The Scripture Reading this week is Matthew 17:1-9
The Sermon title is Glory Revealed
Early Thoughts: Every year, on the Sunday before Lent begins, the lectionary invites us to ponder the story of the Transfiguration. This year we have the story as Matthew tells it, but both Mark (9:2-10) and Luke (9:28-36) also recount the event. All 3 versions are really quite similar.
Jesus takes the inner circle of the inner circle away to a private place. [Note that there are other times Peter James and John are taken out of the larger group, the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prays before his arrest is another example.] While they are up on the mountain they have a mystical, mysterious experience. Jesus is revealed in a different way.
In the Lord of the Rings, as Frodo and his friends are being chased to the Fords of Bruinen Frodo sees a figure that shines brightly. Later Gandalf tells him that this was the elf Glorfindel and that as Glorfindel had lived in the Blessed Realm there was a hidden power in him and Frodo saw him as he was on the other side. I have often thought that Frodo was better able to see this side of Glorfindel as a result of Frodo's own wounded-ness, he was starting to fade at the time.
In the Transfiguration story, do Peter James and John indeed see Jesus as he is "on the other side"? Are they getting a glimpse of the glory that is contained in the mortal frame of Jesus of Nazareth? Are they seeing the hidden power that can help to fight back the evil in the world?
Some scholars think that the Transfiguration story shows some signs of being influenced by the Easter story, that the Resurrected Jesus is being read back into earlier parts of the story. I think that is possible, I also think it is possible (or maybe even probable) that the disciples could not truly comprehend what had happened until they Easter had come and transformed their understanding of who Jesus was. Is that maybe why Jesus tells them not to tell anybody what had happened?
To be transfigured is to be changed. Those who have read the Harry Potter series (or even just watched the movies) will know that all students at Hogwarts take Transfiguration. In that class they learn how to change items into something else, such as a rat into a teacup. Jesus is changed on the mountain top, or at least the understanding Peter James and John have of Jesus is changed on the mountain top. They are left awe-struck and more than a little gobsmacked -- why does Peter want to set up tents?. They don't know quite how to respond appropriately. Radical change in how we see things will do that to you.
The glory of Jesus gets revealed in this week's story. The disciples get a glimpse of what is happening but they don't really get it. In a few weeks we will tell the story of a cross and an empty tomb and the glory of Jesus being revealed yet again. Do the disciples get what is happening then? Do we get what is happening when the glory of God is revealed in our midst and we are left awe-struck?
--Gord
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