Sermon; Last Epiphany A; Matt. 17:1-9

Let me start by saying that I find Epiphany to be an odd season. Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter all have a particular focus. Advent is all about preparation. Christmas is celebratory. Lent is a time for introspection and reconciliation. In Easter we spend time with the risen Christ. And even the Season after Pentecost (Ordinary Time) has a discipleship focus. Epiphany, though . . .

Epiphany is both liturgical and ordinary. It begins with a liturgical focus with the arrival of the magi and Jesus' baptism where we recognize Jesus' manifestation as God's Son to the world. And then it moves to an ordinary setting with the calling of the disciples and moving through the Sermon on the Mount (this year) or other miracle stories. These all point to who Jesus is, but it's done in a rather ordinary way. And then, just as we get into the rhythm of the story, we arrive at the Last Sunday after Epiphany and the Transfiguration. The length of the season lasts anywhere from four to nine Sundays, and is a season of ordinariness punctuated by liturgical events.

I bring this up because this Last Sunday after Epiphany can seem jarring if you've been paying attention to the story being told through the rest of the season. We're just settling in to hear passages from the Sermon on the Mount when, all of a sudden, we find ourselves up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John watching Jesus be transfigured and visited by Moses and Elijah.

But if we pay attention, the stories from the sermon and the transfiguration are not all that dissimilar.

Over the past few weeks I have pointed out that, with regard to the law, Jesus came to neither abolish it nor to simply fulfill the black and white, legalistic plain text of the law. He came to transform the law in a way that only he could. The law was given to help a formerly captive people live in freedom. Jesus is transforming the law so that we see all of the law leading to life, not death.

You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world – act like it. You have heard it said, but I say to you. In these and other examples (which we didn't hear), Jesus is getting his listeners to think about the law in a different way. He's getting them to think of it not simply as a code of conduct to follow, but in a way that becomes life-giving. He is transforming not only how the law is interpreted, but how we live it. He is transforming us to live life as God intends, living beyond the words and into the heart.

In short, the written law is what God's people were originally given and how they related to God. Jesus transformed it so people could see the law behind its written covering.

In today's gospel we have this same scenario – kind of. Jesus came teaching and preaching. Like the written word was the covering of the heart of the law, the humanity of Jesus was the covering of God incarnate. And these two things – written word and human body – sometimes make it hard to see what's behind them.

For instance, the law is very clear that the sabbath is to be kept holy and no work is to be done. But as Jesus pointed out, that doesn't mean that we can't work to feed or heal people on the sabbath. Or when we look at someone who disturbs us, it's very easy to ignore the fact that they, too, are a child of God.

In today's gospel Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up the mountain. While there he is transfigured. The image of Jesus being transfigured is often seen or described as him being changed. The reality is that his full and true nature was revealed. His complete unity with God shone through. He transformed how these three disciples saw him and how they would talk about him after his resurrection.

We are at the end of the Epiphany season. Lent begins in three days. We have heard Jesus interpret the law in a transformative way such that it provides life for all people, thereby revealing its true nature. Today we hear the story of Jesus being transfigured, or transformed, before our eyes, revealing his true nature. And in three days we begin our Lenten journey where we will be asked to, hopefully, make transformative changes to ourselves as we look to live into our true nature for which we were created.

So maybe Epiphany isn't all that odd after all. It has an ordinary rhythm interrupted by a few important events, much like life itself. As we close out this season of transformation and move into Lent, maybe we could ask ourselves one questions: How are we being transformed by the living word of God?

Amen.