I want you all to know something. I have beautiful feet, and I bet you do, too. The Apostle Paul said to the church in Rome (10:15), “How beautiful are the feet of the one who brings good news!” and the good news is – yes, it is Jesus. More specifically it is that God revealed God’s self through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus so that we might know of God’s love for us.
There’s a lot to unpack in that statement, so let’s just see what God's word has to say about all of that. Today is the day in the church year that we celebrate the “transfiguration” of Jesus, which we have read about in Matthew’s Gospel, but why does that matter? For that matter, what’s so good about this story? Is it a ghost story? Is it supernatural? Why does Jesus suddenly shine bright like a diamond, and what does it have to do with us?
Quite a bit, actually, or at least it can. I realize that for some this story may seem a bit far-fetched. The proof of an eyewitness account given in second Peter doesn’t help things much. In fact, it is the very kind of proof that many who are outside of the church – especially those who have left the church over the hypocrisy of fundamentalism and the lack of progress in mainline denominations – have used to say that the Bible is nothing but a document pointing to itself as proof.
While I can’t refute that argument, I can say that at the time of its writing, there was no better proof than an eyewitness. Forensic science wasn’t a thing. In fact, science… science wasn’t a thing. The best we could do was to preserve as many first-hand accounts as we could, and hold fast to the results of faith as we saw it come along.
This brings us back to shiny Jesus on the mountain, but before we get too far down that road we need to remember a little bit more of the context of Matthew’s Gospel and the experience of Moses on Mt. Sinai. First off, Jesus, in Mathew’s Gospel, is somewhat of a new and improved Moses. As a baby, he fled a King’s wrath, which took him in and out of Egypt. His baptism in the Jordan reflected the crossing of the Sea of reeds, and in his teaching and healing, he arbitrated on behalf of God’s people.
In Matthew 9:7 after healing a person, Jesus says, “I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat, and go home.” Even before that, in 5:17, Jesus said that he came “not to abolish the Law (or the prophets) but to fulfill the law.”
Now over to Moses. Note that he, too, went up a mountain but had to wait six days before receiving the stone tablets of the law on the seventh day. Six days after foretelling his death, Jesus went up a mountain with his companions and met with Moses and Elijah on the seventh day.
I’m not one for numerology, but there are certain patterns that would have made sense to the original storytellers and listeners of this story. God spoke the created order of things into being for 6 days (however long a day is to God – remember, this was written before we could science), and God rested on the seventh. Each day God said was good, and the last – when all was completed – was very good.
In Chapter 1 of John’s Gospel, which was written sometime after Mathew’s Gospel, Jesus is the divine Logos – the divine word – through which God spoke everything into being, and Jesus is the very light that opposes everything that separates us from God.
Now, I realize that we have not gotten outside of the box of using the Bible to prove the Bible, but I’m not really trying to do that anyway. What I’m hoping to offer you is the consistency of the story of God’s active presence, so that the transfiguration is less of a quasi-mythological tale about Jesus’s secret light show and more about the good news of God’s love.
One more point toward that end. Moses took his assistant Joshua with him so there would be a witness. Jesus took Peter, James, and John so that there would be three – an iron-clad testimony that would stand in any court of the day. What they saw was an embodiment of the reality that Jesus has been preaching and teaching all along.
Peter, of course, wanted to do the right thing – or what seemed right to him. “Let’s build booths. Let’s tabernacle. Let’s create space to for you to dwell within – for Moses and Elijah too…” Then the voice of God repeated the identity of Jesus that had been proclaimed at his baptism and added one more, “Listen to him.” And what did Jesus say? “Don’t be afraid, and keep your mouth shut until after I am risen from the grave.”
There’s one last comparison here between Moses and Jesus that we haven’t gotten to yet. Before the mountain, Jesus said that he would die and rise again. Before ascending to the top of Mount Sinai, Moses, the Elders, and Aaron broke bread with God (Exodus 24:1-11). It’s the only passage I know of where a group of people literally see God and live. Then, right after Moses goes up – granted, he was up there 40 days and 40 nights – Aaron lets the same people that just made covenants (Exodus 19-23; sermon Series last July) to worship and follow the ordinances of God pressure him into making an idol to worship instead.
Likewise, after Jesus comes down the mountain, his disciples are confused and unable to heal someone because they lack sufficient faith to get it done. The good news here is that Jesus was a lot more lenient than Moses and that in both scenarios there was still a way forward for God’s people, even when faith was insufficient for the task at hand.
The last thing I want to say about the text is that this moment marks a change in the ministry of Jesus. From this point on in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (John tells it a little differently) Jesus is bound for Jerusalem. We already know this (IYKYK), but those who are in the story only know they’ve been sworn to secrecy.
