The Glory of God
SERMON PREACHED THE LAST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
THE TRANSFIGURATION –YEAR A, FEBRUARY 15, 2026
The Collect; Exodus 24:12-18; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9
From Exodus: Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.
Today, the last Sunday after the Epiphany, we are overwhelmed and uplifted by the breathtaking glory of God. We find glory in the Collect, in the Old Testament lesson, in the Epistle, and in the Gospel.
Turning to Exodus: God delivers to Moses the Ten Commandments and other laws up on the mountain of Sinai. Then he comes down from the mountain. The people promise they will keep all the commandments and laws. Then Moses sprinkles upon them the blood of oxen to seal the covenant. After this, God tells Moses to have seventy elders of the people climb partway up the mountain. There they see under the feet of God something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.
Moses leaves the seventy elders and climbs further up the mountain, disappearing into a cloud, where he is bathed in the Glory of the Lord for six days. Then on the seventh day God speaks to him. Notice the parallelism of seven days in the cloud, and seven days to make creation. This suggests that God’s glory is found in the fullness of God’s creative work.
Beyond this, Moses stays in the cloud of glory for forty days and forty nights. This is a Biblical figure of speech, meaning “a long time.” In this way, the Covenant of Moses, the Mosaic Covenant, is birthed literally in the shining glory of God.
This stunning display of glory portends what we call the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ, which we have in today’s Gospel according to Matthew. Here Jesus goes up a high mountain, taking with him Peter, James and John – three of his first-called disciples. Up on the mountain Jesus is suddenly transfigured into a being made of light. His face shines like the sun and his clothes become dazzling white.
The disciples hardly know how to make sense of it. They gaze in wonder, and recognize Moses and Elijah, the two holiest figures in Israel’s history, on either side of Jesus, conversing with him. Could it be that the eschatological presence of God – God in the final days – has arrived?
The disciples aren’t sure what to do. But they must do something to mark this incredible experience! Peter offers to erect three “dwellings” or, from the Greek word, “tabernacles – one for each of the holy beings: Jesus, Moses and Elijah.
A tabernacle is a temporary shelter, and evokes the annual Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).
I was invited by a Jewish friend to join him in experiencing the Feast of Tabernacles in Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania, when we both were working there. I saw, though was not permitted to enter, several tabernacles – or sukka — made of temporary materials, located under the open sky in the temple courtyard. The sukka were covered with pine branches and other leaves and brush. The faithful ate most of their meals inside the sukka. These structures recall the Israelites’ time in the wilderness when they lived in temporary shelters, and these are built in thanksgiving to God for the harvest and their freedom.
So Peter’s suggestion to erect tabernacle connects the Transfiguration with the flight of Israelites from captivity in Egypt. And Jesus is wrapped up in this in a new way. But while Peter is still speaking about this a bright cloud overshadows them. A voice from the cloud says, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”
Peter and James and John are so stunned by the voice of God that they are thrown backward. Sprawling on the ground they shade their eyes from the glory of God. They are terrified. And so should they be! Rare is the mortal who is admitted into the shining presence and sound of God.
Jesus understands their fear and has mercy on them. Returning to his normal appearance, he touches the disciples and reassures them. Get up and do not be afraid, he says. But, to underscore how abnormal this occasion is, on the way down the mountain Jesus orders them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Peter recalls this experience in his epistle: We were eyewitnesses of the majesty of Jesus Christ. “For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory.”
The Glory of God, which we experience in these readings, is hard to define. Like the woman who is asked what kind of art she likes, replies, “I know it when I see it.” Human beings know glory when we see it.
Our dear St. Francis wrote about God’s glory. Creation itself glorifies God, he said—sun, moon, animals, elements, and even death—all these express glory. Francis goes further:
- God’s glory is revealed in Jesus Christ’s humility, poverty, and suffering.
- In the Eucharist, the sacred consecration of Christ’s body and blood are a glorious moment of cosmic reverence and awe.
- God’s glory shines when human beings show love, humility, and care for others and creation.
- Final glory, eschatological glory, is union with God in joy.
We see from Exodus, Matthew and St. Francis that human beings are linked to God in glory. Sometimes, the experience is uplifting – like the shining of the winter sun through trees bare of leaves, awaiting spring’s awakening. Or uplifting, like when we touch the life of another in love, humility and care. Other times, glory strikes fear, so intense and otherworldly can it seem. God’s glory always places us in the realm of creation, bending the knee of our heart before the Creator.
Our collect this morning both opens and closes the chapter on glory, when we pray: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory.
THANKS BE TO GOD. Amen.