Transformed in Christ
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Good morning! Last week the internet erupted in hilarity over a lawyer in a Zoom call. This lawyer was appearing before a judge via Zoom and he somehow managed to get stuck with a Zoom filter that was a picture of a cat. The cat’s mouth moved when the lawyer spoke and so it looked like this lawyer was in fact a cat. “I am not a cat” he told the judge. Fortunately, the judge could see the situation for what it was and responded sympathetically. Such an experience is not the kind of transfiguration you want to experience, though it is amazing and hilarious. We live in a time where our appearance online has taken a new importance for expressing our identity. We can present ourselves visually in various ways in order to better connect with others. The quality of one’s shoes and trousers is significantly diminished in importance. And poor tall people. Their advantage in professional life has kind of melted away a bit. And so we’re all scrambling to figure out how to be present to one another and the impulse to focus on this rectangle I’m trapped in is changing the way we present ourselves. Some of us choose to appear like a cat. Or like we’re on the set of a show. Sometimes I use the set of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood as the background for video meetings because it communicates that I know this secret about video calls, that you can change the background, but also that I am a peaceful person like Mr. Rogers. I’m not threatening. Something innocent like that TV Show made it’s mark on me. It communicates that alternate reality, where I’m standing in for the host of Mister Rogers Neighborhood.
In our Gospel passage today, we venture into visions of reality and and deeper reality, of the relationship between appearance and message. We’re looking today at the Transfiguration of Jesus. That word “transfiguration” shows up elsewhere in the New Testament and means “to change” or “to transform.” In a few minutes we’ll look at a few of those verses. But our text today answers a question, a question Jesus himself asked just a few verses earlier: Who do you say that I am? Jesus asked that question at Caesarea-Philippi, at the gates of hell, you might remember. And Peter answers it well. He says that Jesus is the Christ. And for the rest of Mark, this question, is asked and answered in Jesus’ words and actions. But at the transfiguration, we also see the Father’s answer.
You might remember that the location of the transfiguration is near the furthest point Jesus traveled from Jerusalem in his earthly ministry. We aren’t given much lead-up from Mark. Not even an immediately or a suddenly like he uses for so many other events. We read:
2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
Important things happen on high mountains in Scripture. God met with Moses on a high mountain. Abraham’s binding of Isaac happens on a high mountain. The crucifixion of Jesus happens high up on Calvary. The top of a high mountain is an important place where God likes to appear and to speak. Here at the transfiguration, Moses is meeting with God again on top of a high mountain. It’s a place and a moment where the division between heaven and earth gets a bit thinner and melts for a second, and we and the disciples see Jesus in some further revelation of his glory. He shows them and us a manifestation of the glory, the value, the identity of who he really is, even though up till now he’s walked on the earth as a normal man. So one of the things we see at the transfiguration is that Jesus gives his disciples a glimpse of his unique person, of his glory, and his divinity.
There in the wilderness, Peter does his best and begins to try setting up the kingdom even right then. That is, he wants to set up tents, tabernacles, like where the Israelites met with God in the wilderness. He was ready for the Messiah to do what the Messiah was supposed to do. Set up the kingdom, throw off the Roman oppressors, and rule with justice and righteousness. But he’s setting up tents for Moses and Elijah too. He’s just a bit scattered, terrified, it says, which for a God-fearing first century Jew is the right response to God appearing. It would have been better for him to be still and simply be present.
Because there is more to this moment than the experience, than seeing reality with heavenly eyes. There’s a message that needs to be heard and it requires our attention. Let’s look at verse 7.
7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”
The presence of the Father signified in the cloud came down and overshadowed all of them and his voice answers Mark’s question: Who do you say that Jesus is? God himself answers this question: “This is my beloved Son.” Where Peter answers a few verses earlier that Jesus is the Messiah, the Father shows us that the Messiah is also the Son of God. He’s reiterating this point because he has already said as much at Jesus’ baptism. But since the question of Jesus’ identity is burning anew in the minds of the disciples, and because it’s the timing he chooses, God weighs in. After he speaks to pronounce Jesus as His Son, he takes the moment to communicate another message, a commandment. He needs them to be ready to hear the Gospel. It’s not the incomplete Gospel they already believe. It’s the whole Gospel. The Gospel that includes the road to the Cross. “Listen to him,” God says. “Listen to him.” He’s been saying and will continue saying that the Son of Man is going to suffer and die before he rises and reigns and throws off the Roman oppressors and brings forth the Kingdom of God. They weren’t listening. They couldn’t see that Jesus was going to do something that Messiahs just don’t do. He was going to lose. He was going to die. Only then would he win. Only then would he live forever.
And after the Father gives his commandment, we finally get our “suddenly” from Mark.
8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.
The poignant moment. The unexpected moment. The punctuated moment is the end of God’s speaking. Listen to him! Mic drop. Vision over. That Jesus, whose glory was just revealed to you, is going to suffer and die. Prepare your hearts.
For the disciples it was no longer an earthly Jesus who would be going on to suffer and die. It was the Jesus whose glory they saw with their own eyes. That Jesus, God’s own Son, is going to set up the Kingdom of God. He just has to walk through suffering and death first. Listen to him on this point and follow him as he begins his journey back from the remote areas of Israel to Jerusalem and the Cross.
This week, on Wednesday, we begin our journey of Lent, walking with Jesus on his road to the Cross. To begin to prepare for that journey, first of all, listen to Jesus. Listen to his Gospel, one that triumphs by humility. And listen to him in his Word. A key focus of Lent, of the journey of Jesus to the Cross, is a renewed focus on study of Scripture. And I want to give you two to meditate on as you prepare for Lent. They are the other two passages that use that word for transfigure. The first is:
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Just as Christ was changed before the eyes of the disciples, seek to be changed in a way that doesn’t conform to this world. Let your mind be renewed so that is able to test and so that you may discern the will of God, what is acceptable and perfect.
And the other verse is:
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
As you prepare for a penitential time of walking with Jesus toward the Cross, seek to behold the glory of the Lord. As you succeed, as you truly behold the glory of the Lord, you are being transformed, growing in grace and holiness. As you seek Jesus in prayer and find him, the Holy Spirit works in your life to transform you from one degree of glory to the next, just as Christ was transformed before the eyes of the disciples at his transfiguration.
So let us Listen to Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and walk with him on his journey to the Cross. Let us renew our minds, behold his glory, and be changed.