Transfiguration People: Mark 8:27--9:8 = Transfiguration Sunday

In my opinion, Transfiguration Sunday is the most confusing of the church year festivals. We are remembering, of course, the revelation of Jesus’s divine glory on the mountaintop.

But what does it all mean?

A blog I follow created by a retired Lutheran pastor lists 9 explanations of the event, and I am not going to subject you to any of them, because we have pancakes and sausage to eat.

Perhaps we should rename this “Pancake Sunday,” at least, because this would give everyone something to get excited about.

But what if you showed up expecting to eat your fill of pancakes and sausage, only for me to tell you that we are going to do something completely different, but better than anything you could have anticipated? Wouldn’t you be a little disappointed if there are no pancakes and sausage?

In the business world, this is called “bait and switch.” One might say that Jesus pulled a bait and switch with his disciples.

Carl Bloch, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Peter is the first person in the Gospels who confesses that Jesus is the Messiah.

Click here to read the Sermon text

Peter and all his fellow Jews were waiting expectantly for the Messiah who would drive the Roman occupiers out of the Holy Land, reunite the twelve lost tribes, and reestablish Israel as the mighty kingdom it had been under David. Thus far, Jesus had given his disciples no reason to doubt that he would do just that, given the miraculous signs and wonders he’d performed.

But then, Jesus teaches that he will undergo great suffering and be rejected by the religious authorities and be killed, and after three days rise again. Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to scold Jesus because these things cannot happen if he’s the Messiah. Jesus says, “get behind me, Satan! You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Peter is likely still reeling from Jesus’s stinging rebuke when he leads him high onto a mountain with James and John. Suddenly, Jesus’s appearance changes; his clothes become dazzling white. Moses and Elijah appear and begin talking with Jesus.

In this moment, any doubts the disciples had vanished away. Suddenly, a voice from heaven says, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Moses and Elijah disappear, Jesus’s appearance returns to normal, and he goes back down the mountain and resumes his ministry. Jesus will not conquer the Romans. Rome will crucify Jesus. But Jesus will rise again after three days, just as he said.

Nevertheless, the disciples will struggle to embrace this new vision of the future. It is just as difficult for us to embrace a new vision of the future which is different from what we had hoped for. This is going to be our challenge in this season of Lent that is before us.

This morning, we took our first major step into a whole new reality for our congregation. We changed our worship time, which is always a difficult and controversial step for any congregation to take. In March, this congregation will be without a full-time pastor for the first time in over 100 years, and I will no longer be serving you full time as I have done for the last 12+ years. We must be honest with ourselves that this change would not be taking place if our Sunday attendance and offerings were equivalent to what they were in the 1950s. Or even, for that matter, what they were in the 1980s.

But people still need Jesus, and the Spirit is no less determined to draw people to faith. The Body of Christ is greater than our church.

Jesus brings people together, which is why our new partnership with Cross Roads can be described as a transfiguration of ministry. This isn’t about saving the church; it’s about being the church. When I think back over the last year, and how much prayer and conversation and hard work went into the creation of this partnership, I cannot help but see the God’s hand.

Think back on all that God has done just in the past year: we raised $30,000 in four months to restore the Bell Tower. Tens of thousands of pieces of clothing have been shared. Lives have been saved at GriefShare. Hundreds of children and families came to the Easter Egg Hunt and the Back-to-School Block Party. You have loved and supported one another through terrible trials and ordeals. Your faith is growing and bearing much fruit.

You can call it transfiguration, you can call it transformation, you can call it resurrection, you can call it rebirth; it’s all the same. It’s not a question of if Jesus can do these things. The greater question is if we’re prepared to embrace this new vision of the future and trust what Jesus is doing.

Perhaps that’s what Transfiguration Sunday is all about: preparing yourself to journey with Jesus through the wilderness of change and challenge; stepping out of your comfort zone; letting go of the things that hold you back. It’s time to stop going your own way and imagining the future as a return to a past, because that’s not what resurrection is. Listening to Jesus and following Jesus, we become transfigured people and a transfigured church. And we do not fear to walk the path of faith, because we know that all wilderness journeys lead to resurrection. Do not fear change. Do not fear struggle. Do not despair in the face of loss. Claim this new vision of the future and trust Jesus to bring it to life.