The Feast of The Transfiguration (observed)

In the gospel story we just heard today, Jesus takes Peter and James and John up on the mountain to pray.

The disciples, as they so often do at crucial moments, struggle to stay awake.

But suddenly, Jesus' appearance is transfigured before them and he begins to shine with a divine light.

And suddenly, there beside him are Moses and Elijah.

Moses, the giver of the law.

Elijah, the prophet of the prophets.

The great ancestors, there, talking with Jesus.

In case you can't tell, I love the Transfiguration story.

I completely relate to Peter, who is so entranced by the moment that he suggests maybe they should stay there a while and dwell in it.

There are about 12 sermons I would love to preach on that image alone.

But sadly, we can't dwell there all day.

We have some babies to baptize.

But I will draw your attention to this one thing.

The fact that Moses and Elijah both also had divine mountaintop encounters.

Moses had come down from his mountain carrying the commandments, words meant to shape the life of a people, as we heard in our first reading.

And in a text that we sadly never get to hear in our lectionary, Elijah had gone to the mountain exhausted and afraid, and there he heard God sending him back into the world to other people to raise up those who would continue the work with and for him.

And now in this moment, Moses and Elijah are here with Jesus.

This transfiguration moment gathers all of these stories together.

They say that God's saving work has a history.

And in this moment, Jesus takes his place within that history to carry it forward.

And like Moses and Elijah, Jesus will not stay on that mountain.

The glory is revealed there, but the mission is lived down below.

Peter and James and John do not understand this at the time.

Luke tells us that they kept silent and told no one what they had seen.

But then years later, Peter does tell the story.