LECTIONARY DISCUSSION GROUP

Week of Sunday, February 3, 2008, Last Sunday After Epiphany, Year A

Feast of the Transfiguration

Exodus 24:12-18

The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction." So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. To the elders he had said, "Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them."

Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

2 Peter 1:16-21

We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor 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." We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.

So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Matthew 17:1-9

Six days after Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid." And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

HISTORICAL TIDBIT:

In early medieval times, when even many priests were barely literate, few people had read the Bible, even among the clergy. It was assumed by many who had not read the Bible, or whose Latin was not good enough to understand it (because it was written in vulgar Latin, a language easy for late Romans to understand but not so easy for medievals), that it had no contradictions within it. In the 11th century, however, the theologian Peter Abelard wrote a book called Sic et Non (Latin for Yes and No) in which he paired and resolved contradictions in the text. And thus was begun the modern study of the Bible. If you’re interested, Abelard was far more brilliant than he was moral. While under holy orders and a vow of chastity, he had an illicit affair with a noblewoman and later nun named Heloise. Heloise’s cousins castrated Abelard in retaliation, and made Heloise join a convent. Many of the letters they sent to each other during and after this episode still exist, and make for some fascinating, and very passionate, reading.

THEOLOGICAL TIDBITS:

- This week, there are three major feasts to take note of. The first is the feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. This is when Jesus was “presented” at the temple with an offering. It was very much like a christening, and is celebrated on Saturday the 2nd. See Luke 2:22-40 for more details. The second is the feast of Cornelius the Centurion, who was the first gentile convert to Christianity, and is celebrated on Monday the 3rd. See Acts chapters 10 and 11. The third is Ash Wednesday, where we “celebrate,” so to speak, the beginning of Lent, the season leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection.

- In this passage from Exodus, we see the first Transfiguration that prefigures the later Transfiguration of Jesus. Seeing God is an inherently special thing; the number of people who have seen God the father is quite small—Moses, Jacob, Jesus and Elijah are some of the very few.
- When Moses enters into the cloud, he disappears for forty days and forty nights, and is in the presence of God, and there is fire and light, but he is within a cloud the entire time. He is hidden, in the darkness.

- The writer of the second letter of Peter is unknown. Because Peter himself was likely illiterate, it was probably written by one of his followers, whether at Peter’s dictation or inspiration is unknown.
- First, this letter makes reference to Peter’s own sight of the Transfiguration—he is not blowing smoke, in other words; he was there, and he saw it.
- This leads into the next passage of this letter. Taken in isolation, the second paragraph could be read to mean that the Bible needs no interpretation. This, however, is clearly false; one of the bedrock doctrines of the faith is that the Bible does not contradict itself. However, it often looks like it does, and in those cases, it is the job of the exegete to harmonize the passages and resolve the contradiction into greater understanding. This is where many of the greatest lessons of the Bible come from, in fact. But what Peter is getting at here is not that the Bible needs no interpretation, but instead that it is divinely inspired, and that it is put there to give prophecies for all. Whatever else is true of the Bible—and modern criticism has exposed many things about it—it is, in its own way, a coherent whole and must be taken as one; and many of the prophecies in the Old Testament prefigure events in the New.

- In a parallel to the Transfiguration of Moses, Jesus is transfigured in beauty and light, and God repeats what he had said when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist: This is my son, with whom I am well pleased.
- An interesting point here—perhaps one of you can tell me what it means—is that Jesus is taken up in light, in the sight of only the apostles, while Moses was taken up in darkness, inside a cloud, in the direct sight of Joshua, but also the sight of all the Israelites.
- Moses and Elijah are here as well as Jesus, but they glorify Jesus here.
- It’s very difficult to discern just what Peter is getting at here. He seems to want to do something. But God is giving him a lesson—don’t just do something, sit there! Peter makes some reference to this in his letter today. Sometimes, it’s OK to sit back and let God be God!

QUESTIONS:

1. Peter here has to accept that he is Peter, and God is God. If only the later occupants of Peter’s throne had learned as well! When have you had to accept that you are you, and God is God, and you each have a role, and you have to stop trying to be God?

2. How do you resolve seeming contradictions between two things that are “right,” according to your conscience or the scripture? When has this become a problem for you?