Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
February 22, 2004
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
About a month ago, I was drinking my morning cup of Joe Chan’s good coffee when Lakita came up to me and said, “Why is your head so shiny?” I was mortified! In front of Lea and Wendy, I tried to recompose myself but it was pretty hard to hide the fact that I have a shiny forehead! Maybe it’s being outside playing tennis too long or outside tending my garden, but I don’t know why my forehead is shiny. So I went to Long’s Drugs and found this rice paper in the cosmetics department. It takes the shine away. Today I didn’t use it because I want my forehead to shine.
Most of us are searching for ways to have a shine on our faces. There are many television commercials that suggest that when you use their product, your entire appearance and outlook on life will change. You’re a new person, exuding self-confidence, a person of new optimism and more self-esteem. You walk into the lobby of your office building and people noticed something about you. You meet your colleagues and they notice a glow on your face. You know what commercial I’m thinking about!
For Christians, we would travel thousands of miles from home to the Holy Lands to walk the steps of Jesus in order to have a shining face. Pilgrims would break bread at the site on which Jesus transformed five loaves and two fish into enough food to feed a multitude. They would stare at a large, embossed star covering the site on which it is believed that Jesus was born. They would visit the empty tomb surrounded by a beautiful garden. We do this with the hope that we would have a shining face after our journey.
To get a shining face, we don’t really need to make a long trip to the Holy Lands to experience God’s presence. Those who went to Urbana came back with shining faces. After spending a week at Youth Camp, our junior highs and senior highs come home with shining faces. And I hope that after every Sunday when you are here to worship that you leave with a shining face.
We desire to have God’s presence in our lives believing that the sun would always be shining and no storm clouds would rain on our parade. If only we could see Christ standing right up there before us in dazzling white clothes our faces would be beaming too. We want our shining faces to reflect a glimpse of God’s glory.
The Transfiguration
In today’s Scripture, we read about the Transfiguration when God appeared in a tangible, vivid, and real way. Jesus takes his three closest disciples on a mountain hike. When the four reach the top of the mountain, Jesus begins to pray. Peter, James and John close their eyes, dozing off like some of you do in church. While the disciples sleep, the four become six as Moses and Elijah join Jesus on the mountain. They were discussing Jesus’ upcoming departure to Jerusalem. The disciples soon open their eyes and see this glorious event. They witness the dazzling white face of Jesus. They behold Moses and Elijah. They saw the three men standing in front of their very eyes, with a blazing, bright light illuminating their bodies.
The Transfiguration was a sight to behold. James and John stood in awe. But Peter being the practical one, knew that people might want to come to a special place to worship and receive a shining face. He came up with this plan to build three altars or dwellings for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. He wanted time to stand still. The glorious brightness lit up Peter’s own face that he wanted Moses, Elijah, and Jesus to just remain together on the mountaintop so that others might experience it too.
When we experience an intimate encounter with Christ, we too, want it to last forever. Don’t we? It’s like the tourists who come to San Francisco so they buy a can of SF fog to bring home or at the very last minute, they buy a loaf of sourdough at the airport before departing. We want to capture our bright encounters with Christ, bottle them in a jar, and watch them glow for hours. One time when Charcoal and Marjorie’s children came to visit us in Pennsylvania, they wanted to capture fireflies in a jar so that they may cherish this natural wonder for a little longer. We want a tangible God we can take out and hold whenever we want to especially during times when the going gets tough.
But God’s tangible presence seems to last only for a fleeting moment. Even though you might want to savor the sourdough bread for a long time, once you start eating it, it’s gone very quickly. Despite our desperate cries and helpless prayers, the tangible touch of God does not seem to linger long enough for us. Just as we are beginning to enjoy the view from the mountaintop, it’s time to descend the mountain and return home to normalcy. Pretty soon the events that caused you to have a shining face begin to fade from your memory.
Down from the Mountain
The glory of God is revealed to the disciples for only a matter of minutes. After God speaks, the cloud disappears, and the disciples climb down the mountain with a plainly clothed Jesus. The disciples have seen Jesus’ true identity. But as soon as the disciples step foot off the mountain, their behavior reverts back to routine normalcy.
At the beginning of Chapter 9, when Jesus calls the disciples to follow him, he gives them power to cast out demons, cure diseases, to heal, and to proclaim the kingdom of God. But in the passage immediately following the Transfiguration, the disciples didn’t know how to use their powers. A father brought his only son with a demon but the disciples couldn’t cast it out. Although the disciples’ eyes have seen the glory of the Lord, nonetheless, the disciples fail to take hold of this glory. Their faces shone only for a short time and it didn’t transform them long enough to cast the demons out of this boy.
Perhaps the reason that they couldn’t use their newly given powers is that they kept silent in what they saw on top of that mountain and “told no one any of the things they had seen.” Maybe they didn’t want to tell anyone because they wanted to treasure the event only for themselves. They may have wanted to relive the powerful experience just the way they remembered it without anyone else adding their two cents in. They didn’t understand that the Transfiguration was a sign that Jesus’ real glory would be revealed in his death and resurrection. That would only happen down from the mountaintop where humanity lives.
