“Transfiguration of Christ”

Today is our last Sunday worship service together before the beginning of the season of Lent, and on this Sunday every year, we hear again the account of that event known as the Transfiguration of Christ.  As we have spent Advent and Christmas anticipating and celebrating the coming of Jesus, we have experienced events that have given people insight into who Jesus really is. We call these events epiphanies, which means revelations or manifestations of God’s presence in Christ.

It all began with the Wise Men kneeling before baby Jesus in a manger, recognising the divine presence in Him. Then we heard the story of Jesus being baptised by John with God’s voice declaring Him as the beloved Son and the Spirit of God descending upon Him. When Jesus taught the crowds and healed the sick, people were amazed, saying He was different, unlike anybody they had ever met.

This story is the pinnacle of the Epiphany accounts. This is the one where the veil of heaven is pulled right back, and Jesus is revealed as the one in whom earth and heaven are held together. So, let’s take a look.

Today, in Mark’s gospel, the transforming event unfolds on a mountain. Jesus takes three of his followers to a high mountain. Before them, Jesus’ appearance has been greatly transfigured. His clothes turned a brilliant white, so bright that nothing in the world would compare with it. In that very moment, something much more astonishing happened.

Figures representing the Old Testament, Elijah and Moses appeared at that place. When faced with the scene, the disciples were perplexed. Peter stepped forward and proposed that they build three ‘tents’- which can mean ‘tabernacle’- one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, suggesting where they would stay. However, Jesus remains silent. Soon, clouds surrounded them, and a voice spoke from inside, saying, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” When the disciples picked up their composure, they noticed that Moses and Elijah had left, and there was only Jesus.

Moses and Elijah

Moses lived fourteen hundred years ago, and Elijah lived eight hundred years ago, yet in the gospel text, they reappeared. Mountains play a significant role in their experiences. Moses had visions of God’s glory, receiving his callings on Mount Horeb and the Law on Mount Sinai. In particular, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets, the aura that surrounded him was so bright that people couldn’t look straight at him.

Similarly, Elijah witnessed God’s glory and supernatural miracles on Mount Sinai and Mount Carmel. In today’s Kings reading, Elijah rides a fiery chariot and is taken up to heaven. Mountains are depicted in the Bible as spaces where humanity encounters God and experiences transformation.

So, that’s why we call today’s text from Mark the Mount of Transfiguration. On this mountaintop, Moses and Elijah beckon us to participate in this transforming experience. Moses encountered the fire of God on a slender burning bush when he was deeply aware of the inadequacies in his own life. The prophet Elijah criticised worldly powers in accordance with God’s will as the standard and suffered severe hardships, yet God ascended him to heaven.

The new engagement for change is an adventure to escape from the place where we want to settle down and stay. After seeing two remarkable heroes of the faith and Jesus’ transfiguration, the disciples are tempted to settle into their religious ‘tabernacle’ to seek outward glory, and they desire to hold on to those moments and make them last forever. However, the voice from heaven commands, “Listen to him!” It is a call to set aside claims of privilege and honour to partake in God’s work attentively.

Jesus’ transfiguration is not a change in the shape of his face, but rather a new experience for his disciples, revealing the true nature of Jesus. In other words, for those who witness the transfiguration of Jesus, it gives a new understanding of who He is.

Furthermore, in our weekly worship with the Word of God, our vision is continually renewed and transformed by the removing of the veils that hide our vision, which is why Paul writes, “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, with unveiled glory, are being transformed into the same image…” That’s right. If we surrender ourselves to God and allow God to take the veil away from our hearts, that’s what we see. And if we want to be transformed with Christ into the fullness of the image of God for which we were created, the call of Jesus is obvious.

Coming down the mountain

If you’ve ever climbed to the top of a mountain, you know what I’m talking about: even walking just one kilometre on a bushwalking track causes you feel out of breath, and you already want to get back down. But, with perseverance and sweat, you eventually reach the top and are rewarded for all your efforts with a natural panorama that stretches out in front of you. Climbing up and coming back down a mountain gives you different insights and inspirations. It’s as if you see familiar things in a completely new light. It’s as if you are seeing them for the first time, and even if the intensity of that insight is only for a few seconds or a moment, the steps on the way down are transformative in comparison to the hard work of the climbing.

Jesus and his disciples head down the mountain, and He leads them out into the world, despite their want to stay put. The Christian faith does not pursue a stagnant life. Change has nothing to do with staying put. We cannot move from transformation to Resurrection to life without walking the path of failure. The path we walk with Jesus, the One we promised ourselves at baptism, the path shown to us again on this mountain of transformation, where war and fear will vanish, pain and death will be gone forever, every tear will be wiped away, and we shall be with the One we follow. It is the only way that leads to the glory of the Resurrection, where all things will be reconciled in the unimaginable abundance of love and grace known to all. Jesus’ call is clear. “Take up your cross and follow me. We are going down the mountain.”