Loving God, you reveal your Son, Jesus, to us and call upon us to listen to him. Teach us not only to listen, but to be transformed from the inside out, living by the power of your Spirit; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Peter has often been accused of having an “edifice complex.” He’s there on the mountain with Jesus and Moses and Elijah, and what does he want to do? – He wants to build something! Peter wants to build some booths, to be exact – some shelters that will allow them to stay there for a while.

To be truthful, I can’t really blame Peter for wanting to stay a while. Simply being on a high mountain is enough all by itself – the breath-taking view, the wind in the trees and grasses, and the quiet that is broken only by the singing of the birds. Add to that Jesus, who is shining with a heavenly light, and Moses and Elijah, both of whom were rumoured never to have died, and who could resist the desire to stay a while?

Yet, obviously this was not God’s purpose for them. In fact, when Peter starts talking about his building plans, he is not even allowed to finish what he is saying. While Peter is still talking, God interrupts him! Wouldn’t that give you a bit of a start? All of a sudden, a bright cloud surrounds them, and they hear a voice from the cloud: “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” (Mt. 17:5).

Peter and James and John fall to the ground in fear. They know that you cannot actually see God and come out of it alive. They also know that the voice of the Lord can rip whole forests out of the ground (Ps. 29). They are probably down on their knees and covering their heads on the ground.

It is then that the disciples receive what they and us really need: the healing touch of Jesus. Jesus comes to them and touches them and lifts them up. He reassures them that they do not need to be afraid. And when they finally look up, only Jesus is there with them – the down-to-earth, earthly Jesus. The vision is gone. Moses and Elijah are gone. Only Jesus remains. And because Jesus is with them, they do not need to fear.

I mentioned earlier that it was not God’s purpose for them to stay there on the mountain enjoying this little glimpse of glory. As nice as that might have been, they had their lives to live in this world, and Jesus had a mission to fulfill. No – God had a different purpose for them in this whole experience.

For one thing, Peter, James and John became eye-witnesses of Jesus’ divine nature. We know that they saw his heavenly glory. What we don’t know is how much they understood about what was going on. Moses and Elijah were symbols of how Jesus was fulfilling the law and the prophets. The words spoken by the voice proclaimed Jesus to be king and servant and prophet (Ps. 2:6-7; Isa. 42:1; Deut. 18:15). We can see these things now through studying the Scriptures.

Yet, the main thing for the disciples was that they saw and experienced Jesus as the glorified Son of God. This was especially important because of the events that they were soon going to witness: Jesus’ arrest and trial and suffering and death on the cross. In fact, Jesus had been trying to tell them about these things not long before they had this mountain-top experience. However, the disciples, and especially Peter, refused to hear these things. In fact, Peter had insisted that Jesus must never suffer and die (Mt. 16:21-22).

And so, there is good reason that God interrupts Peter, proclaims who Jesus is, and then says, “Listen to him!” The disciples need to listen to what Jesus has to say. They need to stop their building plans, and stop thinking only in worldly terms, and listen to what Jesus is teaching them.

Jesus will need to suffer in order to bring redemption. Jesus will need to die in order to defeat death. Jesus will be raised from the dead. All of this is part of Jesus’ mission here on this earth. They need to listen when Jesus tells them about this. Yet, they also need to listen when Jesus teaches them about life as God’s children in the kingdom of God.

Here is just a sampling of some of the things that Jesus teaches his disciples after this experience on the mountain that might have been difficult for them to hear: To enter the kingdom of heaven you must change and become humble like children (Mt. 18:3-4). God’s concern is for the lost ones (Mt. 18:10-14). Brothers and sisters in Christ must always forgive one another from the heart (Mt. 18:21-35). Those who are rich must sell their possessions and give the money to the poor (Mt. 19:16-26). Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s (Mt. 22:15-22). Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself (Mt. 22:34-40). “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” (Mt. 17:5).

Really, isn’t that word just as much for us as it was for the disciples? Of course, there is another word for us that is also to be found in today’s gospel. It seems to me that God’s purpose for us is not all that different from God’s purpose for Peter, James and John. The first purpose was to reveal Jesus’ identity and mission and to get the disciples to listen to him. The second purpose might be described as taking that outward experience of the transfiguration of Jesus and making it internal. In other words, instead of staying there on the mountain with Jesus, the disciples needed an inner transformation so that they could carry that glory with them into the world.

This inner transformation is suggested by the healing touch of Jesus, which lifts them up out of their paralyzing fear and tells them, “do not be afraid.” They will need to carry the memory of this experience with them during the troubling days to come. They will need to walk with Jesus and to listen to him. They will need to carry the Spirit of Jesus and his healing touch within them, in order that they might pass it on to others.

Listen to this verse from 2 Corinthians (3:18) and see if it sounds like the same thing:

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

This is the inner transformation that happens by the power of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. The Greek verb that is used is metamorphoomai - obviously related to the English word “metamorphosis.” Metamorphoomai is what happened to Jesus on the mountain top – translated in English as transfiguration. When Paul writes in another place about being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2), it is the same word once again.

What is an external transfiguration for Jesus becomes an internal transformation for the disciples, and for us. God’s purpose is for us to carry the image of Jesus within us, becoming more and more like him by the power of the Holy Spirit. For it is only in this way that the healing touch of Jesus and the knowledge of who he is can be passed on from one person to another.

Last week I was privileged to be able to ride a ski lift into the clouds and to watch the light grow stronger as we moved toward the top of the cloud. I would not particularly have wanted to stay in the cloud, but certainly on the mountain would have been nice. Yet, God’s purpose for us is not to live our lives on the mountain top. Our lives are in this world with other people, and God’s purpose for us is to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, and to carry the knowledge of Jesus and the experience of his healing touch into the world. As we do so, may we be granted glimpses of glory to carry with us and to sustain us on our journey through the wilderness of this world. Amen.

The Transfiguration of Our Lord (A) Matthew 17:1-9
February 3, 2008 2 Peter 1:16-21
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church Exodus 24:12-18
Pastor Lynne Hutchison Moore

© 2008 Lynne Hutchison Moore All Rights Reserved