Exodus 34: 29 - 35; Psalm
99; II
Corinthians 3: 12 – 4:2; Luke
9: 28 - 43
A homily by Fr. Gene
Tucker, given at Trinity Church ,
Mt.
VernonIllinois, on
“LIGHT FOR THE JOURNEY THROUGH DARKNESS”
(Homily texts: Exodus 34: 29 – 35, II Corinthians 3: 12 –
4:2 and Luke 9: 28 - 43)
While at
our clergy retreat earlier this week, I picked up (and bought) a book that
caught my eye. In this book, which was
divided into 50 chapters of practical advice about meeting the challenges of
everyday living, there was this quote:
“The
headlights on my car shine 350 feet in front of me. But that’s enough light to allow me to drive
all the way to California
All three
of our readings for this morning mention light.
They mention it prominently:
- Exodus 34: 29 – 35: Moses’ face shone has he came down from the mountain, where he had received the Ten Commandments. The radiance of his face was so great that he put a veil over his face so that the Israelites could stand to look at him. That radiance, of course, was a reflection of God’s light.
- II Corinthians 3: 12 – 4: 2: St. Paul takes the incident referred to above and turns the image of the veil around to say that, for the Jews of his time, the Law that had been given to Moses had now become, over the centuries, a veil, something that had blocked their ability to see God’s light, shining through the Law that God had given..[1]
- Luke 9: 28 – 43: Luke recounts the divine light that surrounded Jesus as He is transfigured before His disciples, Peter, James and John, on the mountain.
Here, in the transfiguring
resplendence of Jesus, we see God’s divine light, God’s shekinah. Standing with the
Lord are Moses and Elijah. Moses is the
giver of the Law, while Elijah’s appearance[3]
will herald the coming of the Messiah, the Christ, God’s Anointed One.[4]
For the
three disciples, Peter, James and John, who witnessed this event, Jesus’
changed and magnificent appearance must have been bewildering and frightening,
all at the same time.
After all,
what they were witnessing was nothing less than a glimpse at the glory Jesus
had with His Father before coming to earth.
It was a glimpse into God’s glory and magnificence. It was a glimpse into God’s eternal plan, for
Moses, Elijah and the Lord talked about His coming departure, His death.
But talk of
the Lord’s departure had already been in the air…eight days before, the Lord
had told His disciples that He was going to suffer many things, that He would
be killed, and that He would rise on the third day. (See Luke 9: 22.) And just to underscore what He had just said,
the Lord added that, “If anyone would follow me, let him take up his cross
daily and follow me.” (Luke 9: 23)
If we put
ourselves into these disciples’ shoes, we can understand their fears and their
bewilderment. “What does this mean,” we
might imagine they asked themselves, “that the Lord is going to suffer and be
killed?” “Why must this be so?” they
might have wondered. And, we might
imagine that they could have added this:
“What is this talk about rising again?”
So we can
imagine their bewilderment as the events unfold on the top of that
mountain….the radiance of the divine light, God’s shekinah, shining around the Lord as his clothing becomes dazzling
white.
Luke goes
on to tell us that a cloud then descended upon all of them, and that the three
disciples were afraid. Then it is that
they hear God the Father’s voice saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen ,
listen to him.”
No wonder
that Peter, James and John kept quiet about these things. In due time, I think, they understood what
had happened on that day on that mountain. In due time, no doubt, they made sense of the
Lord’s glorious appearance, for they saw that same appearance again after the
Lord had risen from the dead on Easter Sunday morning.
“Ah,” they
might have said to themselves, “now it all makes sense….the Lord was giving us
light to make the dark journey to Jerusalem
Indeed, it
seems to me that the Lord was given these three disciples just enough light to
make the journey to Jerusalem, one day at a time, like the light of a car’s
headlights that shine only 350 feet ahead, but which allow a trip across the
continent, one step at a time. But, of
course, these three disciples could see God’s light and its ability to guide
them only in retrospect, as they looked back on all these events.
But we have
a different perspective, for we are able through the pages of Holy Scripture to
see the entire picture. Our worship
underscores the biblical drama as we allow it to unfold in our liturgy.
As the
Church Year unfolds, we enact in our worship and in our liturgy the events of
the Lord’s life, teaching, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension. The Church Year revolves around all of these
things, and is structured by them.
Specifically,
on this, the last Sunday after the Epiphany, we are reminded of the Lord’s
light, God’s shekinah, that lights up
the path of Lent that lies ahead of us.
Liturgically,
we are walking with the Lord toward Jerusalem
We stand
poised, on the mountaintop of this, the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, ready
to come down from the top of the mountain into the valley that is Lent.
We will
need to remember that God’s shekinah
was given to us on this glorious day, and that that divine light will make it
possible to walk, one step at a time, through the darkness of Lent, always
looking for the brilliance of the resurrected Lord on Easter Sunday morning.
Liturgically,
God’s light shines most clearly on the altar, where we become one with the Lord
in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Holy
Communion, it is called, remembering that the word “communion” essentially
means to “become one with”. And so, we
receive the Light of Christ in the holy bread and wine, uniting ourselves with
Him, receiving His light, which become a lamp in our hearts and a light to
shine on the footsteps that lie ahead.
For the
Lord provides us just what He provided to those three disciples: Enough light to make the entire journey, one
day, one step at a time.
Thanks be
to God!
AMEN.
[1] St. Paul’s argument is one of the most
masterful and creative uses of the imagery involving light, a veil and the Law
ever to come from his mind and pen. It
is worthy of a sermon topic in its own right.
We will explore that possibility sometime in the future.
[2] The drafters of the lectionary cycle of
readings have done an exceptionally fine job of choosing this set of readings
for today, in my view.
[3] The Jews of the first century, many of them
at least, expected that Elijah would return to herald the coming of the
Messiah. This is based on an Old
Testament passage found in Malachi 4: 5 – 6.
[4] The word” Messiah” and the word “Christ” come
from the Hebrew and the Greek, respectively, and they mean the same thing: God’s Anointed One.
