Exodus 24:12-18, 2 Peter 1:16-21, Matthew 17:1-9, Psalm 2

Today we celebrate the Transfiguration.  We read the account of this amazing and awesome event in the inspired words of Matthew’s Gospel.  Accounts of the Transfiguration are included in the Gospels according to Mark and Luke as well, which accentuates the significance and the reality of this event in the life of Christ and three of his disciples – Peter, James, and John.  And, our epistle lesson from Peter describes the event in the words of Peter himself.

As recounted for us by Matthew, Peter, James, and John went up a high mountain with Jesus.  Our text begins with the transitional phrase, “Six days later.”  This event occurs 6 days after Peter had confessed Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God.  For this profession of Jesus as Messiah, we learn in previous verses, Peter had been promised the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

Here on the mountain six days later, the three disciples witnessed Jesus becoming transfigured – his face shining like the sun and his clothes dazzling white.  And, there, mysteriously and miraculously, Jesus was joined by Moses and Elijah.  Peter had so recently professed Jesus as Messiah, yet his offer to build earthly dwellings for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah betrayed his continued lack of clarity.  He cannot yet fathom the reality of the presence of that that is heavenly and spiritual rather than earthly.  We certainly cannot fault Peter for his confusion and awkward response.  Surely, we would have the same human inclination to try to fit God into something earthly that we can better comprehend.

The human Jesus, the carpenter’s son from Nazareth, is much more accessible to our realm of understanding than is Jesus the Son of God.  Like us, Peter found this reality overwhelming.

In this text from Matthew particularly, the Transfiguration defines this connection of Jesus to God as well as the eternal connection of God’s people – our connection one with another and with God.  From the beginning of humanity until today and forever, we are God’s people and we are one with God.

In our Old Testament lesson from Exodus, we read of another overwhelming mountaintop experience.  Moses has gone up alone to Mount Sinai to receive the tablets of stone containing God’s commandments for his people.

There is intentional correlation between Matthew’s account and the account from Exodus: Six days after Peter’s profession of Jesus as Messiah, he and his fellow disciples went up the mountain with Jesus; in the Exodus account, Moses waited the same amount of time on the mountain for God to call him forward into the cloud.  In both Exodus and Matthew, God spoke from a cloud that overshadowed the other characters.  And, both descriptions are of dazzling displays of light from the devouring fire or sunlight.  In both accounts, the undeniable awesome power of God is on display and intention is for us to take note.

For the benefit of Peter and James and John and for us, the account of the Transfiguration is intended to connect Jesus to the Law and the Prophets of old – Moses is the embodiment of God’s Law; Elijah is known as the greatest among the prophets.  It is Elijah who leaves the earth in the chariot of fire, taken up into heaven with benefit of bypassing an earthly death.  Moses and Elijah are the most significant symbolic representatives of what we might call the Old Testament revelation of God.  The intension is for these disciples and for us to affirm Jesus’ rightful place among these other earthly creatures who embody God’s presence with us.

Our Gospel message is that Jesus the Messiah is not a new-fangled idea that God decided to introduce into his creation on December 25 more than two thousand years ago.  Jesus the Messiah, the glorious Son of God, is Eternal, present with God from before the beginning.  Jesus the Messiah is Emmanuel, God with us, as proclaimed by the angels.  He has come to earth to fulfill the Law and the Prophets not to abolish them.  He has come to confirm our place as God’s people since the beginning.

Our Gospel message is the message that we are connected – we are as much a part of God’s ongoing revelation and redemption as were Adam and Eve and Noah and Abraham.  It is our story just as it is the story of all the people of Israel as they sought to possess the Promised Land.  We are as much a part of God’s ongoing redemption of the world as are these disciples gathered on the mountain and all Christian believers from the time Jesus walked on earth.

Our Christian story – our Christian faith does not begin with the birth of Jesus Christ.  Our Christian story began at the beginning of humanity.  The God about whom we read in the Old Testament is the same God about whom we read in the New Testament.  The story of the people of God is our story secured and brought down to us generation by generation through the Jewish faith manifested into the Christian faith.  The first century Jews who followed Jesus Christ and became the first Christians didn’t understand what they were doing as being something new; they recognized Jesus Christ as the Messiah for whom they had been waiting, the manifestation of the presence of the one God whom they had worshipped for thousands of years.  They did not discard their beliefs and worship practices that had been part of their faith from the beginning of time; they kept what was meaningful in their worship of Jesus Christ and their discipleship, and they embraced that that was new and fresh in the message that Jesus had revealed to them.

God’s Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai guides us just as it guided the Israelites from their time in the Wilderness.  God’s word spoken through the mouths of the prophets is our prophecy just as it was for King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in Elijah’s time.  Jesus clarified this message of God’s redeeming love; Jesus did not cast out the law and the prophets of old; the Transfiguration confirms that for us.

The story of the people of God is our story; it is a story of conflict and persecution and struggle.  And, it is a story of victory that will not be extinguished no matter the price.  We are God’s people descended from Adam and Eve and from Noah and from Abraham.  The Transfiguration about which we read today confirms that connection.  We are God’s children; we are one with Moses; we are one with Elijah; we are one with Jesus Christ; we are one with one another; we are one with God and have been one with God from the beginning.  As Christ is transfigured, so we are transformed – justified by grace alone through of faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.