Transfiguration Sunday
February 7, 2016
Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:12 – 4:2; Luke
9:28-36
(Or watch here: https://youtu.be/UNmQvAYzQ9c )
The single most interesting thing I learned during my
sermon research this week is why some medieval and Renaissance artists put
horns on their depictions of Moses. The
most famous one is the sculpture of Moses that Michelangelo created in the
early 1500’s. The reason Michelangelo put horns on Moses is because of this
reading from Exodus where Moses comes down from Mount Sinai with his face
shining brightly. ‘Horn’ and the verb
‘to shine’ both have the same root in Hebrew.
Isn’t that interesting? How we
usually translate Moses’ face as shining, you could technically translate as
that he had horns. And, actually, one
old version of the Bible called the Vulgate, which is a Latin translation
popular in Michelangelo’s time, says Moses had horns. So, there’s a piece of Bible trivia for
you.
Now, we’re also told, in any version of the Bible, that
Moses had to wear a veil over his face after talking with God, because of how
his appearance was transformed. (Imagine
that, talking with God changes your appearance!) However, Paul says that the veil is now taken
away by Christ,[1] and “all of us are looking
with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror.
We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next
degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”[2] This idea of being transformed into his
image, from one degree of glory to the next, is also really intriguing. In the North Carolina Conference, each
quadrennium, or set of four years that the bishop is appointed to the
conference, the bishop sets a theme based in Scripture. For the quadrennium running from 2012 to 2016
the theme was “From Strength to Strength,” from Psalm 84:7, “They go from strength
to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion.” There we go “from strength to strength”; here
in 2 Corinthians we’re told we go “from glory to glory.” Isn’t that an interesting phrase? Did you know you’re going “from glory to
glory”? In some translations it says
we’re “gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives
and we become like him” or we’re becoming like him “in an ever greater degree
of glory.”[3]
Now,
why would that be? Some of us have been at this perfection business for years
and years, probably some of us here for over 80 years! Why is this an “ever greater degree of glory”
and where does it end? What’s the
highest degree? Well, before we get
there, let’s start at the lowest degree.
No matter how old or how young you were when you first started following
Jesus, no one starts out immediately
after baptism as the perfect image of Jesus. “No one falls head first into the pool of
God’s transforming love and emerges fully formed as a perfect reflection of
Christ.”[4] That’s just not how it works. Made in the image of God, yes. A perfect reflection of Christ when you first
meet him, no. That’s why there are
multiple references in the New Testament to being infants in Christ who are fed
with milk, not solid food. In 1
Corinthians 3, Paul writes, “And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to
you as spiritual people, but rather as … infants in Christ. I fed you with
milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food.”[5] 1 Peter 2 says that if you need to, be “like
newborn infants, [and] long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may
grow into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”[6] Finally, Hebrews 5 also makes the distinction
between infants and more mature Christians, apparently admonishing people who should
be more mature in the faith and yet are not.
The author says, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you
need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You
need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk, being still an
infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. But solid food is for the
mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish
good from evil.”[7] When you first start this journey, no matter
how old or young you are, we all start off like infants and gradually grow in
the faith and gradually become more mature and more a reflection of
Christ.
Here’s
the other thing about infants that’s relevant to the spiritual journey: “only
infants need to be fed.”[8] They are not responsible for feeding
themselves or for finding their own food, they’re not even able to! But as babies become toddlers, they start to want to feed themselves and are eager to
control how much they eat and what they eat.
And this analogy holds true for spiritual nourishment as well, as we
mature in Christ, it becomes our
responsibility to feed ourselves and no longer look to someone else to feed us. “This means that we practice the means of
grace. We immerse ourselves in scripture. We fellowship with believers. We
become missional, having been sent out into the world. We understand that God
is the source of all spiritual nourishment, but it is up to us, as maturing
followers, to feed ourselves from that bounty.”[9] One degree of glory is learning that we are
responsible for feeding ourselves, we are responsible for our own development
as Christians, not the pastor, not the church, not our parents. Jesus found times by himself to pray and
times to pray with others, like in our Gospel this morning. We start off as infants in Christ, and slowly
becoming more like him from one degree of glory to another means we become
responsible for our Christian development.
Now, what we choose from to feed ourselves is
God’s bounty, as God is the parent who still provides and the source of all
spiritual nourishment. However, much
like being at mom and dad’s house, we don’t always get to pick what’s on the
menu. Sometimes we have a say in it, and
sometimes there are going to be Brussel sprouts or the casserole everyone loves
but you. “Sometimes God puts things on
the menu that are not particularly appealing to us. This does not mean that
they aren't nourishing and necessary.”[10] Some nights you may go hungry, but it’s your
own fault for not eating. That’s part of
what it means to become mature. I
distinctly remember the night I ate cabbage, around sixth grade or so, because
I was really hungry and I couldn’t get anything else to eat until I’d eaten
what was on my dinner plate. It was good
for me, I didn’t like it, but I was hungry so I ate it. So, the next time you hear someone say
they’re not being fed at church, perhaps gently nudge them and ask if they
simply don’t like what’s on the menu!
The
last thing about being transformed from one degree of glory to the next is that
transform has to do with changing form, not content. In my linguistic days I had to learn the
importance of not just what you say,
but how you say it. If I stand up here and read my sermon without
every looking up, chances are it’ll be received differently than if I were to
memorize it and walk down here among the pews. [Walk down to the pews.] I’m saying the same words, but I’m changing the style of preaching. And I’m shy enough and nervous enough that I
like to stay up here with my script or outline or whatever I’ve prepared. I get stage fright, otherwise. [Return to pulpit.] Art criticism also deals with form and
content. It may be a picture of a vase
of flowers, which is the content, and then however it’s done, whether with oil
paints or pastels or charcoals or a photograph is the form, and the form
affects how you see the vase of flowers.
In the church, this is where the contemporary worship style came into
play and setting old hymns to new music or singing with a guitar instead of an
organ. The content is still the same,
it’s still worship of God, but the form has changed. Some of us adapt easily to electric guitars and
drums; for others of us, it’s hard to worship God when we’re not dressed nicely,
with the clothes to match the occasion.
And so, especially in smaller churches like ours, you find a mix of
styles, where some of us wear ties and others of us wear sneakers, where we use
new songs and old songs, where there are many traditional elements, because
that’s the kind of worship our sanctuary was designed for, and we mix in a few
things that are newer.
And so you can see that both us individually and us
together as the church are being transformed from one glory to the next, slowly
changing more and more into Christ’s image.
The mission statement of The United Methodist Church is to make
disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, transforming the
world from glory to glory as well. And
the second sentence of that mission statement, which we don’t usually hear as
often, says that “local churches provide the most significant arena through
which disciple-making occurs.”[11] The transformation of the world goes back to
the transformation of the local church, which is caused by disciple-making, or
the transformation of people into disciples, we who are being transformed into
Jesus’ image, from one degree of glory to the next. It’s a process, it’s a journey, but it’s not
one we ever go through by ourselves. And
God offers us nourishment for the journey.
On today’s menu is God, his body, broken, and his blood, spilled out for
us. You may not like it, you may not like your serving size, you may not
like the form of this particular loaf of bread and this particular brand of
grape juice, but this is what’s on the menu and God invites everyone to come to
his table. There is enough for all. So, come, and be fed.
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