I'm preaching this weekend. It's TRANSFIGURATION weekend for the church, an odd story of Jesus' encounter with Moses and Elijah on a hilltop. Jesus' clothes turn whiter than snow, and his face shines brighter than a LucasFilms effects crew can make it. (Read the account here in Luke 9).

We're also making our way through a sermon series on 2 Corinthians. This weekend we focus on 2 Cor 4: 1-6. In my studies for these two, I've stumbled across something that I hadn't seen before. Let's see if I can get your thoughts on it.

In Luke 9, the cloud comes across Peter, James, and John, and a loud voice thunders from it, "This is my Son, the Chosen One, listen to him!" I've always read it as, "Of course we ought to listen to him, so we'll try harder now."

BUT, I've been wondering about the setting of the scene as the context for this voice. Here we have Jesus with Elijah and Moses. You couldn't get a better A-list of figures of the faith to bring in. I can read this scene in a few ways, one way being that this scene validates the Jewish-ness of Jesus and his role to take up Israel's identity in his mission of redemptive suffering (just eight days earlier Jesus reveals his mission to go to Jerusalem, suffer, die, and be raised to his disciples.)

Here's the new thought I've had, and perhaps it's not new to you, but it sparked a fury of ideas within me. What if God, in this THX voice, is telling Peter, James, and John that the time for listening to Moses and Elijah is now over and that they must turn their FULL attention to the voice of Jesus? While Moses and Elijah are important figures in the Jewish faith, what if this voice is saying to discount them? Perhaps a better way to say it is: you must now understand Moses and Elijah through the voice of Jesus. The only way to understand Moses and Elijah is by what Jesus has to say about them. There is NO OTHER WAY; listen to him!

I came across this idea by listening to what Paul says in 2 Cor 3. He sets up the ministry of Moses to be a ministry of 'condemnation' and a rather glorious one at that. But what the Spirit of God has NOW done is give to Paul a ministry of 'righteousness' that "far exceeds [Moses' ministry of condemnation] in glory." The Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord, and "where the Spirit is, there is freedom."

Paul says that we are now ministers of this new covenant. Perhaps we can say that we are ministers of this NEW VOICE. As disciples of Jesus, we see/read/hear/taste/touch our world by what Jesus has to say about it. When Jesus walks with the disciples on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection, he OPENS their eyes/ears/head to understand all that Moses and Elijah HAD TO SAY ABOUT HIM!

So much for my Old Testament class where we couldn't "read Jesus" into the Old Testament and that we had to accept the Old Testament on its own. If what I'm thinking about the Transfiguration is right on, then the Old Testament takes talk of Jesus into its own.

A question for another time is: who is Jesus in the Old Testament? As anticipation, I'm willing to side with Origen and say "The kingdom of God is God," so the kingdom of God is Jesus.

I've got another thought on the transfiguration and Peter's haste to build some tents for another post. I'm always wondering why Peter was so hasty in wanting to build his memorial. I think I've stumbled upon another explanation that I hadn't considered before. But, alas, it's night-time, and I'm on tomorrow. Peace out.