Exodus 24:12-18; Matthew 17:1-9; February 19, 2023; Transfiguration Sunday
A couple of months ago, Anya and I took Seth to New York City for his very first time. It was right around Christmas, and we thought he would get a kick out of seeing all the lights in Times Square; the impressive size of The Tree; but most of all, the utopia of all childhood dreams: FAO Schwarz. The famous multi-level toy store that inspired “Duncan’s Toy Chest” in Home Alone 2 –the Macauley Culkin movie, that Seth watched on endless repeat throughout all of December.
So we took the train in, and as expected, he was so excited. He couldn’t believe the magnitude and energy of it all. All the people. The sounds, the lights. The city overpowering his little senses. And owing to his love of walking, he really was a happy little traveler in his element, even after we rounded 49th street and saw a bit of a line already guarding the entrance to the toy store.
Honestly, it was nothing too long or terrible from first glance, but it was a line all the same. Smartly though, they formed it right up to the exterior glass, so that from the outside looking in, you could see all the candies and gifts on full display, and seemingly hundreds of little children running inside with the brightest of smiles plastered all over their little faces. A brilliant trick I might say to get you to remain in your spot outside believing that your own payoff would be well worth the wait.
But then something happened. Or should I say, didn’t happen. For the line never moved. Oh, maybe a foot here, perhaps a foot there. But that’s about it. And soon the excitement on his face began to fade, and eventually all the happiness going on inside began to transform and cease to matter on the outside. And so, after about 20 minutes, which is about 40 hours in a six-year old’s brain, Seth asked if we could leave.
At first, I was like “great, okay let’s get out of here!” But then, Anya, the more sensible one was like, “but we came all this way, don’t you want to stay a little bit longer? Look at that mountain of toys and joy in there, are you sure you don’t want to wait to go in?” No mama. Let’s go. And so go, we went.
It was a flawless study in human psychology. What waiting without movement can do to us. How it can shift our focus, minimize our drive, and divert us from our goals. Sometimes for the better, yes, but also sometimes for the worse.
A week or so later, we watched the movie again, but this time I think I could sense disappointment written on his poor little heart. If only he had just waited a bit longer, perhaps he too could have left New York City with his own pair of two turtle doves.
I suspect many of us here know this sort of disappointment all too well. When we either waited too long, or when we waited too little and gave up too early. Perhaps it was when waiting for a friend to change their spots and their behaviors; perhaps it was when waiting on a girlfriend or a boyfriend to finally grow up; perhaps it was when we waited too little on a growth stock that for years only went sideways and thus missed out on its stratospheric rise; or perhaps it was when we gave up too early on a church that felt directionless when in transition, and thus missed out on all the growth that came.
Yes, it’s hard to wait. And it’s even easier to give up. And both are ever truer with every passing year in our culture and society today. Even if there are glorious signs ahead, and things being done just a bit out of sight, we often grow impatient and throw up our hands, and say, ah, we’ve waited long enough. We give up.
And again, while sometimes it is better to be impatient…for racial justice to be done, for fair pay to be won, for rights to be equal, and peace to shine like the sun, the message today I think is, don’t get too impatient, my friends.
Don’t grow impatient. But wait. Let’s learn how to wait. To wait better. And trust that at least here in church, the future is always unfolding today.
But no matter how pretty that sounds, it is easier said than done. For it is hard. Especially when we’re looking up towards a mountain when stuck down below in a seemingly endless valley of fog. It’s hard. It’s difficult. And I imagine this difficulty is not too different than what the people in our Exodus story went through and felt, when they were told Moses would be right back. When he disappeared behind a cloud and went totally out of sight.
Perhaps they thought it would last a day. Or maybe at most seven or fourteen. But 40? For forty days and forty nights? For forty days and forty nights, Moses was up there on the top of that mountain with all that sun, while the people sat down below in the valley in all that darkness.
Our story takes place in chapter 24, and it’s not until eight later in chapter 32 when Moses finally comes walking back down. It didn’t matter anymore then that on day one and “in their sight” God’s glory had appeared in a wondrous fire; it didn’t matter anymore then that he told them to be patient and wait. For in the end, it just took too darn long. And so, in their waiting and in their disappointment, after they had lost their excitement and abandoned their trust, they turned to another and built a golden calf. You know this story.
But oh, little did they know that up there on that mountain, in those 40 nights and 8 chapters behind the clouds, Moses was receiving holy instructions that would forever change the shape and scope of their entire history. Of our entire history…
But to them it was too delayed, and Moses was too slow. And so down below they gave up, and down in the valley they gave in.
And what a contrast this seemingly is to what we read in our New Testament account in Matthew. For here we find Peter and James and John immediately summoned to the peak and “suddenly” in the presence of their Lord, in addition to Elijah and, guess who, drumroll… Moses too! Peter, James, and John didn’t even have to wait a minute, let alone 40, to get their mountain-top experience with him!
Are we to infer then that Christ works in opposition to delayed gratification; and that after his transfiguration we should through our own faith expect quick and immediate satisfaction? Let me answer that for you in a single word: no.
For in our same passage Jesus is also quick to tell his disciples: But “tell no one about this vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” They were told to hide it. To hold the line. And if we know how the story plays out, it’s not for another 40 days after he is dead and resurrected that he ascends back to Heaven; and, here we still are, another 2000+ years later holding the line awaiting his glorious return from Heaven.
We are then, just as others throughout scripture have been, charged to wait. To wait. To learn that gratification, sanctification, redemption and salvation, do not happen with a snap of our finger or when we might want them, but when the time happens and when it is ordained.
So even if you think you are on the mountain top today, even if you think you are within the cloud, even if you think you have inside information and have seen behind the curtain; even if you know and believe that all things will turn out just 8 chapters later or 40 days from now, that is good for you, but there is still a waiting period that you will face. A Lenten, enduring, and often disappointing great lull of time, where all of our patience will be tested, and things might go off the rails. Because in the end that’s life, and one of the costs of our discipleship. A beautiful and faithful but slow and unfolding journey of faith; full of ups and downs, valleys and peaks, affirmations and confessions, shadows and light.
But hear the good news: Matthew 17:5 — “While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’” This, an echo of the divine proclamation given at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry at his baptism, when the skies opened, and God repeated these very words.
But hear the good news: Matthew 17:5 — “While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’” This, an echo of the divine proclamation given at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry at his baptism, when the skies opened, and God repeated these very words.
So you see, my friends, even in our trials, even in our valleys, even at the top, and from the outside looking in, even when are stuck in the lines of life that aren’t moving, we are never alone, for there are echoes and reminders of light happening all around us. All around us! Whether we see them, or hear them, or not.
In the next hymn we will sing, “if our love were but more faithful, we would gladly trust God’s Word, and our lives would reflect thanksgiving for the goodness of our Lord.” If our love were but more faithful. My friends, we must learn to be more faithful. More patient. We must learn to wait longer. To not leave too early. But to stay and to trust. Because transfiguration is at work. Yes, often behind cloud cover and bright bursts of sun. And yes, we might feel disoriented, tired, and unsure of what’s going on. But I promise, there in both the lows and the highs, in what is seen and unseen, things are at work and things are getting done.
For from the days of Moses to the days of the Son; from the days of old unto the era of the next one, God is in it all, and change is being won.
Alleluia. Amen.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
First Lesson (Exodus 24:12-18)
The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.’ So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. To the elders he had said, ‘Wait here for us, until we come to you again.’ Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.
Second Lesson (Matthew 17:1-9)
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’ And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, ‘Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’
