Get Ready

"Get Ready"

2008-02-22 redux for 

2026-02-15 Matthew 17:1-9

A Blessed Transfiguration Sunday to you all.

Today, we start getting ready for Easter.

Almost.

We're at the starting gate.

Shaking it out.

Visualizing the course.

The forty days of getting ready for Easter is the season the church calls Lent.

Today isn't officially Lent. 

We're still in the preseason.

the final Sunday before Lent.

Today's a preliminary workout.

This is the Sunday for getting ready to get ready; 

We're fixin' to get ready.

Every year, to remind us to get ready, we read the story of Jesus's Transfiguration on the mountaintop. 

We call this Transfiguration Sunday.

A fancy church name.

I think people – at least in this part of the country – would get the message better if we called it, "Mardi Gras Sunday." 

Or "Post-Valentine's Wrapup."

Or, like on ESPN, the "Sunday Countdown."

Or, simply, "Get Ready Sunday."

Because when Jesus was Transfigured on the mountaintop, one thing's for sure: 

His disciples were not ready for what they saw.

Let this be a lesson for us as Easter approaches.

We all need to get ready for what Jesus is going to do next.

Let us all, "Get Ready."

--

In scripture, we read how Jesus gets ready.

He goes up on the mountaintop to pray.

He takes his top three disciples with him, and they see him transfigured, right before their eyes.

There, in front of them is their teacher and friend, Jesus, talking with Moses and Elijah, the two greatest figures in their faith.

And then, suddenly, Jesus begins to glow a blinding white light.

Yes, this is the Messiah.

Yes, this is the One.

This one you disciples call Jesus IS God.

Well, how did Jesus do that?

I don't know. It's the Bible. Not Scientific American.

The mechanics of how the Transfiguration happened aren't important.

The more we fixate on what happened and how it happened, the more we miss the point of WHY it happened.

Why the Transfiguration, and what difference does it make to us?

Why did Jesus stand and talk with Moses and Elijah.

The more you revere Moses and Elijah, as say, the Jewish faith does, the more this moment of transfiguration means.

It's as if, say, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln suddenly appeared on the balcony at the White House with the President.

I wonder what they'd talk about.

Moses and Elijah are some heavenly name recognition.

If you're affiliated with them, you're God's chosen.

But Moses and Elijah are there on the mountaintop not to convince. 

These greatest heroes are there to confirm.

Jesus stands in the tradition of the greatest people in the long history and tradition of the faith.

Moses and Elijah confirm Jesus as being "like" them – in their league -- but even more.

Much, much more.

The Bible says Moses and Elijah and Jesus were talking with each other.

Kind of a panel discussion. 

Like, "The View." 

The HIGHEST view EVER.

Again, what they said isn't important; that they had enough in common to have a conversation, that's what's important.

These were greats who talked each other's language, who understood each other as equals.

Brady, Manning, Serena, Vonn (God bless her.)

Imagine these great icons, and then go greater.

Shine ALL the spotlights on this parley.

People ask about the shining light.

Why did Jesus glow with heavenly light?

The CGI special effects people in Hollywood could have a field day with this one.

Actually, compared to some of the stuff they do in movies now, or that kids can create on their phones, it's probably no big deal.

If Jesus were into gee-whiz special effects, he would have invited more than three people to watch, and he wouldn't have told them, "Tell no one about this until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." 

Again, it's not the effect that's special; it's the meaning behind it.

--

I'm sure you've never done this, yourself.

But you know when your neighbors see you got a new car. Or a new significant other.

It's amazing how those curtains can peek open just enough.

You don't need the whole story.

A glance or two will do.

Besides, everybody now has Ring Doorbell cameras anyway. 

When Jesus shines, it's as if God's pulling open a small hole in the curtains between this universe and the next, and letting just enough of heaven shine through to let us "get it."

God says, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." 

It's a repeat of exactly what God said at Jesus's baptism.

Here, on the mountaintop, is a reenactment of the baptism, maybe even an improvement on the baptism.

It's not a repeat. It's an upgrade.

Baptism 2.0.

It's a blessing, and a reminder that we should listen to Jesus, not just because he's as smart as Moses and Elijah, not just because he glows, but because when you hear Jesus talking, you hear God.

When you see Jesus, you see all the history of Israel and the Old Testament rolled up and notarized by the seal of God.

What does all this mean to us?

Truthfully? Not a whole lot.

After Adam and Eve and the Ten Commandments, we Christians wouldn't recognize Moses or Elijah if they were – I don't know – standing right before us like they did with the disciples. 

We Christians don't know much about our own his-tor-ree. 

First, it's confirmation from scripture that when we worship Jesus, we're not out there in left field.