That’s because Jesus doesn’t want to be known as the light on the hill or the supernatural wonder. He wants you to be known that way. We just finished talking about the sermon on the mount, and who did Jesus say was to be a lamp on a stand and a city on a hill? Not him. You.
Jesus wants to be known as the one whose power is made perfect in weakness. He wants to be known for the cross and the empty tomb, but he knows that the cross is the only way to get there. I wish I could say that it is different for you and me, but when even before Jesus went up that mountain he told his disciples that the way of the cross is the only way. When he came down the mountain and began to move toward Jerusalem, he knew that he was inviting them to follow the way of the cross.
That’s not to say that the only path of service is martyrdom. Jesus came into the world to save us from sin, not to revel in our suffering. In fact, this is why we say that Jesus was “transfigured” even though the same word, “metamorphosis” is translated as “transformed” when it’s used for anyone else. With Jesus, his true nature was revealed. It was a change in appearance, not in substance. For you and me, the transformation God’s love offers us may or may not be visible, but it is a change in substance. It is a change in the way we see ourselves and those around us.
I wish I could say that the transformation God’s love offers is instantaneous and allows us to see double rainbows every day, but it’s so much more beautiful than that. Last Friday I saw a performance by Pucci Percussion led by Herb Green. He runs a program teaching African Drumming to children and he gave this testimony. [Trigger warning - child death]
His child died thirty years ago, and he allowed it to turn him from faith. Then one day he was playing his djembe in a park and a grandmother asked if he could teach her grandkids. Something softened in him as he realized that God still had children for him to help raise, and doing so (little by little) restored his faith. Given his background in Psychology, he began to see that so many of the problems we have as adults are because we do not learn to manage our emotions as children – especially when there is trauma at a young age. Now he runs a program where he connects with children, some of whom have never heard about Jesus or have not had good examples of his teachings to follow.
Mr. Green is present with children in trauma, and when I saw him with them I saw a man transformed! So it is with many of you in the good work we do as a congregation, but it’s not just about good and faithful work. It is about the power of God to save! It is about the way we preserve as many first-hand accounts as we can – whether it’s Meals on Wheels, Mardi Gras parking, clean water in Cuba, hospitality at the Wesley United Campus Ministry, or the reconciliation of those who were estranged – because they are the results of God’s faithfulness to us and through us.
These stories testify to what God has done. They invite us again, and again, and again – through the way of the cross – ever closer to the kingdom that is both present and yet to be – and to God be the glory for that, and for your beautiful, shiny, good news bearing feet, now and always. Amen!
There’s a lot to unpack in that statement, so let’s just see what God's word has to say about all of that. Today is the day in the church year that we celebrate the “transfiguration” of Jesus, which we have read about in Matthew’s Gospel, but why does that matter? For that matter, what’s so good about this story? Is it a ghost story? Is it supernatural? Why does Jesus suddenly shine bright like a diamond, and what does it have to do with us?
Quite a bit, actually, or at least it can. I realize that for some this story may seem a bit far-fetched. The proof of an eyewitness account given in second Peter doesn’t help things much. In fact, it is the very kind of proof that many who are outside of the church – especially those who have left the church over the hypocrisy of fundamentalism and the lack of progress in mainline denominations – have used to say that the Bible is nothing but a document pointing to itself as proof.
While I can’t refute that argument, I can say that at the time of its writing, there was no better proof than an eyewitness. Forensic science wasn’t a thing. In fact, science… science wasn’t a thing. The best we could do was to preserve as many first-hand accounts as we could, and hold fast to the results of faith as we saw it come along.
This brings us back to shiny Jesus on the mountain, but before we get too far down that road we need to remember a little bit more of the context of Matthew’s Gospel and the experience of Moses on Mt. Sinai. First off, Jesus, in Mathew’s Gospel, is somewhat of a new and improved Moses. As a baby, he fled a King’s wrath, which took him in and out of Egypt. His baptism in the Jordan reflected the crossing of the Sea of reeds, and in his teaching and healing, he arbitrated on behalf of God’s people.
In Matthew 9:7 after healing a person, Jesus says, “I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat, and go home.” Even before that, in 5:17, Jesus said that he came “not to abolish the Law (or the prophets) but to fulfill the law.”
Now over to Moses. Note that he, too, went up a mountain but had to wait six days before receiving the stone tablets of the law on the seventh day. Six days after foretelling his death, Jesus went up a mountain with his companions and met with Moses and Elijah on the seventh day.
I’m not one for numerology, but there are certain patterns that would have made sense to the original storytellers and listeners of this story. God spoke the created order of things into being for 6 days (however long a day is to God – remember, this was written before we could science), and God rested on the seventh. Each day God said was good, and the last – when all was completed – was very good.
