Exodus 34:29 – 35 / Psalm 99 / II Corinthians 3:12 – 4:2 / Luke 9:28 – 36
This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, by Fr. Gene Tucker
on Sunday, February 27, 2022.
“OF MONUMENTS AND MOUNTAINS”
(Homily
text: Luke 9:28 - 36)
“Lord,
it is good for us to be here. Let us make three booths, one for you, one for
Moses, and one for Elijah”. Those are the
words of Peter, in response to seeing the Lord’s appearance being changed
before him as he, James and John were with the Lord on the mountaintop. (It’s
interesting that Luke adds the comment that Peter didn’t know what to say.[1])
The
motivation for Peter’s statement might be a bit puzzling to understand. Maybe Peter was motivated to try to create a
lasting memorial or remembrance to the event in which God’s glory was shown in
the person of Jesus Christ. Or, perhaps, Peter wanted the Lord, Moses and Elijah
to remain with the three disciples for awhile. We can only guess.
What
we can be sure of is that these three disciples remembered the event, and they
remembered it quite clearly. For we have the record in three of the Gospel
accounts[2] of
this event. In addition, sometime later, in the Second Letter of Peter, this
recollection was written: “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we
made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were
eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the
Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my
beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, we ourselves heard this voice from
heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.” (II Peter 1:16 – 18)
The
transfiguration event towers above the challenges and the trials that Jesus and
His disciples had endured up to this time. A bit earlier, the Lord had made the
prediction that, once He reached Jerusalem, He was going to be killed. Then, adding
to this prediction, He told the disciples that they, too, must take up their
cross and follow Him. And, we know that, once they had come down from the
mountaintop, more challenges and trials would come their way: Jesus made two
more predictions about his coming death. Some places would reject Him and His
message. Others were openly hostile. Jesus would lament over the spiritual
condition of Jerusalem. All of these things would culminate in His suffering,
death, burial and resurrection.
Perhaps
at the time, Peter, James and John couldn’t see how important that glimpse of
God’s glory, shining in Jesus’ face as His appearance is transformed, was in
the great, big scheme of things. But in time, quite likely, they realized that
God had given them a great and lasting gift: They got to see the big picture of
Jesus’ true identity, of His oneness with the Father, of the eternal glory that
is His.
In
time, the transfiguration became a monument, one erected in the hearts and
minds of those three disciples (and, as they shared their accounts of that
event, the other disciples, as well), one to which they could look and be
inspired to carry on, despite the challenges, the trials, and the rejections
that would lie in their paths.
You
and I need monuments. Monuments that are erected in our hearts and in our
minds, past evidence of God’s presence in trying times. If we look, perhaps we
can see such lasting monuments to God’s acting in our own lives.
And
perhaps we can be strengthened to go on, confident that, as God had carried us
through trying times in the past, He will do so again.
AMEN.
[1] Mark also mentions that Peter didn’t know what to say. Matthew omits this detail.
[2] Matthew, Mark and Luke. John does not record this event.
