I Have to Admit That the Transfiguration Is One of the Biblical Stories That Is Difficult

Text: Mark 9:2-9

Introduction

I have to admit that the Transfiguration is one of the biblical stories that is difficult for me to contemplate. It defeats me every year, or at least that is what it feels like.

The church fathers interpret it as full mystical experience. Which is actually to say, they don’t interpret it. They just start talking about the encounter with truth and of the mystical union with God. For those of us whose mystical experience runs toward doubting Thomas and a demand to see the body, well, this truth just isn’t for us. And occasionally they would admit that, telling the novice to look away.

There are no shortage of sermons of glory based on this vision. What I mean by sermons of glory are simply sermons that extol the greatness of God. But I also mean it slightly pejoratively. There is nothing wrong with contemplating and proclaiming the greatness of God. There is a lot wrong if that greatness doesn’t include the cross. And most of those sermons of glory completely ignore the context of the Transfiguration. They rightly take it is as a revelation of the God from God, light from light, very God from Very God, without for a second contemplating what it means for that one to come down from heaven and be incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.

Neither of the approaches have ever given me any comfort or encouragement. So I am sorry, but this morning you are getting Mark’s best read and application. I hope it might have some meaning for you.

Text

The first thing I always have to do is take notice of the context. What happens immediately before or after the mountaintop vision? And I’m going to expand beyond just Mark. The transfiguration is also in Matthew and Luke. And in Luke in a slightly different place. In Matthew and Mark it is late, in Luke it is earlier. The Galilee to Jerusalem journey that the transfiguration kicks off, in Matthew and Mark is a fast thing, in Luke it takes 10 chapters.

So, in Matthew and Mark the immediate context is the confession of Peter – “You are the Christ” – and the first stark prediction of the cross and passion. Jesus would ask, “who do people say that I am?” And Peter would come forward with the right answer – “The Christ”. But while Peter used the right word, he didn’t have the right or the full definition. When Jesus says the Christ includes the cross, Peter rebukes His Lord. And Jesus would call him Satan. In a visual demonstration, Peter on the mountain sees what he expected – the glory, but likewise he is described as “not knowing what he was saying” when he wants to stay there.

Who do we say Jesus is? If we just answer the Christ of glory, a divine Christ without true humanity, a Jesus without that journey to Jerusalem and the cross, we’ve missed something.

The context from Luke adds something important. It has the same confession and passion prediction, but it adds a call. Not only does the Son of Man suffer many things, but anyone who would come after him, must deny himself and take up his cross. The understanding of true humanity of Christ is also something that must apply to us.

So for me the Transfiguration is a grand demonstration of two things. First, who Christ is in his fullness. Second, a sign for the shape of our lives. This after all is what the voice of the Father from heaven says. “This one is my beloved son” and “Listen to him”. Due to the radical nature of the second half which includes that call to the cross, the first half is given dramatic proof. This is the one who gave the 10 commandments at the top of the mount. This is the one the Elijah saw on that same mountain, but heard in the still small voice. He has the authority to do this. To Peter, James and John, a revelation of the glory of the son as he had as being true God from eternity is given. Yes, Peter, the glory that you think should be the Christ’s is his. And this glory is not something new. It is found in Moses and Elijah as well. As Jesus would say, all these speak about him. Here on the mountaintop very literally they speak about him.

We all love the mountaintop. We all love the simple glory. Peter’s words to build three tents is just an expression of that. It is also an expression of “I still don’t want to listen”. Let’s stay here. Let’s stay on the mountaintop. Let’s forget about lies ahead. Let’s ignore everything down on the plain. We’ve seen the important thing. We’ve seen the vision. We’ve seen the glory. What more could we need?

But the voice says listen to him. And Jesus points down the mountain. And he sets his face to Jerusalem. And he tells them to remain silent until the resurrection. Don’t tell the story until you know its full shape. If all you have is the glory, you’ll go wrong. If all you see in the cross, you’ll go wrong.

Application

The full shape of life is neither static. We can’t sit on the mountaintop. It is neither static, nor is skipping mountaintop to mountaintop. As much as we like telling those stories of never feeling loss, of victory after victory, any true glory must include the cross. True glory is found not only at the top of the mount of transfiguration, but also at the top of Calvary.

We know stories of sitting on mountaintops. Glory Days, they’ll pass you by glory days. You sit on a mountaintop long enough, you find the dazzling light has become a dingy bar. You sit on the mountaintop long enough, all you have are boring stories that not even you want to listen to.

But we also know stories that only head downhill. We know lives that were once full of promise that just rolled down. Lives given to despair and self-loathing.

But the Transfiguration tells us of the shape that Christ wants us to know. Transfigured lives are not those static ones that see only glory. Transfigured lives are not those that only see the cross. Transfigured lives are those that walk the whole way.

Transfigured lives are those that see the glory of God but listen to him.

We take up our cross, but we walk toward the resurrection.

We leave the comforting, to become complete in faith.

We endure the struggle, for the Hope that is before us.

We walk with our neighbor in their struggles, because Christ walked in ours. From glory to cross to glory, we walk in love the entire way. We become complete humans in that love.

And yes, there are times that love seem dim. That faith wanes and hope seems faint. Take it up with Moses and Elijah. Take it up with the great cloud of witnesses. Take it up with the martyrs. Take it up with those that know the full shape of the story.

Christ is risen. Sunday morning comes. And we too shall be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last Trumpet.

Take it up with those that love to tell the old oldstory. And hear it anew, one more time. Amen.