Sermon Illustrations for Transfiguration Sunday, Cycle C (2022)
Illustration
Exodus 34:29-35
I ran across this little fact from earth science. The moon shines because its surface reflects light from the sun. Even though it sometimes seems to shine very brightly, the moon reflects only between three to twelve percent of the sunlight that hits it. The brightness of the moon perceived from earth depends on where the moon is in its orbit.
The moon occasionally seems bright in the sky, especially the full moon. The reality is the moon’s light is not its own. It is reflected light from the sun. Even more than that, the moon only reflects a fraction of the light it gets from the sun.
I thought of that as I read this familiar passage in Exodus. Moses’ face shone after spending time with God. It was so bright, the people wanted Moses to cover it with a veil. The truth was, though, it wasn’t Moses’ glory or light that radiated from him. It was reflected glory from God. If the partial, reflected glory of God that shone through Moses blinded the people, can you imagine his glory unfiltered?
Rick Warren wrote, “What is the glory of God? It is who God is. It is the essence of his nature; the weight of his importance; the radiance of his splendor; the demonstration of his power; the atmosphere of his presence.”
Bill T.
* * *
Exodus 34:29-35
When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai his face was shining with such brilliance that people couldn’t bear to look in his direction. Yet Moses doesn’t seem to have been aware of his, ahem, brilliance.
It strikes me that most of us are not aware of Christ’s light shining through us. Not that people are necessarily blinded by the light, but all the same, if God is within us, that will be apparent to other people more than it does through us.
I was thinking how the moon and the planets reflect the sun’s light, and do not produce their own. Our moon is not the largest object in the heavens, but it’s the one that shines the brightest from our perspective. Surely when it comes to God’s light reflecting off everyone, we are uniquely in place to be able to recognize and celebrate that reflection in the people closest to us.
Frank R.
* * *
2 Corinthians 3:12--4:2
Regarding the veil of Moses according to 3:12-13, John Calvin claimed that we need Christ in order to understand the law of God in all its glory. He wrote:
For the law is in itself bright, but it is only when Christ appears to us in it, that we enjoy its splendor. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XX/2, p.183)
Martin Luther explained why this is the case:
Therefore, Saint Paul concludes that the law, correctly understood and thoroughly grasped, does nothing more than to remind us of our sin... Therefore they [who think the law directs Christians to live a certain way] do not see Moses clearly; the veil is put between them and him [Christ] and covers him [3:12]. (Luther’s Works, vol.35, p.377)
When you view law as no longer directing you how to live, believe that what you do is guided by the Christ and the Holy Spirit, not the law’s demands, then doing good is spontaneous, not obedience to the law, you begin to experience what famed Black scholar Cornell West said about the Christian life:
When you have love [God’s love] you start getting ethical diarrhea. When you have God’s love, good actions flow from your body with no effort, sometimes against your will.
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
In this story of the Transfiguration, the revelation of Jesus in glory during the height of his earthly ministry, I almost always overlook this verse: Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. (Luke 9:32)
I’m glad that the three apostles were finally able to rouse themselves enough to see God’s glory, but their inability to stay awake would prove more crucial in the Garden of Gethsemane. When we’re roused from deep sleep by startling events our judgement can be impaired. In this story the worst thing that happens is that Peter suggests setting up monuments to commemorate the presence of Moses and Elijah. In the latter story, Peter will lop off a servant’s ear (we have to go to John’s Gospel so he gets the proper credit — or blame), followed by the decision to first run, and then to deny Jesus.
Getting enough sleep is an important part of self-care. It’s not a virtue to exhaust ourselves to the point of stupor out of a sense of duty. It may be occasionally necessary, but for some people it almost seems like a point of honor. Sleeping while sleepy can be fatal — for others as well as ourselves.
On the other hand, I can’t say that as a pastor I mind when people fall asleep during worship. If they can’t get good sleep anywhere else, maybe it’s okay in church.
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
I had the opportunity to visit Gettysburg last summer. It was a powerful, moving experience that brought the reality of the Civil War closer than I’d ever experienced. One of the areas of the Gettysburg battlefield that attracts a lot of attention and visitors is the hill called “Little Round Top.” If you are aware of Civil War history, you know that one of the most significant and remarkable battles took place there. Lt. Colonel Joshua Chamberlain’s troops in the 2nd Maine held the line and did not allow the rebels get behind Union lines. When you visit “Little Round Top” today, it overlooks the field below, including an area of rocks called “Devil’s Den.” It’s easy from the top of the hill and distance of history to see only beauty now. However, to really get the scene, one cannot stay there. To get the full picture, one must go back in time and down in the valley. It’s brutal and it’s real.
God never meant us to live on the mountaintop. The next story is the key to understanding the Transfiguration story. The disciples and Jesus came off the mountain, and they came right down to the bottom of the valley where they found a boy who was having epileptic seizures. The mother and father were enormously upset and worried about the desperately sick boy, and the little boy fell into a fire and burned himself. In other words, the disciples came down off that mountaintop right into the problems of real life — home from a mountaintop vacation and into the real world at home. And the disciples discovered that God is also down in the valley and does not live only or even primarily on the mountaintop.