Jesus didn't just appear out of thin air. 

He didn't just pop in through the transfer portal.

Jesus has context. Jesus has history.

Three fourths or more of our Bibles are there to teach us the context.

What we call the Old Testament. What Jews call The Bible.

The Transfiguration is biblical proof that we're on the right track.

Jesus is not just some guy who claimed to be the Messiah; Jesus actually is the promised Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God.

What does it mean that Jesus is the Messiah?

Among many other things, it means Jesus does not stand alone.

Moses, Elijah, and all of God's salvation history point to the fact that Jesus is Jesus, and not just another human being.

He's the one the Bible has been talking about for generation upon generation.

Second, the Transfiguration is important because it's confirmation from scripture that you and I can see Jesus for who he really is.

We can understand.

We can "get it." 

We human beings can know something about the divine.

What do we do with this knowledge?

Well, hopefully, we'll come up with something more meaningful than Peter did, "Lord, it's a good thing we're here.

We can build some tiny homes.

"One for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

"We'll make it a gated community."

Put a castle in the middle and surround it with gift shops and hotels.

Do what we'd do. Add a waterpark. Charge admission. Charge $12 for a Coke.

But Jesus does not appear for our amusement.

I don't know exactly what Peter meant with the "booths" statement? 

Other gospels say he just didn't know what to say.

Does it matter?

Notice, Jesus doesn't even respond.

Maybe the Transfiguration's important to us for that one reason - the message that above all else, Jesus would prefer we stopped coming up with brilliant ideas and just paid attention.

Pay attention to Jesus.

Pay attention to God.

Pay attention to what Jesus tells us to do.

Things like, pray. 

Things like, don't make a show of your religion, your abilities, your creative ideas for making the world great again.

The world may have turned Jesus Christ into a superstar, but really preferred hanging out over dinner with the people who never get invited anywhere.

And third, the Transfiguration's important to us because it's confirmation from scripture that God keeps God's promises.

The glowing light, the appearance with Moses and Elijah, the repeating of the baptismal blessing -- it all works together to confirm that God is in charge.

God has a plan.

God started a long time ago to redeem people like you and me, and God is working that purpose out.

The Transfiguration doesn't show that God invented something new, that he changed Jesus from regular guy to superhero.

Like Steve Rogers.

The Transfiguration shows the opposite; that God is doing something old, something very, very old.

God is taking that very, very old message of life and hope and salvation and love --

and shining a new light on it, extending it, reshaping it, but all the while preserving what our ancestors knew millennia ago, that God created the world, and made it good.

That God so loves the world – and everyone in it. 

Even the stinky people.

That God is still creating, recreating, redeeming, and making good on those promises.

The pronouncement God made on the mountaintop, "This is my Son, the Beloved," is the same pronouncement we heard at his baptism.

--

One thing that bugs me about Christians these days.

It's not the only thing.

But I think it's a big thing.

We Christians tend to jump the gun. 

We start racing straight to the finish line of Resurrection before we even get lined up.

We don't even know how to position ourselves for getting ready.

We turn it into a personal sport. 

Celebrating victory with MY Jesus.

Who makes ME a winner.

Jesus didn't go to the mountaintop alone.

He could have.

But in good Jewish law, he brought three witnesses to testify what happened.

Lent requires witnesses.

Your faith, your righteousness, requires witnesses.

God requires company.

If you just go out alone and do it yourself, good.

But is it good for the world? For your family? For your neighborhood? For your church?

Love always requires more. More people. More planning. More getting ready, so you'll be set, to go.

--

People will ask, "What are you giving up for Lent?"

I heard someone tell someone last week, "No! That's wrong! You're supposed to take something ON for Lent."

For a minute I thought I was going to have to throw a yellow flag.

I think that if we spend Lent thinking about what WE'RE giving up, or what WE'RE taking on and then judging others against our aims --

as in – "Did you hear her say she's giving up chocolate for Lent? Probably taking ON Ozempic."

That kind of competitive Lenting completely skips the getting ready concept.

Lent is a good opportunity to NOT try to take on one more thing. 

A time NOT to let go of the stuff we know we ought to have let go of years ago.

But maybe Lent is just a time for getting ready. 

For assessing where you are.

For reflecting on Jesus and thinking about him on that mountaintop.

Meditating on how he didn't go alone. 

Lent is a good time to get ready for the next hill Jesus is going to be on.

That next one's going to be Calvary. 

And he will be lifted up, but this time on a cross.

That should be enough pondering to get us ready for whatever comes our way next.

And something surely will come our way.

Be ready.

And if you're not ready, get ready. Easter's coming. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. [eos]