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The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus
Christ
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Homily
Readings
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Luke 9:28-36
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2 Peter 1:13-21
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Jesus took with him
Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he
was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became
dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.
They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about
to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down
with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two
men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus,
“Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for
you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. While he
was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified
as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This
is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was
found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the
things they had seen.
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I think it right, as
long as I am in this body, to refresh your memory, since I know that my death
will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I
will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time
to recall these things. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we
made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had
been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God
the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying,
“This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard
this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. So
we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be
attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns
and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand
this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,
because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the
Holy Spirit spoke from God.
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Today, we keep the Feast of the Lord’s Transfiguration. The Gospel recalls that moment in which Jesus
was revealed in the fullness of his glory in the sight of Peter, James and
John, the chosen three among the disciples who are shown time and time again to
have a unique place amongst the disciples.
In the Epistle, Peter reflects upon that moment of Transfiguration.
Luke’s account and Peter’s reflection side by side show us as a
depth of transfiguration that we could easily miss. The starting point is none other than Jesus,
revealed in the fullness of his glory, standing and conversing with Moses the
Law-Giver and Elijah the Prophet. But
today as we celebrate this Feast of our Lord, let me remind you that something
greater than the Lord’s Transfiguration is taking place. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the one who
was transfigured is at work to transform those who witness this theophany, the revealing
of God who longs to be known and loved by us as well as to know and to love us. The apostle Peter shows us how this inward
change in substance is brought around by encountering the outward revelation
that reveals Jesus as God in our midst.
The Gospel for this day does not speak of this change, for we are
receiving only a snapshot in time in today’s Gospel. But the Epistle shows us this change. We encounter Peter as a young man in the
Gospel. In the Epistle, he is nearing
the end of his life. Staring with the
Day of Pentecost and throughout the rest of his days, we find in Peter a
boldness that would have shocked anyone who knew the Peter of the days before
the Resurrection. I imagine that Peter
was probably rather shocked himself when he as an old man reviewed his life and
how he had been changed by encountering Christ and coming to the knowledge of
Jesus which caused him to love his Lord and God and to live in such a way that
those who encountered the apostle were encountered by the Christ.
As we celebrate this Feast of the Transfiguration, my desire is
that we focus on the apostle who reflected the Christ. It is this focus that brings today’s
celebration alive in our day and generation.
I say that because in a sense Peter represents something greater than
himself. I find Peter so wonderful
because he is someone to whom I can relate.
Peter is a real man, for better and for worse. But the greater comfort than my own
realization that Peter is like me and I like Peter is found in observing that
Jesus never gave up on Peter. This is
comforting, for when we see that, we are reminded again and again that Jesus
never gives up on us. He does not
abandon us. Jesus walks with us, and
calls us to follow him. In the relationship
to which Jesus calls us, over a lifetime, we are changed.
Last month, at the Episcopal Youth Event, the Presiding Bishop
challenged the youth of our Church with the following words: “If you want to
change the world, follow Jesus.” Today, as
we celebrate the Transfiguration, there are similar words of challenge and
invitation that we all need to hear: “If you want to be changed, to be made
more fully a child of God, follow Jesus.”
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter expresses the desire to remain
there in the presence of Christ. He
might have thought that this request was somehow denied because in that moment,
he once more saw Jesus as he had previously seen Jesus, and was called by Jesus
to come down from the mountain and to return to daily life. At some point Peter saw, I believe, that in
fact his request was answered. Jesus did
not leave him. Peter walked with him
daily. And now we, like Peter, walk with
Jesus daily.
How is it that we walk with Jesus? We do so again and again by encountering the
Word of God and partaking in the Sacraments.
When we read the Scriptures, we encounter Jesus. When we draw near to the Eucharist and
partake of the bread and the cup, we encounter Jesus. When we live as the baptized who love God and
neighbor, we encounter Jesus. Our Lord
is never at a distance from us. Day by
day we take confidence that he is always at our side, desiring to so shape us
that when others encounter us, they become aware of the presence of Jesus. And when this happens, the Transfiguration
comes alive. Jesus reveals his glory in
our brokenness in order that he might call others with us from their brokenness
and ours into the loving embrace in which our Lord and God completes what is
lacking in us all and heals the scars and wounds of sin, of separation from
God.
How great is the need for that embrace! I say that with the memory that remains fresh
of the need for that embrace. As a
teenager, I believed God to be irrelevant and undesirable. I thought that there was no chance whatsoever
that God cared about me or for me. In my
mind, my existence before God was as meaningless as God was to me. And what, you might wonder, happened to bring
about a change in me? At some point,
through a dare of all things, I made a new friend in a young lady. She shared her life with me. She spoke of her faith and her church, her
activity in her church and the relationships she had with so many whose paths
she crossed in that church. I thought
she was crazy. But to my own shock, I
found myself drawn with her and through her to that community of faith. I walked into that place for the first time
the following Sunday. I encountered
grace for the first time in that place.
It was not merely the grace of Christians that grabbed me that day. It was the grace of Christ that caught hold
of me through Christians who like my new friend shared so freely the love of
Christ, who loved as they had first been loved.
It was that parish that raised me in faith, that sponsored me through
discernment and formation for the priesthood.
That young lady years later would be one of my sponsors at my ordination
to the priesthood, and she continues to this day to be one of my dearest and
best friends.
If my friend were here today, she would say that she did
precious little and would downplay her part in the transformation that occurred
in me. And she is right! The one who was at work in that moment was
not my friend but rather my Lord and God, and hers. The Transfiguration was made real, and Jesus
changed lives in that Transfiguration.
Jesus continues to do so even today, and the promise of the Gospel is
that he will continue to change hearts and lives. The most remarkable piece of this is that
Jesus, who needs no help in this work, and who could do so in an instant,
chooses rather to use us, and to take a lifetime to accomplish that work. Therefore, my friends, trusting in his
abiding presence, let us today and each day commend ourselves to Christ,
praying for that change that transforms us day by day to be more like Christ,
trusting that even today, in spite of ourselves, Jesus can and will change the
world in and through us, revealing his glory and love in the most ordinary and
yet extraordinary ways, for the upbuilding of the Kingdom of God and the
healing of the whole world.
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Father Timothy Alleman
Rector of The Church of the Holy Cross
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