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Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, March 2, 2014, the
Transfiguration of the Lord (Year A)
FIRST READING EXODUS 24:12 -18
12
The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and
I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have
written for their instruction.” 13So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses
went up into the mountain of God. 14To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until
we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go
to them.”
15
Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.
16
The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days;
on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. 17Now the appearance of the
glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of
the people of Israel. 18Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses
was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.
PSALM 2
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Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain? 2The kings of the earth
set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and his
anointed, saying, 3“Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us.”
4
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the LORD has them in derision. 5Then he will
speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6“I have set my king on
Zion, my holy hill.”
7
I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have
begotten you. 8Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of
the earth your possession. 9You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in
pieces like a potter's vessel.”
10
Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11Serve the LORD
with fear, with trembling 12 kiss his feet, or he will be angry, and you will perish in the
way; for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Happy are all who take refuge in him.
OR ALTERNATE PSALM 99
1
The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let
the earth quake! 2The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. 3Let
them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he! 4Mighty King, lover of
justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in
Jacob. 5
Extol the LORD our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!
6
Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called
on his name. They cried to the LORD, and he answered them. 7He spoke to them in
the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
8
O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an
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avenger of their wrongdoings. 9Extol the LORD our God, and worship at his holy
mountain; for the LORD our God is holy.
SECOND READING 2 PETER 1:16 -21
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For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his
majesty. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was
conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with
whom I am well pleased.” 18We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we
were with him on the holy mountain.
19
So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be
attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the
morning star rises in your hearts. 20First of all you must understand this, that no
prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21because no prophecy
ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from
God.
GOSPEL MAT THE W 17:1 -9
1
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led
them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and
his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly there
appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord,
it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you,
one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright
cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the
Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” 6When the disciples heard this,
they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But Jesus came and touched them,
saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8And when they looked up, they saw no one
except Jesus himself alone.
9
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the
vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
What Goes Up (Sometimes, Stays There)
There is truth in the old saying: “What goes up, must come down.” As long as
humankind has been stuck on the surface of this world, we define the sky as being up.
The earth is down.” Another expression, “When pigs fly,” indicates that something is
very nearly impossible. Most objects we hurl into the air, eventually lose velocity and fall
back to earth. The flying birds and insects, though, have inspired us for ages – their
ability to resist gravity, to remain aloft long captured our imagination. The ancient story
of Daedalus and Icarus told of a bold attempt to escape for their freedom, Defying his
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father’s warnings, Icarus flew too near the sun. His wings began to melt, and he fell too
soon and too far to the earth and his death below. His father, Daedalus, was grief
stricken. To all intents and purposes without the aid of rocket science, “what goes up,
will eventually come down,” is borne out by experience.
Until humans built airplanes and rocketships, humans have climbed atop high
mountains cliffs, and tall buildings in order to see the earth spread out before us. There
is something about climbing to see the world below that gives us perspective. In his
book, “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth,” astronaut, Chris Hadfield, describes the
perspective astronauts gain from the training and experience in orbit. Astronauts have
to learn a tremendous discipline to stay in space. Interesting too, in orbit, the old
notions of what is up or down become muddled. Things seem to float freely in orbit.
In the book of Exodus, and in the gospels, we have some accounts of leaders climbing to
the top of mountains. Moses climbed Mt. Horeb to encounter the presence of the living
God, who appeared in a sort of shining cloud. Later, at God’s direction, he led a group
of elders, both physically and metaphorically back up the mountain to meet with the
Lord and to spiritually connect. But, then in order for the people to move from the
wilderness and into the new freedoms of the promised land, Moses had to bring the law
back down to earth and the people learned to live with it.
Then Jesus led Peter, James, and John to the summit of a high mountain where they too
encountered the cloud. They even saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus, the three
greatest spiritual leaders Israel knew. Like many people, it was such an intense
experience that the disciples wanted to preserve the moment, to stay at that elevation.
So, they proposed to build booths, tabernacles, for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses. On the
mountain, God told the disciples to listen to Jesus, and again they were alone, and it was
time to return to earth.
