The temptation of transfiguration.
Today is Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday of Epiphany, the season of the Christian year that begins on January 6 with the story of the Magi following the star in the east to Jerusalem so they may pay homage to the “child who has been born king of the Jews.” The last Sunday of the Epiphany journey concludes with today’s scripture reading from the 17th chapter of Matthew as Jesus, the child whom the Magi travelled to Jerusalem to adore, is transfigured before Peter, James, and John. It is a moment of eternal clarity as God’s voice claims the one whom the Magi identified as “the child who has been born king of the Jews is identified by God as “God’s Son, the Beloved.”
The reason these three disciples hear God claiming Jesus as God’s Son is because Peter has tempted Jesus to remain in the eternal moment of Jesus’ transfiguration as he states, “Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
This was not the first time Peter had tempted Jesus. Immediately preceding today’s scripture reading from the 17th chapter of Matthew, there is the story of Peter tempting Jesus after Jesus announces the intention of his ministry in Matthew 16:21-23.
From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
In both instances, Peter is tempting Jesus to reject the cross that will define Jesus’ ministry. In the 16th chapter, Peter tempts Jesus with the temptation of avoidance as he tells Jesus, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” In the 17th chapter of Matthew Peter tempts Jesus with the temptation of transformation as he tells 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.”
In both instances, Jesus responds to Peter’s temptation by embracing the call for which he had been born. Responding to the temptation of avoidance, Jesus embraced the call of the cross by telling Peter to get behind him as travelled to Jerusalem. Embracing the call of the cross, Jesus responded to the temptation of remaining in the brilliance of his transfiguration by walking down the Mount of Transfiguration and up the hill of Calvary.
Rev. Judith Jones reflects on what it means for Jesus to face the temptation of transfiguration.
The story of the transfiguration directs us away from trying to understand Jesus only as he is revealed in glory. It points us down the mountain and invites us to walk with Jesus into the suffering, hungry crowds. The divine voice commands us to listen to Jesus. But listening is more than hearing. As Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, building on the rock means not only hearing his words, but acting on them (Matthew 7:24). Hearing without obeying leads to catastrophe.
At Gethsemane, when Jesus himself faces the temptation to disobey his Father and abandon the road to the cross, the same three disciples who saw him transfigured wait with him while he grieves and prays. He passes the test, but they do not. He walks steadfastly on to suffering and death, and they desert him and flee. On the cross Jesus shows the world the obedient Son of God in all his suffering humanity, pouring out his blood for the forgiveness of sins. After the resurrection the Son of God appears to the disciples with all his divine authority, calling them to baptize and to teach people to obey his commands. Then he sends them down the mountain and into the world he loves, promising them that he will be with them always. We too are sent; we too must listen and obey. And the promise of his presence is ours as well.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German theologian who tried to organize the German church and the ecumenical movement to resist Adolph Hitler. In 1939, after repeated failures and disappointments, Bonhoeffer had his own meeting with Moses and Elijah. He met with his friend British Bishop Bell, the great US theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and Dutch world ecumenical leader Willem Visser’t Hooft. They arranged for Bonhoeffer to leave Germany and go to the United States to teach for one year. But when Bonhoeffer arrived in the US, he discovered his friends had arranged for him to take up long-term residence and to coordinate the assimilation of German refugees into the United States on behalf of the US Federal Council of Churches.
Bonhoeffer was faced with a choice. He could become a German expatriate in America. Other German theologians had done it. He could have become an armchair theologian, expounded his theories of how Christians can respond to Hitler from a safe distance. As biographer Edwin Robertson puts it, “had he stayed, he might have lived still, enjoying his eighties with a whole library of books to his credit—to say nothing of honorary doctorates! But he did not.”
After agonizing over the decision for three months, he chose to return because he felt that if he did not share in the suffering of his people, then he would also have no right to share in their recovery when the war was over. Bonhoeffer took what ended up being the last passenger ship to sail between the US and Germany before WWII and returned home, where he was eventually arrested and executed for his participation in a plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler.
Jesus was facing the temptation of transfiguration. He could either remain in the glory of the present moment or travel down the mountain into a future defined through the reality of the cross. Jesus chose the cross.
Will you walk the journey with him?
The Temptation of Transfiguration
by Pastor Marc Brown
February 19, 2023
Accompanying Scriptures: Matthew 17:1-9
Fort Hill United Methodist Church
Order of Worship for February 19, 2023
Scripture Lesson Matthew 17:1-9
The Good News “The Temptation of Transfiguration”
Music “O God Beyond All Praising” by Holst/Holstein, feat. Adult Choir and Celebration Ringers
Prayer
Blessing
Closing Music “Hallelujah! What a Savior” arr. Carol Tornquist
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