Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)
There is an extraordinary series of events from Luke 8:22 to the end of the pericope for Transfiguration Sunday. It all starts so innocently with Jesus saying to his disciples, “let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” This is the beginning of the story where Jesus calms the seas. He offers two rebukes in that story, first to the wind and the waves, then to his disciples for having such little faith.
The astonishing events only escalate until the Transfiguration. Jesus delivers the Gerasene demoniac. Then, Jairus begs Jesus to heal his sick little girl and he passively heals a woman who suffers hemorrhaging along the way to her. He sends out the twelve (whom he had rebuked for their little faith) with authority to preach and cast out demons. He feeds 5000 after the disciples come to him saying they should send everyone home. Finally, in a private moment amongst the disciples, Peter confesses to Jesus that he is the messiah. Jesus then explains to them the meaning of following in way: “And he said, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.’ Then Jesus said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it” (Luke 9:22-24).
The story of the Transfiguration suggests the disciples still do not fully understand the meaning or the cost of discipleship. It is a wild scene. The sleepy disciples are awakened by the dazzling bright Jesus. He’s standing with two companions – Moses and Elijah – the great law giver and the greatest of the prophets of Israel. At last, they are seeing the glory of the one they waited for. The radiance of the glory from Jesus’ face is what they may have imagined when they heard the story of Moses in Exodus as his face was radiant from the overflow of God’s glory. Seeing Jesus this way may have been the way Peter, James and John might have imagined the messiah to be – powerful and glorious flanked by the law and the prophets.
They attempt to make booths for all three in reverence but are rudely interrupted by a cloud that envelops them. A booming voice shouts, “This is my son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” When they look, they see plain, ordinary Jesus alone. God’s imperative to these disciples bookends the affirmation God the father spoke over Jesus in Luke 3. The voice from heaven in Luke 3 speaks in the second person (to Jesus) and the voice in chapter speaks in the third (to the disciples).
It is important to contrast Jesus’ appearance before and after the voice from heaven speaks. While before he is dazzling and glorious with Moses and Elijah, afterwards he stands as the disciples see him and he is alone. There is a movement away from the common notions of glory. The content of Jesus’ discourse with Moses and Elijah suggest this is his way. Christ tells them he is preparing for his own exodus. The Christ the disciples see after the cloud envelops him is the one they need to listen to. He alone is the culmination of the law and prophets. And the locus of the glory of Christ is shifting. The dazzling glory is shed and his glory is becoming his path to death. His glory will become his crucifixion. He exodus into death will be his victory. He will be vindicated in his mutilation. The plain Jesus, the one whom will be crucified, the one coming to grips with his own death in order to be raised to life is the one we to listen to when he says, “deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.”
As we look ahead into the story of the gospel we know that Jesus will undergo quite a different a different transfiguration. As the voice from heaven said gave a resounding “yes!” to Jesus as he came out of the baptismal waters, in the tomb where his body laid the God would say yes once more by breathing life into his dead body and raising him from the dead. His glorified, transfigured body would still bear the wounds of death, but that death would be overcome.
Admittedly, it’s puzzling why the ensuing story of Jesus’ healing of the boy with the evil spirit is tacked onto this week’s gospel lection. But it does follow along with Jesus’s exasperation by his disciples who have witnessed such incredible things. He’s given them the power but they still can’t cast out the demon. When Jesus responds to the concerned father, the “unbelieving and perverse generation” he responds to is in the plural, “you.” He then gives a singular imperative command to “bring the boy to me.” The exasperation, given the context, must be directed towards his disciples. This is not directed at the concerned father. Jesus then heals the boy. There is a moment of transfiguration where the boy is released from the bondage of his suffering by Jesus.
The disciples still need undergo a transfiguration as we as his followers still need today – the kind we receive by the power of the resurrection. Later Luke will tell a story unique to his gospel where travelers are making their way to Emmaus. The pilgrims are downcast because of the events that have taken place in Jerusalem. They encounter a stranger they don’t recognize and share how this one called Jesus was going to redeem Israel, but he was crucified. Some women said the tomb was empty. Once again, Jesus’ response to them is one of exasperation. “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things then enter his glory?” (Luke 24:25-26, my emphasis). He explains everything. But they don’t get it until they do a very ordinary thing together in breaking bread. Then, their eyes are opened. They see. They are transfigured by experiencing the risen Christ. Later he will appear to his disciples, he will show them his wounds, invite to touch, and he eats with them. “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:25).
The transfiguration we all need is to have the eyes to see a wounded, resurrected healer instead of the dazzling one. We need to seek Christ in the ordinary before we try to do the extraordinary in his name. We are to take up our crosses, deny ourselves, and follow him before anything else. Then, we will be transfigured.