What's So Special about the Transfiguration?

Exodus 24: 12-18
Matt 17: 1-9

Every year we read the story of the transfiguration and I can remember as a child, not really understanding what the fuss was all about. So a couple guys show up and Jesus glows for a moment. Big deal – Jesus is God – doesn’t that mean Jesus might have a little something extra that makes him shine in ways that us mere mortals cannot? And the couple of guys showing up – that happens all the time in the Bible, why is THIS moment so special?

I remember that what really interested me was Peter’s response to all of this happening. Why in the world did he want to make shelters for the three of them? I mean, if they walk down the mountain there is probably food and shelter there already, why go to all the work of preparing special shelters? To my young mind, that was a much more interesting thing than these men appearing and Jesus shining brightly.

When I thought about this, I realized the Transfiguration was never really explained properly to me which is why I always just read the scripture and nodded my head and wondered what we were really celebrating here – that God talked to Jesus or the fact that Peter can sometimes be a dunce? The Transfiguration has special significance to us because this is the moment when the glory of God shines forth so brightly in Jesus that even dunce-ish Peter sees that Jesus is more than a mere mortal. This is the reason they had all dropped their nets to follow a man they had never met. That special, other-worldly power that radiated out of Jesus at special moments and otherwise was a gentle beacon that pulled people toward him.

The Transfiguration is the moment when we realize Jesus is a human being, but Jesus is also God. Jesus has come to save us; Jesus is the manifestation of a God that loves us so much that God became part of God’s own creation. God became human to understand us better and to love us more fully and so we could understand God better and love God more fully. This is a moment of great significance! This is where the prophecy of Immanuel comes true – Immanuel: God with us and present in the form of Jesus Christ.

Most other religions have a remote God. A God that while it sometimes cares about what is going on in its peoples’ lives, rarely interacts in any way with them. But not Christianity! In Jesus Christ we were given the most miraculous gift – that of a God that cares so much that God became one with us! God watched our struggles; heard our fears and complaints; listened to our hours of sorrow after our losses, and could not stay separate from us any longer. God became human to help us and to understand us. God could not stay a remote God that merely watched our lives; God wanted to be part of them.

Which is why what happens to Jesus is so hard for us Christians to bear. This week we begin our Lenten season with Ash Wednesday. We know the ending to the story. We know the pain and sorrow that is about to be revealed to us. We know the cross is coming and we do not want to carry it. We do not want to listen to how he was tortured and humiliated, and in light of this moment of the Transfiguration as Jesus sees our fear and tells us gently, “Do not be afraid” as he puts his hand on our shoulder – we realize we are afraid. We’re deathly afraid of what is to come.

Our lives are full of unknowns. We go about each day waiting for the day when our own cross will be too heavy to carry any longer. We are afraid of the ending; not just our Lord’s ending, but our own. We want to have faith in God. We want to believe that everything will turn out alright in the end, but this world is so often in chaos that it becomes hard to remember and trust. We see the same thing in Peter, James, and John in this passage.

They go up the mountain with Jesus after hearing the news of Jerusalem’s destruction and Jesus’ imminent death. It is only human that in their minds they play out the next few days and weeks. They begin to look for alternatives, desperate for a second opinion, a way to stop time. They want to build a safe sanctuary away from the world, to be content in the moment, saving Jesus and themselves from the heartache to come. They cannot, and neither can we.

We cannot stop those hospital room moments when we’re told that we have an incurable disease. We cannot stop those times when we hear our child is in jail or in some other serious trouble. We cannot stop those times when we are fighting with those we love most and it feels like our world is crashing around our ears and our hearts are about to burst from the pain of it all. We know that these moments exist and it isn’t until we see something good in the midst of all the bad that we are able to understand what Jesus is here to teach us. Like when we are at our lowest moment and our grandchild comes running up with a flower clutched in his sweaty hand and a big grin on his chocolate covered face and he says, “I love you.” That moment of happiness in the midst of great sadness is when we begin to understand that where there is suffering, there is also God. These are the moments when we realize God is present in suffering and sacrifice, just as God is present in the promise and potential of our lives.

But too often we forget about God’s presence. We become distracted and we allow the world to tell us that God doesn’t really care. C.S. Lewis wrote in the Silver Chair about this. He has Aslan tell everyone, “Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly. I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind. And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearance. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters.”

When we meet Jesus Christ in our lives, everything becomes clear for a brief moment. We do not wonder and we are not afraid in those moments of clarity. We know who we are – we feel contentment and peace. However, they do not last because the world takes its toll on our hearts and minds. This is what Aslan was warning his people about – that clarity is harder to come by and the peace and happiness is harder to feel in the middle of a chaotic world. He is warning them to not lose sight of God and we must not lose sight of who Jesus Christ is. The Transfiguration is so special because it is a moment of clarity right before the greatest trials and sorrows for the disciples. For us.

The transfiguration offers the disciples and us the paradox that while there is nothing we can do to save ourselves from suffering, there is also no way we can shield ourselves from the light of God that sheds hope in our darkest moments. This moment is the moment we hold on to when we feel lost in the darkness and feel hopeless and empty.

We cannot keep ourselves safe just as we cannot stop what is about to happen to Jesus. In our lives there will be joy and sorrow and both must be faced, but that does not mean we face these things alone. The Transfiguration is our reminder that God is indeed with us and that no matter where our life journey takes us, we have Jesus on our side and the Holy Spirit in our hearts and that God loves us so much that we have been given these great gifts despite doing nothing to earn them.

Yes, the Transfiguration is something to be celebrated. This is our moment of hope that will anchor us as Lent begins. We will remember the blessing of our God loves us so much that he became a part of us; that God suffered and died for us; this is our moment to remember no matter what crosses we bear – we do not have to carry them alone.

Amen.