LastSundayafterEpiphanyA, St. Martin’s
Episcopal Church February23, 2020 by Annette Fricke
Today is the last Sunday after the
Epiphany. Some denominations
follow a different calendar and call this one
Transfiguration Sunday. It may be a bit confusing
for those of us who were Lutherans. The
great orienting part to this is that the lessons and gospel are the same. The Greek word that is used to describe what
happens to Jesus translates into the English word meaning metamorphosis.
Metamorphosis is defined as “a change of the form
or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or
supernatural means.”[1]
Probably the most common way that people explain this five syllable word is the
process of a caterpillar that becomes a butterfly. There is something similar
to that in our Old Testament lesson where Moses also experiences this type of
transformation also on a mountain top.
He comes out with his face shining which is interpreted by the people
that he has seen God face to face. In
both instances, the chosen others to experience this are few in number. For Moses, he took one assistant, Joshua; and
for Jesus it was his inner circle among the 12 disciples of just James and
John, the sons of Zebedee and Peter. The
response of these disciples is fear. The
text says that they fell to the ground. God wants to make sure that what is
said is heard. Remember the beginning of
this liturgical season, The Epiphany?
You know when we talk about the magi bringing gifts to the baby Jesus? And that Sunday is followed by The Baptism of
Jesus? Now we are at the end of the Epiphany season, just before Lent. The gospels are similar. At Jesus’ baptism we read, “This is my Son,
the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
Today Matthew reports not only that Jesus is God’s Son, but what God
expects us to do. In today’s gospel, it
reads, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to
him!” Not only is this God’s Son with
whom God is well pleased, but we are to listen to him. We are to listen to Jesus! This is the preparatory moment where Jesus
will now be going to Jerusalem to the cross.
This is a time when people do not want to hear what happens to
Jesus. Crucifixion was the fate of
thieves and other criminals. It was a
slow death. There were no gas chambers
or nuclear bombs. Most of us identify
with Peter at this point and don’t want this to happen to Jesus. Most of us do not like hearing the recitation
of Jesus’ trial or reading it on Palm Sunday or the story of the tearing of the
curtain of the temple or the earthquake.
We don’t want to see that human side of Jesus because it is not
comfortable. We’d rather see the divine
Jesus, not the human Jesus and we forget that Jesus is both. It is difficult for us to wrap our minds
around this one as it also was for the first disciples, even James, John, and
Peter. It is a natural reaction to the story of Jesus at this point to go into
the journey of Lent, to bury the alleluias, to experience a certain amount of
the emotions of what we feel when we see someone we love very much suffer. When we truly love Jesus and attempt to
follow what Jesus taught and lived, those emotions will emerge. It will
emblazon on our hearts just how much God loves all of us; so much that Jesus
suffered and continues to suffer also with us as humanity of all generations in
that faith journey.
The transfiguration of Jesus is a true
mountaintop experience which testifies to the glory of God. It is fuel for the journey, a long spiritual
journey as we contemplate the voice of Jesus in our everyday human lives here
on earth. As we listen to the mission of Jesus and go about our mission to the
people around us, those who are fearful like James, John, and Peter; remember
that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Unlike James, John and Peter, we know for sure that light is there, it’s
just a matter of time--40 days. That
light is the resurrection.
