Caught up in the Cloud

Transfiguration of Our Lord

Matthew 17:1-9

"Caught Up in the Cloud"

"Get your head out of the clouds!" Has anyone ever said that to you? It's usually spoken in frustration when we are perceived as being too idealistic, or too theoretical. What's needed, we're told, is to be practical, sensible, and realistic; get our head out of the clouds and get our feet firmly planted down here on earth. Of course, there is truth in this. But sometimes we need to get our head up in the clouds. Sometimes we need to get out of the mundane, everyday stuff of life, and caught up in the cloud. That is what's before us today on this festival of the Transfiguration of Our Lord as we travel with Peter, James, and John to the mountain top and view Christ Jesus in his transfigured glory. May the Lord's rich blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word, for Jesus' sake.

Jesus' transfiguration is both review and preview. It is a review because in this account of God's revelation of himself in his beloved Son, Jesus, hearkens back to Jesus' baptism. The voice of the Father was heard there as well, with words that closely parallel what we hear today: "This is my Son, my beloved; with him I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). But this review goes back even further. Jesus' transfiguration stands in a long line of accounts from holy Scripture of how God chooses to reveal himself - and that really is what Epiphany is, a revealing, a showing forth. Today's first Scripture lesson (Exodus 24:12-18) tells how God invited Moses to get his head caught up in the cloud, the cloud that accompanies God's presence; the cloud that surrounds his divine majesty. The Lord commanded Moses to come up the mountain and there God would give him the tablets of stone on which God inscribed his own instruction for his people. Notice what the text says: Moses had to wait for God to reveal himself. It didn't happen right away; not until the seventh day. We don't set the date, time, and agenda; God does. When God does reveal his presence on the mountain, that devouring fire is surrounded by the cloud. Sound familiar - mountain? Cloud? And who appears with Jesus at his transfiguration? Moses, the law giver, and Elijah, the prophet - two towering figures of God's revelation to his people of old. The review of Jesus' transfiguration takes us back to what was, and how God revealed himself in former times.

Jesus' transfiguration is also preview, a looking ahead to what will be. As Moses was called by God to go up the mountain, so Peter, James, and John were called by the Son of God to go up the mountain. They were privileged to witness firsthand how Jesus' face shone like the son, and how his clothes became dazzling white. As Peter himself tells us in his own words in today's second lesson: "... we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain" (2 Peter 1:16-18). Peter, James, and John were invited by Jesus to get their heads caught up in the cloud for a reason. The preview of Jesus' transfigured glory was to give those first disciples something to hold on to as they go back down the mountain into the grind of everyday life. Just before today's Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples for the first time that he will suffer, be killed, and rise again on the third day. From here on out, Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem and fulfill the mission given to him by the Father. That mission is to reconcile sinful human beings to their Creator through the shedding of Jesus' own blood. Jesus knows what lies ahead, but the disciples don't. By giving them this preview they will later come to understand the meaning and purpose of who Jesus is, as well as the meaning and purpose of his suffering, death, and resurrection. None of this will come about until after Jesus has been raised from the dead, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. This is why he instructs them not to tell anyone what they've seen until then.

Are you ready to get your head caught up in the cloud? That can be an unsettling place to be because we're out of our comfort zone. We're not in the driver's seat. Our reaction may well be what Peter, James, and John's was: "they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear" (Matthew 17:6). The same Lord Jesus who came to them comes to us, and reassures us: "Get up and do not be afraid" (Matthew 17:7). Jesus is with us! We may not always know where he's leading us. We can't be sure of what's around the bend, but Jesus is with us. And he is with us here in this holy Supper. He invites us to come up to him, to get our heads caught up in the cloud of his divine and healing presence, to receive his very Body and Blood, given and shed for us. Why? So that we may have something to hold onto as we go back down from the mountain to the grind of everyday life, back down to earth. It is there that our mission begins. Jesus' instructions to Peter, James, and John was to tell no one about what they had seen and heard until after he had been raised from the dead. Now that that has taken place, the instruction of "tell no one" has been changed to "tell everyone." May God help us to do this, for Jesus' sake. Amen.