2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-43a
In the church calendar today is the Last Sunday after the Epiphany. Easter is early this year. Not absolutely as early as it can be, but pretty early. And that pushes Lent and Ash Wednesday early. The Epiphany season always begins on The Epiphany, January 6, and ends before Ash Wednesday. So its length accordians, depending on the date of Ash Wednesday. But no matter how many Sundays fall between The Epiphany and Ash Wednesday, we always celebrate the Last Sunday after the Epiphany on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. And on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, the Gospel lesson is always one of the accounts of Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain top.
It is certainly an Epiphany story. Epiphany is all about the revelation of God’s glory in the person of Jesus. It’s about people seeing and recognizing God in Jesus. The revealing to others of God’s glory present in the man Jesus. The transfiguration is the ultimate Epiphany story.
And it’s a story, an event, that has a lot to teach us. But I wonder if we don’t often miss the most basic and most important lesson of this event.
Transfiguration happens.
Transfiguration happens. It happens in the physical, temporal world in which we live.
Transfiguration happens.
You probably have a general sense of what the word “transfiguration” means… It’s in the Gospel story. But here’s the literal meaning of the word: To change into something more beautiful, more glorious.
Transfiguration is change. Change from one thing into something more beautiful or more glorious. And this story tells us that it happens in this world. Real change. God infused change. Not just long ago in a galaxy far away. Not just then, in a remote time or place. But real, God infused change into greater beauty and glory, right here in this world, this time.
Transfiguration is how God works in the world in which we live.
There is some debate amongst scholars about which mountain in the Holy Land actually was the location for Jesus’ transfiguration. I like that uncertainty. Because it suggests that it could be any mountain, any time.
In the Gospel stories it is Jesus, the Son of God, who is transfigured. But Peter, James and John witness the transfiguration. Normal, flawed human beings are there. They witness the transfiguration.
Today’s epistle from Paul’s Second Letter to the Christians in Corinth states Paul’s conviction that regular human beings not only witness the transfiguration, but are transfigured themselves. We experience transfiguration. We are transfigured.
This passage is Paul’s reflection on the readings we heard today about Moses and about Jesus’ transfiguration: “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.”
All of us “are being transformed from one degree of glory to another.” Some translations say “from glory to glory.” The Christians in Corinth and all of us are being transformed, transfigured, into greater glory.
We pray for that in today’s collect, where we pray that we will “be changed into his [Christ’s] likeness from glory to glory.”
You’ll remember that today’s Gospel included two stories. The story of Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain top and the story of the healing of the young boy not on the mountain top. They seem unconnected stories, and some commentators have puzzled over the inclusion of both of them But they are both transfiguration stories. They are both stories about God acting in this world to transfigure, to transform.
Transfiguration is real change into something more glorious. Do you believe that can happen? In our world? That people, things, can be changed into greater beauty and glory?
Transfiguration happens.
The story of Jesus’ transfiguration is a wonderful culmination to the Epiphany season. But it is also good that we have this story right before we begin Lent. For the last few days I’ve been Googling images of the transfiguration. It has been a popular subject for artists. The Transfiguration has long been more important in the eastern, Orthodox churches. There are some wonderful icons of the transfiguration. Before Ash Wednesday I’m going to pick my favorite and print it out. To use in my Lenten prayers. Because transfiguration is the promise of Lent.
Find an image that is meaningful for you and hang onto it this Lent. Remember, remind yourself, that transfiguration is the promise of Lent.
Lent isn’t just about self-discipline or denial, it’s about seeking our own mountain top. It’s about finding a place or making space for God to transform us. Lent isn’t just a somber or grim season; it’s a time to open ourselves to God’s transforming power.
So think about finding an image that works for you to remind you of Jesus’ transfiguration. Transfiguration is the promise of Lent. Lent is about remembering that transfiguration is promised to us.
Transfiguration happens. And it’s promised to us. In this world. In this time.
