Valois United Church

February 3, 2008
Exodus 24:12-18
Psalm 2
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9

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“Here we go again....”
That seemed to be the reaction of many preachers as they turned to this weeks text of the Transfiguration of Jesus, that story of the experience on top of the mountain.

I guess I was fortunate this time around, because when I looked at it I thought that there were so many choices about what to preach about. So a big part of my point today is this:
When we encounter scripture, and read it, and re-read it, and re-read again, we can find more and more meanings to the same text.

Including this 9 verse reading from Matthew.
Fact is, I found themes for five sermons.
That’s right: you are not getting two for one today, but five for one.
You’re getting a buffet, a smorgasbord.
And still getting to leave before lunch!

Sermon number one:
The text starts off “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John, and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.”

Okay:
Two questions: what were the others doing,
and where would we be?

The text does not help us much, but the question in there. The scripture passage in Matthew, and the parallel accounts in Mark and Luke don’t tell us much about the others, nor why they were not included in the group on the mountain. They do tell us that people were approaching them for healings, yes, that’s right for those who remember that - and they weren’t having much success - but was that what their plan had been?

I wonder:
Did Jesus choose the three, because they were more central in the group of followers?
Or did the others, like my kids when there are chores to be done, give the clear message that they were not interested in hiking up the mountain?
Or were they not chosen because Jesus knew that they were not really ready for that kind of mind-blowing experience?

There could be lots of reasons. But I wonder, more importantly, would we have been left at the bottom of the mountain?
Would we have been left at the bottom because our faith is on the periphery of our lives, and therefore we would figure in the periphery of the followers, not central enough to be invited to the mountain?
Would we have given the impression that we just could not be bothered with the effort needed to join in the special experience?
Would it have been clear to Jesus that we just weren’t ready for such an experience?

Would we have gone up the mountain, or stayed at the bottom?

Sermon number 2
This is the part of the reading that connects back to Moses’ experience on the mountain, during the Exodus a thousand years and more before, when he, too, was transfigured by God’s glory.
This is the “Wow” moment, this is the time that makes us think “mountaintop experience”.

God’s glory was so clear for Moses, that even the faded reflection of it was too much for the people to cope with.
God’s glory was so clear for the disciples with Jesus that they were awestruck.

We are not going to try to understand exactly what happened in any scientific way. Some experiences are not meant to be dissected like that.

But some experiences are meant to be sought out.
The ones who stayed at the bottom of the mountain did not have the experience.
It took the effort of climbing to the top.
And one can wonder whether someone who had no faith would have experienced anything on that day.... for some experiences to have any impact, one must be ready and open.

So.... what about us?
Sometimes we get so jaded by the world around us, that we just aren’t open to the mountaintop.
Sometimes we are weighted down with so much worldly stuff - worries, sorrows, and just so much business.... sometimes we are so weighted down by worldly stuff that we’re just not ready for such an experience.

But this reading reminds us: there are mountaintop experiences, in the midst of it all, if we would only be ready and open.
For all the valleys and pain and darkness in the world, this story reminds us that there are and will be mountaintops as well.
God continues to break through.
In the midst of worship.
In a prayer.
In a place of awe and wonder.
In an encounter with another wonderful human being...
God continues to break through.

Let us be ready. Let us be open.

Sermon number 3 - already
This is the end of the Epiphany season.
This season started with the revelation of Jesus to the Magi as they came to visit - showing that Jesus was a gift for all the world, not just one nation;
showing that Jesus is a gift, even for us in our time and place.
This season included the baptism of Jesus,
where Jesus was catapulted into his active, public ministry,
the baptism of Jesus
which has launched the unveiling of his ministry to the world.
And now this season of Epiphany, of revelation, includes this Transfiguration where the disciples gathered there hear God’s declaration:
“This is my Son, the Beloved; with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

This is the moment of clear revelation for the disciples,
filling in any question about who Jesus was.
This is the moment of clear revelation for us.
This is the culmination of the Epiphany.
Let us, too, hear the instruction to “Listen to him” - let us follow Christ’s word, let us follow Christ’s way.

9 verses of Scripture, and so much message.
Sermon number 4, and we’re not done yet!

One of the debates of Jesus’ time was:
is there eternal life, or when you die, you’re done.
This account was not given to us to deal with this question - and yet it still does.
Jesus is on the top of the mountain, with his disciples.
And he is having a conversation with Moses.
Who died how many years before?
And he is talking as well to Elijah.
Who had lived so very long before as well.

Says something to me about life going on in a way that is not like this earthly life.
And it also raises up an interesting question that I’m not going to get into today:
Moses and Elijah were certainly people of faith.
But they were not Christians,
nor had they been baptized by any minister
nor had they done many other things.
And yet they seem to have inherited eternal life, a gift of God.
So this passage, to me, does two things: it raises a question about who inherits eternal life with God,
and at the same time re-assures us that there is, indeed, life after death.

....Sermon five!
Matthew makes several parallels between Moses and Jesus. I’m not going to go into it, but there is the coming from Egypt, for one.
Now we have the parallel experience of Moses having gone up the mountain to receive the commandments, and being transfigured,
with Jesus going up the mountain to be confirmed in his ministry, and being transfigured.

Moses.
Jesus.

Moses, so central to the faith of the Hebrew people.
Jesus, so central to our faith.

Moses, who can be described as a great person of faith, and a liberator of the people.
Jesus, who should be described as a great person of faith,
and a liberator of the people, in a multitude of ways.

Well, that is the end of the buffet table.
One reading, just 9 verses long.
Any of those five “sermons” could be expanded upon, and most of them to a full-length sermon.
And there are others.

Such is the richness of this event.
Such is the richness of this reading.
Such is the richness of scripture.