“TELL THE VISON, FOR THE SON OF MAN IS RISEN”
The Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord: 5 February Anno Domini 2006
Fr Watson
Brothers and Sisters, you are empowered by the Spirit, by the Christ Himself to now tell His story, for He is risen, and so are all of you, IN HIM.
You know the story well; all the basic facts of this “Transfiguration” of the Nazarene.
But what does it all mean for you, here today? It means what every slice, every pericope, of the Holy Gospel of God’s Word means: Jesus’ work for you, and Jesus’ true identity which is also for you.
The Lord talks to man from mountain tops. God gave the Law from Mount Sinai where there was smoke, cloud, fire, lightning and an awesome revelation of the Creator. But now in today’s text, God in his proper work, His most true nature, reveals Himself not only as the giver of Law but as the keeper of Law and giver of Comfort, Freedom and Peace.
You know the abstract facts: God is Light, God is Grace, God is Love, and God is Life.
But what does He really look like, Who is He, can you see Him and talk with Him, will He help you here and now where you need Him most?
The first man and woman knew what He looked like. They could see Him for they had been created in His very own image. They communed with Him, they saw and knew that the Son of Man was the Son of God, for they too were sons and daughters of God, IN HIM. When they fell into “choice,” that is, in to sin, they gouged out their own eyes only to have them replaced with the glass eyes of the serpent. They lost God’s image and became creature of dust once again. They and all their descendants could still “hear” the Lord when He spoke to them, in many and varied ways (usually by the Prophets). They also continued to be able to see God in whatever physical manifestation, theophany, which He chose to reveal Himself with.
Moses saw the power and grandeur of Light, Heat, Wind, Force, atop Horeb. Moses had seen the awful Burning Bush (which burned but did not consume) and He would see the Glory of the Lord hovering in incense, fire and cloud over the Mercy Seat of the Ark.
But Moses did not have the unequaled joy and privilege of three Galilean fishermen; until that day atop the Mount of Transfiguration.
Elijah, the greatest of prophets until the Baptizer, greater than Isaiah, greater than Jeremiah, greater than even his own powerful student and successor, Elisha, Elijah was a vessel of the Holy Ghost, and communed with the Lord in a way unparalled in his own time. Elijah, by being IN HIM, raised the dead, multiplied the bread, and was taken to Heaven itself without having to taste death. And still, Elijah did not have the unequaled joy and privilege of three Galilean fishermen; until that day atop the Mount of Transfiguration.
Why was the Lord atop that hill? Did the Son of God need desperately to be consoled by two Old Testament titans, less He grow despondent over the onerous task ahead? No.
While to be sure, Jesus’ Human Nature did receive solace, comfort and joy to be in the physical presence of the Law and the Prophets, He didn’t glow like the Son for His own sake but for theirs; for Peter, James and John; for all of you; and yes, also, for dear Moses and Elijah.
The Transfiguration shows a multiple number of truths---all bringing Christ Crucified for the Forgiveness of Sins directly to His beloved Saints.
It shows Jesus not just as a wise Rabi, an itinerant wandering miracle worker, but as Divine God. He shone not with the borrowed light of Gabriel or a host of Sabaoth, but with Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten not made, being of the SAME SUBSTANCE of the Father.
The Transfiguration shows the Trinity in another sublime and mysterious way as surely as the Lord’s own baptism showcased the Three-in-One-the-One-in-Three. Atop this Mountain you have the voice of the First Person, you have the Flesh and Blood of the Second Person, and you have the enveloping Cloud of the testifying Third Person. You also of course have the trio of awe-struck Disciples gazing upon the Transfigured Christ flanked by two other glowing ones in the celestial mountain-top triumvirate.
But the true nature of this carpenter’s Son is only part of the point. Yes Jesus is God, yes Jesus is Light uncreated and the bringer of Light and Life to men; but how?
The God-Man Jesus is most clearly seen as “The” Saving Redeemer by being seen on the top of a hill flanked by two other witnesses to His true Glory. And what was His true glory? His true Love and Mercy came flooding out of His tender wounded hands extended and His blessed feet nailed, one on top of the other. The Hill of Transfiguration shows Who it was that was “transfigured” on the Hill of Calvary, there flanked by two thieves - - God the Son, the Son of Man and the Son of The “Our Father.”
In your darkest crisis, in your blackest moment, in your deepest sorrow and shame, in your own long dark night of the Cross being a “follower of the Pierced-One,” hear and believe the Gospel of the Transfiguration. Jesus is God. Jesus even in His own greatest moment of abandonment, when He was suffering the hellish torment of all of your foul mis-deeds, was Light and Life; He was The Way and The Truth.
This moment of Exaltation would long be remembered by the James, John and Peter, and no doubt the others of the “12” to whom they later related the glory. It is the golden lining of the clouds of Golgotha. It is the Easter Lilly hidden behind the stench of Good Friday blood and sweat. It is Church Triumphant behind the Church Militant in which you daily suffer and bleed yourself. And, it also shows that to see God, one must wait and be patient and allow God to show Himself the way He chooses to. The Lord reveals His true face not in smoke-filled thunder atop the mountain of the Hebrew Covenant; not in the midst of fiery chariots and whirlwinds leading to paradise without death; and not even in the Sun-bright Whiter than White nova of Christ’s glowing Godness. God shows His face and His love in the face of Jesus. That face, those hands and feet, that side, that voice, those eyes, Peter, James and John got to see for three years. The Disciples most blessed of men saw God “in-the-flesh” in many and varied circumstances; they witnessed Him crucified over the coals of hell, a fire stoked white hot by your trespasses.
But on that day, on that long-awaited for day, dear Saint Moses, “river baby,” first Prophet, Priest and King; he along with blessed Saint Elisha, Old Testament Seer, Miracle Worker, and eternal companion of the Angels; also got to actually see God face to face.
“The Law” and “The Prophets” talked with Him Who was their completion, their head, their Savior. Moses and Elijah talked with Jesus about His upcoming “exodus” to Jerusalem. They conversed with Christ about His imminent suffering and death for their sins, for the sins of the Fishermen, and for your sins. They saw the pupils of Jesus’ eyes, they heard His commanding yet gentle voice, they too felt His breath, and the Wind of the Spirit; the Word; and it was enough.
This morning high atop the mountain of His New Testament altar, Jesus is again transfigured, “in a way.” The humble flesh and blood of wafer and wine are “transfigured” into His pure and perfect Divinity, His God-hood, but also united to His same perfect and holy Humanity; His same Body and Blood born of the Virgin, seen atop the hill by those five witnesses, crucified on the Tree, and ascended on high to be here on this hilltop this morning.
Because the Father is pleased in His beloved Son, He is also pleased in you who have been placed “into” the Son; you who eat and drink the Son’s very nature, being yourselves “transfigured” into children of the Father and co-heirs. You have heard the voice of Jesus in your Baptisms. You have heard the voice of Jesus in Scripture. You have heard the voice of Jesus in holy absolution. You have heard the voice of Jesus at table. You, along with Peter, James, John, Elijah and Moses are His witnesses, His friends. You, with them, are forgiven.
“Arise, and do not be afraid…Tell this vision, this Gospel, to everyone, for the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”
In the Name of The Father and of The Son + and of The Holy Ghost