Last Sunday after Epiphany (Matthew 17:1-9)  03/06/2011

(Transfiguration of Christ)

The amazing growth of hi-tech devices has created a number of ways to watch movies these days…and my usual preference is the fairly low-tech method of receiving a disc in the mail from Netflix. But this past Sunday, Carol and I decided to catch a movie in the theater before watching the Academy Awards that evening. We decided to go to “The King’s Speech,” a movie about the life and challenges of Prince Albert, the Duke of York. The movie dramatically tells the story of Prince Albert’s challenging life: challenges that would be faced by any member of Britain’s royal family and challenges that were unique to Albert – most notably the difficulties of public speaking for a man who suffered from a stammering speech problem since his earliest days. Everyone faces challenges throughout their lives – some challenges can be avoided or accommodated through the decisions we make; but some challenges must be faced head-on because these difficulties stand in the center of our road of life, they block the very path we must travel if we are true to who we are as individuals. Public speaking (for Prince Albert) was the immovable, center-of-the-road type of challenge. The story tells us that the Prince had already tried several methods of correction before he met a man who had a reputation for his success and for his unorthodox methods of correcting speech problems. The reluctant Prince is finally introduced to his new instructor and after some awkward conversation the teacher asks the Prince to try recording his voice by reading aloud from a book while he listens to music through headphones. Shortly after beginning the test, the Prince is not convinced his teacher’s methods have any merit and he abruptly leaves, but not before he is given a copy of his voice recording. The unhappy Prince returns home and soon his curiosity gets the better of him and he listens to the recording – to his surprise the recording of the bizarre experiment proved that the Prince read the book aloud with perfect speech. The story of Prince Albert’s struggle to overcome his speech problems had really just begun that day, but at the beginning of that long road was this recording – an amazing recording that seemed to be from some different place breaking into the “now” of today…a day that remained to be full of challenges and difficulties.

This morning we hear Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration of Jesus, and perhaps we are just as amazed as Peter, James and John at the dazzling white transformation of Jesus on the top of the mountain. Imagine the surprise of that event – Jesus has asked three of his disciples to join him on a walk to the top of a mountain, maybe some time to pray or to receive some instruction from their teacher. Throughout this section of Matthew’s Gospel account we hear Jesus teaching his followers about the challenges of discipleship and the difficulties that are in store for Jesus as they draw closer to Jerusalem. Jesus and his small group of disciples reach the top of the mountain and he is transfigured before them, revealing the full glory of his divinity. Although the challenges and difficulties of discipleship remain with them, on that day Jesus chose to break through the disciples’ present understanding and show them that in their midst God’s dazzling and beloved Son stood incarnate before them. Truly an overwhelming experience, so unnerved by the experience that they fell to the ground as the voice from the cloud declared, “this is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” (Mt 17:5b) We heard these same words at the Baptism of Jesus as we started the season of Epiphany and we hear these words again today, on this Last Sunday after Epiphany. And both events (the Baptism of our Lord and the Transfiguration of Christ) are promises of God’s eternal glory and our participation in God’s plan as children of God. But Peter, James and John are full of fear and fall to the ground – we might wonder, why do they not stand with great confidence as followers of Christ?

I imagine if we had the opportunity to join Peter, James, and John on the mountain top, we would have fallen to the ground as well…I think I might have even looked for a nice big rock to hide behind until everything was back to normal. And as odd as Peter’s suggestion to begin building some dwellings might seem, we should give him some credit that he was able to think through the idea…any idea at all! The voice from the cloud has the answer for us, “listen to him!” And for many of us, listening can be very difficult. The disciples did not seem to be comforted by this advice as they fell to the ground in fear. However, they were finally comforted by the touch of Jesus; they were comforted by the presence of the One who would endure many sufferings and many hardships before his resurrection on Easter morning. Today we are in the glorious and dazzling light of the season of Epiphany, but today we also stand on the threshold of Lent…and we too must walk down the mountain and face the challenges of discipleship. But we do not face the season of Lent without the assurance that Christ rose victorious on Easter morning – the Transfiguration is our assurance, our glimpse of the full glory of the Risen Christ.

Prince Albert, who would become King George VI, was inspired by the recording of his perfect speech. He was strengthened to continue his journey to overcome the challenges that were set before him. Today, on this Last Sunday after Epiphany, we experience the full glory of the Transfigured Christ as he breaks into our lives and we are comforted to know that God is with us always. As we prepare to begin our Lenten journeys may we prayerfully seek Christ and “listen to him” as he is revealed to us in our daily lives. AMEN.