The Feast of the Transfiguration, (2023) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
The Feast of the Transfiguration (2023) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
2 Peter 1:13-21 St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
Luke 9:28-36
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Amen.
Can you think of a time in your life
when you knew that you were in the presence of something Holy…
something Holy that had something to say to you?
Some years ago, I served a church that had the honor of accompanying one of our neighbors through the last days of his life.
One evening as I was getting ready to walk into his hospital room,
someone who had been keeping vigil with him was just leaving.
She told me that our neighbor had told her that he was seeing people that he didn’t recognize.
As I sat next to his bed,
sometimes he was lucid and alert,
and other times he seemed to inhabit a different realm.
He would gaze up over my head,
with eyes open,
not really seeing me sitting there,
and as he stared off in the distance,
he would sometimes wrinkle his brow and nod his head
as if he were having a conversation with someone.
I am convinced that he was having conversations with a part of the Communion of Saints.
I have no doubts.
He was a young-ish man…
in his mid-40s,
who had recently been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.
He wasn’t ready to die.
Sometimes when he furrowed his brow and nodded his head,
he would nod “yes” and at other times “no.”
I really wished I could have heard those conversations between him and the Saints.
He clearly agreed with some things and not with others.
As I sat there next to him as a witness to this moment…
for me, it was a moment of transfiguration.
There were no blinding lights
or voices from above,
yet I knew I was in the presence of the Holy.
In today’s Gospel reading,
we hear the story of Peter and James and John
witnessing a transfiguring moment on the mountaintop
with Jesus and Moses and Elijah.
Perhaps it strikes us as miraculous,
even fantastical…
so otherworldly that it remains just a good story.
Whenever we hear this story,
I’m guessing we see this story as the transfiguration of Jesus.
But I wonder if the transfiguration is not also of the disciples?
Have you ever noticed that Jesus is transfigured on the mountain –
with dazzling face and shining clothes –
and yet as soon as this moment is over,
Jesus appears just as he always has?
He comes down the mountain
and goes about his usual ministry of teaching and preaching and healing.
But…what of the disciples?
They are shaken to the core from this event: witnessing the glory of God.
The voice from heaven says, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
“Listen to him!” is the command.
And they kept silent….
After being shaken to the core,
they are told to listen to Jesus.
What might “listen to him” mean?
Might it mean listening to Jesus’ words…
listening to his silence…
listening to Jesus’ actions…
listening to Jesus’ Life.
Those words, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
harken back to the voice that came down from heaven at Jesus’ baptism:
“You are my Son, the Beloved;
with you I am well pleased.”
At Jesus’ baptism, these words were spoken to Jesus.
At the transfiguration, these words were spoken to the disciples!
In our hearing the gospel today,
these words are spoken to us.
“This is my Son, my Chosen;
listen to him!”
Today, in our hearing, all these events come together:
Jesus’ baptism and God’s calling to the disciples at the Transfiguration…
our own baptisms and call to discipleship.
We remember today Jesus’ baptism and our own…
we remember today that Jesus was God’s beloved as are we…
we remember today that God claims us,
marks us as God’s own forever,
and calls us to go forth into the world witnessing to God’s glory.
That’s the opportunity we have before us…our own transfiguration as it were:
to remind people each and every day that they are God’s beloved children,
that God has, in Jesus’ cross and resurrection, revealed just how much God loves us
and that this love conquers all,
and that God has called, commissioned, and equipped us to make a difference in the lives of those around us.
“Listen to him” the voice commands.
Listen to the way that Jesus orients his life toward God.
Listen to the way that Jesus reaches out to the broken and offers healing.
Listen to the way that Jesus proclaims God’s forgiveness and mercy to all.
This is our calling as baptized Christians.
So, perhaps the transfiguration is about hearing what the Holy has to say to us!
Our baptism is not the climax of the story…
our true identity is there revealed,
and then we are invited to return to the world sharing the Good News that God is love.
In our baptisms we have named – in community – God’s claim on us,
and each week as we gather together we remind each other of our identity
so that we may have the courage to live out our transfigured lives:
doing justice,
loving mercy,
and walking humbly with God.
Enfolded in love and ushered into new life,
how will we witness to the Holy through our own lives?
My friends, God is as near to us as our very breath.
What do we see?
What do we hear?
Shhh….Listen!
