One thing clear. . .

In the smoke and fog of the mount of Transfiguration, there was only one thing that was clear.  Jesus.  The Gospels say as much.  When the voice was silent and Mose and Elijah faded from view, they saw no one save Jesus only.  That is a profound statement and one too often overlooked.  I have long wondered about this account.  How is it that the disciples who ascended with Jesus actually knew it was Moses and Elijah?  Had they carried the photos of this famous patriarch and prophet in their wallets as they made their way to the top with Jesus?  Had the identifying introductions simply been left out of the recorded text?  And what of Moses and Elijah?  What did they have to say to those who came up with Jesus so many generations after them?  Apparently, only one thing.  This is Jesus.  He fulfills the Law and the Prophets.  The voice said the rest, Listen to Him.

If the liturgy is our ascent with Jesus to the mountaintop, if Moses and Elijah are the prototypes of the Law/Gospel distinctions, and if it is as smokey and foggy at the altar as it was in the cloud that enveloped them then, the message is the same.  Look to Jesus.  He is the only thing clear.  In fact, that is exactly what is happening.  Apart from the smoke of incense and the fog of being on the unfamiliar and holy ground of God's presence, worship is but a lecture hall or an entertainment venue designed to elevate us alone.  A very long time ago, C. F. W. Walther complained the America had replaced the sanctuary with a lecture hall in an appeal solely to the mind.  Perhaps some of that remains, but instead of a lecture hall, American Christianity seems to have pursued instead a Chuck e Cheese kind of substitute which is solely there to entertain and feed us with unlimited pizza and tokens to play the game of life.

In many respects, that is exactly what Transfiguration reveals.  Far more than merely remembering an event in the past, it casts its own mantle over what happens with every Divine Service.  Here is Christ in our midst, the prompting of the Father to listen to His Son's voice speaking through the Word, the fulfillment of the Law and consummation of all the prophets long for, and, best of all, it is ours to know by faith and to eat and drink.  Herein lies the mercy of God forgiving our sins through the blood of Christ and herein lies the foretaste of the eternal in the communion of His flesh and blood.  The smokey clouds of incense are not cast aside but within them the mystery is revealed to be known by faith.  Here is God's Son for you.  In this way, every Sunday and every Mass is an example of the Transfiguration of our Lord and the revelation of His glory posited among us in the means of grace.  

If we were smart, we would echo St. Peter's misunderstood plea to stay and camp on high.  Though too many preachers have drummed it into our minds that St. Peter blurted out foolishness, it just might be that this is the profound wisdom of faith.  But we do echo St. Peter's words.  In the wonderful hymn, Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face, there is the same regret when the it is over and we all head down the mountain and back into the valley.  Do you see it?

Too soon we rise; the vessels disappear;
    The feast, though not the love, is past and gone;
The bread and wine remove, but Thou art here;
    Nearer than ever; still my shield and sun.