The Radiance of God
March 2, 2025
“Most of us, at some time another, have had transforming experiences, times when we recognize clearly that our lives are about to be, or have been, forever changed, times when we absolutely glow. How else would you explain people’s uncanny ability to ask the right question at the right time, if we didn’t emit some kind of glow: Are you in love? Are you expecting? Did you get a raise? Did you finally break par?
Have you ever watched a senior open an acceptance letter from their first pick school,
Have you ever watched a teenager open the door after their first goodnight kiss,
Have you ever watched a mother or a grandmother when they hold a new baby,
Have you ever watched a dad when he walks his daughter down the aisle?
No words are needed, the look says it all, the glow speaks volumes……joy, disappointment, awe, disbelief, completeness, loneliness…every word is written on the face. This morning’s texts are woven in such a way that we are given a glimpse as to what it means to have a life forever changed by the knowledge and presence of God” (Sermons.com, Author unknown)
Listen now for God’s word as we hear what the Greek Orthodox call the Metamorphosis, but we know better as the Transfiguration. READ Luke 9:28-36
What was Moses doing and Jesus doing as the impetus for their glow, their shining face? Each was in communication with God. Presence and Prayer. Moses went up Mount Sinai into God’s presence to receive the ten commandments. This was the second time Moses delivered the tablets after the people made a golden calf to worship because they were so afraid to meet God. But Moses begged God to show mercy and then asked, “Show me your glory, I pray” (33:18). Moses saw the glory of God and his face became radiant.
Jesus also went up a mountain to pray and while in communion with God his face became radiant. Now both Moses and Jesus talked with God other times and their skin was not transformed. But here the skin of their faces glowed because they were praying with, communicating with, God. You could say they saw the glory of God, the radiance of God.
What is the glory of God? The glory of God is the beauty of God’s spirit. It is all that God is. God’s glory is the wonder, character, power and love of God. It is eternal and emanates from the divine. The best way I know to describe this is to think about driving east as the sun rises. It can be difficult to see. We often need sunglasses to help deflect the brilliant sunlight. When we look straight into the sun, its brilliance can be blinding, but the beautiful, clear light radiating from the sun also helps us see the things around us. Sunlight also radiates heat, warming the earth each day as it gives light for plants and to warm our faces. God’s glory is like the sun, radiant, life giving, powerful and beautiful. Hebrews says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory. . . .” (1:3) Think about what this means: in Jesus, the glory of God came to dwell among us, taking on our flesh and becoming one of us. The glory of God in Christ was humbled on the cross when he died to pay the price of our sin for us. Then the glory of God shone in its brilliance when Jesus rose again from the dead” (Todaydevotional.com/Brian Tuyper).
That same brilliant spirit of God shines on and in Jesus and Moses and Elijah as they gather to speak of Jesus’ coming departure (31). Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets, the cornerstones of faith prior to Jesus’ coming. The three were discussing Jesus imminent death, his departure, but the word here is actually “exodus”. Exodus -the great liberation from Egypt, with God leading Moses and the people out of slavery and into freedom. Exodus- Jesus’ death and resurrection leading us out of slavery to sin and death and into freedom of eternal life. Jesus’ exodus transforms our lives. Jesus’ departure is a New Exodus within the larger story of God’s saving purpose. Jesus’ radiant transfiguration transforms our life. If there was any doubt, God voice claims Jesus as Son, beloved, chosen one, and commands the three disciples to listen to him.
Soon we will come into God’s presence and hear Jesus words while breaking bread, sharing prayer, presence, and communion with God. May we be transformed by the bread we break and the cup we bless, so that our lives will glow from being in God’s presence. Witnessing God’s glory changes lives. But God changes lives in more subtle ways as well.
In the book, Unconditional Love, Father John Powell tells of a young man, Tommy, a student in his class, The Theology of Faith. Tommy turns out to be the “atheist in residence” in the course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father-God.
At the end of the course, he asked in a slightly cynical tone: “Do you think I’ll ever find God?” Powell decided on a little shock therapy. “No!” he said. “Oh,” Tommy responded, “I thought that was the product you were pushing.” I let him get five steps from the door and then called out: “Tommy! I don’t think you’ll ever find him but I’m absolutely certain he will find you!” He shrugged a little and left my class and my life.
Later, I heard a report that Tom had graduated, and I was duly grateful. Then a sad report, Tommy had a terminal illness. Before I could search him out, he came to see me.
“Tommy, I’ve thought about you so often. I hear you are sick.”
“O yes, very sick.”… “Can you talk about it?”
“Sure. What would you like to know?”
“What’s it like to be only 24 and dying?”
“Well, it could be worse.” “Like what?”
“Well, like being 50 and having no values or ideals, like being 50 and thinking that booze, and making money are the real ‘biggies’ in life.”
“But what I really came to see you about,” Tom said, “is something you said to me on the last day of class. I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, ‘No!’ which surprised me. Then you said, ‘But he will find you.’ I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was not at all intense at that time.
“One day I woke up and decided to spend what time I had doing something more profitable. I thought about you and your class, and remembered something else you said: ‘The essential sadness is to go through life without living. But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you loved them.’ So I began with the hardest one, my dad.
“He was reading the newspaper when I approached him. ‘Dad?’ ‘Yes, what?’ he asked without lowering the newspaper. ‘Dad, I would like to talk with you.’ ‘Well, talk.’ ‘I mean, it’s really important.’ The newspaper came down three slow inches. ‘What is it?’ ‘Dad, I love you. I just wanted you to know that. ’ The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two things I could not remember him ever doing before. He cried, and he hugged me. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me.
“It was easier with my mother and little brother. We shared things we had been keeping secret for so many years.
“Then one day I turned around, and God was there. Apparently, God does things in his own way and at his own hour. But the important thing is that he was there. He found me. You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for him.”
“Tommy, you are saying something very important and much more universal than you realize.
You are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make him a private possession, a problem-solver, but rather by opening yourself to his love.” (Sermons.com, James T. Garrett, God’s Gift).
Let us come to table and open ourselves up to God’s transforming love! Amen.
