Ray and I just returned from a three-day workshop in Jacksonville, FL on staffing and supervision. We stayed with a big group from the Diocese of Chicago at Marywood Retreat and Conference Center (http://www.marywoodcenter.org/), and had a great time learning about “essential functions,” “core competencies,” and “goals and outcomes.” The best part, as always, was spending time with colleagues from all over the diocese and meeting new people from all over the country. I met a UCC pastor whose church is down the road from my mom and dad in Connecticut, an Episcopal priest from a church in Tennessee that sponsored one of my seminary classmates for ordination, and a Disciples of Christ minister from Nebraska who did his graduate work with my husband’s favorite college professor. All at one little conference!
In-between sessions and outings, I would pull out a legal pad, or close my eyes, and try to meditate a bit on the Transfiguration – which was entirely overwhelming. Anytime a set of lessons is christened with a heavy-hitting name like Transfiguration!, it feels like the stakes are high. So much history! Such strong connections between the readings! So many layers of meaning! Often the best approach to a week like this is to break it down into pieces, addressing context and key questions first, and only then pointing to themes that emerge.
Where are we? In Matthew 17:1-9, Jesus is on a high mountain with his disciples Peter, James, and John. Ray notes in our bulletin this upcoming Sunday that this mountain may have been Mt. Tabor or Mt. Hermon, both in northern Israel. Mountains are the scene of lots of important encounters with God in the Bible – in fact, across the world people believe that mountains bring one physically closer to a deity / deities (think about Mt. Olympus). The mountain that this scene in Matthew will most readily evoke for us this Sunday is Mt. Sinai, the scene of our Old Testament reading, where God reveals the law to Moses (Exodus 24:12-18). However, there’s another mountain in Matthew that we only climbed down from last week. That mountain is the one where Jesus taught, revealing to his disciples the ethic of love at the heart of the law in Chapters 5 – 7, “The Sermon on the Mount.”
Who is with us? Peter, James, and John were some of Jesus’ closest friends. We call them “apostles” because they were sent out to spread the good news about Jesus and to build up the church in its earliest days (the Greek verb apostello means “to send”). In most places, these three are simply called “disciples” like you and me, a word which means “followers,” or “students.” Peter seems to have had a really dynamic relationship with Jesus, which is evidenced in the passage of Scripture that we’re looking at today. James and John were brothers known for their tempers (they were called “Sons of Thunder”), though John has the special distinction of being known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Take a look at the last chapter of John’s Gospel if you want to get an interesting glimpse into the relationship between Jesus, John, and Peter. I read a little bit of sibling rivalry there.
What is happening? When Jesus and his disciples ascend the mountain, he begins to glow: his face shines like the sun, and his clothes reflect a bright light. He is “transfigured” (literally, his form – figura in Latin – is changed). Moses and Elijah, two hugely important figures in the Hebrew Scripture, appear to Jesus and his disciples. You might say that Moses represents the tradition of the Law, while Elijah represents the tradition of the Prophets. In Matthew’s Gospel, this scene has the effect of credentialing Jesus: he is not an innovator or a rebel, but is totally in line with all of the teaching and revelation that has come before him. Interestingly, it was believed that neither Moses nor Elijah died, but were taken directly to be with God.
Peter jumps to do something for the three rocks stars among whom he suddenly finds himself. He wants to build little shelters for them, but doesn’t get far. Nobody tells Peter to stop, or that he’s had a bad idea, but a heavenly voice cuts out of a cloud (just like on Mt. Sinai), and drowns out his busy voice, saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” Peter and the gang fall to the ground, shaking in their sandals.
What do we make of this? Here are a few questions we can ask about the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration:
1. Compare Matthew 17:1-9 to Moses’ encounter with God in the cloud on Sinai in Exodus 24. Take a look, too, at Moses’ descent from the mountain in Exodus 31. Where do you find echoes of one story in the other? What role does the Law play in both stories?
2. What lies behind Peter’s desire to build shelters for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus? Do you recognize his impulse in yourself, or in people in general?
3. We don’t always spend a lot of time hanging out in the Old Testament in our churches. Does it surprise you to remember how very bound up with Judaism Christianity is? What would you expect or hope to discover if we were to focus more on learning about the Old Testament (for instance, studying Deuteronomy or Leviticus as we study the Sermon on the Mount)?
4. The story of the Transfiguration is always the last reading in the Epiphany Season. And it reveals Jesus to us in a new way. But wait – haven’t we been discovering Jesus all along? Hasn’t all of Epiphany been about “aha moments”? And in fact, doesn’t Chapter 17 begin by mentioning Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah? What’s different about the Transfiguration? What special insight happens here?
(Danielle Thompson)
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