Matthew 17:1-9 – Beyond the Extreme Makeover
Part A: Warm-up
1. Have you ever undertaken a radical renovation of a home? There are TV shows about this, with names like Extreme Makeover.
2. Back when Lorraine and I were sprucing up our basement so as to rent it out, Lorraine had been watching those TV shows and got inspired. But when you’re planning on having renters, you have to sacrifice some aesthetics to practicalities. Oh, we did add a few little touches at her urging – things which didn’t really pay off in terms of higher rent, but did give us a little satisfaction.
3. But eventually there came a time when we no longer had renters. We then renovated the basement once again. The project included the basics – wiring, insulation, and drywall – but this time around we were able to give a little more attention to aesthetics that we desired … even crown moulding which, as I learned, is best cut with our son’s compound mitre saw with a special jig attached. It wasn’t exaclty an extreme makeover, but it was a big change from “basement suite basics.”
4. In our own neighbourhood, in at least a couple of instances, we’ve seen people cut the roof off their 1950s-era bungalows, add a second storey, and then top if with a new roof. The finished product looks like a brand-new house! Extreme, indeed! I wonder what the records at City Hall will show. The houses look new, but with respect to the basic structures they’re still mid-1950s vintage.
5. What about the Transfiguration of Jesus? What happened to God’s only Beloved Son, Jesus?
6. And what happens to you and me when we are baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection?
Part B: Pulpit
This story from the life of Jesus, here in St. Matthew’s gospel, can also be found in the gospels written by St. Mark and St. Luke. In the church calendar and lectionary with which I’m most familiar – that of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada – this story is appointed to the Sunday that we call “The Transfiguration of Our Lord.” That’s the last Sunday before the beginning of Lent. It’s called that because of what takes place: the transfiguration of Jesus.
According to the dictionary, a transfiguration is a change in appearance into something more radiant, more beautiful, more holy.
So, what happened to Jesus on that mountain? Was that only a change in appearance – that is, was it simply a change in his outward appearance so as to match his identity as the unique Son of God, as THE VOICE declared back when Jesus was baptized? Or did something utterly new happen – something that goes far beyond cosmetics, far beyond appearances?
When the account begins, it sounds like something familiar was transpiring – very mysterious and very powerful, mind you – but still reminiscent of an earlier exchange between heaven and earth.
This signalled by the appearance of Moses and Elijah. They had been prophets of salvation during earlier generations in the history of God’s Chosen People. And, of course, they were long dead.
The fact that Jesus talks together with these holy figures of the distant past suggests that what God is up to now is indeed a repeat performance of what God did in the past. In other words, while Jesus’ transfiguration marks an extreme spiritual makeover in his life, there’s something about it that signifies continuity with the past. Well, no surprise: the One who now redeems is the One who had created and continues to yearn for the redemption of a creation now broken.
After Peter offers to build dwellings for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, a bright cloud overcomes the group on the mountaintop, and THE VOICE declares, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” Just as in ancient times, the cloud signified God’s presence. The disciples knew it. They fell to the ground on their faces, prostrating themselves in a profound, physical act of worship.
And then, when Jesus came and touched them, and bid them rise, they saw only Jesus. Up to this point, they had witnessed familiar signs, but now there is an indication of something new. The disciples saw Jesus only, and God-in-the-cloud instructed them to listen only to him – not to Moses and Elijah, but to Jesus only.
As they came down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead. What’s this? The resurrection of the dead is so much a part of our contemporary confession of faith and our self-understanding that it’s hard for us to appreciate how utterly new it was in the spiritual expectations of God’s people. Oh, the idea was already in the air, to be sure. But that the Son of God – the Beloved, the Anointed One – will be raised from the dead?! That was utterly new!
In the mystery of God’s astounding, unqualified love for the world, something is happening here that is beyond even the extreme makeover. The Transfiguration of Jesus signifies that God, the Divine Self, is undergoing a change, by God’s own choosing, for the sake of the world.
And not just God, but the followers of Jesus, too. As they came down from the mountain, he ordered Peter, James, and John not to speak of the vision until after the Son of Man had been raised from the dead.
At the end of the gospel story, Jesus will command his disciples to go and tell the whole world. That’s the part that has been impressed upon us by the generations of faithful followers who have gone before us. But this part is far less familiar. Jesus commands, Shut up! Because in order to witness faithfully to the Saviour of the world, the disciples likewise will first have to undergo a transformation that cuts deeper than the extreme makeover.
The followers of Jesus will have to journey together with their master to his cross and there comprehend that even their highest, noblest resolve to make salvation happen inevitably propels the Saviour of the world further toward his death. This is the greatest mystery of the cross. Salvation comes by God’s own doing and God’s terms. The Lord must do it all!
Or, as Martin Luther comments in part of his explanation to the Lord’s Prayer, “God’s kingdom comes indeed without our praying for it, but here in this prayer we pray that it may also come to us.” When we say the words of the Lord’s Prayer, we are praying that something will happen to us. We are praying for this transformation, this sublime change whereby we transcend our genetics, our ethnicity, our inherited culture. We are praying that God would change us beyond even an extreme makeover.
Ah, the makeover. Sometimes an amazing transformation may take place, as those popular home-renovations TV shows demonstrate.
And not just buildings – people, too! The personal makeover might be simple but very effective … like a new hairstyle, or clothes better suited to the body type or personality, or perhaps a better-informed application of makeup. Or it might be a radical treatment – an extreme makeover – with liposuction, Botox, and other forms of cosmetic surgery. Sometimes the results are simply astounding.
The real question is this: Do you and I ever really change? Or do we just look different?
God has in mind a future which is beyond even an extreme makeover. The disciples of Jesus, and all followers in every era, will themselves undergo a transformation by God’s grace. We will be conformed to Christ. It starts with the ears. We will learn that long before we are authorized to speak, we must listen. And then, when we do speak, we will speak of what God in Christ is doing among us and through us for the sake of the world.
We will witness and tell of God’s saving power in Christ, the redemption that will change and transform each of us and the whole world. Together with Jesus, we will die to the ways of the world, die to sin. We will stop opposing God and we will stop destroying one another and the world in which God has placed us.
Because of God’s saving grace in Christ, we will exercise the ministry of the forgiveness of sin; and through our thirst for reconciliation, justice, and peace, we will strive for the well-being of each and every person.
Just as Jesus’ face shone and his clothing became dazzling white, we too will be transformed by the robes of righteousness with which God has clothed us when we were baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection.
It’s happening already. We are being changed by God’s Holy Spirit. With every word from our master’s voice – with every declaration of forgiveness, every word preached or taught, every holy meal shared – God is moving in on us, claiming us anew, joining us to the holy family, filling us with the divine mind and heart.
Dear friends in Christ: get up and do not be afraid. He is Emmanuel, “God with us.” Take up this life. Tell the Good News. And the peace that passes all understanding will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.