Last Sunday after Epiphany
March 2, 2025
Luke 9:28-36

You know, you can put anything you want on a job application. This is one thing I’ve learned as a boss, as an employer. Especially as we’re looking for an assistant priest. You read through these resumes and you think, “wow, this is the best person in the world.” They can do this, they can do that. But let’s be real – it’s not until you hire someone, that you really get to know what they’re like. The whole rigamarole of the application and the resume process is a little contrived.

Now, the pot shouldn’t call the kettle black. I say that as an employer, but I’ve been on the other side of it. I look back at the resume I submitted to this search committee. Goodness gracious. I can do this, I can do that; I can preach a sermon, I can manage a church; I love visiting sick people and I love young families with children. I haven’t changed water into wine yet, but I’m working on it.

Really, we can say whatever we want about ourselves. But, there will come a reckoning. When all will be revealed. 

This, this is what we learn in today’s gospel lesson. All will be revealed. There is no hiding, not even for Jesus. And that’s part of how this story functions. This story is proving the point – that Jesus is God’s Son, the Chosen. Jesus has been going around saying all sorts of things, doing all sorts of things. He’s been building his resume. But it is now, this moment, on top of that mountain, that the true nature of Jesus is revealed.

Now, a few other things about this story. Remember, any time in the Bible anybody goes up a mountain, something big is going to happen. Noah lands his ark on a mountain after the flood. Moses receives the ten commandments, his face shining in glory, on a mountain. That’s what we read in the Old Testament lesson. Jesus is crucified on a hill outside Jerusalem. So Peter, James, and John join Jesus on top of the mountain, and all glory is about to break loose.

The second thing about this passage, is that it is supposed to make us think of a courtroom. Theologians call this passage a “divine council.” This kind of thing happens all the time in the Bible. It’s pretty much how the Book of Job starts. God gathers both humans and divine beings together into a courtroom. And the Lord God is judge, revealing his righteous will. And so we hear the divine judgment from the Almighty – “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” (Luke 6:35). 

Or think of this way. Jesus has filled out the job application, he has put all this stuff down on his resume; he’s been healing and teaching and feeding the hungry. But, could it be too good to be true? Like any of us on a job application, is he just putting down all the good stuff? Could he really be all that he says he is? I think that this story is meant to prove to Peter, James, and John that yes, indeed, Jesus is all that he says he is and more. As divine judge, God is confirming the witness that Jesus has given about himself. This no lie, God says. What Jesus says about himself is true.

Now one more thing. In our minds, judgment is a bad thing. But in a divine council, in the Bible, a judgment can also be a good thing. God can judge someone as good. Judgment does not necessarily have a negative meaning. And that’s precisely what happens here. The Lord God Almighty, the Father, is judging Jesus, and here is the final sentence – “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”

So, there are two takeaways. I know, I know, I usually keep my sermons to one point, but today I’m going to stretch you.

First, this is Son, God’s Son, the Chosen. Listen to him. What he says about himself is true. And, how he says that we should live, as his followers, is true. Even the bits that are so awfully inconvenient. So the bits about turning the other cheek; about loving your enemies; about removing the log in your own eye before removing the speck in your neighbor’s eye; about not lying; about caring for the sick and the poor. All that is true, because we can trust Jesus.

But second, here’s the hard news. We, too, will be brought before the divine council. And one day, our own hearts and souls will also be revealed. We will have to stand there with Jesus and Moses and Elijah and all the saints. We will be revealed for what we are before the throne of God. In this life, we can say whatever suits us. We can lie, and deceive, and tell half-truths, and say whatever suits us best. You can put whatever you want on the job application; you can say whatever you want on social media, you can spout nonsense all day long; for your own benefit. Really, there is nothing to stop you. But, one day, that will all be laid bare before the divine council, before the judgment of God. That is the divine promise.

Or, we can tell the truth. We can speak in love. We can choose to build up our friends with our words. There is no stopping us from that. And that, too, will be laid before before the divine council. Remember, it is possible that God judges for the good. That is also the divine promise. All our words will one day be weighed in the balance. For evil or for good. 

I know, we modern Christians do not like the idea of judgment. It brings up images of brimstone and punishment and an angry God. But I say, that for people who have been lied to, who have been lied about, who have been slandered and deceived and mocked and bullied – God’s judgment is a good thing. Because all those wrongs will be put right. Because the truth will be revealed. In a world plagued by disinformation, and misinformation, and conspiracy, and innuendo – the fact that all will be revealed and made right gives me great hope in this God who is judge.

Now right after this, this story of the Transfiguration, Peter, and John, and James walk down the mountain with Jesus. They leave behind the glory, and Moses, and Elijah. Jesus is no longer dazzling. They’ve had their mountaintop experience, but now it’s over. And that’s where we find ourselves today. We are here, in this glorious place, to worship the majesty of God. We hear the voice of God through the scriptures and these holy sacraments. And I feel it, I want to live with Jesus. Like Peter, I want to build my tent here. I want to do the right things, say the right things, I want to live up to everything I’ve put on the resume that is my life. I want to love and care. I so love being in this place where I hear the Truth given through Jesus.

But, we have to go down the mountain. Back out there, where love, and kindness, and truth are up for grabs. 

All I can say, is that you will not be perfect. Peter, James, and John go down the mountain, and they do not get it all right either. But that doesn’t keep them from trying. So we go down the mountain, committed to living up to the words we say today. We go back out there, remembering that what Jesus said about himself is true. And we hold it dear, that the divine judgment that was passed on Jesus is also passed to us – for you, too, are God’s own child.  

See also

 Lee, Sanghwan. “Understanding the Synoptic Transfiguration Pericope as a Yahwistic Divine Council Scene.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 86, no. 2 (December 31, 2024): 282–99.