Last Sunday After Epiphany
(Transfiguration Sunday)

Preparation

Please begin by reading Matthew 17:1-9 and Romans 12:2 in your Bible. If you do not have one at hand, we have provided the text for you at the end of this reflection.

Reflection--Coming Into the Presence of the Holy

 Matthew’s account of Jesus’ transfiguration on a mountain top draws us into an encounter with the Holy.  It inspires with majesty and awe, teaches us about the One we Christians follow, teaches us about human encounters with the Divine, and comforts our fears. 

This is a dividing line in history; a major turning point in God’s plan for restoring relationship between God and God’s people.  The instruments God had used before, the Law (represented by Moses) and the Prophets (represented by Elijah) are joined in the dazzling light at the heart of God’s presence by something new; the Messiah, the new “light of the world,” God’s Beloved to whom God instructs us to listen.

This must have been a disorienting moment for the disciples who were with Jesus.  As humans, how do we to react to the presence of the Holy?  Practical, hard-headed Peter was reduced to babbling about building houses.  Soon the experience was so intense that the three disciples present fall to the ground in fear.  Jesus tenderly reassured them with words and a touch; “Get up and do not be afraid.”

Now and then, as we progress in our walk with Jesus, God lifts the curtain between the earthly and the heavenly and lets us look into the luminous heart of things.  Perhaps in an allusion to this story, we refer to these moments as our “mountain top” experiences.  They are rare privileges; wondrous gifts of God’s grace.  Especially the first time they occur, they can fill us with awe and fear.  We know that we are on holy ground.

God grants us these gifts for our personal transformation.  A glimpse into the greater realities beyond the ones that we see and touch and feel every day forever alters our prospective.  The things that once looked bright and shiny¾power, possessions, position, control¾are revealed as poor, tarnished substitutes for the things of God.  God enables us to begin to see things as they are and to value “what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Then there is that touch on our shoulder and the tender words, “Get up and do not be afraid.”  It is Jesus reassuring us and letting us know that it is time to get up and go down the mountain, refreshed and renewed, to set out on the daily tasks of discipleship again.

revclay

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Matthew 17:1-9

       Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.  Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 

Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!"  When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.  But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid."  And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect.

   [NRSV]