The Glory of God
03/02/25
This is the Final week after Epiphany. Today I will be reflecting on multiple passages from the reading. I will be looking at the Transfiguration of Jesus before three of his disciples. Through these passages I will be investigating how our Christian experience with the direct glory of God, through Christ, is different from the experience of Jewish believers. Christian believers are invited into direct relationship with Christ, through the Holy Spirit, and are given an unveiled view of God’s glory.
The Old Testament passage for today, Exodus 34:29-35, is about Moses. It is a piece of the story of his direct interaction with God on Mt. Sinai. In the passage we are told that God’s glory caused Moses’ face to glow. The people were afraid at the sight of God’s glory through Moses. They were not ready to be presented with such a direct effect of God’s glory. As a result, Moses made a practice to cover his face when he spoke to the people, but to remove the veil from his face when standing in the presence of God.
This veiling of God’s presence carried on for generations. When the temple of the Lord was finally built, the sanctuary was divided. The holy place was visited by the priests in view of all the people. However, the Holy of Holies was separated by a veil. This place that represented the very presence of God was not even visible to the people. The priests who entered the Holy of Holies took great care to prepare themselves before being exposed to this holiest of places.
It is no surprise that generations later in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Chapters 3:12 - 4:2, he is reminding them that the Jewish believers still covered their faces when the words of Moses were read. Years of conditioning had taught them that the holiness of God could not even be looked upon by ordinary believers. The ancient Israelites, and even modern day Jewish believers, maintain a veil between themselves and the glory of God. Paul goes on to tell them that they are not bound under those same practices. Through Christ, they are invited into a direct relationship with God. That relationship includes direct exposure to the power and glory of God’s Spirit.
In the Gospel reading for today, Luke 928-43a, we have Jesus taking Peter, John, and James up on a mountain to pray. While they are praying, Jesus’ face and clothes undergo a transformation. They become dazzling white. The disciples are exposed to God’s glory without a veil. As this takes place Jesus is joined by two people, equally dazzling in appearance, and he speaks with them. The disciples realize it is Moses and Elijah that have joined Jesus on the mountain. They have come in a glorious state of being and are speaking with Jesus about what was about to take place in Jerusalem. This adds to the effect on the disciples. They are not told to look away, and Jesus makes no effort to conceal the glory from them. The disciples are overwhelmed. They are not sure what they should do, or how they should act. They are overcome with the glorious display of Jesus with the prophets from the past.
Not knowing what else to do, Peter tells Jesus that he and the others would be happy to build them a small dwelling on the mountain. I think this is his reaction because his instincts tell him that the glory he is witnessing is too much for him. He is offering to build them a dwell to create a place to contain the glory on display. Peter, like the others, does not yet understand that Jesus has come in his glory for the purpose of shining on all of mankind. Moses and Elijah depart and in their place come a cloud that overshadows the scene. The voice from the cloud speaks directly to the three disciples. He declares Jesus to be his son and directs them to listen to him.
If the dazzling transformation of Jesus along with the appearance of the prophets was too much for the three disciples, how much more overwhelmed were they now? They had witnessed the appearance of the Lord in a cloud directing over them. They hear the voice of the Lord speak directly to them. Their response was silence. They had no words, nothing to offer in the face of the glory of God. Jesus leads them down from the mountain and they never speak of what they had seen until after Christ has been crucified and resurrected. However we can be sure that they had been transformed on the inside, much like Jesus was transformed visually to them on the outside.
Next is the passage, Luke tells us that the next day Jesus encountered a man with a child who is possessed by an unclean spirit. The man tells Jesus that his disciples have already attempted to heal the boy but that they were unable to help. Jesus is confronted with the fact that his disciples are still not understanding the power that he has given to them. Jesus’s response is anger towards the disciples. He asks how much longer do they expect to rely on him. How long will they go on doubting and questioning the power that he has placed in them and being dependent on his physical presence in the world? Jesus knows that he has come for a time, and that the time will come to an end. Jesus also knows that he has shared his glory with his disciples. We have already been told that they have made trips without Jesus and been able to heal. However, today their faith has been limited, and the result is their inability to do the work that God has empowered them to do, through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Jesus acts, and the boy is healed. The passage for today ends with the astonishment of the crowd at the greatness of god. We are not told how this impacted the disciples, but we can be sure that it did.
We, as Christians, are called to live face to face with Christ. We are not called to build a booth for him in our church, or even in our own home, that we visit. Having a holy place is important, but we are not called to visit it and then leave God safely stored away. We are called to be in fellowship with God’s glory and to live a life that reflects it to the world. Jesus has made the gift of the Spirit available to each one of us, directly and individually. We are to exist in his glory and as a result of that we are to reflect his glory onto those that we encounter.
Thanks for reading.
David
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You can find this week’s reading here.
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