Who Is The Lord (that I should heed him)?

Image credit: Kelly Latimore – Transfiguration

Preacher: Ron Vonk

Transfiguration of Our Lord
2 March 2025

Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)

 

There are some events in life that stun us. We just do not expect these events. As a nation Canada is stunned because our closest neighbour and ally accuses Canada of treating them unfairly. Our neighbour intends to punish us financially. I was stunned in 2008 when our home had a major fire. My wife’s brother was stunned in January to learn that he has an aggressive brain tumour. How do we respond to these stunning events? Many of us respond with fear. Maybe we stand frozen and dumbfounded at the enormity of what has just happened. Others respond with determination to take whatever action we can to meet our unexpected challenge.

Both our scripture reading from Exodus and Luke this morning describe people who are stunned by events in their lives. In Exodus, Moses comes down from Mt. Sinai and the people are stunned by the shining face of Moses. In our gospel reading, Peter, John and James are stunned by the shining face of Jesus and by his clothes which become as bright as a flash of lightning.

This morning I will give some background to each of these 2 readings and then I will suggest a response for us who have faced, who are facing or will one day face an event in life that stuns us.

There are 2 past stunning events in the background to our reading from Exodus. The first stunning event is Israel’s deliverance from forced labour camps in Egypt. Pharaoh, king of Egypt lets the people go. The second stunning event is Israel’s decision to build a golden image of a calf and then begin to worship the calf as if the calf was the god who delivered the people from slavery in Egypt.

Throughout the events surrounding Israel’s exodus from Egypt, Moses, Israel, even Pharaoh must ask and answer a very important question. Ironically, it is Pharaoh who first asks the question, “Who is the Lord that I should heed him?

The question, “Who is the Lord?” must first be answered by Pharaoh in order to convince Pharaoh to let the people go.

But Israel must also answer the question. After the Exodus the people ask Moses to speak God’s words to them. Moses goes up Mt. Sinai to receive God’s words. When Moses is delayed in coming down from the mountain, the people dismiss Moses because they do not know what has become of Moses. Then they do what they saw the Egyptians do. They need a god to worship. So they build a golden calf. The idol represents God’s presence. Without Moses, they build a Moses substitute. Their answer to the question, “Who is the Lord” is the golden calf.

Moses eventually comes down from Mt. Sinai. Moses destroys the golden calf.

That brings us to our reading from Exodus this morning. Moses comes down from Mt. Sinai a second time, this time with his shining face. The shining face deals with an unresolved issue. Earlier the people dismissed Moses with sarcastic words of anxiety… “We have no idea what has become of him.” Now the authority of Moses needs to be re-established in the eyes of the very people who rejected Moses.

God re-establishes the authority of Moses with the shining face of Moses. At first the people are afraid to come near Moses. But Moses calls to Aaron and the leaders who come closer. When they talk with Moses without harm, all the Israelites finally feel is safe to come closer to Moses. Moses then gives the people the commands the Lord had spoken with Moses on Mt. Sinai.

In this way Israel answers Pharaoh’s question, “Who is the Lord that I should heed him?” The Lord is the God who delivered his people from slavery to a life of loyalty to Him.

In the gospels the people listening to Jesus must also ask and answer Pharaoh’s question. But this time the question is, “Who is Jesus?”

A few examples to help us understand just how central this question is to the gospels. When Jesus says to a paralysed man, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you,” the scribes and Pharisees ask, “Who is this speaking blasphemies?” King Herod, the ruler who beheaded John the Baptist, said “John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And in Luke chapter nine just before our reading this morning, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” Then Jesus asks the more important question for us to answer, “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus turns the tables and asks us to answer this most important question. Who is Jesus?

Now our reading from Luke. In Luke this morning we heard that while Jesus is praying, Jesus enters a heavenly world and Jesus has a conversation with two heavenly residents – Moses and Elijah. His face becomes like that of Moses at Mt. Sinai. But unlike Moses, the clothes on Jesus become as bright as a flash of lightning. Peter. John and James become just as terrified as the Israelites in Exodus who saw Moses with his shining face. They are dumbfounded by what they see happening to Jesus.

