Text: Mark 9:2-9 Revised Standard Version (RSV)
The Transfiguration
2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them, 3 and his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Eli′jah with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Master,[a] it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Eli′jah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were exceedingly afraid. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son;[b] listen to him.” 8 And suddenly looking around they no longer saw any one with them but Jesus only.
The Coming of Elijah
9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of man should have risen from the dead.
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
Today is Transfiguration Sunday. And a few of the questions many of you might be asking – despite having heard that word hundreds of times before – are “just what, exactly, is ‘transfiguration’?’ and “what does that mean?” and “why is it important?”
Well, to begin with, the dictionary tells us that, according to one definition, “transfiguration” means “a change in form or appearance: Metamorphosis” or “an exalting, glorifying, or spiritual change.”[1]
The second definition of “Transfiguration” is the one we’re familiar with, the one that starts with a capital “T” and has to do with what we read in today’s passage: “a Christian feast that commemorates the transfiguration of Christ on a mountaintop in the presence of three disciples and that is observed on August 6 in the Roman Catholic and some Eastern churches and on the Sunday before Lent in most Protestant churches.”[2]
OK, so much for what it is. Now for what it means.
About week before Jesus takes Peter, James, and John – the “inner circle” of his disciples – up that mountain for the world’s first “mountaintop experience,” he tells all of his disciples in no uncertain terms what’s going to happen. According to Mark 8:31-32, Jesus says that he would suffer, be killed, and then raised to life. The disciples are much less than happy about this, and Peter, hothead that he was, rebuked Jesus. This, in turn, caused Jesus to utter his famous rebuttal to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! You are not thinking about God’s concerns, but human concerns.” (Mark 8:33) So there was a certain amount of tension in that little band that week. This talk of suffering and death made them uncomfortable and fearful, and maybe at least some of the disciples were beginning to wonder just who their leader really was. Maybe they were starting to wonder just what it was they had signed on for. So a dramatic and definitive “teaching moment” was called for.
The Christian website GotQuestions.org has this to say about the meaning of the Transfiguration: “Undoubtedly, the purpose of the transfiguration of Christ into at least a part of His heavenly glory was so that the ‘inner circle’ of His disciples could gain a greater understanding of who Jesus was. Christ underwent a dramatic change in appearance in order that the disciples could behold Him in His glory. The disciples, who had only known Him in His human body, now had a greater realization of the deity of Christ, though they could not fully comprehend it. That gave them the reassurance they needed after hearing the shocking news of His coming death.
“Symbolically, the appearance of Moses and Elijah represented the Law and the Prophets. But God’s voice from heaven – “Listen to Him!” – clearly showed that the Law and the Prophets must give way to Jesus. The One who is the new and living way is replacing the old – He is the fulfillment of the Law and the countless prophecies in the Old Testament. Also, in His glorified form they saw a preview of His coming glorification and enthronement as King of kings and Lord of lords.”[3]
Talk about “show and tell”!
But the next question is: What might this mean for us?
When this story has been told throughout the ages, the focus has always been on Jesus – understandably and rightly. But it seems to me that Jesus was not the only person who was affected, and maybe not even the most important person who was affected, that day; after all, Jesus already knew what was going to happen on top of that mountain, otherwise he might not have taken his friends up there in the first place. This event was solely for the benefit of Peter, James and John; so I would say that these three men most definitely received the “exalting, glorifying, or spiritual change” the dictionary defines as “transfiguration.” I don’t think that any human being could have seen what these disciples saw and heard what they heard – nothing less than the very voice of God! – without being changed to their very core. It was a dramatic, life-changing, and shattered the very concept of reality they had grown up with. Jesus had, quite literally, rocked their world.
And how did they react? Well, at least in the case of Peter, pretty much in the way we might expect when our whole world has been turned upside down…
Have you ever had one of those experiences that were so wonderful that you wished it would never end? Maybe it was a time when you watched a gorgeous sunset that just seemed to linger in its haunting beauty. Maybe it was a long-awaited vacation that was everything you wished it would be, and you just didn’t want to get on that plane to come home to your daily grind. Maybe it was a time at school when you were really “in the zone” and were just so excited about what you were learning that you didn’t want that class to end.
That’s pretty much how Peter felt that day when Jesus was transfigured before his very eyes. It was a moment like no other he had ever experienced before and one that would never come again. As he stood there, mentally grasping at straws to try to make sense of it all, he can be forgiven for wanting to stretch that moment out forever.
Mark recounts what he did: Overwhelmed by the glory of this moment, he cries out: “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three booths – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (The booths were a reference to the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, which commemorates the time the Israelites dwelt in booths for 7 days, as mentioned in Leviticus 23:34-42). In other words – let’s stay here, where it’s wonderful, where we don’t have to deal with the problems of the world. Let’s stay here, where we’re close to God. Let’s stay here, where we can bask in God’s radiance. Let’s make this experience permanent.
But that is not to be. Just like that sunset which eventually ends when the sun goes down, like that vacation that ends when you board the plane to come home, and like that wonderful, mind-expanding learning experience that ends when the bell rings, this moment was not to last, either.
As great as that mountaintop experience was, what is most significant is that Jesus came back down. Sitting forever on top of the mountain would not have fulfilled anything. God’s promises that Jesus proclaimed, both in word and in his person, would have come to nothing. To use a modern term, it would not have moved the ball any closer to the goal. The mountaintop was not where the magnificent, world-changing work was to take place. That was to happen down in the valley. So Jesus says to his friends, “Let’s go back down,” and despite their reluctance, they do. But they do so as transformed men, men who will never again see the world in the same way they once did.
And we, you and I, are also part of that transformation. As disciples of Jesus, just like Peter, James, and John, that glorious experience and the “exalting, glorifying, spiritual change” is in our DNA, too.
With Jesus and those disciples, we have been to the mountaintop. And now we’re back down in the valley, where we and the world live. But the valley, you see, is where the action is. That’s where we stand up and are counted, where we roll up our sleeves and set to work – helping, healing, praying, consoling. In other words, it’s down here, where things can be frightening, and confusing, and disorganized, and dirty – but also where we experience grace, and love, and beauty, and goodness – it’s down here in the valley where we live out our Call.
Finally, it’s important to note that we don’t live out that Call alone – God is with us, working in us, through us, and for us, so that one day the entire world will have that mountaintop experience!
So, yes, let’s roll up our sleeves and join in that wonderful work!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. AMEN.
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transfiguration
[2] Ibid.
[3] https://www.gotquestions.org/transfiguration.html