The Last Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C

"SNEAK PREVIEW"
Given at the Church of the Redeemer, Cairo, Illinois; Sunday, February 18th, 2007 (by Mrs. Deborah Tucker, Licensed Lay Worship Leader)

For seven years during my military career, it was my privilege to serve in an infantry unit of the 29th Division. At some of our reunion events, we would get the chance to meet some of the World War II veterans of the 29th, men who were in the first waves of troops to hit the shores of Omaha Beach on D Day, June 6th, 1944.

It was amazing to hear some of their stories of the events of that day…Oddly enough, among all the trials and troubles they endured that day in Normandy, some of those stories were funny ones: hard for me to fathom that men who lived through that “living hell” could remember anything funny about it at all.

But, of course, most of what they had endured was anything but funny: the task that was entrusted to them, and to which they were committed, was difficult, and frought with danger, death and personal sacrifice.

Often, when I would meet and chat with some of these folks, I used to wonder what difference it might have made if they had been able to watch a movie in their staging areas in England prior to making their way across the English Channel, a movie of the remainder of the war, and particularly of the conquering of the Third Reich and its eventual defeat just 11 months after D Day.

What difference would it have made to them as they got into the landing crafts to make their way toward the beach that June morning? What if they had known about the fall of Berlin, for example? Would that have made any difference to their confidence level, knowing “how it would all turn out?”

As I think about this morning’s Gospel reading, of Jesus’ Transfiguration on the mountain, there are strong parallels between the fictitious “sneak preview” I’ve outlined, and the Transfiguration….I suspect one reason that Jesus appeared to Peter, James and John that day, resplendent in bright light, was to give them a preview of His Resurrection.

Maybe Jesus wanted them to know “how it would all turn out”, when He would appear to them again, resplendent in bright light. Maybe He wanted to give them some assurance for the tough journey that lay ahead, to Jerusalem, to Good Friday and then to Easter Sunday.

Peter, James and John were in much the same boat as the World War II vets we met during our reunions….they were engaged in an enterprise that was far greater than their own personal interests. They were engaged in an enterprise that would present personal danger to them as they followed the roads that led them forward (remember that each of the original twelve disciples met a martyr’s death, all except one). And, there was probably a lot they didn’t understand at the time about their place in the cause for which they labored.

But, I suspect that each one looked back on the Transfiguration experience, once the Resurrection had taken place, to see the importance of Jesus’ appearance to them that day. And, once Jesus had been taken up into Heaven, and the victory that the Resurrection represents had been confirmed by the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples-now-become-Apostles, today’s Transfiguration experience probably served as a reference point for them, a time when they began to see the “bigger picture” for the first time.

But before we leave today’s event, let’s take a look at some of the important lessons Luke presents to us, and then we will apply those lessons to our situation today.

We should begin by remembering the setting of the Transfiguration….Luke tells us that Jesus had asked His Disciples, “who do the crowds say I am?” (Luke 9: 18). Following a summary of the responses that the Disciples had heard, Jesus then asks the Disciples directly, “but what about you, who do you say I am?” Peter blurts out, “you are the Christ of God!” (Luke 9: 20).

Peter’s affirmation is central to the next thing that Luke will narrate for us, for the Transfiguration is all about who Jesus is…..Notice that Jesus appears in a very similar state to His resurrected state, which Luke narrates by saying that the two men who stood next to the women who had come to the tomb on Easter morning shone “like lightening” (Luke 24: 4). Luke uses the same language to describe Jesus’ appearance on the holy mountain, that His clothes became like a flash of lightening.

Jesus’ identity is further underscored by the appearance of Moses, the great giver of the law (narrated in today’s reading from Exodus), and Elijah….In Malachi 4: 5, we read that God would send the great prophet Elijah “before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.” So, Moses and Elijah’s appearance seems to confirm two things: 1. that Jesus has come to inaugurate a new covenant, and 2. that the “day of the Lord” had arrived.

Furthermore, Jesus’ identity is confirmed by the voice that the Disciples heard that day, saying “this is my Son, whom I have chosen, listen to him.” That same confirmation was heard at Jesus’ baptism, as the voice came from heaven, saying, “You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.”

Now, let’s look at the other side of the situation, that of the response of the Disciples, and particularly at Peter’s response….

“Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters, one for you one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (Luke then goes on to say that Peter “did not know what he was saying”.)

Peter’s response, at first, might seem puzzling….But, the more I think about it, maybe what Peter was trying to do was to create a memorial, a monument, to the tremendous event that had occurred that day on the mountaintop.

But note that Jesus does not answer Peter’s suggestion, at least not directly…

For the voice from the cloud provides the answer: “this is my Son, whom I have chosen, listen to him.”…

If Peter’s monument represented the significance of the Transfiguration, then its significance would remain in the past, much like a battlefield monument, which points backward at the events it marks.

But the importance of the Transfiguration lies in its foreshadowing of the Resurrection, which is the supreme victory over death, sin and the forces of evil in the world.

Like the significance of D Day (returning to our opening example), the meaning and importance of D Day cannot be understood to be only in the past, June 6th, 1944, but in the victory over the forces of evil that were loose in that time, and for the freedoms that we enjoy as a result of the sacrifices that the men who hit the Normandy beaches made.

Jesus’ resurrection, of which the Disciples got a sneak preview at the Transfiguration, finds its importance not in the historical fact of His rising from the dead on Easter morning. No, it finds its importance in the victory over the forces of evil that allow us to have spiritual freedom today, and for all eternity.

The monument to Jesus’ Resurrection, and to the Transfiguration that preceeded it, is found in our lives, as we create shelter for Him in our hearts. For the battle is joined with evil principally in the hearts of people, individual people who need to know “how it’s all going to turn out” in order to have the strength to follow the Lord all the way to Jerusalem, to Good Friday, and to Easter morning.

AMEN.