The masks we wear or Who is Jesus - part 2. Sermon for the Sunday before Lent. February 19th 2023.

Sunday, 19 February 2023 The Sunday next before Lent

The Masks we Wear or Who is Jesus - part 2.

Loving God, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my lord, my God and redeemer. Amen.

A modern icon of the Transfiguration by Alexander Ainetdinov

When I was younger, not very long ago, I used to hear the term transfiguration, and would get very worried, because I thought it might be a maths problem and I’m really not very good at maths. So, perhaps the key to working out what the transfiguration is, in today’s Gospel, is to work out the formula and all shall be well. Perhaps it’s 1 + 1 + 1 = 1, or is that a different day? Or maybe the answer is totally different altogether.

The transfiguration story begins as Jesus’ closest disciples follow him up the mountain and witness a change in his very nature.

The last time I preached, I asked, who is Jesus, as he met his closest disciples for the first time calling them to follow him, as he began his ministry.

With the exception of Andrew, it’s the same disciples who go with Jesus today, and again, we learn more about the nature of Jesus, this time, just before he begins his journey to the cross.

So what does the transfiguration tell us, and the disciples, about Jesus?

There is an important contrast here, between two truths, that the Son of Man is humble and obedient even to death; but also that he has been sent by God, with great power to receive a Kingdom, through eternal life and resurrection.

None of these events happen in isolation. Just as no one story or event in Jesus’ life tells us everything about him. In this we learn more about Jesus, but do we also learn something about ourselves, and the veils and masks we wear to get through life.

So what is going on here? Transfiguration, is from the Latin transfiguratio, and is the experience of momentary divine radiance.

In this telling, the perspective is that of the disciples, not of Jesus himself. So Jesus takes the three up the mountain, he is transformed ‘before them’ and Moses and Elijah appear.

The point isn’t just the change in Jesus, but a change in our understanding of who he is. The full truth will only come after his death and resurrection, but these privileged three have a foretaste, an anticipation ahead of time, which will only really make sense later.

The gospels vary in the language used to describe Jesus’ appearance; and we don’t really know what happened because, after all, camera phones hadn’t been invented, but this was significant.

Matthew uses a language of divine presence, picking up on Old Testament language such as clothed in light[1]; ‘white as snow’, or ‘white as light.’

White clothes can also be the hallmark of angelic figures and even a High Priest[2] but his ‘face shining like the sun’ is a sign of divinity, both biblically and from pagan times.

In any case, it seems like a mask has been lifted to reveal the true identity of Jesus.

There are also some parallels with Moses’ encounter with God on Mount Sinai[3] where he ascends a mountain, and in a cloud, receives a revelation of God’s glory.

But there are key differences: Moses’ shining face was reflected glory fading with time,

whereas the glory of Jesus is a revelation of who he really is,

this is not so much of a transformation as a pulling back of a mask, the veil, as in ‘veiled in flesh, the Godhead see’ as Wesley wrote in Hark the Herald Angels Sing to reveal the true nature of Jesus Christ.

Moses and Elijah, were changed by encounters with God and they are thought to represent the law and the prophets;

The way Elijah and Moses died is also telling; in Jewish tradition the unknown circumstances of Moses’ death on Mount Nebo and his burial place known only to God[4] and Elijah being taken up to God on a chariot of fire, without dying[5] earned them the title of ‘the deathless ones’.

The presence of deathless ones is another sign for the followers of Jesus’ about his conquest of death.

These are the most senior prophets in Jewish tradition, also signifying the rescuing of God’s people from slavery to freedom (Moses) and the call to faithfulness (Elijah);

both encountered God on mountains (Sinai/Horeb) and both experienced rejection and suffering at the hands of God’s people, which makes the connection between the suffering Jesus has just spoken of and the glory which he will receive.

Their witness to the transformation of Jesus cannot be understated. They join together the old and new and the full truth will only come after his death and resurrection, but these privileged three have a foretaste, an anticipation ahead of time, which will only really make sense later.

Not yet making sense of all this is clear from Peter’s clumsy interjection, in offering to make shelters and capture the moment, perhaps he didn’t know what to say or wants the experience to go on, or to try and make his own contribution when he really just needed to be in the moment.

Peter hasn’t understood that this is a drawing back of the curtain, a lifting of the mask, giving him and the other two a glimpse of the heavenly reality of who Jesus really is.

The voice of God here echoes Jesus’ baptism with the words addressed to those watching, who are told to, ‘listen to him,’ by God himself. Jesus isn’t simply like Moses or Elijah; he transcends them as the Son of the Living God, as we encounter God’s presence and glory.

At God’s voice, the disciples fall to the ground like shepherds in great fear, leading to Jesus’ final action, he ‘comes to them’, touches them, and commands them ‘Get up, do not be afraid’. God and the prophets have gone and they are left with the memory, and only with Jesus, but his company is enough.

The disciples’ have been given a really important piece of the jigsaw puzzle to help them make sense of Jesus’ death and resurrection. They are slowly putting together the pieces of Jesus’ identity and how he is fulfilling the purposes of God.

Whereas we are like those who have been given the puzzle box, with the finished picture on the outside so that we can see with hindsight where the pieces fit together.

This rather striking, and unusual encounter with Jesus bursts forth into the mundane, becoming an important reality of the Christian faith.

Perhaps this is where we come in because transformation isn’t just for Messiah’s, Prophets and St Paul on the road to Damascus. Paul talks in Romans of the ‘transformation’ that is affected by God as we continually offer our lives as ‘living sacrifices’[6] where faith brings a transformation for us, as we see the transformed face of Jesus:

In Corinthians Paul says, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” [7]

Paul goes on to contrast this spiritual truth with the mundane realities of life by talking about, ‘having this treasure in jars of clay’[8] where they have been hidden away.

There are moments in our lives when I’m sure we seen or experienced something like this.

When a friend talks about how they came to faith and it changed their life and their face lights up.

Several months ago I was talking to my counsellor about my paid work, and then described something which had happened in my life of faith, and afterwards, she said, your face lit up when you were telling me about the encounter you had in church, you seemed to change from inside.

I’m not claiming anything special here but after Easter we will hear about Pentecost when the people received flames of the spirit becoming lit up by them, so they themselves are shining.

These encounters tell us that the kind of transformation experienced by Jesus, and later the disciples, is not limited to just them, but is a change open to us all.

We all wear masks to gets through life, to give us confidence, to be the person we think the other wants to see and some people forget who their true selves are, becoming so lost in their masks.

But occasionally, our veils are lifted, we become fully open, honest and authentic. Our true selves are revealed, and perhaps it’s when we feel most safe that we can be vulnerable to each other and to God.

It’s the kind of thing that happens within deep friendships or when we find that God was with us all the time.

This seems to be how the Transfiguration works for the three disciples, offering insight into who Jesus is. Is it an insight we have yet to gain for ourselves? And is it one which we are living out as his continuously transformed disciples?

Can we be open to the presence of God in our lives today, so that our masks can be removed, our faces shining with the glory of God? I hope and pray they can be, when we are ready, and sometimes a simple prayer is all it takes, which is how I’ll end;

Lord, may the light of your countenance shine brightly in our hearts, that we may reflect your glory today and always. Amen.

Preached at St George, Cam.

Streamed here https://www.youtube.com/live/CNEITuSH9JI?feature=share

Readings

2 Peter 1.16–21

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷For he received honour and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ ¹⁸We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.
So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. ²⁰First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, ²¹because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Matthew 17.1–9

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. ²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. ⁴Then Peter said to 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.’ ⁵While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ ⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. ⁷But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’ ⁸And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.