The Transfiguration Of Our Lord
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VII Cycle C
Seasonal Theme
Jesus calling his disciples and it dawning on them who this person is they are following. Light for a dark world.
Theme For The Day
The Transfiguration of Jesus and our response to the near presence of God in our own lives.
Old Testament Lesson
Exodus 34:29-35
The Shining Face Of Moses
In keeping with this day of Transfiguration, we have the Old Testament Lesson about Moses coming down from Mount Sinai after spending forty days there in God's presence receiving the Ten Commandments. His face shone with God's glory (2 Corinthians 3:7). Still, he doesn't seem to know it! The folks were justifiably afraid, so Moses put a veil over his face and told them the terms of the restored covenant. This shining face of Moses will connect with the transfigured face of Jesus in the Gospel and with Saint Paul's description of this event in the Second Reading.
New Testament Lesson
2 Corinthians 3:12--4:2
Our Transfiguration
Paul uses the veil Moses put over his face because he had been in the presence of God. The glow becomes a metaphor to make his point. He says Moses put on that veil when he had finished speaking to hide the fact the glory, which used to be there, was fading. This is the Old Covenant: the old relationship between God and God's people was fast fading. The truth that came to the people by Moses was just a small part -- what came through Jesus to them was complete and final.
Then Paul returns to the veil again. He claims that when the Jews hear the Old Testament, they have a veil over their eyes (v. 15) and fail to see the full meaning of it. This is rich, because we can ask: What is it that veils our hearing of the scripture?
But all of us see the glory of Jesus with no veil upon our faces -- so we too are changed, knowing God's glory (v. 18). It will preach; but we must present it much more simply than Paul does as he seems to get tangled up in his metaphors, which is not all that unusual for his writing or our translating.
The Gospel
Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
The Transfiguration
Something great happened and we just can't explain it all. There is no doubt this was one of several great events in Jesus' earthly life and ministry. He received at least God's affirmation to go on and head toward the cross and Jerusalem.
Of course Moses was the one who gave the people of Israel God's law and Elijah was perhaps the greatest of all the prophets. So we have a symbolic telling of Jesus to go on by the two greatest Old Testament heroes.
Verse 32 is interesting in that they saw Jesus' glory because they stayed awake! Homiletically we could ask: What puts us to sleep and thus causes us to miss so much? And then, what in life awakens us to see these things we otherwise would miss? This would probably work better at a later morning worship service than the earlier one when many are not yet fully awake!
Of course Peter wanting to stay and build a shrine (v. 33) is pregnant with possibilities. There are various responses to God's very near presence here. Peter wants to build a shrine and stay; the disciples wanted to get some sleep; and Jesus wants to go down the mountain and heal a boy who needed his help.
(Optional verses 37-43) There is demonstrated something of the rhythm of the disciples' Christian life: upon the mountain in the near presence of God and then into the valley to serve those in need in the world. Both are necessary for our spiritual well-being: retreat to God and advance into the world of Christian service.
One other thing I often wonder about. How much did Jesus' (or even Moses') appearance change and how much was it these people seeing them in a whole new light? Perhaps, after all, it was the disciples who were most transfigured!
Preaching Possibilities
A. The Old Testament story of Moses having a shining face after being in the direct presence of God and the Gospel's account of Jesus' face shining have to go together. And Paul's recounting of the Old Testament Moses story is just right to include as well. So I'll use all three in my outline of possible sermon moves.
B. Remember this is the climax of the Epiphany season when it began to dawn on people who this Jesus was they were following. It began with Jesus' baptism by his cousin John in the Jordan and ended with this nearness of Elijah and Moses up on the mountain. You may want to do a brief review of the themes or events you have preached on this season of Epiphany as you begin your sermon today, reminding your people of the "Epiphany" or dawning on people who Jesus was.
C. The Gospel will stand alone especially including the optional verses 37-43 and contrasting the spiritual life of nearness of God on retreat and the nearness of God to others as we take it into the world of the struggling and suffering.
D. Another way to organize would be to start with Paul's comment about a veil and then go to the Old Testament story of Moses and his veil. Then one can address: 1) What do we do when the old glory begins to fade? 2) What veils hide God's presence from us?
E. If it all seems like too much to try to cover in one day and in one sermon, you might try preaching a two-part sermon. One part at each of the two worship services (if you have two!).
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
A. Begin by telling in your own words that wonderful story of Moses coming out of the presence of God and even needing a veil.
B. Move to explaining how Paul used this metaphor of the veil.
C. Move to another time one in God's presence began to glow with God's glory. Read it from Luke (vv. 28-32). Now tell how you have questions you will ask about this experience when you arrive in heaven.
1. What is the best thing to do when we sense, like Moses, we are losing the old glory?
2. What things serve as veils for us and thus prevent us from seeing or having God's glory?
3. Who really changed that day upon the mountain of transfiguration? Jesus' appearance or the disciples' perception of him?