That this story is important is established in that all three synoptic gospels and 2 Peter 1,
refer to it. Interesting, too, is the fact that Jesus told these disciples that they might
want to keep a lid on the story for a while. It is one of those, “if you weren’t there, you
probably wouldn’t understand it,” kind of experiences. Later, though, after people came
to understand Jesus’ death and resurrection, and began to get the coming of the
Kingdom of God, they were able to share the story and perhaps to make some collective
sense of it. Meanwhile, it was Jesus himself, who led the disciples back down to earth.
What goes up, sometimes takes a while to come down.
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Then there was the self affirmed Rev. Daddy Grace, who back in the early 20th century
would have his deacons collect the offerings from the large congregations he gathered.
Following the service, he would have these men throw the offering from large tubs into
the air, from where it would fall back to the ground. He prayed or stated: “What goes
up is God’s. What comes down is mine.” Considering himself uniquely blessed, he
would collected his fortune and built himself a financial and real estate empire to
impress his followers. The whole thing sounds rather vulgar, but was really no different
from some of the televangelists of recent history.
Still, there may have been some unintended truth to his exclamation about what goes
up is God’s. Throughout much of human experience, whatever we have thrown up, must
come down: sticks, stones, the tower of Babel, empires. Then there are those whom
God raises to new life, to spiritual heights. God does not let us down once he has raised
us. We want to return, again and again to the soaring spiritual heights that only come
from communion with God. Just ask any teenager who has encountered the Lord in a
youth retreat. They are frustrated when they come back down to earth, frustrated at
what we in our pews and societies too often seem to accept.
When Jesus was crucified and lifted high on the cross, his body was returned to the
earth and the tomb for three days. His disciples though learned that God never let Jesus’
Spirit fall. Instead, Jesus continues to lead us up again and again.
Still, the story of the transfiguration defies easy explanation. It is not just simply a
morality tale, nor is it simply an epiphany story. We find it difficult to explain it away.
Certainly, it is a teaching story. It tells us something transforming, uplifting, even
transcendent. Something that God shows us in Jesus on the mountaintop. There in the
cloud, the disciples though sleepy, remained awake long enough to behold this moment.
Only a passage or so before this, Peter had confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, then
betrayed his own ignorance of who and what God’s Messiah would be. Here, God
simply tells them, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Basically, don’t talk, yet.
Listen! Understanding of these things usually doesn’t all come at once. But the
understanding changes everything.
The view from the ground can be confusing at best as we struggle to keep perspective.
We look with chagrin upon the soil and stains on our souls. Jesus forgives us and wipes
us clean, even if we never forget. We return from our retreats and high spiritual moment,
eager again to reach the highs. God’s words to the disciples remains: “Listen to Jesus!”
People have been trying to recreate these experiences and regain the heights of the
Lord ever since. It isn’t just a physical height, of course. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount
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offers a clear and lofty presentation of Jesus’ message. The Pentecost account tells of an
exhilarating transformation from anxious disciples to bold apostles, speaking in the
many tongues of this world – bringing the Word back to the people of earth, so that,
word by word, Jesus’ gospel will lift our spirits, our hopes and dreams. This is God’s Son,
the Beloved with whom God is well pleased. Listen to him! Every communion service is
accompanied by words and ritual actions so that we can re-experience a high spiritual
moment with Jesus and remain spiritually raised from all that would hold us back.
How does Jesus lead you up the mountain? Are we listening? God’s Word in Jesus is
God coming to us, in Christ our Lord, and God lifts us up, holds us up, and no matter
what happens next, the Love of God will not let us fall again completely. We may return
to the world, where we continue to follow the mission of Jesus, but we listen, and
contemplate, and in prayer and communion are raised again from life unto life, by the
word and the power of God – all because God has come, down, to us, and God in Christ
leads us up in hope and in joy, daring to believe again and again, that we will experience
new highs through our Lord.
In this case, what goes up, does not always come down. Even though we may get
covered with dirt, even though we may embrace the world below, part of our Spirit
remain uplifted in Christ.
Give thanks.
Prayer
Dr. Bob Osborne