The Last Sunday after the Epiphany
The Rev. George Pejakovich, Assistant to the Dean
Grace Cathedral
2/14/10

Luke 9:28-36

THE GOSPEL FOR TODAY BEGINS WITH THE WORDS “ABOUT EIGHT DAYS AFTER THESE SAYINGS JESUS TOOK WITH HIM PETER AND JOHN AND JAMES, AND WENT UP ON THE MOUNTAIN TO PRAY.” IT IS IMPORTANT TO RECALL JUST WHAT IT IS TO WHICH LUKE REFERS, BECAUSE IT IS THE CONTEXT OF THE EVENTS WHICH OCCUR ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP. JESUS HAD ASKED THE DICIPLES, “WHO DO THE PEOPLE SAY THAT I AM?” TO THIS QUESTION THEY GAVE ANSWER WITH WHAT THE PEOPLE WERE SAYING ABOUT JESUS. THEN, HE ASKED THEM DIRECTLY, “WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?” AFTER SOME HESITATION, PETER SPOKE UP AND DECLARED, “YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.” TO THIS RESPONSE, JESUS WARMLY PRAISED PETER, AND TOLD HIM HOW BLESSED HE WAS BECAUSE THIS WAS REVEALED TO HIM BY GOD, AND THAT THIS REVELATION WAS THE ROCK ON WHICH JESUS WOULD BUILD HIS CHURCH. WHEN, HOWEVER, JESUS BEGAN TO TELL HIS DISCIPLES WHAT HIS BEING THE CHRIST OF GOD ENTAILED, PETER LAID HIS HANDS ON JESUS AND TOLD HIM HE WOULD NOT PERMIT JESUS TO THROW AWAY HIS LIFE. JESUS SHRUGGED OFF THE HANDS OF PETER, CALLED HIM “SATAN – THE ADVERSARY OF GOD,” AND TOLD HIS DISCIPLES WHAT HE MUST DO, THEN SET HIS FACE LIKE FLINT AND HEADED SOUTH TO JERUSALEM. ABOUT A WEEK INTO THEIR JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM, JESUS STOPPED AT THE BASE OF MOUNT TABOR, LEFT HIS FOLLOWERS, AND, TAKING PETER, JAMES AND JOHN CLIMBED TO THE TOP TO PRAY.

OUR GOSPEL ACCOUNT BEGINS WITH THE EXHAUSTED DISCIPLES LYING ON THE GROUND WHILE JESUS WENT OFF ALONE TO PRAY. WHILE HE WAS PRAYING, SOMETHING HAPPENED. WE HAVE ALL HAD AN EXPERIENCE WHEN, SUDDENLY, WE SEE THINGS IN A NEW WAY; WHEN OUR EYES ARE OPENED, OUR MINDS ARE CLEARED, AND WE SEE THAT WHAT WE THOUGHT WE KNEW WAS NOT THE CASE, AND WE SEE THINGS FOR WHAT THEY REALLY ARE. TO THE EYES OF THE DISCIPLES, JESUS WAS TRANSFIGURED, OR TRANSFORMED, INTO THIS DAZZLING FIGURE SO BRIGHT IT HURT TO LOOK AT HIM. WORDS FAILED THEM IN TRYING TO DESCRIBE HIM, SO THEY COULD ONLY SAY HIS FACE WAS CHANGED AND HIS CLOTHES BECAME DAZZLING WHITE. THE SWEATY, TRAVEL STAINED JESUS WHO CLIMBED THE MOUNTAIN WITH THEM NOW APPEARED CHANGED INTO A BEING OF LIGHT SO BRIGHT IT STUNNED THEIR SENSES AND NUMBED THEIR MINDS. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT THEY SAW DEAD PEOPLE, MOSES AND ELIJAH, THE PERSONIFICATIONS OF THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS, TALKING WITH HIM ABOUT WHAT HE WOULD DO IN JERUSALEM.

TRYING TO TAKE ALL THIS IN AND UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY WERE SEEING, PETER, WHO OPPERATED FROM THE PREMISE “WHEN CONFUSED, SAY SOMETHING,” OFFERED TO MAKE THREE SHELTERS FOR JESUS, MOSES AND ELIJAH; BECAUSE HE REALLY HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON AND HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO SAY. HE WAS NOW SEEING JESUS AS THE EQUAL OF MOSES AND ELIJAH, AND THOUGHT HE WOULD MAKE THE THREE OF THEM MORE COMFORTABLE. WHILE PETER WAS STILL RUNNING HIS MOUTH, THE CLOUD FROM HEAVEN SETTLED DOWN ON THEM, AND THEY HEARD THE VOICE OF GOD HAMMER THEM INTO THE GROUND: “THIS IS MY SON, MY CHOSEN; LISTEN TO HIM.”

WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT MOUNTAIN TOP WAS NOT THE TRANSFIGURATION OF JESUS BUT THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE DISCIPLES. THEY SAW JESUS AS WHO HE REALLY WAS, IS AND WILL BE FOREVER. WHAT THEY THOUGHT THEY KNEW ABOUT HIM, WHOEVER THEY THOUGHT HE WAS, NOW WAS CHANGED FOREVER. THEY SAW, FOR THE FIRST TIME CLEARLY THAT HE WAS THE FULNESS OF THE GLORY OF GOD INCARNATE, AND THE DIVINE COMMAND “LISTEN TO HIM” BECAME THE CENTER OF THE REST OF THEIR EARTHLY EXISTENCE. NEVER AGAIN WOULD THEY QUESTION HIS AUTHORITY, EVEN WHEN THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND, BUT FOLLOWED HIM AND OBEYED HIS COMMANDS EVEN UNTO DEATH. THUS, IN SEEING JESUS FOR WHO HE TRULY IS, AND WAS AND WILL BE, PETER AND JAMES AND JOHN WERE TRANSFORMED FOREVER.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CONTINUES TO THIS DAY. MANY THINGS ARE SAID ABOUT JESUS; THAT HE WAS A GREAT TEACHER, A GREAT MORALIST, A WONDERFUL PERSON, JUST ANOTHER OF THE MANY RELIGIOUS FIGURES THROUGHOUT HISTORY, OR EVEN A FICTIOUS CHARACTER MADE UP BY SELF – DELUDED RELIGIOUS FANATICS. SOME WILL GO AS FAR TO SAY THAT JESUS WAS A SON OF GOD, BUT THAT THERE HAVE BEEN MANY SONS OF GOD, OTHER REVEALERS OF THE TRUTH, AND THAT HE WAS BUT ONE OF MANY. HOWEVER, WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD DESCENDS UPON US AND REVEALS TO US JUST WHO THIS JESUS REALLY IS, WE, TOO, ARE DRIVEN TO OUR KNEES WHEN WE SEE, FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE FULNESS OF THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE FACE OF JESUS. WHEN OUR EYES ARE OPENED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, WE SEE, ONLY IN JESUS, THE CHOSEN ONE, ALL THE POWER, AUTHORITY AND MAJESTY OF THE ONE TRUE GOD. AS SAINT PAUL TELLS US, “WHEN ONE TURNS TO THE LORD, THE VEIL IS REMOVED . . . 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.”

WE ARE THE TRANSFIGURED PEOPLE, THE TRANSFORMED PEOPLE OF GOD. WHEN WE TURN TO JESUS, AND, BY THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, SEE HIM FOR WHO HE IS, WE ARE TRANSFORMED INTO A PEOPLE WHO ARE BEING CHANGED MORE AND MORE INTO THE GLORY THAT THE DISCIPLES SAW ON THAT MOUNTAIN TOP. THIS TRANSFORMANTION BEGINS WITH OUR SEEING THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE FACE OF JESUS, AND CONTINUES BY OUR OBEDIENCE TO THE COMMAND OF GOD: “THIS IS MY SON; MY CHOSEN. LISTEN TO HIM!”

THIS TRANSFORMATION IS INCOMPLETE, OF COURSE, BECAUSE WE ARE STILL SINFULL HUMANS WHO OFTEN FAIL TO LISTEN TO JESUS. WE OFTEN TURN AWAY AND FOLLOW THE DEVICES AND DESIRES OF OUR OWN HEARTS, AND SO THE TRANSFORMATION WILL NEVER BE COMPLETE UNTIL WE ARE WITH JESUS IN THE AWSOME FULNESS OF HIS GLORY. YET, BY THE GRACE OF GOD AND THE PROMPTING OF GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT, WE ARE CONTINUALLY CALLED TO TURN BACK TO THE LORD, TO SEE AGAIN HIS GLORY, AND TO LISTEN TO HIM AND TO DO HIS WILL. THE MORE WE TURN TO HIM, THE MORE WE LISTEN TO HIM, THE MORE WE ARE CHANGED, TRANSFIGURED, INTO WHAT HE CALLS US TO BE: HIS BODY, HIS PRESENCE, IN THIS WORLD. THE MORE WE LISTEN TO HIM, AND DO HIS WILL, THE MORE THAT THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW JESUS CAN SEE, CAN FEEL, CAN SENSE THE GLORY OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS IN US.

THE VEIL HAS BEEN LIFTED FROM OUR EYES, AND WE HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF GOD IN HIS ONLY SON, AND IN THAT TRANSFIGURATION WE ARE TRANSFORMED INTO THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD, FOR WHOM THAT SAME GLORY IS BOTH OUR INHERITANCE AND OUR MISSION TO REVEAL TO THE WORLD. THE REVELATION OF THE GLORY OF GOD IS SEEN IN US BY OTHERS ONLY AS WE FOLLOW JESUS IN THE WAY OF THE CROSS. THE WAY OF THE CHOSEN ONE IS THE WAY OF THE SERVANT TO THE WORLD. IN OUR SERVICE, IN OUR BEARING OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST FOR OTHERS, IS THE GLORY AND GRACE OF THE FATHER MADE MANIFEST TO THE WORLD.

WE ARE THE TRANSFIGURED BODY OF CHRIST IN THE WORLD, AND THE ONLY WAY THE WORLD WILL SEE THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE FACE OF JESUS IS IF WE, THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD, DO AS THE GOD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH COMMANDS. “THIS IS MY SON; MY CHOSEN. LISTEN TO HIM!”

AMEN