The Transfiguration of Our Lord

The Transfiguration of Our Lord – February 22, 2004

Exodus 34:29-35

Moses comes down from the mountain with a sacred sun burn.

Go out into the sun too much this coming summer while you vacation at the Outer Banks and you will know what Moses knew: That your face can get burned and “glow” when overexposed. In Moses’ case, it was overexposure to God. So he had a sacred sun burn.

It was overexposure because this was the second time Moses went to the mountain to chat with God. The first time he went up a host of the Israelite leaders went with him. They literally dined in the presence of God. It was a holy feast and at the end of the feast God invited Moses up the mountain so the two of them could have a chat.

It’s a little like being invited to the White House by President Bush, so you take along the immediate family and couple of close friends. The guides show you around, and then the President invites you into the Oval Office. Just you. No one else. The two of you have a chat. You can imagine you would come out of the office feeling a little full of yourself and anyone could see it by looking at your face. You could call it the “Presidential” glow.

Well, Moses comes down from the mountain and he has in his hands the tablets with all the commands and other helpful words from the Lord. What Moses encounters as he comes down the mountain is a mess. While he has been gone the Israelites have become anxious and nervous that he may not be coming back, so they have Aaron make them a calf of gold to worship. Moses comes down from the mountain, encounters this foolishness and breaks the stone tablets. He is angry, for sure.

Thus, Moses has to make a second trip up the mountain. God summons him once again. The helpful words are once more place on new stone tablets and all is well.

Except now Moses has been overexposed and he glows. He glows clearly with the sacred sun burn.

This is what happens to you when you encounter God: So bright with glory and holiness is God that you obtain a sacred sun burn if you spend too long in God’s presence. Have a “calf of gold” experience and you may find yourself needing a veil for your face, as did Moses.

Isn’t this interesting story our story?

Kelly Fryer, a Lutheran Pastor, tells her story. It may be your story as well. She and her brother were playing baseball in the backyard when she was about eight years old. He served up the perfect pitch and she hit it so well. Yes, she hit it right through the bedroom window. Crash went the glass. She and her brother were horrified.

But, a patient and understanding father came out and asked if the ball belonged to them. “Yes,” it did, they admitted. The glass in the window as quickly replaced with a new one from the hardware, with the words from dad, “Now, no more backyard baseball. The yard is too small.”

The next day Kelly and her brother simply could not resist and they got the ball and bat. Yes, you know the rest of the story, don’t you? He served up the perfect pitch, she hit it, and right through the same window it went.

Dad was not so patient or understanding this time. As both Kelly and her brother hid behind the garage, they knew why: deliberate disobedience.

Whether you identify with Kelly and her story, or Moses and his, or even have yet a better story than both of them, you know your need for God’s loving forgiveness.

So turn with me to Jesus. He is on the mountain and is there set glowing in the presence of his disciples. Appearing in the radiance of the holy is Moses and Elijah. Now, Moses and Elijah have spent time with God, no wonder they are glowing. And Jesus is transfigured because he is the very Son of God. He is more radiant than the most dazzling white.

If, for some reason you haven’t caught on by this point, Luke tells us God speaks: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.”

Get it? If you are really in the need of a savior; if a sinner really wants a restored relationship with God and with others, here is God’s gift: the savior, Jesus. This transfigured One will become the One of the cross and suffer and die there that the loving forgiveness of God can be known by everyone, especially you and me.

Because of the cross we know forgiveness, especially when we hit that baseball through the same window a second time or dance with that calf of gold. Forgiveness is God’s loving and gracious way with us.

How blessed we are. How blessed we are to be loved by our God of grace and forgiveness. In the transfigured Christ, God makes us new. Now, that’s something to glow about. It’s almost like having a sacred sun burn, but it is better. Graciously forgiven means we have a future with God that will never end. It begins now and continues at the banquet table in the kingdom to come. How blessed we are. Amen.

Pastor Robert F. Holley