On the Miracle of the Transfiguration

• Transfiguration Sunday

Matthew 17:1-9

With Exodus 34:29-35 and 2 Corinthians 3:12 – 4:2

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• Transfiguration is a unique word for a unique event. It refers to a scene in Matthew 17 when Jesus goes up on a mountain with Peter James and John. When he gets there he glows like the sun in front of them, Moses and Elijah appear, and the voice of God announces This is my Son whom I dearly love, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. It’s a miracle, and there are a number of things we can “take home” from it.

• An interesting miracle. There’s a 2001 novel by Leif Enger called Peace Like A River. It’s on my top ten list of novels and I recommend it. Here’s a quotation from the beginning: No miracle happens without a witness. Someone to declare Here’s what I saw. Here’s how it went. Make of it what you will. (Miracles are also described as disturbing and unnatural, but I’ll leave it up to you to follow up.)

• A few things to take home from this miracle? It’s a unique and divine stamp of approval on the life and person of Jesus. Also it conveys Do not fear, also that God desires to be in relationship with people.

• Do not fear. (and do tell. Witness. Here’s what I saw. Here’s how it went.)

Moses: people feared his shining face because to see the face of God was to die (Exodus 33:20) God will not leave his people abandoned. And God is to be taken seriously.

Also with Moses and the veil: God sees us genuinely. And desires to be with us.    

• Do not fear. Paul writing during a time when people are beaten and killed for their faith.
Don’t let such tactics prevent you from being a person of faith. Don’t hide but be genuine. No shame. Don’t be discouraged when things don’t go your way.

• Also Jesus’ transfiguration foreshadows Jesus’ death,
also gives glimpse of heavenly life after death.

• But my frequent prayer is that because of your relationship with God – because you are a witness to God’s actions in life – you would be changed. People would know by looking at you, interacting with you, that you have something good. A peace that passes understanding, perhaps. A serenity, a knowledge of God, and that your life would be attractive.

• God chooses to be a part of your life through fellowship, through praise and study,
through communion…

• into Holy Communion

Exodus 34:29-35        (Common English Bible)

²⁹ Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two covenant tablets in his hand, Moses didn’t realize that the skin of his face shone brightly because he had been talking with God. ³⁰ When Aaron and all the Israelites saw the skin of Moses’ face shining brightly, they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called them closer. So Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and Moses spoke with them. ³² After that, all the Israelites came near as well, and Moses commanded them everything that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. ³³ When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ Whenever Moses went into the Lord’s presence to speak with him, Moses would take the veil off until he came out again. When Moses came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, ³⁵ the Israelites would see that the skin of Moses’ face was shining brightly. So Moses would put the veil on his face again until the next time he went in to speak with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 3:12 – 4:2      (Common English Bible)          

¹² So, since we have such a hope, we act with great confidence.
¹³ We aren’t like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the Israelites couldn’t watch the end of what was fading away.
¹⁴ But their minds were closed. Right up to the present day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. The veil is not removed because it is taken away by Christ. ¹⁵ Even today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. ¹⁶ But whenever someone turns back to the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷ The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

4 This is why we don’t get discouraged, given that we received this ministry in the same way that we received God’s mercy. ² Instead, we reject secrecy and shameful actions. We don’t use deception, and we don’t tamper with God’s word. Instead, we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God by the public announcement of the truth.