The disciples didn’t understand that God’s glory is not meant to be kept in a holy place, enshrined high up on the mountaintop where no one else can get to. It’s almost as if the three were in some kind of holy fog when they came down from the mountain. They left their shining faces up in the mountaintop and couldn’t come up with the power to heal the boy.
Then God’s glory is revealed in Jesus when he heals the boy. The Transfiguration was not over when Jesus left the mountaintop. The healing of the boy is a sign that God’s glory is present with all of us in the valleys and on the plains too. Every day is a Transfiguration day, as human lives are transformed into the likeness of Christ. We are the ones who carry the message of the transfiguration to the world around us. We become a sign to the world that God will never give up on the human race. Our shining faces, reflecting God’s glory, are shouting the good news of Jesus Christ not just up on the mountaintop but down here in the world where you and I live too.
Shining Faces Around Us
Have you ever seen someone’s face shine? Beside my shining forehead!
My favorite part of a wedding occurs after the vows have been exchanged, when I have the bride and the groom turn around and face the congregation, introducing them as “Mr. and Mrs. So and So.” The two persons who marched in as single adults are now husband and wife marching out as transformed people. Their faces shine. They have been transformed—changed.
How about the time when you attended you son or daughter’s graduation? The change occurs just as the graduate receives his or her diploma, shakes hands with the college president, and turns to face the audience with searching eyes to catch a glimpse of your eyes. The young woman who marched in as a freshman marches out as a college graduate. Her face shines. She has been transformed—changed.
One of the most memorable events in the life of our church is believer’s baptism. You see the candidate climbs down the steps. I can feel him shudder not because the water is cold but from the whole idea of symbolically dying and being raised from the dead because of the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. The change has already been happening but when the person is raised from the water and is completely wet, he is transformed—changed.
In each event, the significance of the moment is reflected on the faces of the individuals. Their excitement cannot be contained. They can’t just remain the way they were. Their faces shine.
When I was in Boston this past week to visit our granddaughter, Evi, I was struck by the smiling and shining face that I wore when I held her, played with her, and going to the aquarium with her. Seeing a child whether it’s Evi or Bryce or Dylan or Emi or Kate or Jace or any of the children who are a significant part of our lives, we can’t help but to be transformed because we see God’s glory and presence in our midst.
When we encounter Jesus Christ in our lives, it has the power to make our faces shine. Perhaps you have experienced a time when, during your prayers with God, you felt God take hold of your tongue, shaping your spoken words. Maybe you have been at a loss for words in the face of tragedy when the Spirit suddenly interceded for you. Possibly God has entered on one of your dark lonely nights, filling your room with a warm and loving mysterious light.
God’s presence and power are always with us. God is around us all the time. We see God through nature, our friends, and family members. We hear God’s voice in the cry of a new baby and in prayers that are answered. We feel God’s touch in the gentle arms of a friend hugging our neck or holding our hands. We can see, touch, and hear God. God is with us.
Some of you will be joining me today in the Inquirers Class because when we learn the meaning of Baptism, we understand that when we die to our old selves, we are then transfigured into something new. Paul writes in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new.”(5:17) We come out of the experience of Baptism with smiling and shining faces because we acknowledge publicly that God’s glory and presence are with us.
But many times, we don’t recognize that God is with us at all. We walk down the mountain and revert back to our ordinary ways and continue to live our carefree lifestyles like nothing has happened at all.
It’s something like this.
The man whispered, “God, speak to me.”
And a meadowlark sang. But the man did not hear.
So the man yelled, “God, speak to me!”
Thunder rolled across the sky. But the man did not listen.
The man looked around and said, “God, let me see you.”
A star shone brightly. But he noticed it not.
And the man shouted, “God, show me a miracle.”
And a life was born. But the man was unaware.
So, the man cried our in despair, “Touch me, God, and let me know that you are here!”
Whereupon God reached down and touched the man.
But the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on.
Lenten Journey
Transfiguration Sunday is a transition Sunday. It is a bridge over which we walk to get to the season of Lent. The transfiguration is like a road sign pointing back to Jesus’ baptism when he is declared the Son of God while also pointing toward his crucifixion and resurrection in Jerusalem.
During the season of Lent, we will have an opportunity to return time and time again to the passion of the cross. Through our Lenten disciplines of attending Bible studies or engaging in prayer or attending worship, we will be able to sit and dwell in face-to-face encounters with Christ. Lent is a time of searching for Christ. Lent is a time of drawing closer to Christ, and learning more about his true identity. As we go searching for Christ during this sacred season, let us draw others to search with us, enabling them to see Christ through all that we do. May our encounters with Christ shine through our faces.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus, we want to experience you more fully. Enable us to see, hear, taste, smell, and touch you. Come and be transfigured before our very eyes. Take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. And when we encounter you, may these incidents not only touch our minds, but our hearts as well. May each experience with you cause us to sing songs of praise and thanksgiving. May we reflect you and your love to all we encounter. Shine, Jesus, shine! Amen.