4. And can we also change in our appearance if we go into the near presence of God?
5. What is the correct response to such a religious experience? Stay there with Peter or go down the mountain with Jesus?
D. Move to what you think this transfiguration says to our congregational ministry.
1. We need to program spiritual retreats for closeness to God.
2. We need often to see Jesus in a whole new light like Peter, James, and John.
3. We need an active social ministry always connected with our spiritual experiences.
4. We all must ask what most in us needs transfigured. Our lack of compassion? Our failure to love the unlovely? Our unwillingness to witness to our faith? Or our poor practice of stewardship as one of God's most blessed with abundance?
E. Frame your sermon by returning to your opening words about Jesus' transfiguration, then Paul's interpretation, and then finish with Moses coming off the mountain.
Prayer For The Day
Help us to see Jesus in all his glory today and respond to that spiritual experience by going down into our community to serve and bring God's glory there to those who rarely see it. Change us, O God, and make us glow with your love for others and our love for you. And please remove the veils, which prevent us from realizing your glory and sharing it with others still without it. In Christ's name. Amen.
Possible Metaphors And Stories
The dictionary defines transfiguration as "change the form or appearance of" and also the word, glorify.
There is a town in Iowa named Correctionville. The surveyor has to make an adjustment every so often, because the earth is round. It needs to be about the width of a lot and half. State Route 32 follows this jog. Correctionville, Iowa's motto is: "Come jog down our street."
We need to make corrections in our straight lines and allow for adjustments in other lines also.
I was getting gas at a busy intersection in Des Moines (Harding and Hickman) when a brand-new red fire engine came up the street, siren blaring. An older woman did not hear the siren and pulled out in front of the engine. Its driver put on its brakes, burned rubber, and stopped. The sudden braking killed the engine and now it would not start. Finally some of us from the filling station pushed it over to the side. The battery was worn down trying to restart the motor. Meanwhile the lady in the Chevy went on down the street unaware.
We can have the finest equipment, but to no avail if we don't keep the battery charged. So too our spiritual lives ... and what havoc we wreak in the lives of others without ever even knowing it.
I saw the movie Awakenings. The setting is a hospital in the Bronx. A Dr. Sayers used an experiment in drug therapy with these people who seemed alive inside but in a trance outside. These patients had awakenings which let them come back for a while.
Can we bring awakenings in our spiritual lives gone dead on the outside? Memories of first communion, confirmation, youth groups, and so forth, that awaken in us the near presence of God.
Jesus calling his disciples and it dawning on them who this person is they are following. Light for a dark world.
Theme For The Day
The Transfiguration of Jesus and our response to the near presence of God in our own lives.
Old Testament Lesson
Exodus 34:29-35
The Shining Face Of Moses
In keeping with this day of Transfiguration, we have the Old Testament Lesson about Moses coming down from Mount Sinai after spending forty days there in God's presence receiving the Ten Commandments. His face shone with God's glory (2 Corinthians 3:7). Still, he doesn't seem to know it! The folks were justifiably afraid, so Moses put a veil over his face and told them the terms of the restored covenant. This shining face of Moses will connect with the transfigured face of Jesus in the Gospel and with Saint Paul's description of this event in the Second Reading.
New Testament Lesson
2 Corinthians 3:12--4:2
Our Transfiguration
Paul uses the veil Moses put over his face because he had been in the presence of God. The glow becomes a metaphor to make his point. He says Moses put on that veil when he had finished speaking to hide the fact the glory, which used to be there, was fading. This is the Old Covenant: the old relationship between God and God's people was fast fading. The truth that came to the people by Moses was just a small part -- what came through Jesus to them was complete and final.
Then Paul returns to the veil again. He claims that when the Jews hear the Old Testament, they have a veil over their eyes (v. 15) and fail to see the full meaning of it. This is rich, because we can ask: What is it that veils our hearing of the scripture?
But all of us see the glory of Jesus with no veil upon our faces -- so we too are changed, knowing God's glory (v. 18). It will preach; but we must present it much more simply than Paul does as he seems to get tangled up in his metaphors, which is not all that unusual for his writing or our translating.
The Gospel
Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
The Transfiguration
Something great happened and we just can't explain it all. There is no doubt this was one of several great events in Jesus' earthly life and ministry. He received at least God's affirmation to go on and head toward the cross and Jerusalem.
Of course Moses was the one who gave the people of Israel God's law and Elijah was perhaps the greatest of all the prophets. So we have a symbolic telling of Jesus to go on by the two greatest Old Testament heroes.
Verse 32 is interesting in that they saw Jesus' glory because they stayed awake! Homiletically we could ask: What puts us to sleep and thus causes us to miss so much? And then, what in life awakens us to see these things we otherwise would miss? This would probably work better at a later morning worship service than the earlier one when many are not yet fully awake!
