Prayer of Illumination

Me inoi tatou, Let us pray,

Holy God, you revealed to the disciples

the everlasting glory of Jesus Christ.

Reveal this glory to us today through the gospel

and the power of your Holy Spirit

Amine/Amen

 

Introduction to Exodus 34:29-35 and Luke 9: 28-36

The two readings today talk about something strange happening to the appearance of Moses and then Jesus. Both glow with another worldly light.

In Exodus the reaction of Moses and the people has many explanations. What do you think is happening?

In Luke’s version, Jesus’ transfiguration, as the church as labelled it, marks the end of his ministry in Galilee and the beginning of the journey towards Jerusalem.

The clouds and light, the change in Jesus’ appearance would were the expected way for a deity to demonstrate their authority. It’s just like when Elisha watched Elijah disappear into the clouds!

This may be why Peter responds as he does. The Messiah is finally acting like a lightning-toting, flame-wielding, cloud-veiled god – for once.

The Divine Presence is often described as being in clouds and speaking from clouds. And through the cloud comes a voice repeating the words from Jesus’ baptism: “This is my Son, the Beloved.”

Notice your reaction to this reading too?

And allow yourself to feel the humour in both stories.

 

Bible Reading 1 Exodus 34:29-35 (any version)

 

Bible Reading 2 Luke 9: 28-36 (any version)

 

 

 

 

Sermon “Let Your Light Shine”

This Sunday is the final one in the season of Epiphany. Traditionally this day has been called Transfiguration Sunday as the bible readings focus on the moment when Peter, James and John witness the amazing transformation of Jesus on the mountain and contrast this with the story of the encounter of Moses with God.

 

The passage from Luke you just heard comes right after a session with the disciples when Jesus asks them who they think he is and Peter blurts out “The Messiah”. Finally, after all the speculation, Jesus is recognised for who he is but immediately he tries to re-educate them as to what a Messiah’s role really is. Not glory and military victories but pain and rejection. And then he goes on to say that such a Messiah’s followers can not expect honour and riches either but suffering and death.

 

So then we are told, a little more than a week later, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain with him to pray. As you know Jesus often went to quiet places to pray, mostly alone but this time he takes some companions. And as Jesus prays the others get drowsy but they are awake enough to notice that he starts changing, glowing. And then they notice two other people have appeared and are talking with Jesus and they recognise them somehow as Moses and Elijah!

Consider how you would feel if you are just drifting off during a prayer meeting when the leader starts to become as dazzling as those shirts in a laundry detergent commercial! And imagine your reaction when suddenly you are joined by two strangers who you ‘know’ (somehow) are the two most famous figures in your countries religious history! It would be like John Knox and John Calvin suddenly appearing here today.

So can we really blame Peter for blurting out, in his usual style, the most ridiculous bit of twaddle; “Hey, guys, don’t go. Me and the boys will build you a hut each so we can enjoy this amazing experience for longer” I mean it doesn’t make any sense at all but would we have done any better in such a jaw-dropping experience. Would we perhaps suggest that the two Johns might like to stay a bit longer and have a cup of tea after the service or visit Riccarton Mall?. In the mind-numbing moment of surprise most of us have said and done some pretty bizarre things ourselves so let’s have some sympathy for Peter.

I like to think that the cloud that envelops the disciples during Peter’s speech is God’s gentle way of silencing Peter. It certainly seems to work although the disciple’s fear suggests they didn’t think it was only a gentle rebuke. And then to add to their fright God speaks, from out of the cloud, from all around them, saying; “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.”

Can you hear the echo of the words spoken when Jesus was baptised? That time God said; “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” So this time God is clearly speaking to the disciples. But why the command to listen to him? After all they have been following this itinerant preacher for nearly three years, they must have listened to hundreds of sermons, children’s talks, devotions, etc.

Could it be they need to listen to the meaning better, to hear, and understand, the message Jesus has just been trying to teach them that being a Messiah, being a Messiah’s follower, is not going to be how they expected it to be? Could it be that God wants them to listen to the meaning behind his actions and not just the words? Could it be that God wants them to realise that they have even more to learn as Jesus now contemplates the ultimate purpose of his ministry; Jerusalem and death. Certainly the later behaviour of these three shows they only understood God’s command from the later perspective of the resurrection.

We too need to hear these words of God; to listen. To listen to the words of Jesus and to see beyond our own preconceptions to the real message. To accept that following the Chosen One of God is not going to be a safe or a glorious thing to do. That it will probably mean heartache and shame and ordinary, boring hard work.

