Have you ever noticed that often times just when we think we have a handle on “things” or think we have it all figured out we discover we were really deceiving ourselves or we were actually just dead wrong?  Well, as Gomer Pyle used to say, “Surprise, surprise, surprise!” And, in one sense, my question for us this morning is: Will we never cease to be surprised by Jesus?

You know I used to get tickled at my father.  Every now and then, as some children do, I would go up to my dad and announce that I was bored, really expecting him, I guess, to do something about it.  Well, my dad evidently had a problem with that.  I remember one time he said, “Dammit, Mike, the world is not here just for your entertainment.”  Well, although that might be to an extent true, I am beginning to become convinced that we are, however, to some degree, here on this earth for God’s entertainment.  One of my favorite picture in my office is an artist’s portrayal of Jesus laughing.  And, I can’t help but look back on things I have done or said and know that God and His Son are chuckling.

Will we never cease to be surprised, or amazed, by Jesus?

Just when Peter and James and John had begun to come to terms with the idea that a life with Jesus was not to be a life of a glorious triumph, prestige and acceptance, but rather one of humiliation, suffering, and sacrifice, Jesus brings them up a remote mountain to pray; and they end up being witnesses to some pretty strange events.

Just when they had been struggling with the notion that if they were to be a follower of Jesus they were to embark on a journey that ultimately would bring them to the cross, they encounter and are confronted by visions and voices from clouds and lights and transformations.

And, perhaps for some of us, just when we are ready to say good-bye to Epiphany and prepare for Lent, this gospel story appears confusing.  Could it be that there are hints here that suggest to us that just when we think we know what is happening we are brought face to face with the unexpected?  Will we never cease to be surprised by Jesus?

This rather strange event we hear in today’s gospel is called The Transfiguration, and it is also found in Matthew and Luke.  And in all three gospels the event occupies basically the same position in the narrative.  Just prior to this mountaintop experience Jesus had been trying to explain to the disciples what his future entails: suffering, ridicule, betrayal, and the humiliation of public execution.  So, when the disciples were finally about ready to begin accepting the blood, the anguish and violence, Jesus retires with his close companions to a lonely spot on a mountain and is transformed in their presence into something way beyond their image of suffering, humiliation, anguish, and violence.  So, it’s no wonder Peter expresses confusion.  Really, it’s no wonder Peter, James and John were frightened as well. 

They wondered what it all must mean.  Is it simply a glimpse of the bonus awaiting Jesus after a difficult life?  Or is it intended to show that Jesus’ sufferings are merely an illusion?  Or is it perhaps a wee bit of divine magic, akin to that sort of childlike attitude of “see what neat thing I can do when I really want to?”  Well, none of these explanations seems to satisfy; and as the gospel story progresses, Jesus continues on afterward (towards Jerusalem) healing and teaching and speaking of his own death, as if nothing unusual had occurred at all.

Yet there are parts of this scene that are too provocative to simply ignore as if it was simply nonchalantly inserted.  Moses, who climbed another remote mountain to retrieve the Law – the foundation of Jewish religious life – is present.  And Elijah, the father of Jewish Prophecy, the one believed by pious Jews to herald the coming of the true Messiah, joins in their conversation.  Ordinary clothes, probably dirty from the road, all of a sudden shine like the sun.  A cloud covers the mountain. 

And, maybe we remember that Moses encountered the presence of God in a cloud, and in that cloud on Mount Sinai his covenant-building servanthood was sealed and ratified by God.  And, within the cloud that surrounds Jesus in today’s gospel there is a voice, and the voice is saying something very similar to what we may have heard before.  “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to Him!”  Those words are very similar to what Jesus heard at the beginning of his ministry at his baptism.

So, a lot is going on with this story of the transfiguration, and you can’t help but believe that this event must be significant.  Besides, Jesus tells the three to keep it a secret.   “As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen…” I can just imagine one of the three saying, “Yeah, right. Jesus begins to glow, Moses and Elijah appear, God speaks through a cloud, and we’re not to say anything?!”

Something significant happened here in this surprising event on the mountain.  Something changed.  “Well, sure,” you say, “Jesus was transfigured.”  After all, why do you think we call it the Transfiguration?  And, of course, that’s true: Jesus was transfigured, but perhaps something else is going on here, too, but we just tend to overlook it because we are pretty sure we know what this story is about. My guess is that the popular interpretation of the transfiguration is that it is nothing more than the evangelist’s way of expressing – in pictorial language – how the disciples found the focus of the light and glory of God shining brightly in Jesus.  The Light of Being – with a capital “B” shone forth in and through Jesus of Nazareth.  Hence, the revelation and the identity of Jesus as God and human.  In other words, most see this story as simply a dramatic illustration of Jesus’ identity as the Son of God.

But, will we ever cease to be surprised by Jesus?

TV host Merv Griffin was interviewing Charlton Heston on his television program.  Heston is, of course, the actor who played the part of Moses in “The 10 Commandments” (and also starred in “Ben Hur”).  Griffin asked Charlton Heston if any of the characters he had portrayed in his religious movies had changed his spiritual outlook.  Heston didn’t answer the question directly.  He thought a moment and then simply said, “Well, Merv, you can’t walk barefoot down Mount Sanai and be the same person you were when you went up.” 

And, therein lies the clue as to what else went on with our story.  Peter, James and John had also changed.  They, too, had been transfigured.  Their authentic mountain top experience changed them as well.  And as is customary with their role in the gospel stories the disciples portray humanity.  So, the message they received in the story is the message we are to receive in reading it.

Surprisingly, perhaps, the story of the transfiguration is a story about the transfiguration of humanity and of you and of me.  Perhaps God did not stoop way down into the muck of humanity by being incarnate in Jesus, but rather in Jesus humanity was raised into the light of the Kingdom.

Yes, Jesus would suffer.  The sufferings are not illusions.  The passion narrative is still to follow.  So in a sense, it makes sense that the disciples were told to tell no one until the Son of Man is raised.  For the true glory of Jesus that these disciples saw on that mount can only be seen, or made complete, in light of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection.  In other words, the true glory of Jesus, in all of its brightness – or better yet, his true identity – shines forth only in light of his suffering in crucifixion – only in light of his humanity.

God’s bright light shines through the crucified man, Jesus.  And, it is precisely because God manifests God’s self in humanity that Jesus is the Christ who proffers salvation to us all – for ultimately the divine nature of Jesus is only of significance as the saving mystery in so far as it changes and uplifts our human nature.  Jesus revealed to us how to be fully human.  Jesus showed us how God created us to be.  Humanity, then, has been transfigured.  We have been transfigured.  God became human.  God is with us.

So, in a powerful sense, the transfiguration points to the fact that we have a new mode of “being human” in Jesus.  We have, then, in this surprise story, a surprise message with two interrelated poles:  On the one hand, an unveiling of the true face of God; and on the other a disclosure of the true being of humanity.  God not only descended into humanity, but humanity also ascended into God through Jesus.

So, as we close out Epiphany, we not only see a glimpse of the glory of Jesus, but we also see the glory of God’s concern for humanity.  Folks, we, too, are called to be transfigured!  We, too, are called to shine forth the glory of God to others!

“You can’t walk barefoot down Mount Sanai and be the same person you were when you went up.”  AMEN.

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