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SERMONS

The Last Sunday after the Epiphany
February 18, 2007

By The Rev. Sylvia Czarnetzky

There’s a Russian icon depicting Jesus’ Transfiguration, Created by perhaps the most famous Icon maker in Russia, Andrei Rublev. As you might expect, the icon Shows Jesus at the top of the mountain, With a halo radiating from his head and a robe as white as snow. Jesus is flanked on his left and his right by Moses and Elijah, And then, a little further down the mountain, There are Peter, James, and John. I don’t know which figure is which, but their posture speaks volumes about their reaction To the sight of the transfigured Jesus: One of them looks like he’s fallen down and Is either scratching his head Or holding his head; it’s hard to tell; Another one is also on his knees and looks like He’s trying to get away from Jesus as fast as he can; and the third disciples is on the ground too, but he’s upside down, flat on his back with his sandal-clad feet sticking straight up in the air!

The icon suggests that whatever happened on that mountain that day Was pretty astonishing, and even Pretty frightening to Peter, James and John, the mortals who witnessed it.

All Luke tells us is that Jesus had gone up the mountain to pray, in the company of three of his closest disciples. This is a “select company of disciples” chosen to See this miraculous event. They get to the top of the mountain it sounds like Jesus is the only one praying!

The disciples seem to be struggling to stay awake! You have to remember that this mountaintop scene comes on the heels of Many days of hard work – walking from place to place, and feeding hungry people and dealing with the growing crowds who all want to get close to Jesus and hear what he has to say.

So Jesus and the disciples, when they embark on this climb, Are dusty and tired from days of dealing with the nonstop demands of the crowds. Peter, James, and John “can hardly keep their eyes open.” There is a sudden “flash of radiance.” The face and garments of Jesus are transfigured into pure, dazzling white light. And in this blinding light appear the witnesses also saw Moses and Elijah, speaking to Jesus about his pending departure. Then before it is all over with, a cloud moves in and envelopes them all and they hear a voice coming from the cloud that says: “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him!” Then the incident ends as suddenly as it began – Moses and Elijah disappear, the voice from the cloud stops, The cloud itself dissipates, And the only one left on the mountaintop Is Jesus, standing alone, looking just tired and "dusty."

And Peter, James and John are stunned, and our icon showed them Literally bowled over by the sight!. They are left wondering exactly what they have just witnessed. and wondering what it all means. They have seen a radiance unlike any light they have seen before, and they come down the mountain still puzzling over what it all means.

Now, let’s say David Letterman decided to do a “Top Ten List” of Top Ten Most Dramatic Moments in the Bible (by the way, I wouldn’t hold my breath for that!). But let’s imagine for a moment that he did. I’m guessing that the transfiguration scene Would make the list! As drama goes, it’s got a lot: A voice from the cloud, A bright, shining Jesus. A drop-in visit from Two big-name prophets.

I believe the transfiguration scene would surely be worthy of inclusion On the David Letterman Top Ten Most Dramatic Moments in the Bible. And I think the Moses scene might make the list as well. After all, the sight of Moses making his way down Mt. Sinai, With the tablets of the Law held in his arms and his face shining to like the sun – (It made it into the movie, didin’t it?)

In the lesson from Exodus, Moses returns from Mount Sinai, where he has spent forty days and forty nights “with the Lord God Almighty, receiving the ten commandments for the second time. While he was up there,” on the moutaintop, Moses “asked to see God’s glory and God obliged…” You see, people believed in those days that you could not gaze upon the face of God and live to tell the tale, or at least nobody they knew had done it. All Moses gets to see is just a glimpse of God’s back, yet look what effect it had on him. When Moses came back down the mountain with the two tablets of the law in his arms, the skin of Moses’ face “shone...” And when Aaron and the others saw how Moses face radiated light, they were afraid to approach him. But Moses called them to him and spoke to them anyway, and afterwards, Moses put on a veil over his face.

The sight of Moses’ shining face reflected the glory of God, For “whenever Moses speaks with the Lord or tells the Israelites what the Lord has commanded,” his face shines. It’s so bright he has to veil it to protect His people from its brightness!

Maybe the way Moses’ skin was shining was a way to reflect back to the people the glory of the Lord, which he alone had been allowed to see. Maybe Moses’ face was so transformed by the light of God’s glory that it mirrored to the people the light of God’s presence. When Moses comes back down the mountain, his face is infused with an amazing kind of light, and in that light, the people of Israel saw the light of God’s presence.

So here on the Last Sunday of Epiphany, we have stories of radiant, holy light Shining from the faces of Moses and Jesus. That means we end the season of Epiphany as we began it: With light! The season of Epiphany always begins With the story of the wise men, and how they were led To the Christ child by the light Of a mysterious star. Now, we end Epiphany with light as well – The light that radiates from the face of Moses and The face of Jesus.. It makes sense to end the season of Epiphany that way -- after all, it is the season in which we celebrate the light of Christ and its coming to the Gentiles.

This Sunday we celebrate both the transfiguration of Jesus and the transfiguration of Moses. They have more in common that just mountaintops. Both Jesus and Moses found their faces transformed. The God “whose glory transfigures everyone it touches” changed their faces and made them shine “as if their skin had become transparent for a moment…”

The light that shone from the faces of Jesus and Moses is a hint, a suggestion to us of what the light of God’s glory might look like, when our Christian hope is fulfilled and we, at the end of our days on earth, are allowed a glimpse of God’s majesty. It’s sort of like the way the bread and wine we share at the communion table in this life give us a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. “For now we see through a glass darkly; ““For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

The hymn we just sang before the reading of the gospel hints at that mysterious connection between the saints above and the saints on earth. Verses 3 - 5 read: With shining face and bright array, Christ deigns to manifest today what glory shall be theirs above who joy in God with perfect love. And faithful hearts are raised on high by this great vision’s mystery: for which in joyful strains we raise the voice of prayer, the hymn of praise.

Let the vision of Christ’s transfiguration raise our hearts, And give us strength for the journey ahead. For Lent is just around the bend. Today we look ahead the turn to Lent: in just three days, We will begin our annual observance of Lent, In preparation for the coming of Easter. And the stories that we will carry with us into Lent Are the stories of the giving of commandments: “On Mount Sinai, Moses received the Ten Commandments – on the Mount of the Transgifuration, the disciples received only one commandment – listen to Jesus. Listen to God’s Son….”

The commandment to listen to Jesus is a good commandment to carry with us Into Lent. Let us be attentive to the words and deeds of Jesus As he moves closer and closer to Jerusalem. Because, in fact, when Jesus comes down the mountain After the transfiguration, his journey to Jerusalem Begins in earnest – Jesus “sets his face to Jerusalem and makes his way to the most miraculous event of all – his death on a cross and his rising from the grave.”

Let us, with the “watchers and [the] holy ones,” Raise our voices with glad Alleluia’s For the gift of God’s son that we celebrate Every Sunday. “O friends in gladness let us sing,… Alleluia, alleluia.” Amen.