I find many promotions to do Christian work sound like a call to arms; “Come join the army to fight for the King, join the struggle and help win the victory.” Now while I recognise these are all images, I think it is worth noticing that as soon as the disciples proclaimed him as Messiah Jesus introduced a completely different image of discipleship; that of losing your life, of being crucified. These were not heroic images. Even now they are not as glamorous as gallant knights in shining amour or brave resistance fighters. And yet that is all Jesus guaranteed for all who followed him; a chance to lose everything including their life, to give up everything including family and status, and yet somehow to gain the Kingdom of God.

In our present time, where we too are faced with increasing conflict, we need to listen – especially to Jesus and his contrary expectations. That winning is not to be by any means. That might is not right. That following the right way may be dangerous and costly. That winning the crown of God may actually mean losing in the world’s view.

The reading from Exodus is part of the well-known story about the ten commandments. Moses goes up the mountain for 40 days and then comes down with two tablets inscribed with the law of God. In this segment of the story the focus is on the glowing face Moses has after this experience. Let’s face it, it is definitely pretty weird to see a person’s face lit up like a neon light, (even with the use of modern technology)! It seems perfectly reasonable to keep your distance from such a dazzling person. Today we’d be perfectly justified in thinking he was radioactive.

What does seem peculiar is the use of the veil. From this distance it is unclear whether Moses puts this veil on and off to hide the glow because the people are afraid of him or it is used to hide the loss of the glow. Certainly, Paul seems to suggest in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 that the latter is the case, that Moses is hiding behind the veil.

What is clear is that Moses is reflecting the glory of God and it is both frightening and awe inspiring to his people. How much more must this glow of glory have impacted Peter, John and James.

Just for a moment, they are allowed to glimpse Jesus’ true nature. As he becomes brighter than any human eye can stand, they see that this ‘man’ is truly God incarnate. They have seen God working as they followed Jesus throughout the country but here on the mountain, for a short time, “his glory was unveiled” (to paraphrase a line from a Graham Kendrick song).

This unveiling is an important concept in Paul’s message to the Corinthians. He argues that through Jesus all believers get to see God face-to-face. We can also now hear the word of God with unveiled minds. He concludes that such closeness will mean that we are able to reflect God’s glory too. That through our belief there will be no barrier of fear, no barrier of ignorance, no barrier based on who we are.

When you read of the elaborate rituals the people of Israel had in order to worship God before Jesus the fact that we are promised instant access is amazing. Instead of spending time petitioning for an interview, being vetted by staff, having to appear at the time and place stipulated wearing the right clothes, and waiting in line to see God – we have the right, through Jesus, to pop in the back way, anytime, in our scruffiest gear, to have a chat or a moan, or to even rant a bit. Takes your breath away doesn’t it?

The two events we have heard about today raise an interesting issue for us.

Do we glow like Moses did from our association with Jesus?

Now I’m not suggesting we should all look like we have an internal light bulb on. But it is worth wondering whether how we live our lives reveals our closeness to Jesus. No, we shouldn’t all be going around with stupid grins on our faces to show we are happy, happy Christians regardless of reality. But what I am suggesting is that there is, there should be, something in our behaviour that speaks of Jesus’ influence.

The problem is that the ‘glow’ we get is simply a reflection, therefore we can’t manufacture it. It comes solely from being with God. Thus we have to keep up this relationship or the ‘glow’ will fade. We can try and hide the fading behind veils of pious prayers, good works and upright living but that won’t make up for the lack of relationship.

We can try to contain God-moments like Peter, to make them last longer by building fancy buildings or replicating the behaviour that brought them on, but really we have to go back to the source. The idea of simply being with Jesus and then reflecting his light is so easy and yet so often we forget that and try to make ourselves into glowing Christians by complicated rules and rituals.

I wonder if the modern disregard for the church today is due to the fact they can no longer see our ‘glow’? That they no longer see the reflection of Jesus in our faces? And doesn’t that challenge us to get close enough to him, often enough, for his love and power to be revealed through us to all people, by our actions, our bravery, and our relentless love when the world, and often other church goers, around us are promoting the opposite to justice, mercy and kindness.

Epiphany means Jesus being revealed. In this final day of Epiphany, we come to this truth – Jesus is now revealed through us. When we are filled with Jesus our very lives reflect his glory.

Let us pause now to ponder what that might look like for each one of us, for St Ninians as we listen to the reflective music.