I recall the "tell no one" part but it suddenly jumped out at me that Jesus was calling this a vision. Is this an accurate translation. I know some scholars think this is post resurection narative. But right now I am fascinated to think that Jesus called this a vision.
What would that mean? Does it imply that it is largely a psychological phenomonon or that it may be like seeing ghosts? I don't want to read too much into this but it seems strange that Jesus would refer to this as a vision. I would have expected Jesus to refer to this as an event and later Christians to refer to it as a vision.
Wish Jesus gave us a discorse on what visions mean to him. Certainly the transfiguration prepared Jesus for the cross ahead but in what way? Manzel
I am still thinking about vision. Certainly this fits with the theme of Heaven opening up. It is an epiphany. It is both a divine message adn a communing with God and God's right hand leaders in history. Is this the essential nature of visions, that they bridge the realities of heaven and
earth? Manzel
Peter, James and John, were they really that much a part of an inner circle or were they the names that best evoked authority in the early church?
What if this whole narrative is post resurection legond? What is being sold here? What difference does it make? Is this given as evidence that Jesus is the son of God and that the resurection was foretold?
I am wrestling early with this familiar text. I am posting this in a country that finds "sacredness" in land, in places visited by prophets, in shrines. To look out into the barren landscape of flat, dry, treeless, sand and rock it stretches the limits of imagination to see anything here as sacred. But the prophets of several faith groups have wandered this land, and so, for countless followers, it is sacred.
Now we have Peter, James, and John. They go up the mountain with Jesus. Recalling history, many mountains were places of divine revelation and were sacred. But this mountain was ordinary. Was...until Jesus revealed his glory on it. Peter's reaction (very human) is to memorialize it, make it special, capture its sacredness. Jesus won't allow it. A valuable lesson emerges, I think. Sacredness in not in clouds, mountains, or even days on a calendar. Christ touching something, be it a mountain, a cloud, a word, a human soul transforms it into "sacred". So many things become sacred to us that are not touched by Christ. When Jesus departs the mountain, it is just a mountain. Until Jesus said, "This is my body and this is my blood," it remains bread and wine. Until He touches my soul, I am merely flesh and bones. Now to transform the listeners. Army Chaplain E, Middle East
Pulpitt in ND - I liked your honest statement last Saturday, that you like the limelight. An interesting, almost hidden, humorous tidbit in our conference newspaper indicated that 80% of preachers rated themselves as "above average." I wonder, how is that possible?? I had to chuckle to myself.
THANKS TO EVERYONE for all the contributions last week; I couldn't have made it without you!.
Off to our fellowship breakfast.
Sally in GA
Peter's remark always makes me think. First, why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut? Why did he find it necessary to speak and ruin this moment? Second, Peter wants this moment to last forever, thus he suggests building something permanent - the three booths. How many of us want some special encounter with God to last forever? I think of our own youth who want to stay at our church camp and not go home. They cry and cry and hug and cry. But Jesus calls us to go back down the mountain. We can not remain with him on the mountain forever. We must do ministry in the real world. We can be in church on Sunday, but we must be prepared for Monday, etc. PH in OH
An early thought . . . I was doing some checking on the roots of the word transfigure, and going back far enough, it is rooted in kneading dough to make bread. I am thinking about working some dough during the sermon, knowing that this is a worthwhile activity because I can see that it will eventually become bread. When the disciples looked at Jesus on the mountain, they could see that the work they were doing was eventually going to become the kingdom -- it's a vision thing, being able to figure a new way of seeing something. Kneading dough without the vision is hard work, and kind of pointless for those wanting an immediate return -- but how valuable it is when we know the outcome. Getting up, not being afraid of following Jesus is hard work, and kind of pointless in an "immediate gratification" world -- but how valuable it is when we know the outcome!
OLAS
For centuries, all over the world mystics have had experiences of the heavens opening or encountering the hivine here on earth. Lives are forever changed by such experiences.
Why do such experiences seem to happen freequently to some people and some long their whole lives to have such an experience? Manzel
For whatever reason, I did not take notice of some wording in the Epistle read on 2/3 until reading it during the service. 1Cor 1:21 "...God was pleased through THE FOOLISHNESS OF WHAT WAS BEING PREACHED to save those who believe." It struck me so funny as I read those words out loud. We all struggle, pray, read, share in order to wax eloquent as we preach. We want every sermon to be profound and how much of what we say sounds foolish?
And here we have Peter once again, rushing in with a rash of words, looking to say something profound, sounding rather foolish.
May God keep us fools for Christ as we prepare this week!
kat in PA
Ah, Chaplain E, good stuff. Maybe its good that its so hard to "transform the listeners." That way, we can't boast about ourselves; it helps us "walk humbly". I've found preaching to be like teaching. A person can go for long stretches feeling like no one "got it" when suddenly out of nowhere, he or she hears from someone about how their words made some problem clear to them and maybe even changed their lives. And that is a priceless gift. Hope you have one of those moments in your unusual "parish"
Max in NC
To OLAS - Many a parish pastor would love to have the dough rise in their congregations because they need it. I suppose that if you knead the dough well, perhaps you won't need the dough. It'll rise on its own. (Sorry, I couldn't pass that one up). A stewardship message arises. Army Ch E
I wonder what difference would it make,if this text had never been told? What news does this impart that is not told by another text?
