Trans Fat
Exodus 24:12-18; Matthew 17:1-9

February 6, 2005

There are still a lot of Marcionites hanging around the Christian Church. Extremely few of them know what that means or who Marcion was, but they agree wholeheartedly with him. Marcion (85-160) was one of the brilliant, though very unorthodox leaders of the church in the second century A. D. According to Marcion, the Church and its Bible had one major flaw - the Old Testament.

Marcion was convinced that the Old Testament was a hindrance to Christianity, that the Church had surpassed the Synagogue, that the God of justice and vengeance many have perceived in the Old Testament no longer has authority for Christians. So he eliminated the Old Testament from the Christian canon, and excised any OT citations from the Gospels and Paul.

Nice try. There is virtually no half-verse in the Gospels that does not recall some Old Testament narrative or poetic line. The evangelists were saturated in the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings. The Psalms had become the vocabulary of their souls. The New Testament Gospels were the Old Testament written in a dialect expanding and exploding with new meanings. Jesus, after all, was a Jew who spoke our new language.

Today we have heard an old story retold in a new way. The Transfiguration of Jesus with his disciples standing by is always rehearsed on the last Sunday before Lent. It is a surreal story for most of us, the kind scientifically oriented modern people dismiss as pious mythology.

Literally, Jesus’ face is changed, transfigured, sunlight pouring from his face. But this is in the larger picture a transition, something old is becoming something new, something vague is becoming something specific. Jesus has been wandering all over Galilee teaching and healing with no particular place to go. Now it all becomes clear, God speaks to him directly, and he makes the transition, heading with the goal of Jerusalem and the way it’s supposed to be. We too are in transition. Since Christmas we have doing the ministry in the best way we can, but with no particular place to go. Moving into the 40 days of Lent is not a random trip. We too are heading towards Jerusalem, and inevitably towards Easter.

The Exodus had gone well. Moses had led the former slaves of Israel up out of Egypt, unbelievably through the Red Sea and then on into the wilderness of Sinai, heading home.

Then things just bogged down. Lots of enthusiasm at the start, but when the going gets tough, most people complain and blame. By the time they had calumphed down to the southern most extremity of the wilderness peninsula, down to Mount Sinai, Israel had become an expert in complaining. Not enough water, not enough food, not the right kind of food, no security. Slavery was better than freedom.

At Sinai, God made it clear to Moses that there was a particular thing to do. He wanted Moses to climb up the mountain and receive the tablets of stone God had been busy writing, commandments for the people, for the ages. Moses took along Joshua with him, and it was not lost on the evangelist describing the Transfiguration that Joshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus.

Moses went all the way up and at the top the Cloud that had accompanied the Israelites by day on their Exodus covered the top for six days. This Cloud was the indescribable presence of God, a presence usually called the Glory of God. We don’t know how to say it otherwise. Down below this Glory did not look like a cloud, but a raging fire.

Six days Moses waited, not able to see or hear a thing, but then on the seventh day - a new creation perhaps - God spoke to Moses. Out of the dense cloud God spoke to Jesus, or rather, God spoke to the disciples huddling in awed silence nearby. God had a few things to tell Moses, at least 10, but I can’t imagine there wasn’t a lot of explanation and comments thrown in. Moses was on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights, that Biblical number for a period of time right at the edge of human endurance - possible, but only when a human being is willing to commit all his or her energy and soul to the test.

Moses came down from the mountain and we remember what happened afterwards. There were problems with golden calves, but generally there was a new urgency, a transition had been made. The Israelites were heading back to the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey. Jesus and his disciples were pointed now firmly towards Jerusalem. Our 40 days and 40 nights are about to begin with the Lenten period of time in our wildernesses.

We are in transition and that means we are changing from one way of life to a new way, charged with a new urgency. We know where we are finally going. It is not coincidental in the Spirit that today we meet to take stock and stock up for the coming years in the life of our gathering of the saints of God.

The problem with the Transfiguration at first read is that it appears to affect only Jesus. That’s nice, but we need the help now. The fourth verse of Julia Ward Howe’s poem and hymn, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory” or “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” are worth hearing by themselves, words saturated by the way with Old Testament imagery.


“In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me;

And he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free!

While God is marching on.

Glory, Glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on!”


No one is ever transfigured by herself. Somebody else gets sunburned as well.

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan