Download Last Epiphany (Feb. 10) — Rev. Martha Brimm

Last Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C (2013)
The Rev. Martha Brimm
Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36, 37-43
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Light shines out from the readings for this last Sunday after the Epiphany.
The season of Epiphany began with a star burning brightly to guide wise men to
Jesus’ birthplace. The next Sunday we heard about Jesus’ baptism and the voice from
heaven that claimed him as God’s Son, the Beloved. As the weeks after the Epiphany
went by in our church calendar, we heard how the light of Christ shines out into the
whole world. Reading in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus says that in him the
prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he
has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release
to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And this Light shines out into the whole
world and through the ages, to enlighten our hearts also, as we sit here in the pews
at St. Joseph’s.
Today on the last Sunday after the Epiphany we hear more stories of light. In
the reading from Exodus, Moses descends from Mt. Sinai carrying the second set of
two stone tablets of the covenant. Unbeknownst to him, “his face shone because he
had been talking with God.” This terrified the Israelites---so much so that Moses
took to veiling his face---except when he “went in before the Lord to speak with
him.” As the Jewish Study Bible notes, “(f)rom his lengthy and intense encounter
with God, Moses’ face came to reflect the divine radiance” (191).
In Psalm 99, the holiness of God radiates throughout the heavens and the
earth. Described as “enthroned upon the cherubim,” nevertheless, this holy God is
not aloof from creation, but rather is a “lover of justice” who “executes justice and
righteousness.” This God invites relationship with people, responding to
intercession, and both forgiving and holding accountable. God’s light shines out
into the whole creation.
In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, we hear the second part of Paul’s
retelling of the giving of the law to Moses at Mt. Sinai. Paul’s retelling is shaped to fit
his own purposes as he addresses the rebellious, squabbling, diverse group of
believers at Corinth. In his interpretation, although Paul recalls that “the people of
Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face” so that Moses
had to wear a veil, as recorded in the book of Exodus, Paul’s primary interest is not
in Moses, but in Christ. Paul moves quickly from speaking about a literal veil to
talking about veiled minds as a metaphor for misunderstanding. In Christ, he says,
the veil is set aside and there is freedom. Paul argues further that “all of us, with
unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being
transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this
comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” As we draw near to Christ, our understanding of
ourselves and the world changes. We are invited to understand with the mind of
Christ and to let the light of Christ shine through us.
In Luke’s gospel, we hear the story of the Transfiguration, a story of both
light and shadow. Jesus takes Peter, John, and James up on the mountain to pray.
Not long before this ascent, Jesus had taught, healed and fed a large crowd at
Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee. Later, after the feeding of the five thousand, when
Jesus was praying alone with his disciples, he asked them who people were saying
he was. They answered: John the Baptist, or Elijah or one of the ancient prophets.
Jesus said “ ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah of God.’ “
Jesus then offers his shocking understanding of the meaning of Messiah when he
foretells his great suffering, death, and resurrection. And he doesn’t stop there. He
invites his disciples to follow him by taking up their cross daily. What could this
possibly mean for them? His next words offer only further puzzlement: “For those
who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will
save it.”
The author of Luke tells us that about eight days later, Jesus went up on the
mountain, accompanied by three of his disciples. On the mountain, as Jesus was
praying, “the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling
white.” Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glory and were speaking with Jesus
“of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” The disciples,
although “weighed down with sleep” witnessed this, and Peter wanted to prolong
the moment by building dwellings for Jesus, Elijah and Moses. Just then “a cloud
overshadowed them; and they were terrified… from the cloud came a voice that
said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus
was found alone.” The three disciples “kept silent and in those days told no one any
of the things they had seen.” After Jesus and his companions came down from the
mountain, they encountered a great crowd. A man implores Jesus to heal his only
son after the disciples had failed to heal him. Jesus does, and “all were astounded by
the greatness of God.” The greatness of God shines out from Jesus both on the
mountaintop with his companions and among the crowds in the valley below.
In this story of the Transfiguration, shadow lines light and light lines shadow.
The dazzling appearance of Jesus, in whose person the glory of God shines, contrasts
with the somber departure (exodos) he is about to accomplish in Jerusalem. Bishop
Robert Johnson comments, “That's an interesting way to describe Jesus' passion and
crucifixion, isn't it? Not as a misery to be passively endured but as a journey to be
undertaken, a task to be done, a ‘departure’ to be ‘accomplished’ “ (1). Viewed this
way, it evokes the Hebrews’ escape from bondage and journey to the Promised
Land. It also points to the journeys of Jesus’ followers into many lands after
Pentecost. Shadow lines light and light lines shadow.
As Jesus prayed on the mountainside, he underwent a transformation. He
had just made his first prediction to his disciples of his suffering, death, and
resurrection and had told his disciples that to follow him, they too must be crossbearers. Perhaps the enormity of what he had said bore down on him and he felt a
deep need to draw near to God in prayer. Can this really be God’s will for him? This
is not the first time Jesus has had to choose whether or not to be obedient to God’s
will---recall his wilderness temptation by Satan before he began his ministry. Nor
will it be his last---as attested by the “sweat that became like great drops of blood
falling” from his face as he prayed before his arrest on the Mount of Olives.
Drawing near to God in prayer transformed Jesus. He could see the
shadows gathering over his path---the darkness of the suffering and death he would
face. But his “departure to be accomplished” encompasses not only his death but
also his resurrection and ascension. The story of the Transfiguration points us back
to the blazing star of Epiphany and points us on to the darkening Lenten path
toward the cross. It also gives us a glimpse of the glory of God shining forth in the
light of Easter. Jill Crainshaw puts it well: “this Gospel text holds the truths of
alleluia and lament together” (2).
In the Transfiguration story, Jesus shines with the glory of God. His
obedience to God reveals the truth of who he is called to be. He assented to that
truth, with all its consequences. As we draw near that truth, might we too be
transformed? Could we too begin to understand with the mind of Christ and let the
light of Christ shine through us---the Light that “bring(s) good news to the poor…
proclaim(s) release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and let(s) the
oppressed go free”?
Let us pray.
O God, who before the passion of your only begotten Son revealed his glory
upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his
countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his
likeness from glory to glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.