Glimpses of Hope

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, February 19, 2023
Matthew 17:1-9

    Have you ever had a moment of clarity where everything all of a sudden seemed to make sense, or an idea for a solution to a problem suddenly came to you?  Supposedly Isaac Newton came up with the law of gravity when he was hit on the head by an apple falling from a tree.  Archimedes famously said, “Eureka!” when working on a problem of figuring out mass and volume in the bathtub.  John Kellogg and his brother Will accidentally invented corn flakes when they left wheat dough rolled out overnight and found thin flakes the next morning.  These stories make me wonder how ancient people long ago invented things like wine, bread, and cheese – who would think to put those ingredients together or allow certain kinds of chemical reactions to happen to make that good food?!  Am I glad someone came up with chocolate, for example!
    You may not be a famous scientist or inventor or make millions off of your cooking mistakes, but all of us likely have had small “aha!” or “epiphany” moments when something suddenly becomes clear to us or makes sense in a way it didn’t before.  It could be as simple as remembering what you forgot to put on your grocery list (in my case usually AFTER I come back from the store) or as profound as when we feel closest and most loved by God.  In fact, this morning, we are ending the church season of Epiphany. Epiphany, as the word implies, celebrates the “aha moments” where we discover more deeply who Jesus is for us from Jesus’ birth to his transfiguration.  The son of God made visible as a baby in a manger.  A voice from heaven at Jesus’ baptism telling us this is God’s beloved Son.  Jesus calling us to follow him just as he calls the first disciples.  Jesus teaching us in his sermon on the mount.  As we recall the life of Jesus today, let’s also reflect on “aha” or “epiphany moments” in our own lives where Jesus has revealed himself to us in a powerful way.  These moments are special – they don’t happen all of the time, but God has blessed many of us with glimpses of God’s glory like the disciples receive today on the mountaintop with Jesus being transfigured before him.  Timely words of encouragement from a friend.  A feeling of warmth or presence from God.  An answer to a prayer.  God blesses us with these stepping stones of faith and hope so that we can trust and believe that Jesus is for us, fully divine and fully human, for us.
    Here’s the thing about Transfiguration Sunday…when I ask people what their favorite church holiday is or their favorite story about Jesus, I have never heard anyone say, “Why, Jesus’ transfiguration of course!”  I’m sure it’s someone’s favorite story about Jesus, but most people say Christmas or Easter, Pentecost or even the more melancholic of us, Ash Wednesday or Good Friday.  Notice even our Creeds reference Jesus’ birth, death, resurrection and ascension but do not mention his transfiguration.  Nevertheless, this mountaintop “aha moment” with Jesus is an important glimpse of his glory and a powerful reassurance of the hope we have in Christ for the disciples and for us.  The transfiguration is a mountaintop moment of hope and promise on the journey with Jesus as we’ll be following him down to a very different mountain, Mount Calvary in six weeks – his death on the cross for our salvation.
    This is a moment to remember for Peter, James, and John. Peter’s so excited he wants to hold on to this amazing revelation of Moses, Elijah and Jesus together by pitching some tents so they can camp out together awhile on the mountain top.  Wouldn’t we want to do the same?!  There were no cameras or phones to capture and preserve this experience and share it with all of their friends on social media – they only have words to tell about it excitedly to others afterward, and even then, Jesus asks them to wait until after his resurrection!  And here’s the other thing; we see in Jesus being transfigured both a glimpse of his glory, a moment of clarity about who Jesus truly is, but we also feel along with the disciples somewhat confused about what this all means; that some things about Jesus remain a mystery.  What does it mean that Jesus has to die and will be raised again?  The disciples definitely don’t know.  We don’t have it all figured out – this moment somehow both preserves our faith and keeps us wanting more.  Jesus himself helps Peter, James, and John and us see that this is a stepping stone on the journey with him rather than a place to stay awhile.  It is with this glorious experience that the disciples are strengthened for the journey to follow him to the cross and to hang in there to run excitedly from the empty tomb as they begin to understand more and more Jesus is Savior and Lord.
    As you look over our readings for today again, notice that God speaks to both Moses and the disciples from a cloud on the mountain.  The cloud represents the hope-filled but also mysterious presence of the Lord with us.  Perhaps we come today to God feeling more “cloudy,” than clear-eyed and bright.  We bring our concerns about our personal finances due to inflation, or we are dealing with chronic pain/health issues.  We bring our worries about our country and our world.  A conflict in a friendship or with a family member might be bringing us down.  Maybe we feel cloudy in our relationship with God just because we do find it hard to trust sometimes that God is right here, right now, in the midst of the mundane of everyday life, and not only in a blaze of shining, dazzling glory on a mountaintop.  We bring our questions and confusion to God, too.
    So the more I get to thinking about it, I actually really like the story of Jesus’ transfiguration, because it gives us a touchpoint of hope on the way between Christmas and Easter.  Jesus shining like the sun in all his glory gives us a glimpse of the divine – of what we ourselves have to look forward to on the other side of fear, disease, death, and destruction.  The voice from the cloud tells the disciples to listen to Jesus, God’s beloved Son.  And then in the cloud of their confusion and fear Jesus comes over, touches them, and tells them to get up and not be afraid.  When they look up, all they can see is Jesus.  Jesus is all they need to see, and to listen to.  In Jesus is our hope – his birth, his baptism, his teaching, his transfiguration, his death and his resurrection all point us to the hope and salvation we have in him.  These are the aha moments God gives us in Christ to encourage us and assure us not just in the mountaintop highs of our lives, but also in the valley lows and the ordinary everyday humdrum of life; Jesus is there, and Jesus will be there.  Thanks be to God.  Amen!