The Daily Transfiguration

This is one of those scriptures that bring the “wow factor.”  We can easily understand Jesus teaching, feeding and even healing, but this is so far outside anything I have ever experienced it is difficult to wrap my mind around. 

I know Jesus as my Lord. I regularly spend time with him. I seek his council and direction and he gives it. I may not understand how Jesus was resurrected on Easter morning but I know that he lives, so whatever the details are about it, I know that it happened because I experience the resurrected Jesus in real time.

The transfiguration of Jesus is different.  It was a moment for Peter, James and John.  Jesus told them not to tell anyone about it until after the resurrection.

It’s like the promised coming of Jesus when everything will be made right.  It’s a reality that we have to experience to fully understand. I desire, I long for, I pray for a closer connection with Christ.  I have asked God to reveal God’s self to me, to allow me to behold with my eyes His glory, his presence.  This is an experience I have asked God to give me.

Peter, James and John experienced it; we read about it.

They climbed the mountain, Jesus face shone like the sun! Even his cloths where different. Then Moses and Elijah where there.  This is important.  We cannot fully understand Jesus and who he is outside of the context of the story of the Israelite people. Jesus is the consummation of that story.  He is the fulfillment of the promises of God to them and now sits as king over all of creation.  I have prayed for the King, the Lord Jesus to appear to me has not been granted yet.

The reason, the answer that people have given me as to why my request of God, to see his presence, will not be granted is that to have such an experience would negate the need for faith.  Apparently seeing God is just too much proof of his existence. 

I am not looking for proof of existence, I already have that. What I long for is an ever deepening connection to the God that created me, sustains me and blesses me.

Scripture says “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.” Six days after what?  Well if you look in Matthew chapter 16 you will find that Jesus and the disciples are near the Sea of Galilee, Jesus is teaching and Peter Confesses that Jesus is the Messiah.  Jesus affirms Peter’s confession.  A little later in the chapter Jesus says that he will suffer and die.  Peter reprimanded him for saying that.  He said “Get behind me Satan!” then he counted the cost of following him.  It was six days after that that the transfiguration happened.  Many think that it was on Mt. Tabor which is 11 miles west of the Sea of Galilee.  That’s a leisurely pace of 2 miles a day. They walked for nearly a week to get to this mountain so Jesus could privately take his inner circle of followers to show them his glory.

You ever wonder where Jesus is taking you? Have you ever considered that the reason that you haven’t found what you are looking for is because Jesus isn’t done taking you to the place where his glory will be revealed?

Jesus and the disciples got to the mountain and they stopped.  Jesus probably told the rest of the band to “wait here” I need to speak with Peter, James and John.  So they watch as Jesus and the other three start climbing up the mountain.  I imagine they are sitting down there at the bottom waiting and talking and then from the top of the mountain some bright light was shining and what might have been a rumble of thunder but it sounded an awful lot like words being spoken and then some time later they all come back down the side of the mountain.

Can you imagine?  They were probably like “what happened up there?” and Peter was all like, “I can’t tell you.”  I can’t decide if he was smiling from ear to ear or if he was deadly serious.  You would think with an experience like that, that they would be steadfast in their faith; that they would be so sure of God that they would never fall away.  But as we know, when the time came near for Jesus to be executed, they all fell away.

Have you ever received a blessing from God?  Have you ever failed to be 100% obedient to God? We all have.

I have asked God to show himself to me and he has done it.  Not in the way where I have seen his dazzling radiance on a mountain top but when faithful people demonstrate his grace.  I got a sympathy card from someone who thought I had a loss in the family. I didn’t (that loss happened 9 years ago) but I still was blessed by that act of love.  I see God at work when this congregation this size donates and raises $1500 for people they will never meet so that they can be free of danger of malaria.  I see it when God’s people begin to see the world through God’s eyes and know that it is by our hands that God will transform this world. There is a vision to use this building all week as a preschool to serve families who live near here; there is a vision serve Christ side by side with the Latino population that live near here; there is a vision to renovate this building to make it easier to use so that we can accomplish those ministries.  I have asked God to show himself to me and he has done it.  When people of faith act in obedience to God I stand in awe.  I sometimes don’t know whether to smile from ear to ear or in all seriousness bow to God’s majesty. Both are appropriate.

When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, he promises that the Holy Spirit will reside in us.  That his law will be written on our hearts and that the Holy Spirit will guide us into truth. When we witness people of faith acting on the prompting of the Holy Spirit we are witnessing the very presence of God. 

When Moses was in the presence of God in the burning bush what did he do?  He took off his shoes. I’m not going to ask you to take off your shoes this morning but I am going to pray for your shoes. I am going to pray for your shoes because we are on a Journey with Jesus and we will need strength for the journey. When we finish we will take off our shoes in his presence. 

God of all creation,

You have made us to be one in you,

with your love working in us and through us.

Bless these shoes and those who wear them,

That wherever they go, your grace, wisdom and self-giving will be conveyed;

May this be a reminder that we are all in this together,

meant for community, born into one family.

Empower the wearers of these shoes to love not only for self, but also for you and your beloved creation.

When we do so, send our spirits soaring that we may thrive in your presence.

In Christ’s holy Name, Amen.