In Chapter 1 of John’s Gospel, which was written sometime after Mathew’s Gospel, Jesus is the divine Logos – the divine word – through which God spoke everything into being, and Jesus is the very light that opposes everything that separates us from God.
Now, I realize that we have not gotten outside of the box of using the Bible to prove the Bible, but I’m not really trying to do that anyway. What I’m hoping to offer you is the consistency of the story of God’s active presence, so that the transfiguration is less of a quasi-mythological tale about Jesus’s secret light show and more about the good news of God’s love.
One more point toward that end. Moses took his assistant Joshua with him so there would be a witness. Jesus took Peter, James, and John so that there would be three – an iron-clad testimony that would stand in any court of the day. What they saw was an embodiment of the reality that Jesus has been preaching and teaching all along.
Peter, of course, wanted to do the right thing – or what seemed right to him. “Let’s build booths. Let’s tabernacle. Let’s create space to for you to dwell within – for Moses and Elijah too…” Then the voice of God repeated the identity of Jesus that had been proclaimed at his baptism and added one more, “Listen to him.” And what did Jesus say? “Don’t be afraid, and keep your mouth shut until after I am risen from the grave.”
There’s one last comparison here between Moses and Jesus that we haven’t gotten to yet. Before the mountain, Jesus said that he would die and rise again. Before ascending to the top of Mount Sinai, Moses, the Elders, and Aaron broke bread with God (Exodus 24:1-11). It’s the only passage I know of where a group of people literally see God and live. Then, right after Moses goes up – granted, he was up there 40 days and 40 nights – Aaron lets the same people that just made covenants (Exodus 19-23; sermon Series last July) to worship and follow the ordinances of God pressure him into making an idol to worship instead.
Likewise, after Jesus comes down the mountain, his disciples are confused and unable to heal someone because they lack sufficient faith to get it done. The good news here is that Jesus was a lot more lenient than Moses and that in both scenarios there was still a way forward for God’s people, even when faith was insufficient for the task at hand.
The last thing I want to say about the text is that this moment marks a change in the ministry of Jesus. From this point on in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (John tells it a little differently) Jesus is bound for Jerusalem. We already know this (IYKYK), but those who are in the story only know they’ve been sworn to secrecy.
That’s because Jesus doesn’t want to be known as the light on the hill or the supernatural wonder. He wants you to be known that way. We just finished talking about the sermon on the mount, and who did Jesus say was to be a lamp on a stand and a city on a hill? Not him. You.
Jesus wants to be known as the one whose power is made perfect in weakness. He wants to be known for the cross and the empty tomb, but he knows that the cross is the only way to get there. I wish I could say that it is different for you and me, but when even before Jesus went up that mountain he told his disciples that the way of the cross is the only way. When he came down the mountain and began to move toward Jerusalem, he knew that he was inviting them to follow the way of the cross.
That’s not to say that the only path of service is martyrdom. Jesus came into the world to save us from sin, not to revel in our suffering. In fact, this is why we say that Jesus was “transfigured” even though the same word, “metamorphosis” is translated as “transformed” when it’s used for anyone else. With Jesus, his true nature was revealed. It was a change in appearance, not in substance. For you and me, the transformation God’s love offers us may or may not be visible, but it is a change in substance. It is a change in the way we see ourselves and those around us.
I wish I could say that the transformation God’s love offers is instantaneous and allows us to see double rainbows every day, but it’s so much more beautiful than that. Last Friday I saw a performance by Pucci Percussion led by Herb Green. He runs a program teaching African Drumming to children and he gave this testimony. [Trigger warning - child death]
His child died thirty years ago, and he allowed it to turn him from faith. Then one day he was playing his djembe in a park and a grandmother asked if he could teach her grandkids. Something softened in him as he realized that God still had children for him to help raise, and doing so (little by little) restored his faith. Given his background in Psychology, he began to see that so many of the problems we have as adults are because we do not learn to manage our emotions as children – especially when there is trauma at a young age. Now he runs a program where he connects with children, some of whom have never heard about Jesus or have not had good examples of his teachings to follow.
Mr. Green is present with children in trauma, and when I saw him with them I saw a man transformed! So it is with many of you in the good work we do as a congregation, but it’s not just about good and faithful work. It is about the power of God to save! It is about the way we preserve as many first-hand accounts as we can – whether it’s Meals on Wheels, Mardi Gras parking, clean water in Cuba, hospitality at the Wesley United Campus Ministry, or the reconciliation of those who were estranged – because they are the results of God’s faithfulness to us and through us.
These stories testify to what God has done. They invite us again, and again, and again – through the way of the cross – ever closer to the kingdom that is both present and yet to be – and to God be the glory for that, and for your beautiful, shiny, good news bearing feet, now and always. Amen!
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