Dazzling as Snow

Dazzling as white as snow
Transfiguration Sunday
February 3, 2008 – repreached on March 6, 2011
Exodus 24:12-18
Matthew 17: 1-9
Year A


My Special moment

I have two questions for you – have you ever had that time in life, when everything came together for you? When life just seemed to make sense. It may have been your wedding day, or graduation, or birthday or some other special day that you felt that you were on top of the world.

My second question is if you could talk to any two people, dead or alive to get advice, who would you ask. For Jesus those two people were Elijah and Moses.

Thursday was that moment for me. I have not been that excited about anything in a very long time. I have not had a chance to sit on edge, and watch such an exciting scene unfold before me. A moment of intrigue, a moment where I question what is real. A moment where you can clearly see that there is a thin line between life and death, between the past and the future, between what you expect and what you don’t understand. It was that moment where you realize that there are those rare moments in our lives where all of our questions are answered, where we realize that the anticipation of waiting is finally fulfilled. But most of the time you realize that you have to spend most of your life in a cloud of confusion, that never goes away, because the answering of one set of questions, just brings about more questions.
Perhaps Jesus did not have the season premier of the television series lost in mind when he bought his most trusted disciples with him to a mountaintop to pray. Season premiere or no, Lost is just a very clear mind game that is not scheduled to end until 2010. But Jesus must have known that there are those moments in all of our lives. The moments where the true identity of the Christ becomes clear to us.

The transfigurations story
When Jesus took his disciples up to the mountain – it must have seemed like a very cruel mind game to them. Jesus takes those 3 of the brothers that we talked about last week – Peter, James and John to the top of the mountain……..

The significance of clouds

In the gospel, God talks to the disciples through a cloud and encourages them to listen to Jesus. In the Hebrew gospel God also talks and acts through a cloud. Moses takes his trusted helpers with him to Mount Sinai to talk with God to get the Ten Commandments. No one is allowed at the top except Moses. But once again a cloud covers the mountain for six days, and on the seventh day – a special day Moses comes out of the cloud with a message for the people.

Now we tend to think of clouds as a bad thing- a bad time in our lives, a time of uncertainty, a time of confusion, a time when we are not able to see things clearly. What are the things that cloud your vision? What are the clouds in your life that prevent you from doing what you really want to do.

The Shekinah Glory

Clouds are actually a good thing in the bible. A cloud signifies the presence of God on earth. The presence of God was somewhere far away on a throne on heaven, but there is also a presence of God here on earth. God’s earthly presence is called the Shekinah glory – and you knew the Shekinah glory was present when you saw a cloud. It was a cloud that guided the Israelite to freedom by day and a pillar of fire by night. It was in a cloud in the mountain that Elijah was able to find the silence of God, it was a cloud that constantly talked with Moses to give him instruction to lead the people, it was a cloud that talked with the disciples to tell them that he was his beloved son listen to him, and when you think about it is that cloud of confusion, doubt, questioning, misunderstanding that constantly stays with us and shapes our faith journey. Cloudiness is a way of life for us.

I just learned about this, this morning. But if you climb a mountain. If you stand between a cloud and the sun, then a halo will develop around you. A round circle with a rainbow on the outside. The phenomenon is called a glory. But isn’t that how we spend most of our lives, somewhere in the middle of a cloud and sunshine?



Moments of Sunshine

When you think about it – those moments when things are totally clear and obvious are few and far between. An organization that I am a part of calls them moments of sunshine- those times when you are totally happy, when you are on the top of your game, when all of your questions have been answered, when you see life very clearly.


The disciples hold onto that moment

We are a lot like the disciples in those moments – we want to worship them forever – do you know anyone who still talks about that moment in high school. We want to build a temple so that moment can last forever, so that we can keep that feeling of clarity, so that we can live in that high of understanding. When the disciples asked if they could build temples for the appearance of Moses, Elijah and Moses, Jesus says no. Jesus usually reminds us that those moments in our lives are not intended to last forever. They come to give us perspective on the clouds, they come to give us a sense of hope to go on, and they come to give us special memories. But they always come to end


Most of our lives are lived in a cloud

Most of our life is to be lived in the cloud – a cloud of confusion and questions – because life is to be lived in the presence of an awesome, overwhelming, unknowable, mind boggling God. A God so big and so wonderful that we will never find the words to describe God. And yet a God who cares so much for you – that God is with you all of the time.


Consulting an oracle
God presence is with us all of our lives – but we have to take special times to learn to move and navigate our way through the thickness and beauty of the Shekinah glory – of god’s presence on earth. Lent is one of those times. Time to get in touch with the cloudiness of God. In the midst of cloudiness many people consulted special people to get the answers to your questions. Perhaps you are still thinking about what to do in Lent – so I have a special way to help you think about what to do for lent……

Okay some of the suggestions may not really be helpful – you will have to eat something in 40 days, and it is probably not a good idea to stay in bed for 40 days. Only God can truly tell you what to do- to see God more clearly in your life. ( not used)

The man at the new company
One man had just been hired by a new company – people started to complain- because he seemed to sit in his office all day and they didn’t see where he was doing anything. So one day his supervisor confronted him and asked what he was doing all that time – nothing he said. But 40 days later he was able to present a plan which increased the company sales by 50% - He had spent those 40 days on silence quietly waiting for an answer from God.

This lent I don’t know what your questions for God are, I don’t know what God has in store for you, I don’t know how God intends to use you to build God’s wonderful kingdom.

But I do know that God’s glory is surrounding your life- may you embrace that cloud in your life.

The significance of the transfiguration

The significance of the transfiguration was that it was a moment of sunshine – where the true nature of Jesus was revealed to the disciples. As they left he told them to tell no one until after the resurrection.

There was a magician who got hired to perform tricks on a cruise ship. And on a ship your performance schedule can be pretty demanding. Every night that he performed, there was always a parrot around. The parrot seemed to love to complain. While the magician performed, he would always yell to the audience that he was a fake, and that he did not know what he was doing. This seemed to get on the magician’s nerves. He did not like that parrot. One day the ship sank. And the parrot and the magician ended up in the same rescue boat. Since there was animosity between them- they sat in total silence, until the parrot finally asked “So, what did you do with the ship?” what was really going on was too deep for the parrot to really comprehend, so he just said what came out of his mouth. That is the same thing that the disciple did. That is why Jesus tells them to tell no one until the resurrection. Nothing that happens to them will make sense until the resurrection. After that they will understand who Jesus really is, and God’s true purpose for us. That is the same for us in lent, today we are just going through the motions, doing what needs to be done, but after Easter, we will walk in the sunshine, and everything will be clear.

My wish for you this lent

May you enter into the clouds of lent, discover the sunshine of Christ in your life- and be willing to keep God’s little secret to yourself until after Easter. Amen.