The two heavenly residents speak with Jesus about his exodus which he is about to fulfill in Jerusalem. As with Israel in the Old Testament, the exodus is a central idea in the gospels. But this is an exodus that involves betrayal and death.

Our gospel reading begins with the words, “Now about eight days after these sayings.” The saying Luke mentions comes just before our gospel reading. In the earlier reading, Jesus begins with the words, “The Son of Man (Jesus) must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” This exodus of Jesus is intimately connected to who Jesus is.

The transfiguration is also central to who Jesus is. Moses and Elijah appear in glory. They look much like Jesus. But Jesus is the central figure. A cloud, an Old Testament symbol of God’s presence, hides Jesus and the two visitors. From the cloud comes God’s voice, a voice that says for the benefit of the disciples, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to Him!”

And at the end of the transfiguration, neither Moses nor Elijah are voices the disciples must listen to. They must listen only to the voice of Jesus. Jesus is the central figure in God’s plan for a new exodus.

How do the frightened disciples react to all this glory? Peter acts as their spokesperson when Peter says to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

Peter does know what he is saying. In an earlier reading before our reading from Luke this morning, Peter confidently identifies Jesus as the “Messiah of God”. Now Peter calls Jesus, “Master,” a word a slave might use to address his owner, but a word inadequate to address Jesus. Peter’s inappropriate title for Jesus leads to an inappropriate suggestion, “let us set up three tents or shrines for our heavenly visitors.” Peter is saying, Jesus, they are leaving! Stop them! We want to capture this moment! We want to hold on to this!

After the transfiguration, neither Peter nor the other two disciples were ready to share their stunning experience. They kept silent and told no one any of the things they had seen. Only toward the end of his life does Peter clearly describe his experience in the short letter of 2 Peter. Peter clearly tells us who Jesus is with these words: “… we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ… For he received honour 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.” Neither Moses nor Elijah even get an honourable mention by Peter. All honour and glory belong to Jesus.

Let me summarize. The Israelites in the months following their stunning deliverance from Egypt first turned to Moses in trying to answer the question, “Who is the Lord?” When Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, the people did what other people in their culture did. They built a golden calf to represent the god who delivered them. Only when Moses came down from the mountain a second time with his shining face were the people ready to hear from Moses the commandments God spoke to Moses on Mt Sinai. They were stunned. Only at that time did they begin to understand the answer to our question this morning. Who is the Lord?

The disciples were often stunned by Jesus. Before the resurrection, the Transfiguration was the most stunning of all their encounters with Jesus. But all they could do that day is weakly suggest they capture the event and hold onto it by building three tents –to keep the experience going. Other than that, they were stunned into silence.

I do not know how any of you have responded to the stunning events in your lives. In the case of my house fire, I became angry and frustrated at the unfairness of some events in our lives. My brother-in-law has responded very differently. He is working to complete unfinished projects; projects that will bless others even if he is unable to see their completion.

We have again heard this morning the honour and glory properly belonging to the Lord Jesus, honour and glory that far exceeds such illustrious Old Testament figures as Moses and Elijah. We have been reminded that the central purpose of Jesus was his Exodus, an Exodus that meant his betrayal and death at the hands of his own people, at the hands of the people he loved and at the hands of the religious and political leaders.

The end of our gospel reading this morning should surprise us. Jesus appears at the foot of the mountain and does what the disciples cannot do. A man begs Jesus to look at his son. He tells Jesus, “I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Jesus answers with the same words God used to confront the Israelites in the Exodus, “You faithless and perverse generation.” Yet Jesus heals the boy and gives him back to his father. Jesus, who has the power to heal must be betrayed by the unbelieving people he gladly helps. We should be stunned. God has mercy beyond all human expectations.

May events in life that stun us also give us a clear vision into the glory and mercy of God.

O Christ, Exalted Prince of Heaven,
O Christ, Radiant King of Earth,
Your glories are everlasting.

Amen.