Last Epiphany A/Transfiguration 2023

Today is the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, also known as Transfiguration Sunday. The season started with the wise men following the light of a star leading them westward to Bethlehem where they presented their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus and his mother. That was followed by Jesus' baptism in the Jordan and hearing the voice from heaven proclaiming him as God's Son. Today's gospel gives us Jesus on a mountain with Peter, James, and John where he is transfigured and where the disciples also hear a voice from an overshadowing cloud, “This is my Son, the Beloved.” This whole season, from the star to the Transfiguration, has been about proclamations and revelations.

Over the course of the season we have heard these gospel lessons about manifestation and revelation. We heard sermons touching on how the light of Christ can shine through us to shine onto a darkened world, pointing out how injustices and inequities are contrary to God's will. We have heard how the will of God is not based on power, control, or domination, but on doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. We've heard that the will of God is to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and clothe the naked. And we've heard that following the law isn't about mutilating ourselves, but living more deeply in community.

All of those things are unpopular in the world and counter cultural to how our society tends to run. But all of those things shine the light of Christ and have the ability to transfigure the world we live in.

The story of the Transfiguration though, in both the gospel and in our Christian hope of transfiguring the world, is not about change. It's not about becoming something different. Instead, it's about revealing how things really are.

Up on that mountain Jesus was transfigured and his face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white. Jesus didn't change – his true nature was revealed. In Revelation we read of John's vision describing Jesus: his head and hair were white as wool, his eyes were like flames of fire, and his face was like the full force of the shining sun. We are getting a glimpse of the Son of God, second person of the Holy Trinity, in all his glorious splendor. And when, through our Christian hope and actions, the world is transfigured, we will see the world as God intended.

Today we are baptizing Samuel Grant into the household of God. One view of baptism is that it cleanses us from sin, marking us as members of Christ's Body, giving us citizenship in the New Covenant. If you've done the math, Samuel is not quite 2-months old – his sin meter hasn't even begun to register. Granted, we define sin as seeking our own will instead of the will of God, and everything he does is about his own will, but he hasn't yet begun to seek his own will intentionally.

Another way to look at Baptism is that it, too, is a type of Transfiguration. It is a revealing of who we really are. Baptism reminds us that we are children of God, created in God's image.

In the transfiguration of Jesus the disciples were able to see under or through his human form to get a glimpse of his divine form. The Transfiguration, as much or more than any other event, shows us what we mean when we say, “Jesus was fully human and fully divine.”

Baptism can do much the same thing. If we look at baptism as cleansing us from sin, baptism washes away all that separates us from God, if only for just a moment. It not only removes that which separates us from God, but it gives us a glimpse of who we are as people created in God's own image. Like the disciples could briefly see all of Jesus when he was transfigured, baptism allows us to briefly see all of who we are when we are baptized and transfigured.

This is one reason why at least four times a year we renew our baptismal vows. The first reason is because it reminds us of what we have promised to do as members of the household of God. With all that goes on in the world – jobs, families, arguments, violence, etc. – we need to be reminded that we have promised to regularly gather in community, that we are to actively resist evil, that we are to evangelize, that we are to love our neighbors, and that we are to strive for justice. Having those regular reminders helps us to not forget that this is who we are and what we do as Christians.

Another reason is because it lets us briefly see all of who we are. When we as a community gather to renew our vows, we have the ability to more clearly see Christ manifested in each other; we have the ability to see Christ revealed in each other. In that brief moment we also are transfigured, allowing us to see our full nature and the full nature of those around us.

And so it is today when we baptize Samuel. I don't know if he has any sins for which he needs to be cleansed (but give him time); but I do know that in this act of baptism there will be a revealing, and for a brief moment we will catch a glimpse of his full, complete nature – a person created in the image of God with a spark of divinity. He may not shine like the full brightness of the sun, but right now the light of Christ shines through him, and that is enough.

May we see this transfiguration moment as not only an event that allows us to see the full nature of Christ, but may we also see this transfiguration moment as something that allows us to see God revealed in us.

Amen.