February 3, 2008
Transfiguration Sunday
Pastor Anita Hill
Exodus 24:12-18; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9

Transfigured Suffering

Grace and peace to you from our Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Did you follow the news story this week of the good Samaritan who lost his car in a bizarre scene? The Star Tribune report said that two friends driving on a subzero night in Northwestern Minnesota saw a car fly through the air and crash in to a roadway median. Chase Torgerson stopped immediately and ran to offer help. As he cared for an injured man, two others from the crashed car stole his vehicle and totaled it out just down the road. How strange is that?

And in those moments, lives were transformed. Two men went to jail. One went to the hospital. Another became a hero.  

Sometimes we suffer because bad things happen to us that are beyond our control.

Sometimes we suffer because we have made poor choices.

And sometimes we suffer because we make the right choice, to be faithful to God in confronting sin/evil/death.

This week, I have been drawn to the aspect of suffering in the transfiguration. Yes, I know the transfiguration is about the shiny glory of Jesus, but it seems significant that the story of the transfiguration is sandwiched between predictions of Jesus' death. Just before the transfiguration story, Peter rebukes Jesus when he starts talking about his suffering and death. And after the transfiguration, they don't even make it off the mountain before Jesus refers to his death again as he starts the journey through Lent. 

The transfiguration and Jesus’ passion are intimately linked together. Epiphany ends with the transfiguration as a message of assurance. Even though the passion and crucifixion ahead are real, there is power in Jesus Christ that is greater than the powers of sin and death. Jesus has come to transform the world through his passion.

Peter is charged to listen to this truth rather than dismiss it.  And Jesus' words, "Do not be afraid," have double meaning - Do not be afraid of this glory; it's only me. And, do not be afraid as we go to the cross, because this transforming power goes with us to the cross.

Our reading from Exodus reminds us that while God called Moses up the mountain, Moses had to go back down the mountain to address the evil and idolatry that the people had followed while he was away on the mountain. 

Jesus' transfiguration points to our transformation for the sake of God's mission. As disciples of Christ, we are called to be about the work of God, engaging the suffering of the world. Many of the mystics encountered God during or after times of intense suffering. Some of us, perhaps more of us than those who will admit it, have had some type of vision of God, some sort of profound and mysterious encounter with God. Some people are infused with a new energy and enthusiasm for living out their faith by serving God and others in concrete ways. And like Peter wanting to build booths, some people spend most of their lives trying to relive or recapture the encounter and end up making the experience an idol, rather than a means for dealing with our suffering world.

Transfiguration is about Jesus, but it is also about our own transformation. God is not the cause of our suffering. I don’t know about you, but God has been most present to me in times of suffering. Maybe God can transform us though our suffering.

A much loved prayer in the Lutheran Book of Worship  begins, "Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown" (LBW p. 137). We know that when we face the future, what is before us is shrouded in fog.  We understand the dangers and the importance of being aimed in the right direction. But we are not just aimed and left on our own. We need ongoing guidance for the times we drift and for the times some obstacle or suffering rolls into our path. 

If we take our Biblical texts at face value, then God is in that cloudy fog. Even though we cannot see clearly what is ahead of us, God is present in the fog with us to give direction and guidance. In the fog of the transfiguration, Jesus gave Peter, James, and John a vision of how it all turns out.

Jesus' transfiguration is a foreshadowing of how the story ends for us, too. God shows us how it turns out in the resurrection and new creation so that we might recognize transfigurations when they take place right in the middle of our lives. Sometimes suffering looms so large that we cannot see beyond it. God speaks to us out of the fog of our suffering and encourages us with a glimpse of the future. Transformation can also happen in times of great joy and delight, when we are aware of God’s presence.

Transfiguration Sunday seems to be placed perfectly in our liturgical year. Today is the last Sunday of Epiphany, just before Lent starts. We move from celebrating the manifestation of God to preparing for the trials Jesus will face.

Lent brings the long road of self-denial that is ahead for Jesus. And as Jesus' disciples, Lent reminds us that the journey requires much of us as well. Oh, there is glory to be sure, but it’s the kind of glory that goes hand in hand with suffering, with life in the valleys.

The way I see it, those same fishermen Jesus met last Sunday in Capernaum and invited to "come follow me" were invited up the mountaintop so they could have the strength to make it through Lent.  They saw Jesus as he truly is: face shining, clothes dazzling, even as they looked straight ahead onto his road to Jerusalem and the cross. 

Peter, a man after my own heart, wants to skip Lent and end the story right then and there! He wants to build booth shrines and stay there. There are times when we don’t want to do the hard work of waiting and listening for God. Times when we don’t want to do the work of grieving, of facing our own pain or the frailty of life. Times when we can’t stand ourselves, let alone other people. Times when only the reconciling love of Christ will do.

Like Peter, we sometimes forget what kind of Messiah Jesus is.

Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus is God's anointed.

Jesus is God’s beloved Son, to whom we are to listen.

And Jesus is the one who picked up his cross and tells us disciples to do the same.

Jesus is the one who gave up everything to accomplish that.

It’s not that God gives us suffering, but that God is present with us when we suffer. The transfiguration offers us a glimpse of Jesus’ glory and his suffering.

Wednesday we begin our journey with Jesus to Jerusalem. It will take 40 days not counting the Sundays. Knowing Easter is coming will help us live through Lent and Good Friday. Such "knowing" is really about trusting God. We can say "No matter what comes my way on this journey, I have been to the mountaintop and I know how this story will end and begin again!"

God gives us assurance that we need not fear. Our lives are, in fact, held by a relationship deeper and more powerful than any suffering we can endure. That’s transfiguration.

Amen.

Anita C. Hill, Pastor
St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church