“From Glory to Glory”

Main point: The transfiguration inspires us and shows us a vision of where we’re headed.

Introduction

This is the Feast of the Transfiguration. You might be wondering - what on earth is the transfiguration? What on earth is going on in this scene we just read from Matthew’s gospel? 

This was a sneak peak through the thin veil between the world as we see it and the world as it actually is. You see, there are many, many accounts of the world that most (nearly all) of us cannot see. It is the world that Christian tradition calls “invisible”. It is the reality that we confess to believe exists when we recite the Nicene Creed. The first line of the Creed reads, “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.”

Today, in our reading from Matthew, we get a peak at what is invisible to most of us, most of the time.

What do we see? 

We see a trip to the top of God’s holy mountain - the holy place where God often reveals something previously unknown or unseen.

We see saints - Moses and Elijah - saints of old who are present.

We see Jesus - God from God, light from light - unveiled momentarily from skin and flesh.

We see a conversation between the three of them which seems just as natural as natural could be. They are conferring together - yet the content of their conversation remains unknown to us.

We see light - beautiful, glorious, light - bathing the three people and everything around them.

And then, just as quickly as it arrives - it’s gone. And Jesus is standing in front of the three disciples who don’t know what to make of what they just saw.

What do we do when we come across a peak into the invisible world?

First, we stop and stare. You see before the event is interpreted, before the story is told, the event happens. It’s important we don’t get that out of sequence. We have to let the event be the event. Before we even speak a word of it, before it get’s mined for meaning - we have to let it be. That is why we have Feast Days. They are to commemorate an event or a person so that we remember what happened. Because… first and foremost - it’s a glorious event on its own.

At the time, it's just an event. It's just an experience. We don't have time to take it in and process it in its entirety. We just have time to go with it. And those who experience the event are changed by it.

After the fact, when the dust settled and they all had time to reflect, all three of the witnesses of the transfiguration -  Peter, James, and John - would tell the story. Two of them - Peter and John - would write about this event in their letters to the churches which are now contained in the Bible.

And now we have it as part of our story too.

First, we stop and stare. But then we let ourselves move on and ponder the event.