March 2 2025 Transfiguration
Exodus 34.29-35 Psalm 99 2 Corinthians 3.12-4.2 Luke 9.28-36
All our readings today have allusions to light, and shining, yet also to ‘veiling’. Moses, after speaking with God, needs to put a veil on his face when he is not speaking with God because the Israelites find the ‘glory’ of God, seen in the face of Moses, too much for them to tolerate. They need it to be ‘toned down’, to be ‘shrouded’ so that they can ‘manage’ the messages Moses has to give them without being overwhelmed by all that God is and has.
In our gospel, having taken three select disciples up the mountain, while Jesus is praying his face glows, his clothing becomes dazzling white, and he is joined by two figures from the past – Moses and Elijah (the Law and the Prophets), and the disciples, despite their tiredness, are moved into action.
When we talk about the transfiguration, we often get caught up in ‘mountain top’ experiences, as if they are the evidence of our faith. We like to ‘dine out’ on those experiences, and we actively try to replicate them so we can have more ‘mountain top’ experiences. But, the thing is, these experiences are fleeting, as they should be, they may well be uplifting and encouraging and give us a sense of ‘the holy’, but they are not where we spend most of our lives. If we were always having ‘mountain top’ experiences, we would struggle to do anything else. Which is why, when Peter suggests making ‘booths’ for them all to ‘stay up here’, the suggestion is overshadowed by them all being surrounded by the thick cloud and the disciples hearing the voice which restates the message Jesus heard at his baptism, and then the disciples are given instructions on ‘what to do next’. ‘this is my son, the Chosen, listen to him’.
There are good reasons for us to want ‘mountain top’ experiences, and they are wonderful when/if you have them, but they are not the ‘be all and end all’ of having a Christian faith. They are not essential, they are not even suggested, they are simply what happens sometimes when we are lucky enough to have a brief, personal encounter with God. But it was only when the disciples came down from the mountain that the rest of Jesus’ journey was possible. And if we read the next small paragraph after the passage we have read, we encounter a desperate father who is beside himself with anxiety because he has a child who is having repeated, violent, epileptic seizures and despite the disciples attempts, they have been unable to heal him. Even the three who, the day before had seen the magnificence of Jesus transfigured, and heard the voice of God, did not have the ability to cure this boy. So mountain top experiences will not give us special powers or abilities or enable us to do extraordinary things. But they will ‘comfort’ us and ‘strengthen’ us for all the ‘valley’ experiences that come in our day to day lives. What is important for us to remember is that ordinary living requires us to remain in the ordinary, finding God in the ordinary is only possible when we are living in the ordinary. God is not likely to be offering us real estate on the mountain tops, so we need to work out how and where we find God in the valleys of our ordinary lives.
Mountain top experiences will come and go according to God’s timing, not mine. Those ‘spiritual experiences’ on the mountain require nothing from me, they are easy, but I cannot control them. What is hard is agreeing to go back down the mountain and continue to follow Jesus on the long road, in the difficult times, in the painful times, in the times of unanswered prayer.
Today marks the end of our Season of Epiphany. It started with the pagan Magi bringing gifts to the baby Jesus, and we have seen a dove descending from the heavens, water becoming fine wine, nets filled to breaking with a miraculous catch of fish, and today it ends as we see Jesus in his unveiled glory. We have seen the brightness of Epiphany, and now we prepare for the holy darkness of Lent. We cannot know what mountains or valleys are ahead of us. We cannot predict how God will speak and in what guise Jesus may appear. But we can trust that, no matter whether it is on the brightest of mountains or the deepest of valleys, Jesus is with us. So don’t be afraid to come down from the mountain, keep looking and listening for the sacred, no matter where the journey takes you. Jesus is present everywhere. The mountains and the valleys belong to him. They will both speak to us, and their voices have much to teach us. So, listen. Listen.