Feb. 15 ~ The Transfiguration of Our Own Understanding

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/3ef8bd_f44596701ca74a76986d747acfee9040/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Micah 6:1-8

Psalm 15

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Matthew 5:1-12  

Sermon by Joel Crouse

Around the time that Erin and I first met, a hit movie came out called When Harry Met Sally.  For those of you who haven’t seen it, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal are the stars, who meet when she shares the costs of a drive to their new jobs after college. They bond on the car trip and become close friends – a platonic friendship that extends for year. And then, toward the end of the movie, something changes: Harry sees Sally differently. On New Year’s Eve, in a grand romantic gesture, he races to tell her, in one of the movie’s most famous lines: “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

The friends-to-lovers story is a favourite romance trope. Jane Austen, my partner would say, did it the best. And movies have been copying her ever since. Why does this storyline reel us in so often?

Many people have argued that it’s because these relationships are built on a strong foundation.  They have history.  The people in them stand by each other through difficult times because they respect and admire each other, because they enjoy each other’s presence. The people fall in “like” first, before they make the leap to love. A 2021 study that analyzed a bunch of survey data, found that nearly 70 per cent of romantic relationships begin with friendships. 

The spark was probably always there, but at some point, along the way, one person is transfigured for another; they come to be seen in an entirely different – and happy - light. 

All this to say, it is probably why the disciples didn’t freak out when God claimed Jesus in our gospel this morning, and the teacher and friend they know is transfigured forever right in front of their eyes.

It’s as if the gospel understood we needed the foundation first. The transfiguration of Jesus happens later in the ministry of Jesus. The disciples have already chosen to leave their fishing boats and follow this man into an entirely different life. They have listened to his speeches before crowds about a new way of seeing the world. They have watched him achieve the feeding of the 5,000. They have seen him weary on a dusty road and warmed by their company. And they have just started to wrestle with his dire predictions of the future that awaits him – and realized how much they fear losing him. 

It is only then that God appears, as our gospel tells it, on the mountain, and before the disciples alone, away from the larger crowd. This is an intimate, private moment for the closest friends of Jesus. The gospel says that his face shone and his clothes became bright as light, and his divine glory was revealed. A voice from a cloud says: “This is my Son, my Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him.” 

And in that moment, Jesus is transfigured for the disciples. 

But what has changed, really? In the movie When Harry met Sally, both Harry and Sally are the same people they were before the big New Year’s Eve declaration. The only thing that was different was the way they saw each other. Their image of each other had become something else entirely.  As Harry says, Sally became not only someone he leaned on for support and kindness, but someone he needed desperately as a constant, firm, and loving presence in his life.

And isn’t that what the transfiguration is also meant to represent – not just to the disciples on the mountain that day, but also to us. Before this moment, Jesus is a leader and friend, someone they have chosen to follow.  After this moment, Jesus become something more; someone they needed to follow. Because Jesus was not, in fact, the one who was changed on that day; Jesus was always who Jesus was. What changed is the way the disciples saw Jesus. So, in fact, the disciples were the ones who were actually changed; how can you ever see the world in the same way, when God has specifically named your friend as their beloved? Even if you suspected that Jesus was different, someone special, that has now been confirmed. In that moment, for the disciples, there is no going back. They have been transfigured as much as Jesus.

And yet, this is not a burden for them. This moment is joyful. It is a relief. It is clarity. They know they have taken the right path; they have invested in the right person; they are listening to the right lessons. And so, not only is Jesus transfigured, not only are the disciples transfigured, but the gospel itself is also transfigured. 

The transfiguration does not set Jesus apart from us. In the movies, when friends fall in love, they become even closer, more important to each other, they understand each other better. And the transfiguration on the mountain top is meant to do the same: to bring us closer to God, and into a deeper understanding with the divine, into closer solidarity with Jesus and the gospel.

If you have ever fallen in love with a friend – and I know many of you have – you know that after this, everything past, present and future looks different. You see the friendship not as something constant, but as a relationship that was always growing into something larger. You see the present as a gift. And the future as full of possibility. And while life felt at a distance before, you no longer feel alone. 

Jesus the man, becomes the divine on this day. But this is only making official what always was, and was always meant to be. In the end, the light that shines on Jesus is not only for him; it draws the disciples closer, it calls to us here and now. For what else is that shining light but love? We have only to see it. 

Amen