About the Exodus
This Sunday commemorates the Transfiguration of our Lord. Transfiguration means change, becoming different, but who is really changed?
Did you ever have a life-changing experience? I’ve been practicing retiring. I haven’t quite got the hang of it yet. I retired as a Navy chaplain in 1994. Then I retired as a parish pastor in 2004. I asked God to find something for me to do. What I had in mind was service on a board or commission either at the District or Synodical level. Then a friend of mine, who was serving as the interim pastor of a church in Houston, was hit by a car in a parking lot and broke both legs. The congregation asked me to take his place, and I was suddenly an unintentional interim pastor. Everyone else the Holy Spirit gives a gentle nudge. I apparently require a more decisive push.
What sort of a life-changing experience have you had? More than one young couple has assured me that having a child will not alter their life style. Guess again. If you were not born here, how did you end up in Florida? Florida is not the same as New England or the Upper Midwest. In the past a person worked for the same company or in the same profession throughout his or her adult life. In a rapidly changing economy many have been forced to change jobs simply to survive. I’ve watched my children go from one job to another. Retirement is certainly a life changing event. It brings a choice. Either there is nothing to do and nothing to fill each day, or, as so many have told me, “I’m working harder now than I ever did at work.” And a serious illness can certainly be a life changing experience.
Today is a remembrance of the Lord’s transfiguration. The Gospel lesson describes the event. Jesus took what must have been the inner circle of the disciples—Peter, James, and John aside for prayer. They went up on to a mountain for privacy, and while there Jesus was transfigured, changed, before them. He began to glow. The text actually says that “his face changed and his garments became dazzling white. Think of the description of Moses as he came down from Mount Sinai after an encounter with God. Speaking of Moses, suddenly they saw two figures with Jesus—Moses and Elijah. Moses was certainly the pre-eminent figure in the Old Testament. He was the receiver of the Law. He had met with God on the mountain. Elijah was not only a major Old Testament prophet but the Elijah figure was the one destined to introduce the Messianic Age. Here was clear evidence of the continuity of God’s plan.
Luke introduces another element not found in the other Gospels. Luke tells us that the three, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, were discussing, literally, the Lord’s exodus. The Exodus was a central component of the faith of the Old Testament. The Covenant between God and his people was based on it. God delivered his people from the land of Egypt, from slavery, and at Sinai declared them His people. Now they were discussing the Lord’s exodus. His exodus would be death, but it would be more than the death of a single solitary individual. Like the Exodus of the Old Testament, his death would have a salvific effect for all of the people of God. It would become the central aspect of faith for the people of the New Testament. Once again God would act on behalf of his people.
Peter and the others were impressed with what they had seen. This was certainly a high point in their experience. It is not surprising that Peter would want to capture the moment. “Why don’t we build three shelters—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah—and remain here reveling in the moment. What’s the term—carpe diem?—let’s seize the day. It’s amazing that they didn’t all have their phones out snapping pictures and crowding in to get a shot with first Moses and then Elijah and then a group shot of all three. We certainly would have! But then a cloud rolled in ruining the chance for a picture. And in the midst of the cloud a voice: “This is my Beloved Son. Listen to him!” The voice echoed the words heard at his baptism, but now it was even more pointed. This is the one who is to be heard. His life, his teaching, convey a vital, no a critical, message. This is the one who can bring life.
The standard pastor’s message for Transfiguration is that it is important for us to have a mountain top experience. Like Peter we would like to remain ensconced at the height of a faith experience. It’s good, Lord, to be here. But we can’t remain on the mountaintop. Like Peter, James, and John at some point we have to descend to the plain of daily living. We need to carry the experience with us into our lives. That’s the sermon that I preached many times on Transfiguration Sunday, but I’ve always wondered—precisely who was changed?
Certainly Jesus was changed—transfigured—in the sense that his glory was revealed. Certainly the revelation of the continuity of God’s plan of salvation from Old Testament to New Testament must have resulted in a change of understanding for the disciples. This Jesus was more than a teacher. He stood in line with the towering figures of the faith. But the question remains at least for me, were the disciples changed? Was their perception of Jesus altered?
The very next day Jesus is confronted by a man whose only son is possessed by a demon. The child experienced seizures, convulsions. Jesus healed the boy, and everyone was amazed. But in the midst of the amazement of the crowd, the Lord said to the disciples: “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands. The disciples didn’t get it. They didn’t grasp what his exodus entailed until much later.
The lives of the disciples reflect a series of life-changing events. The three involved in the Transfiguration had been fishermen. Jesus called them away from their boats and nets to become fishers of men. They left behind an occupation with which they were familiar to move into the unknown, to follow in the footsteps of the Lord. Here at the Transfiguration they must have realized that this was one who was part of God’s plan of salvation, but they didn’t grasp what his “exodus” meant. The crucifixion carried the possibility of a devastating life-changing event that was rapidly countered by the resurrection. Pentecost saw them changed from disciples, students, to apostles, those who are sent to proclaim the message. Peter, James, John, and the others experienced one life-changing event after another.
At what point the disciples’ eyes were opened and they understood the meaning of their experiences is an historical question. The real question is at what point you and I are changed by these events. At what point does the Lord’s exodus impinge on our lives? Rudolph Bultmann, Uncle Rudy to the wife of a classmate of mine, reminded us that Jesus in John’s Gospel is the Word—God’s answer to the problem of sin. The story of Jesus is captured in words, the words of Scripture. The point of the proclamation of those words is to confront us with The Word, Jesus Christ himself. Each worship service, each Bible class should be a tug, a pull, an invitation to understand that all of this is not just a study in ancient history, but a message to you and to me. It is the story of how our perception, our understanding, and, ultimately, our lives are changed and conformed to God’s desire for us.
I became the Base Chaplain and Staff Chaplain to the Chief of Naval Air Training in Corpus Christi, because I crossed the bow of the Deputy Chief of Chaplains, who became Chief. I was not one of his favorite people. Susan and I assumed that we would be headed back to the East Coast at the end of my tour. Then I received a phone call from the pastor of the downtown church in Corpus Christi. “I’ve resigned from the church. I’ve resigned from the ministry,” he said, “you’ve got it.” Wait one. Repeat all after I said, “Hello.” It was true. I served as a Vacancy pastor and then they called me to be the pastor. And then I became an unintentional interim pastor. Through several unexpected changes of directions, God has found different ways for me to serve his people. What changes have taken place in your life? Like the disciples, we often don’t see how God was shaping us and using us until after the fact. And yet, the Lord’s grace does seem to manifest itself—in us.