I know that the communion table will have strings of white lights around the Bible covered with quilt batting so it looks like the Bible is resting on a cloud of light.
Nancy-Wi
Does this story reflect the idea that heaven is "up" and somehow a mountain top is closer to heaven?
Could it be that Jesus could have had this experience anywhere but Peter, James and John were more open to it on the mountain top? was it for them that Jesus took them up there?
It this experience and awareness was for their sake, then are not similar mystical experiences meant for us?
Manzel,
I think of a vision as kind of like being in a dark room and then experiencing a flash of light- perhaps from a camera strobe of someone flicking the lights on and then off. In the stoke of light we catch a glimspe of what is always there and though it dissapears from our "immediate" sensory vision and continues on in our memories and retelling of it, the reality still remains.
What do you think?
Pr.del in Ia
Thanks for your comments about LISTENING to Jesus, Eric. Also to OLAS on the etimology of transfiguration. It's early in the week for me to be visiting the site, but I have been trying to think of new approaches to this week's gospel reading & your thoughts have gotten me started at least! Spring semester begins this week and I need to do a little sermon building before I return to class!
StudentPastor in KS
I get a real kick out of this passage. Here we have Jesus in all his glory, Moses and Elijah, two of the most respected Hebrew characters, and good old Peter running off at the mouth. Peter was always the man of action; always the man who must be doing something.
“Oh this is good…”
“I will make three tents…”
“One for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah…”
Then the voice of God said, “This is my Son, sit down and be quite!”
Peter learned a good lesson here. There is a time for stillness; there is a time for contemplation, for wonder, for adoration, for awed reverence in the presence of the supreme glory. “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). And it may be that sometimes we also are too busy trying to do something when we would be better to be silent, to be listening, to be wondering, to be adoring in the presence of God. There is a time when God would say to us, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” or better yet, “Sit Down And Be Quite!” There is a time when we need to grasp the fact that God truly loves us and wants to communicate with us. There is a time when we need to have mountain top experiences.
Peter learned another valuable lesson as well. True, this must have been one of the high points in Peter’s life. This was a mountaintop experience. It is no coincidence that the Transfiguration happened high on a mountain. But Peter learned that his dwelling place was not on the mountain. There was work to be done. This was Peter, The Rock. As great as the mountaintop was, this was not his home. Jesus touched the disciples and said “Get up and do not be afraid” (Matthew 17:7). And they went down the mountain.
All of us know what it’s like to have a mountain top experience, a time when we experienced God in a profound way. But we know the truth. We were not made for the mountaintop. Life is certainly filled with more valleys that mountaintops. The mountaintops are given to us only to provide strength for the daily ministry in the valley. Our home is not on the mountaintop. Our home is with the people who live in the valleys, who have not seen the bright dazzling light and glory of God. The mountaintop gives us strength for our work in the valley. We spend time on the mountaintops and see the light but our mission then is to go down the mountain and we are to be the light of the world reflecting the love of Jesus.
Early thoughts from Pastor John in CT
Are we to take this text literally? I have to wonder. I guess there is no harm in that, but I have to wonder if we then fail to appreciate the richness of God's wonder being revealed in others day by day, as represented by this passage.
Who is actually "transfigured" in this account? Yes, it is Jesus, but he seems to be a passive player. Essentially for me it is the disciples, who are transfigured. They are the only ones who can describe the change, because Jesus cannot see himself. It requires the disciples to be present, in order to allow the passage to be told. I wonder how often Jesus changed like this and we don't know about it, because no one was there?
And so this passage always draws me to reflect upon the inner person.
For a brief moment the disciples were given insight into the inner person of Christ. They were given a window to his soul/spirit. They are privy to the very being of who he is. In that instance or day or week, (Whatever length of time it was. We aren't told)these three disciples were given the opportunity to witness the perfect human being, as God desired him to be. The full culmination of the Law, and the prophets. (Governed and motivated by love) Isn't that what the law and prophets were meant to achieve in Israel.
And we too when we gain deep insight into any other person, and we see God reflected in them, transfiguration often happens for us as well.
I have teenage children and occasionally I gain a glimpse of what their innermost thoughts are. For me, these are key moments of glimpsing the image of God in them. They are transfiguring moments for "ME".
To gain insight, into the VERY Son of God, simply would have been and still is an awesome moment.
That is why I am in this job!!!
To see the Law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah) reach their culmination in Jesus's life, would have left me speechless and trembling (like the women at the tomb), but I guess Peter is one of those, that terror and fear, impels to chatter.
Our world operates on such superficial levels of intimacy. Even husbands and wives, fail to reach the depth of being that each of us contains.
The transfiguration enables me, to believe that it is possible for others to see God through me. If I am prepared to be vulnerable and open enough. Sadly, my self-preservation hides myself from so many.
I love this man. This man we call Christ. He continues to reveal himself to me as he is transfigured through the pages of the gospels.
Regards to all,
KGB in Aussie.
