On the Feast of the Transfiguration . . .

     Well, we can see by the huge crowd that the Transfiguration has lost its importance in the most parts of the modern Church.  Let me just remind you that you may well have earned another jewel in the crown you will receive for the extra bit of worship this week.  Of course, you’ll be tossing that crown at the foot of Jesus, so the extra jewel will go unnoticed in the world to come.  The great thing about a small number is that we can be a bit more intimate and a bit more familiar in our worship.  So, while Liturgy & Worship and I might wish more Adventers were here, I do give thanks that you each took time out of your day and week to celebrate with us this feast day.

     Why is the Transfiguration important?  Why has the Church kept it as a day to observe these last 2000 years, even if we have not been particularly good at it here at Advent?  In truth, the Transfiguration is far more significant than we might well think, at first.  Understand, of course, we read about it twice during the regular season of the Church.  We generally focus on it both during the Season of Epiphany and during the Season of Lent, in addition to being called to remember it on its own special day in August.

     Like you probably tonight, I wondered why the Church selected August 6 as the date.  It was on this date in the 1400’s when the Pope received news that the invading Muslim horde was repelled in what is modern day Hungary, thereby saving Europe from invasion.  That day coincided with this feast, and so the Pope declared it a special day.  For the western Church, the day was as much political/military in the beginning, as it was theological.

     Apparently, the date had been selected and preserved in the Eastern traditions.  In fact, were we celebrating this feast in an eastern liturgy, the flowers on the altar would be replaced by sheaves of wheat and bunches of grapes.  Both of those would be offered to remind us of the harvest that was coming in our lives.  The green season after Pentecost, was a season of growth.  The faithful were expected to be showing some evidence of growth, fruit.  The wheat and grapes were offered as biblical reminders of the fruit which Christians were called to bear.  And, knowing that we will one day share in His eternal glory, this feast day marked a good opportunity for us to remind ourselves of the hope of our calling.

     Now, I recognize I have summed up a couple hours of reading and commentary in just a minute or two of explanation.  And I am by no means claiming to have caught all the nuances of the history and liturgies of the feast.  At best you are getting a cliff notes’ version that highlights how the western church ignored the day for many centuries and the eastern church continued its faithful observance.  World events, as much as anything, seem to have propelled it back into our traditional conscience, but the feast day has a long tradition in the Body we call the Church.

     But why?  What makes the day important?  Why do we get multiple lessons on the Transfiguration of Christ each year?  Why does it merit its own feast day?  It seems to me there are a couple important theological and pastoral reasons.  The feast of the Transfiguration reminds each of us of the supernatural attestations of the divinity of Jesus.  The world likes to claim falsely that the later Church made up the idea of the divinity of Jesus and the mystery of the Incarnation.  Many extreme ends of such thought like to argue that Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God, that He was simply a good teacher whose disciples went crazy.

     In fact, there are four supernatural pronouncements about Jesus’ divinity.  The angelic choir singing to the shepherds outside Bethlehem and the angels testifying to the women, Mary Magdalene in particular, at His Empty Tomb, are two of those.  Another is the Baptism of Jesus, where the Holy Spirit descends like a dove and the voice declaring Jesus His Son.  The last supernatural attestation, as you’ve no doubt deduced, is the Transfiguration.  Jesus, after leading the insiders of the Apostles up the mountain, is clothed in glorious raiment, whiter than anything that clothmakers could produce.  Moses and Elijah appear and are recognized by the Apostles.  The cloud descends upon them, and again the voice identifies Jesus as His Son and as His Christ and instructs the Apostles to listen to Him.

     The Church recognizes what the Apostles tried to describe.  And let’s face it, the fact that Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus in this event made it easier.  God’s glory, His shekinah, imprinted Moses to the extent that Moses’ face terrified Israel.  We read today that reminder, that the people in the camp asked Moses to cover his face when he was not speaking for God.

     Jesus’ glory is simply revealed to those who witness this event.  Meaning, unlike Moses who was imprinted by the glory of God due to His repeated interactions and receipt of instruction, Jesus is simply seen as Who He was, Who He is, and Who He will be, the Second Person of the Trinity.

     As cool as the story would be were it to end there, we know that it does not.  Part of why we remind ourselves of this manifestation of His majesty, to use Peter’s words tonight, in Lent is because Jesus story and glorification does not end there.  He takes the Apostles back down the mountain, sets His face on Jerusalem, and heads there to accomplish the salvation of humanity, just as He discussed with Moses and Elijah.  Put in simpler language, when Peter, John, and James reflect on all this after Jesus’ betrayal, Passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension, they will have this visual and audible reminder that it was God, come down from heaven, who went to that Cross!  It was God Himself, who condescended to take on a mortal Body, who executed our salvation.  If God, full of majesty and glory and all those other wonderful attributes which we ascribe to Him, would do this, what ought they or us not do to help spread God’s kingdom, the Gospel, God’s love, or whatever language we prefer to use in describing our vocation?  Ya, it’s a cool reminder. 

     As always, there more.  As always, the Gospel reminds us that, although that’s a great story, there’s still a better one to be heard.  That better part is prefigured by Moses and promised us by Jesus, the Son of God, that when we’ve run this race or finished our earthly work, we will one glorious day be united with Him to reign in glory for ever and ever.  Put simply in the language of the day, one day, one glorious day when Christ returns and God recreates the world, you and I and all who call upon Him as Lord will experience our own Transfiguration.  One glorious Day, you and I will bask in the shekinah of God and be recreated, re-clothed if you will, that we might live full into the inheritance which He has in store for us.  That promise, my brothers and sisters, is worth revisiting and reminding ourselves every day of our lives.  That that same God who came down and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit will one day raise us by that same Holy Spirit and clothe us with His shekinah for all eternity!

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†