THE ANGLO-CATHOLIC GENTLEMAN

This sermon was originally prepared to be preached at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Lafayette, Louisiana on Sunday, February 26, 2017, being the Last Sunday after the Epiphany: Quinquagesima. As a result of human imperfection and misreading the clergy preaching rota, I ended up not preaching the sermon that follows. I offer it in the spirit of putting forth what I would have said had I, indeed, been the day’s preacher.

Readings: Exodus 24.12-18; Psalm 2, 2 Peter 1.16-21; Matthew 17.1-9

Collect: O God, who before the passion of Your only begotten Son revealed His glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of His countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into His likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

“And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, ‘Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.’’”—Matthew 17.9[1]

In the Name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

 In the pre-1979 Prayer Book days, today, the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, and the two preceding were known as the “Gesima” Sundays, today being “Quinquagesima,” meaning “about 50 days,” the previous being “Sexagesima,” “about 60 days,” and the one before that “Septuagesima,” “about 70 days.”  Their purpose was two-fold.  First, functioning as a transition period from the Epiphany season and beginning the countdown to Easter, the Gesimas put the faithful on notice: Lent is coming!  As today is the last of the Gesimas, Lent begins this Wednesday.

Second, the Gesimas, by way of the lectionary, were a corporate catechesis on God’s grace.  They examined grace from specific perspectives: grace undeserved, grace passively received, and grace not easily understood.[2]  With Lent being a penitential season, the Gesimas were a reassurance to the faithful that there is grace and that it was coming.  “For His anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime.  Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”[3] 

 There have been some joyous events these last few weeks—the birth of Jesus, His naming and circumcision, the first Gentiles to find Him, and His baptism.  But a change is coming, one already present amid the joy.[4]

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In today’s Gospel

Three of them saw that glory.  Jesus took Peter and the brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain.  His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes.  Sunlight poured from His face.  His clothes were filled with light.  Then they realized that Moses and Elijah were also there in deep conversation with Him.[5]

The Transfiguration of Christ is nothing short of amazing.  Jesus’ humanity and divinity were on full display.  What Peter, James, and John were witnessing on that high mountain was the glory of the Holy Trinity: God the Father’s voice, God the Son’s face, and God the Holy Ghost in the light.  “The disciples…fell on their faces and were terrified.”  I would be, too.

In one single moment, Jesus’ entire past, present, and future came together.  Moses and Elijah, representing the Old Testament Prophets and the Law, reflected Jesus’ past.  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets,” Jesus said.  “I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”[6]  But Jesus’ past extends further back beyond Elijah and Moses.  “I will put enmity between you and the woman,” God said to the serpent in Genesis, “between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”[7]  And even further back than that: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”[8]  Jesus Christ is the Word that is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Within Jesus’ past was also His future.  “Moses and Elijah…were in deep conversation with Him.”[9]  They are talking about His Passion, all that Jesus must suffer and endure in Jerusalem.  In this is also our future.  “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”[10]

For Jesus, His suffering on the cross was no matter of force, but a voluntary and willing submission to His Father’s will.  The Transfiguration reveals Jesus, who is without sin, choosing to suffer for the redemption of sinners.[11]  “And a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.’”  God makes it pretty clear: Jesus is in charge and we, who are sinful, are to do everything that He, who is sinless, says.

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“And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good that we are here.  If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’”  Peter’s wanting to stay on the mountaintop is understandable.  What he, James, and John saw there was the glory of God in its complete fullness.  To use the words of the late great Johnny Mercer, it was “just too marvelous, too marvelous for words.”  Peter wanted this mountaintop experience to last and never change.  But, alas, that could not be.  They had to descend from the mountain.  “And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, ‘Tell no one the vision, until the Son is raised from the dead.’”

That is where we see God’s grace, coming, yet already present.  The grace of God is an energetic force that cannot be contained in a tent, or a box, or in any other particular place.  What Peter, James, John, all the other Apostles, and all of us will soon see is that the fullness of God’s grace will come through sacrifice.  Jesus looks through death to the certainty of the resurrection.  His resurrection from death will be His (and our) ultimate triumph.[12]  We cannot experience the joy of the resurrection without first going through the darkness of Christ’s crucifixion.[13]  When we do, God’s glory will “do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.”[14]

So on this final Sunday before Lent, the Good News we see in the Transfiguration, in Christ’s dazzling white light, is that there is grace and it is coming.  “I am the light of the world,” Jesus says.  “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”[15]  “Rise, and have no fear.’  And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”  Jesus Christ is the Savior of all.  By His cross and precious blood He will redeem us and bring to us grace and life forever.

Alleluia!  Grace is coming!  Alleluia!  Grace is here!

In the Name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations contained herein are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

[2] “Lent & the ‘Gesima’ Season” (http://www.historiclectionary.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/GesimaInsert.pdf).  Web.  February 14, 2017.

[3] Psalm 30.5

[4] Paul T. McCain.  “What’s a Gesima?  The Church Prepares for Lent.” First Things.  Institute on Religion and Public Life, January 31, 2010.  Web.  February 15, 2017.

[5] The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (NavPress, 2005).

[6] Matthew 5.17

[7] Genesis 3.15

[8] John 1.1

[9] The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language

[10] 1 Timothy 1.15

[11] Norval Geldenhuys.  Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979), 281.

[12] Leon Morris.  The Gospel According to Matthew (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999), 442.

[13] Stan G. Duncan.  If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now: Life and Faith and a Journey Home (Lulu Enterprises, 2006), x.

[14] Ephesians 3.20

[15] John 8.12