Changed from Glory into Glory

Luke 9:28-43: In this highly symbolic story, called the Transfiguration, the disciples see Jesus transformed before their eyes.  Moses and Elijah appear, connecting Jesus with the long history of God’s deliverance and God’s word to a sometimes unfaithful, but always beloved, people.  We’re told they speak about Jesus’ “departure,” which in Greek is literally, “exodus.”  This is not a random word.  It points to the meaning of the cross waiting for Jesus; it is about release and freedom.  In his first sermon in Nazareth, back in Chapter 4, freedom was the overarching theme.  It’s easy to forget that the cross is not simply, or perhaps even primarily, about making forgiveness possible – Jesus has already been doing a lot of forgiving up to this point – much less about paying God off for our sin, which is a traditional and highly problematic way of talking about the cross.  Rather, it is about freedom, release from captivity, the possibility of an open future.  Jesus, Moses and Elijah talk about what Jesus will “accomplish.”  He will fulfill God’s desire that God’s people live in freedom.  When God says, "Listen to him," God means the disciples are to listen to all Jesus says, and, particularly, to the message he proclaims through his accomplishment at Jerusalem: that God desires freedom and life for God’s people.  That God is with us and for us through all things.  That God loves us and all of God’s children more than we can imagine.  That God will do absolutely anything – including dying on the cross – to communicate this love and accomplish our freedom