Transfiguration Sunday

Dear Friends: This Sunday we conclude the Epiphany season. The season of light moves into the season of Lent this Wednesday, with Ash Wednesday. So our last Sunday of the Epiphany season, called "Transfiguration Sunday", features a very strange-seeming passage. That of the Transfiguration of our Lord with three of His disciples on the mountaintop. The details are straightforward enough. Jesus leads Peter, James, and John (His "Kitchen Cabinet", you might say) up to the top of a mountain, where He is transfigured -- that is, His figure becomes glorious, His clothes white. And in the midst of this transfiguration appear Moses and Elijah, figures who had left the earth centuries before. Finally, a cloud appears, and a voice from Heaven declares again "This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him". Now for centuries scholars have known that the Gospel writer, in citing the appearance of Moses and Elijah, is also highlighting the two main divisions in the Old Testament, namely, the Law and the Prophets. And with God declaring to "Listen to Jesus", then obviously the Life, Death, and Resurrection in a new thing, that stands beside the Hebrew heritage for Law and Prophets, but goes beyond them too to achieve salvation for all. But there's something else going on here as well. We notice that Peter, in all His fear and trembling, expresses the desire to make little tents ("booths") and stay up there on the mountain with this amazing and glorious encounter with God. We too, want to stay in the moments where things are well, times are happy, and all is right with the world. But eventually, Jesus takes us back down into the valleys of life, where all the challenges lie. We're going to talk about this, and see what advice God gives us through His Word to cope with the valley-times of our lives. See you Sunday!!