Transfiguration: Encountering His Face!

 Transfiguration Sunday

Feb 14, 2021

Fr. Phil Eberhart

Encountering His Face

Welcome to the last Sunday of Epiphany, the Sunday and Feast of the Transfiguration.

Have you ever had a vision of or an encounter with Jesus?  Now I don't mean some kind of imaginary Sunday School fantasy, but something that feels substantive?   A dream in living color?   An encounter that leaves you with your mouth open!  Our readings this morning are about such encounters.  Some of us call them "mountaintop" experiences.  Times when Jesus seems to be tangible or where He reveals His true nature to us; where He encounters us in ways that we cannot wiggle out of?

I've talked over the past many months about God wanting to have FACE TIME with us all.  I got to have some 'face time' with my Granddaughter Kinsley last week.  She was laying in my arms and looking up at me and reached up and was touching my face and pulling at my beard.  That is exactly what I'm talking about.

I've been struck over and over about the closeness of God and His desire for us, , for you, for me!  

The Aaronic Blessing from Numbers 6 repeats a phrase about the FACE OF GOD:

The Priestly Benediction

22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 23 Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them,

24 The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

27 So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

It is notable when a thing is repeated and this blessing is a command of the Lord, through Moses for AARON and his sons to use as a blessing over the people of Israel, with the words "So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them."

Friends, I want to tell you that God is anxious to reveal Himself to us -- to you!

The encounter of Elijah with God on the mountain and the experience the disciples had on the mountaintop at Jesus' Transfiguration are not just "types" or "stories" - they are examples for us, and at least for me, I want to "see Jesus!"  I want to come to a place where I can "encounter" His presence -- to see His face.  I WANT to have FACE TIME with God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The words of the blessing are descriptive:

The Lord make His face to shine upon you...

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you!

A Face that shines -- that is the blessing - that God's face will shine upon us; there is a sense of God's delight in you.   My dad's face would shine when his granddaughters were in the room!  It is a sign of joy, of great delight and overwhelming love.  It was present every time when the girls went to grandpa's house. He and grandma took seriously the job description that grandparents are for spoiling their grandchildren!!

A face that shines is also a sign of His glory!  Moses' face was shining when he came down from the mountain with the tablets after speaking with God Face to Face (Ex 33:11).  He had to put a vail on his face to be with the people.  Paul talks about that, and we'll come back to that in a moment.  But it denoted to the people that Moses had been in the presence of God.  It was full of Glory!

Finally, in this regard, the phrase "lift up His countenance" - have you thought about that phrase?  How does someone lift up His countenance upon you?  Certainly by lifting up his face and looking at you.  But I wonder if there isn't more to it than that?  I believe that lifting up your face means looking up and the way that papa's look up, grandpa's look up is by lifting a baby above their heads and "lifting up their countenance upon them!"    Most babies love to be lifted up by their papa's and by their grandpa's.  It is a sign and and action of sheer delight!

Close your eyes for a moment and see yourself as a little one in God's hands and he suddenly lifts you up above his head and looks up at you, and laughs with you, as you delight in him and he delights in you.  That's the picture I have when I say or sing these words!!

The words over Jesus, from the cloud on the mountaintop were what?   "This is my beloved Son; listen to Him!"

Encounter with God's Face and Hearing His voice kind of go hand in hand, don't they?  

Today is a transitional Sunday  --  the end of Epiphany and this Wednesday evening we begin the Season of Lent.  What would it be like for us to seek ways to encounter the FACE of GOD in Jesus Christ during these 40 days coming?

"Encountering His Face!"  I think maybe that needs to be our theme for LENT.   I have many portraits of Jesus, and more that I would like to get.  He has been portrayed in film and TV in many different ways... in many different colors ...  I think I'll see if we can hang some of those portraits on the walls of the hallway downstairs during Lent.  So you can come to the church and spend time looking at the different depictions of the Face of Jesus.

I want you to enter into this season fully.  To see His face as it shines on you.  To know that He delights in you.  That there is nothing you can do, good or bad, to change the way he feels about you - to make him love you more, or to make him love you less.  He loves you with an everlasting love.  He loves to be in your presence.  Would you like to come to LOVE TO BE IN HIS?

Let's pray...

Lord Jesus Christ, in whose face we can see the face of God the Father.  You are the express image of the fullness of God and in you, Jesus, does all the fullness of the Godhead dwell bodily.  Open our eyes to see you, to see your face -- to encounter you as you turn your face towards us, as you lift us up and lift up your countenance upon us!  Let us know the joy of being your child, Lord.  Let us know Your delight in us, and bring us to joy in you, because we have come to know WHO we are and WHOSE we are.  For the sake of the Kingdom and the Fame of the Name of Jesus, that you have placed upon us.

Amen