GLIMPSE OF GLORY

A Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday
February 22, 2009
by Pastor Laura Gentry
Mark 9:2-9

This morning, we celebrate Transfiguration Sunday. We hear Luke’s Gospel account of this amazing event in which Jesus takes Peter and James and John up the mountain with him and then is transfigured before their very eyes. His face changes and his clothes become dazzling white—whiter than anyone could bleach them. It sounds like we are talking about laundry in this translation. In the original Greek, however, this word is closer to “lightning.” Jesus clothes became so white they looked like lightning! That’s some pretty impressive pyrotechnics, now isn’t it?

Not only that, but the great Moses appears as does Elijah and the three of them begin to converse. Moses, who represents the law God gave to the people, and Elijah, who represents the prophets through whom God spoke and guided the people, appear from beyond the grave and talk with Jesus on the mountain top. No wonder the disciples are awed by the experience. The glory must have been completely overwhelming.

Though we hear this story every single year, I think it is hard for us to relate to. I mean we’ve never seen Jesus in person, let alone see him transfigured in all his glory. We get a sense of this scene being a spectacular, supernatural event of biblical times that is unfathomable to us in our modern world.

In this way, it is a difficult story to interpret. Peter doesn’t even seem to be able to interpret it correctly. With great enthusiasm (and not much insight), he says: "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Now obviously this was the wrong response because even the gospel writer of Mark adds a commentary here even though he’s usually so concise. He says that Peter didn’t know what to say because they were terrified. By his remark, you see, Peter is saying that he wants the glory to continue. He doesn’t want Jesus to stop glowing or for Moses and Elijah to go away so he thinks if they can just get some dwellings constructed quickly for them to hang out in, they might stick around a while longer. This moment might last.

In older translations, it calls these dwellings  "booths." I always pictured them as phone booths when I was a kid and wondered why in the world Peter would want to stick Moses and Elijah—the great figures of the Old Testament—in phone booths. Who are they going to call? Or does Peter want them to use the booths to transform into their super-hero likenesses or something? Unfortunately, my interpretation was all off because these dwellings he's suggesting are not the phone booth type, they are shrines. He wants to build religious shrines where Jesus and the other two can stay and be worshipped—just like the pagan deities of their time.

But it seems God doesn’t much like that shrine plan because in that moment, a cloud covers them and God’s voice says:"This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" And then the transfiguration is over. No more bleachy-white lightning flashes and heros showing up from the dead to chat up Jesus. Nope. It’s gone. All is quiet. This was simply a glimpse of the glory of God.

In writing about this special event, Mark invites us to stand with Peter and James and John and encounter the lightning-laden glory of the transfiguration. Wow, Jesus really IS the son of God! Amazing! But Mark doesn’t want us to get fixated upon this event like Peter did, as if it were the only revelation of God’s glory that ever would be. No, Mark is showing us that in the transfiguration, Jesus pulls away the veil for just a moment reveals what our every day lives tend to hide: that we we are never far from the dazzling and miraculous glory of the eternal God.

This glory is too wonderful, too amazing to pin down. That’s why Peter couldn’t go through with his booth plan. You cannot turn the glory of God on and off like a faucet, as if it were something that humans control.

And this uncontrollable and marvelous glory didn’t end when John set down his pen after writing the final book of the bible. The incredible thing is that it is ongoing. Through the ages we’ve seen God’s glory continue. We’ve glimpsed glory in the survival and growth of the early Christian church. We’ve seen it in the saints and martyrs, who gave it all for the sake of the Gospel. We’ve seen it in the missionary zeal that continues to spread the good news around the globe.

We encounter this glory today whenever we see a breathtaking work of art or architecture or hear beautiful music or read a moving piece of literature. We experience God’s glory in nature. We see it in each glance at the mighty Mississippi that runs through our town. We see the glory of God in the gift of parents, children, friends, community.

God’s glory is all over the place and it is here to inspire us and fill us with awe. It is here to engage us and keep us steadfast in our faith. It calms us when we are filled with anxiety. It comforts us in our sorrows. It invigorates us to do God’s will.

God’s glory calls out to us in this very moment. How dare we think that the glory of the transfiguration was only for that ancient time and place? God’s glory is eager to set us free, to transform us into the image of God.

The transfiguration merely reminds that the veil that separates us from God’s revelation of glory is thin. This is what Paul is talking about in his letter to the Corinthians in our second lesson for today. In the chapter before, he talked about how Moses had to cover his face because it was still glowing from his encounter with God and how God’s people hardened their hearts and would not look upon the glory. And there are those who still veil their minds from God’s glory. But when we turn to God, the veil is removed. “And all of us,” he writes, “with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” In the reading for today, he says that the gospel is only veiled to those who are perishing but to those with the eyes of faith to see it, it is the light of Christ which shines in our hearts. This is why we have hope, why we do not lose heart, why we can and must act with boldness!

This Wednesday, we celebrate Ash Wednesday, which launches us into the 40-day season of Lent. This is the season of repentance—of turning our hearts back to God and walking with Jesus to the cross as we await his resurrection at Easter.

Today as we observe Transfiguration Sunday, we are given a foretaste of the Easter celebration. And we are invited to contemplate the glory of God in our own lives. It’s there. But do we perceive it? What can we do to unveil our minds so that we can truly be present to the times when God shows up? How can we participate more fully in the Spirit’s work to transform us into that same image of the transfigured Christ—to move us forward from one degree of glory to another?

Let us pray: Loving Jesus, we thank you for the glimpse of glory given to us in the Transfiguration and for the reminder that the more we unveil our minds, the more your glorious love will shine into our hearts. Prepare us for the Lenten season, that as we draw nearer to you, we may be transformed from one degree of glory to another. In Jesus name we pray,  Amen.


© 2009 Laura Gentry