Remain in the Light: A Sermon for the Last Sunday after the Epiphany

The Rev’d Richard Gillespie Proctor - CtK Episcopal Church - Last Epiphany/Year C: 2/27/22

Our journey through the season of Epiphany comes to an end this week, and it does so in glorious fashion. Before we are plunged into the depths of the Lenten wilderness, we are taken to the mountaintop of glory. Our journey has included a series of divine revelations in each week’s Gospel lesson, beginning with the Magi’s discovery that the king of the Jews was none other than a little boy living in the insignificant town of Bethlehem. This weekly progression of revelations as to who the Messiah is - and what sort of things the Messiah says and does – culminate in today’s revelation on the mountaintop. We have engaged our Epiphany pilgrimage - to use St. Paul’s language - with “unveiled faces…being transformed … from one degree of glory to another.”

These degrees of glory have included the voice of God speaking from the heavens at the baptism of Jesus,

Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana,

his first sermon at the synagogue in Nazareth,

the time he slipped through the hands of an angry mob that was      trying to kill him,

a record-breaking fishing excursion,

and his Sermon on the Plain where he redefined who is blessed and what God’s love looks like.

And it is through these degrees of glory - from the physically miraculous to the socio-politically scandalous - that God has revealed to us the divinity of Christ.

But the ultimate revelation – for now at least – happens in our Gospel lesson for today when Jesus is transfigured in a light of glory on top of a mountain. While this dazzling moment marks the climatic end of the Season of Epiphany, it marks the half-way point of Jesus’ earthly ministry. And this half-way point was also the major turning point in Luke’s gospel narrative.

During the glorious mountaintop experience, Peter was so overwhelmed by the radiant power of God’s glory that he suggested that they all stay put. Who could blame him? Perhaps he thought that this was the end of their earthly journey together. And what a glorious ending it would have been!

But this was not the end of their time together. Chronologically speaking, it was the half-way point, but their descent down the mountain marked the beginning of their to journey to Jerusalem. It was the beginning of the end of Jesus’ earthly life. And God knew that before Jesus could begin this harrowing journey towards the Cross, his glory needed to be revealed to his followers. Peter, James, and John – Jesus’ “Executive Committee”– needed to be on board. So, any doubts of Who Jesus was and Who had sent him were erased atop that mountain…at least for the time being.

And such is the case for us. In the Christian tradition, the journey to Jerusalem – the journey to the Cross – is marked by the Season of Lent. But it would almost be a cruel joke to invite us to church on Ash Wednesday and be marked with a reminder of our mortality on our foreheads and then engage in a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and penitence if we hadn’t engaged in the full experience of Epiphany. This two-month season has been preparing us for the journey to the Cross. We have been exposed to the first half of Jesus’ earthly life– from when he was a toddler, to his baptism, his first miracle, his first sermon, the calling of his first disciples … all the way up through today’s penultimate pre-resurrection moment in his life.

So, when we enter the wilderness with Jesus, and continue our journey with him, we do so knowing Who he is, where he is going, and why we are following him. Like Peter, when the going gets tough, we will wonder why we didn’t remain atop the mountain where the light was bright and the company was good. And like Peter, we will be tempted to abandon Jesus as our journey draws closer to the cross. But unlike Peter, we have the benefit of hindsight. Our journey in the wilderness is not only illumined on the front end by the glow of the Transfiguration. It is illumined on the back end by the glow of the Resurrection. As we prepare for our wilderness journey together, let us remain in the Light today, and in the days to come. It will be this very Light that will see us through to the end.