Transfiguration – A Preacher’s Ponderings

Temptation

First Sunday in Lent; 26 February 2023; Lent 1A (RCL); Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11.

I had a Cambodian friend who read this passage in Genesis as a coming-of-age story. According to him, children in Cambodia were not gendered until about the age of five, “when they put their pants on.” It’s about the same age there were expected to begin to know right from wrong. Adam and Eve recognize their nakedness once they have eaten the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That throws an interesting light on the story — temptation as a step along the way to growing up.

Tabernacles

Last Sunday after Epiphany; 19 February 2023; Last Epiphany A (RCL); Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 2; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9.

I’m not sure why I chose Psalm 2 this year. If the leaflets weren’t already printed, I might change to Psalm 99. Psalm 2 is a coronation psalm, and speaks of the victory of the new king over his (God’s?) enemies, who are foolish to try to rebel. The lectionary, of course, assigns it as an option with the Transfiguration because the voice from heaven quotes it — This is my son.

Seeing and not seeing

Last Sunday after Epiphany; 27 February 2022; Last Epiphany C (RCL); Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 2 Corinthians 3:12 – 4:2; Luke 9:28-43a.

Paul turns the story of Moses’ face on its head, and makes it into a condemnation of Israel, for its failure to see Jesus as the Christ. In its initial setting, the story of Moses’ face was meant to show him as a true ‘friend of God,’ who could gaze on God’s glory without fear. The rest of us poor mortals couldn’t even gaze at Moses.

And now, for something completely different.

Last Sunday after Epiphany; 23 February 2020; Last Epiphany A (RCL); Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 2; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9.

The church calendar always gives us an account of the transfiguration on the Sunday before Lent begins, as the collect says, so that we may be strengthened to bear our cross, and at Easter be changed into Christ’s likeness. And the account of the transfiguration does feel like a resurrection appearance retrojected back into the earthly life of Jesus. But it is about much more than nerving us up for Lent.

Divine transformation

6 August 2017
The Feast of the Transfiguration
Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Peter 1:13-21
Luke 9:28-36

The Feast of the Transfiguration, which falls on August 6, is classed by the Prayer Book as a feast of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as such, takes precedence over a Sunday. Consequently, we won’t read Proper 13 this year, but replace it with the Transfiguration. We’ll miss Matthew’s version of the feeding of the 5000. Continue reading “Divine transformation”