Peter’s Transfiguration.

A sermon for the last Sunday before Lent,

23/02/20 by Roberta Berke.

“Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.” [Matthew 17.7]

For a moment, please close your eyes and imagine. It’s the year 64 AD. We’re in Rome. A terrible fire has just burned down two thirds of the city. Some people worry that this fire is a punishment from the Roman gods. The gods are angry because corrupt Emperor Nero has not worshiped them with respect. But Nero claims this fire was started by Christians:  weird foreigners who worship a crucified criminal. These incendiary Christians have been rounded up and they will be executed to purge Rome of their polluting superstition. [Tacitus, Annals XV.44.3]

Now imagine we’re the Roman gaolers. We must guard the ringleader of this subversive Christian cult. He’s a rough, bearded lout, an old man, but he still has enough muscle on him cause trouble if he tries to break loose. Keep an eye on him:  rumours say these Christians are magicians, and even cannibals. And this chap’s a Jew: you know what they’re like. He calls himself Peter. One of us gaolers jeers at Peter. He tells Peter he’s. about to be crucified: he should be terrified of dying.

Peter tells us, ‘Death doesn’t frighten me. After death, Christ will transform my wretched body into his glorious body. With my own eyes, I saw Christ’s human body revealed to be his glorious body as the Son of God. You may say this was only a vision, merely a dream, but my vision was more real than the bars of this cell.  Even now, I feel Jesus’ strong hand on my shoulder. He comforts me: “Get up and do not be afraid.”

‘I had this vision on a day when my Master, Jesus, wanted to go and pray quietly in a deserted place. He needed to get away from the pestering crowds. He only took three of us with him, James, John and myself. We spent a long time climbing up Mount Herman. By the time we got to the top, we were so exhausted that we almost fell asleep. We didn’t expect anything special to happen, we were just relieved to sit down.

‘I kept brooding on what Jesus had said a few days before. He’d asked, “Who do you say that I am?” I told him, “you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” He praised me and he called me his rock. He even said he’d give me the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Then his prediction of joy changed into a prediction of death. He said he must suffer, he must be killed, and then he would be raised up from death. I was shocked. I insisted, “God forbid it! Lord, this must never happen to you!” He rebuked me, saying, “Get behind me, Satan!” I still didn’t understand. One moment he called me his rock, the next minute I’m Satan. I wished we could to go back to the early days when we first followed Jesus. That was such a joyful time before he started warning us about his death.

‘While we were on the mountain, suddenly Jesus’ face began to shine like the sun. His clothes glowed brilliant white. He became such a bright light that we could hardly bear to look at him. We saw not only his human self, but his deepest self: he was indeed the Son of God. And standing with him, we saw Moses, who gave us the law, and Elijah, the great prophet. These men spoke with God on mountain tops. Moses and Elijah will come again on the Last Day. Moses and Elijah never died and here they were, alive now. They talked with Jesus about his exodus, his journey to death. Could it be God’s will that Jesus must die a horrible death and be raised from the dead?

‘I felt so wonderful seeing Jesus’ heavenly glory. I wanted to stay there forever. I told Jesus, I could make three booths: one for him, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. These booths would be like the tabernacle where God’s presence dwelled when our ancestors journied in the desert. I’d make booths like the ones we put up every year to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

‘All at once a shining cloud surrounded us. A cloud both dark and bright at the same time. A voice spoke out of the cloud, a voice like nothing I’d ever heard before or since. The voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” [Matthew 17.5] This voice ordered us to listen to Jesus’ message: he must die and be glorified. We collapsed on the ground, shaking with terror.

‘Then I felt Jesus’ strong hand on my shoulder. “Get up and do not be afraid.” He reassured me. When I opened my eyes, there was no one on the mountain top except for Jesus and the three of us. Jesus warned us, “Tell no one about this vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”  If the Pharisees and the Romans heard that Jesus was the Messiah, they’d kill him.

‘We had to come down from the mountain. Waiting for us was the usual crowd of people clamouring for Jesus to heal them. Then Jesus healed an epileptic boy. He’d healed sick people before, but now we knew that his healing power came from God, because he was truly the Son of God.

‘As Jesus had warned us, he went up to Jerusalem and he was tortured and he was killed. And as he had promised us, three days after his death, God raised him from the dead. He came to us again while we were fishing in Galilee. I felt so deeply ashamed because when he was arrested, I’d denied three times that I even knew who Jesus was. Now the risen Jesus asked me three times, “Do you love me?” I could hardly speak, for sobbing. “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus told me, “Feed my sheep,” Then he warned me that someone would take me where I didn’t want to go. He meant I’d be killed like he had been. [John 21:15-19] So now, here I am, waiting to be crucified, following in my Master’s footsteps.

‘One of you gaolers told me that I should be terrified of dying. I don’t fear death. After I die, Jesus Christ will transform my wretched body into his glorious body. With my own eyes, I saw Jesus’ human body revealed as his glorious body, revealed as the Son of God. I have seen his glory, the glory of a Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. [John 1.14] You gaolers haven’t seen Christ’s glory. Yet if you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, if you accept Christ as your Lord and Master, then his power and his grace will transform your life. At death, Christ will transform the mortal bodies of everyone who believes in him into the image of his glorious risen body.

‘I am not terrified of death. Even now I feel Jesus’ strong hand on my shoulder. He reassures me: “Get up and do not be afraid.”