March 2, 2025 -Transfiguration Sunday - Listen to Jesus, See His Face, then Go Down from the Mountain

What the Wednesday Bible Study and Pastor Emillie's sermon stressed was why we cannot "tabernacle' or stay where we momentarily encounter God or have a powerful spiritual encounter. The narrative lectionary reading makes this obvious. 

Peter, John and James may likely be seeing this as an end time experience since Elijah is there. They may not even know where they are in time but the next story of healing the boy would not have happened if they remained. Nor would the death that Jesus was foretelling would not have happened. 

The disciples would likely saw the Transfiguration as an end-times vision—perhaps a glimpse of the coming messianic kingdom. However, they misunderstood its full implications, particularly that Jesus' path to glory included the cross. 

Recently someone asked a class I am in how we felt about state-sanctioned violence being a part of God's plan. I can only speculate based on atonement theories I have seen offered. I find what works in my soul is to incorporate that suffering into the faith that all the experiences we can become part if the way we are drawn closer to God.

 I was also struck with verse Luke 9:31. During the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah speak with Jesus about his upcoming "departure" in Jerusalem. The Greek word used here is "ἔξοδος" (exodos), which is the same word for "Exodus."

Luke’s use of "exodos" in the Transfiguration account is profound. It frames Jesus' journey to the cross as a new and greater Exodus, where he leads people to salvation, not from physical slavery, but from sin and death. This deepens the disciples' (and our) understanding of his mission as the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan

The whole passage demonstrates the move from the season of Epiphany, the reason to connect with everyday needs afterwards and starting the Lenten journey of turning to face the cross.