Of course Peter wanting to stay and build a shrine (v. 33) is pregnant with possibilities. There are various responses to God's very near presence here. Peter wants to build a shrine and stay; the disciples wanted to get some sleep; and Jesus wants to go down the mountain and heal a boy who needed his help.
(Optional verses 37-43) There is demonstrated something of the rhythm of the disciples' Christian life: upon the mountain in the near presence of God and then into the valley to serve those in need in the world. Both are necessary for our spiritual well-being: retreat to God and advance into the world of Christian service.
One other thing I often wonder about. How much did Jesus' (or even Moses') appearance change and how much was it these people seeing them in a whole new light? Perhaps, after all, it was the disciples who were most transfigured!
Preaching Possibilities
A. The Old Testament story of Moses having a shining face after being in the direct presence of God and the Gospel's account of Jesus' face shining have to go together. And Paul's recounting of the Old Testament Moses story is just right to include as well. So I'll use all three in my outline of possible sermon moves.
B. Remember this is the climax of the Epiphany season when it began to dawn on people who this Jesus was they were following. It began with Jesus' baptism by his cousin John in the Jordan and ended with this nearness of Elijah and Moses up on the mountain. You may want to do a brief review of the themes or events you have preached on this season of Epiphany as you begin your sermon today, reminding your people of the "Epiphany" or dawning on people who Jesus was.
C. The Gospel will stand alone especially including the optional verses 37-43 and contrasting the spiritual life of nearness of God on retreat and the nearness of God to others as we take it into the world of the struggling and suffering.
D. Another way to organize would be to start with Paul's comment about a veil and then go to the Old Testament story of Moses and his veil. Then one can address: 1) What do we do when the old glory begins to fade? 2) What veils hide God's presence from us?
E. If it all seems like too much to try to cover in one day and in one sermon, you might try preaching a two-part sermon. One part at each of the two worship services (if you have two!).
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
A. Begin by telling in your own words that wonderful story of Moses coming out of the presence of God and even needing a veil.
B. Move to explaining how Paul used this metaphor of the veil.
C. Move to another time one in God's presence began to glow with God's glory. Read it from Luke (vv. 28-32). Now tell how you have questions you will ask about this experience when you arrive in heaven.
1. What is the best thing to do when we sense, like Moses, we are losing the old glory?
2. What things serve as veils for us and thus prevent us from seeing or having God's glory?
3. Who really changed that day upon the mountain of transfiguration? Jesus' appearance or the disciples' perception of him?
4. And can we also change in our appearance if we go into the near presence of God?
5. What is the correct response to such a religious experience? Stay there with Peter or go down the mountain with Jesus?
D. Move to what you think this transfiguration says to our congregational ministry.
1. We need to program spiritual retreats for closeness to God.
2. We need often to see Jesus in a whole new light like Peter, James, and John.
3. We need an active social ministry always connected with our spiritual experiences.
4. We all must ask what most in us needs transfigured. Our lack of compassion? Our failure to love the unlovely? Our unwillingness to witness to our faith? Or our poor practice of stewardship as one of God's most blessed with abundance?
E. Frame your sermon by returning to your opening words about Jesus' transfiguration, then Paul's interpretation, and then finish with Moses coming off the mountain.
Prayer For The Day
Help us to see Jesus in all his glory today and respond to that spiritual experience by going down into our community to serve and bring God's glory there to those who rarely see it. Change us, O God, and make us glow with your love for others and our love for you. And please remove the veils, which prevent us from realizing your glory and sharing it with others still without it. In Christ's name. Amen.
Possible Metaphors And Stories
The dictionary defines transfiguration as "change the form or appearance of" and also the word, glorify.
There is a town in Iowa named Correctionville. The surveyor has to make an adjustment every so often, because the earth is round. It needs to be about the width of a lot and half. State Route 32 follows this jog. Correctionville, Iowa's motto is: "Come jog down our street."
We need to make corrections in our straight lines and allow for adjustments in other lines also.
I was getting gas at a busy intersection in Des Moines (Harding and Hickman) when a brand-new red fire engine came up the street, siren blaring. An older woman did not hear the siren and pulled out in front of the engine. Its driver put on its brakes, burned rubber, and stopped. The sudden braking killed the engine and now it would not start. Finally some of us from the filling station pushed it over to the side. The battery was worn down trying to restart the motor. Meanwhile the lady in the Chevy went on down the street unaware.
We can have the finest equipment, but to no avail if we don't keep the battery charged. So too our spiritual lives ... and what havoc we wreak in the lives of others without ever even knowing it.
I saw the movie Awakenings. The setting is a hospital in the Bronx. A Dr. Sayers used an experiment in drug therapy with these people who seemed alive inside but in a trance outside. These patients had awakenings which let them come back for a while.
Can we bring awakenings in our spiritual lives gone dead on the outside? Memories of first communion, confirmation, youth groups, and so forth, that awaken in us the near presence of God.