Bill T.
I ran across this little fact from earth science. The moon shines because its surface reflects light from the sun. Even though it sometimes seems to shine very brightly, the moon reflects only between three to twelve percent of the sunlight that hits it. The brightness of the moon perceived from earth depends on where the moon is in its orbit.
The moon occasionally seems bright in the sky, especially the full moon. The reality is the moon’s light is not its own. It is reflected light from the sun. Even more than that, the moon only reflects a fraction of the light it gets from the sun.
I thought of that as I read this familiar passage in Exodus. Moses’ face shone after spending time with God. It was so bright, the people wanted Moses to cover it with a veil. The truth was, though, it wasn’t Moses’ glory or light that radiated from him. It was reflected glory from God. If the partial, reflected glory of God that shone through Moses blinded the people, can you imagine his glory unfiltered?
Rick Warren wrote, “What is the glory of God? It is who God is. It is the essence of his nature; the weight of his importance; the radiance of his splendor; the demonstration of his power; the atmosphere of his presence.”
Bill T.
* * *
Exodus 34:29-35
When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai his face was shining with such brilliance that people couldn’t bear to look in his direction. Yet Moses doesn’t seem to have been aware of his, ahem, brilliance.
It strikes me that most of us are not aware of Christ’s light shining through us. Not that people are necessarily blinded by the light, but all the same, if God is within us, that will be apparent to other people more than it does through us.
I was thinking how the moon and the planets reflect the sun’s light, and do not produce their own. Our moon is not the largest object in the heavens, but it’s the one that shines the brightest from our perspective. Surely when it comes to God’s light reflecting off everyone, we are uniquely in place to be able to recognize and celebrate that reflection in the people closest to us.
Frank R.
* * *
2 Corinthians 3:12--4:2
Regarding the veil of Moses according to 3:12-13, John Calvin claimed that we need Christ in order to understand the law of God in all its glory. He wrote:
For the law is in itself bright, but it is only when Christ appears to us in it, that we enjoy its splendor. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XX/2, p.183)
Martin Luther explained why this is the case:
Therefore, Saint Paul concludes that the law, correctly understood and thoroughly grasped, does nothing more than to remind us of our sin... Therefore they [who think the law directs Christians to live a certain way] do not see Moses clearly; the veil is put between them and him [Christ] and covers him [3:12]. (Luther’s Works, vol.35, p.377)
When you view law as no longer directing you how to live, believe that what you do is guided by the Christ and the Holy Spirit, not the law’s demands, then doing good is spontaneous, not obedience to the law, you begin to experience what famed Black scholar Cornell West said about the Christian life:
When you have love [God’s love] you start getting ethical diarrhea. When you have God’s love, good actions flow from your body with no effort, sometimes against your will.
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
In this story of the Transfiguration, the revelation of Jesus in glory during the height of his earthly ministry, I almost always overlook this verse: Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. (Luke 9:32)
I’m glad that the three apostles were finally able to rouse themselves enough to see God’s glory, but their inability to stay awake would prove more crucial in the Garden of Gethsemane. When we’re roused from deep sleep by startling events our judgement can be impaired. In this story the worst thing that happens is that Peter suggests setting up monuments to commemorate the presence of Moses and Elijah. In the latter story, Peter will lop off a servant’s ear (we have to go to John’s Gospel so he gets the proper credit — or blame), followed by the decision to first run, and then to deny Jesus.
Getting enough sleep is an important part of self-care. It’s not a virtue to exhaust ourselves to the point of stupor out of a sense of duty. It may be occasionally necessary, but for some people it almost seems like a point of honor. Sleeping while sleepy can be fatal — for others as well as ourselves.
On the other hand, I can’t say that as a pastor I mind when people fall asleep during worship. If they can’t get good sleep anywhere else, maybe it’s okay in church.
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
I had the opportunity to visit Gettysburg last summer. It was a powerful, moving experience that brought the reality of the Civil War closer than I’d ever experienced. One of the areas of the Gettysburg battlefield that attracts a lot of attention and visitors is the hill called “Little Round Top.” If you are aware of Civil War history, you know that one of the most significant and remarkable battles took place there. Lt. Colonel Joshua Chamberlain’s troops in the 2nd Maine held the line and did not allow the rebels get behind Union lines. When you visit “Little Round Top” today, it overlooks the field below, including an area of rocks called “Devil’s Den.” It’s easy from the top of the hill and distance of history to see only beauty now. However, to really get the scene, one cannot stay there. To get the full picture, one must go back in time and down in the valley. It’s brutal and it’s real.
God never meant us to live on the mountaintop. The next story is the key to understanding the Transfiguration story. The disciples and Jesus came off the mountain, and they came right down to the bottom of the valley where they found a boy who was having epileptic seizures. The mother and father were enormously upset and worried about the desperately sick boy, and the little boy fell into a fire and burned himself. In other words, the disciples came down off that mountaintop right into the problems of real life — home from a mountaintop vacation and into the real world at home. And the disciples discovered that God is also down in the valley and does not live only or even primarily on the mountaintop.
Bill T.
