits. Many of you are familiar with grits and some of you love it as Nelson does. Nelson’s love for grits is sufficiently profound as to motivate oratory. He frequently proclaims that grits are what you bring to them. They are the blank canvas upon which your culinary genius and you gustatory curiosity and courage may be played out.
You could think of the liturgical year in the same way. [hang in here with me for a moment] The year is as it always is – beginning with Advent, progressing to Christmas, and Epiphany, through Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost and the season after. There are individual celebrations that stand out in the midst of this cyclical calendar – a parish’s patronal feast, All Saints and All Souls Days, and Christ the King are a few of them. But the experience is different every year because the world is different every year and we are different every year as individuals and community. The lens through which you experience Lent is different in a time when you or those around you are experiencing testing and hardship. Easter and All Saints Day take on different meaning if they are the occasion of the baptism of a child or they follow upon the recent death of a loved one.
In the Transfiguration story, the first impulse of Jesus’ disciples who are with him on the mountain is to freeze that moment in space and time. As Moses and Elijah are departing, the disciples suggest building dwellings for the two of them and Jesus so that their time together in that place might never end. Human beings seem to like to do that. We like to encompass the divine with boundaries that are represented as and frequently intended as efforts to show respect and reverence. But such efforts frequently end up being the means by which God is made comfortable and convenient and by which access to the divine is place under human control and offered only to those who are judged to be worthy. In the Transfiguration story God interrupts the disciples efforts to domesticate the proclamation of God’s kingdom.
Our journey through any given church year is an ever changing experience viewed through the lens of our life events. That dynamic, ever changing experience has points of reference in tradition around which it moves. The story of the Transfiguration could be seen as one of those reference points. Just as we prepare to enter Lent – the time of testing, doubt, challenge and crisis, we have a glimpse of what is at the end of that journey – Jesus, showing us who and how God is.