The transfiguration is frustrating for disciples-past and present-who long for an unmediated experience of God. Jesus' glory is revealed, and then, just as suddenly, a cloud descends and the vision fades. And even though Paul contrasts the Christian's experience of God with Moses's veiled experience of God, he notes that we see the glory of the Lord "as though reflected in a mirror" (2 Cor. 3:18). Even with unveiled faces, we don't see directly, or even clearly. Even when God is revealed in shining glory, much remains veiled and hidden.

 

As he witnesses Jesus' transfiguration, Peter's understanding remains veiled; ours does too. The glimpses we get of God's glory-through the veil or reflected in the mirror-are expectation-shattering, alarming, overwhelming, and awesome. The love of God shines too brightly to view directly, and yet we do have the privilege of directly experiencing that love in baptism, in communion, in service to God, and in relationship with God's creation and our neighbors in need. The veils we contend with daily are the barriers that prevent us from truly loving those neighbors, caring for creation, and seeing the shining face of Jesus in the faces of people who are different, hungry, difficult, enemy, invisible, or poor. God is always revealed in ways that surprise and confuse us, whether shining on the mountaintop or dying on the cross. [Sundays and Seasons 2016]

 

This Sunday before Ash Wednesday marks the Transfiguration of Our Lord, because this event marked a transition in Jesus' ministry in which he "set his face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51), where he would die. In Jesus' transfiguration, we are assured that Jesus is the hope of the ages. In Jesus the one who fulfilled the Law given through Moses, the one dreamed of by the prophets, and of whom Elijah is the greatest, we rejoice. We rejoice in Jesus, the one whose glory shone even when confronted with the cross.

 

This Sunday we will explore what the veils that separate, distance, or cloud our experience of God are in our lives. Join us in worship as we too are transfigured by God's Word and Sacraments weaving together our story with God's.

 

Blessings+

Bill