This will be the last Sunday after Epiphany.  The last Sunday before we move into the Lenten season is also the “Transfiguration.”   We’re going to do a strange dance in the lectionary these next couple weeks when it comes to the Gospel, moving three chapters ahead in Luke this week and then going all the way back to chapter four next week before zooming ahead to chapter 13 the following week.   I trust there’s a reason and a message in all that.

Here’s what we have for this week:

• Exodus 34:29-35
• 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
• Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a]
• Psalm 99

This being Transfiguration Sunday, it is pretty obvious why we have this reading from Exodus as it matches up with the Gospel more than any other OT reading you would likely find.   Perhaps some of last week’s message is still ringing in my ears, but my first thought as I read this is that truly communing and talking with God changed Moses and changed him to a physical point that people could see it.  Obviously, we are looking at not a physical change, but an inward one, the transformation of Spirit that Paul was talking to us about this past Sunday.   There’s a lot more meat on the bone, but for me this is the initial takeaway.

The Psalm brings us another parallel to the Gospel this week but from a less literal sense.  The transfiguration is a reminder of the divine nature and the true power of God.  Psalm 99 is all about the kingship, power and glory of God.  God’s presence is perhaps another theme we might explore as we work though these.  God answered as mentioned in verse eight.  We are thinking about the physical attributes of Christ this week, knowing full well in 40-plus days that the disciples will be concerned about losing that physical being that has been in their midst.

Sometimes a thought enters your head while reading Scripture and it becomes hard to focus on much else.   That’s happening to me now as I go over this text from 2 Corinthians.  I must admit that I read some of the previous verses, so I knew what Paul was saying before the “therefore” that this text begins with.  Perhaps I appreciated his words more before the actual text today than they Scripture at hand (but it's not about me).  It is hard to shake the understanding here that Paul is talking about the Jews of his time, stuck in Old Testament thought and not brought forward into the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  As Paul says, they remain with a veil over their eyes, but that veil has been lifted by Jesus himself for those who follow him.  He makes the veil a shameful thing, one where we may hide or not speak about our risen Lord or that greatness of God that the Psalm talks about.  Do we hide the fact that we ourselves are working to transform ourselves.  Do we put a mask over our Christianity, be it on purpose or not?   Maybe some things for me to chew on this week.

The three amigos get to go with Jesus up to the mountain to pray.  A lot gets made of Peter’s desire to set up dwellings or tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah.  Usually, Peter is made out to be ignorant of the situation and totally in the wrong for his suggestion.  I’m not saying he’s right, but it seems pretty easy to cut Peter some slack on this one.  Think about what he’s seeing.  I’d be lucky to speak let alone form a whole sentence.  My initial thought as I read the first half of this, just through verse 36 is that Peter’s thinking is similar to what gets him famously rebuked, “get behind me Satan.”   You might remember that Jesus says that Peter’s mind is on earthly things and not heavenly things.  In this instance, Peter’s mind is on the temporal instead of the eternal.  The dwellings that Peter would have erected would have been temporary even by earthly standards, but it should be clear from the happenings as well as the guests that this is not about temporary, but about the divine and everlasting power of God.

This is a very quick and dirty look at these four readings, and I’ll need to spend a lot more time with them this week before preparing a message.  Join me in looking at these texts over the rest of the week and we’ll meet up Sunday and see what God has uncovered for us.