CEpiphany-Last

Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 2; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9

February 3, 2008

Clothes of dazzling white,

a face shining like the sun,

a cloud overshadowing,

the voice of God.

Who wouldn’t be scared out of their wits?

But these wonders were familiar elements

of encounters with God through the ages.

Moses’ face had shone after he had encountered God

on the top of the mountain when he received the 10 commandments. 

Each time Moses encountered God,

God’s presence was cloaked in a cloud.

In Daniel’s vision of the Ancient One sitting upon the throne,

he saw clothing white as snow.

Upon seeing these same signs

while they were on top of the mountain with Jesus,

Peter, James, and John would have known

that this was indeed a true mountaintop experience

of the type that something huge was going to happen.

Something so huge that life would never be the same.

I imagine that as Peter saw Jesus change before his eyes,

it was like a time-lapse photography of

a dry bulb turning into a tulip in full bloom

or a cocoon instantly morphing into a monarch butterfly.

And then Peter looked up and saw Moses and Elijah.

Moses - led slaves out of Egypt and formed them into a people,

spoke in God’s name,

and came down from the mountain with the Torah, the Law,

the way for God’s chosen people to live.

Elijah, personifying the prophets of God

who spoke God’s words and revealed God’s will.

Elijah, the great prophet who was to return

to announce the coming of the Messiah.

So, there in those two figures was Giver of the Law,

the founder of their religion that had formed a people.

And there was the great prophet

who would come to reveal the Messiah

at the end of the age.

And there was Jesus changed before Peter’s eyes,

the very glory of God shining forth from him.

Completing the unfulfilled prophecies.

Filling all that had gone before with grace and truth.

It was Peter had asserted that Jesus was the Messiah.

And here Messiah was, right before his eyes.

How to acknowledge this? How to respond to it?

The natural way would be to give thanks to God

By making a sukkah, a tent or hut,

that all Jews would erect for seven days each year,

known as the Feast of Tabernacles.

In these tents, the Jews would remember

the tents they had pitched for 40 years in the wilderness.

And the steadfast love God had shown them.

The Messiah was here. Everything was completed.

The long travail of the chosen people of God was finally coming to an end.

The time of Sabbath rest, permanent peace and freedom

was right before Peter’s eyes.

There was nothing more to do now than give thanks to God.

The suffering that Jesus had said he must go through had been preempted.

---

A teenage girl is driving home one night.

She is going down a one way street, in the left lane.

She is going down hill, picking up speed.

As her car passes a side street,

she barely catches sight of the headlights shining

through window the driver’s side.

A car has run a stop sign and it is going to hit her.

Her first and only thought before the collision is

how upset her parents will be with her.

She had just gotten her car back from the shop

after backing into a pole in a parking lot.

Now she had been in the hospital a week

and could hear her parents voices,

She could tell that her mother was crying.

She wondered why they weren’t mad at her.

Why they weren’t asking her what had happened

and telling her what she’d done wrong.

Then, she realized that something was very wrong.

She heard her mother say, ‘No, baby, please don’t die.’

She heard in her father’s voice such pain as he whispered close to her ear

‘O God, No.’

She felt herself float upwards out of her body.

She found herself before the countenance of Christ.

Radiating light and peace.

He seemed to stand in her way.

She said, “It wasn’t my fault.”

And then she realized that he wasn’t accusing her

and she noted the fear and apprehension, the strife with her parents,

the constant feeling of being misunderstood

did not exist in this place.

She could see through all the confusion in her life so clearly.

No lies up here. No deceptions. Only truth.

No conflict about who she was, or who she was supposed to be.

She simply was who she was.

“I’m not going to get to stay here, am I?” she said.

She could see that her life on earth would be a long one.

She could see that her heart would get broken.

Her body would endure pain.

She would have to work hard.

And, yes, she would be misunderstood.

But, that she had an important part to play

in the lives of the people she loved.

And if she stayed in this beautiful situation,

Their lives would be less.

And so she released herself from the brilliant presence

and began her journey back down.

At least now, no matter what was in store for her,

She would be where she was meant to be

and who she was meant to be.

---

Jesus came and touched Peter, James, and John,

saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”