Exodus 34:29-35
The Shining Face of Moses
29 Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face, 34 but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out, and when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining, and Moses would put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with him.

Luke 9:28-36
The Transfiguration
28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus[a] took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but as they awoke they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not realizing what he was saying. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen;[b] listen to him!” 36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

Glimpses of the Divine
This is a sermon about “ordinary reality” and “absolute reality.”
Today, we observe the tradition called “Transfiguration Sunday,” and this also marks the end of the season of Epiphany. In our readings this morning, from Luke we have the strange, mystical story of Jesus’ transfiguration, and from Exodus, the paired Old Testament rendition of a previous transfiguration- that of Moses. So we have these two stories that resonate with each other. Jesus and Moses, both transfigured.
Transfiguration here means change in appearance, and the readings describe this in terms of light. The face shines. The clothes become bright as a flash of lightning. These descriptions are from the point of view of the observers. The people see Moses’ face shining. The disciples see Jesus’ face change and his clothes flash bright like lightning.
This change in appearance is caused by a direct experience of God, a direct experience of ultimate reality, ultimate truth. Moses comes down from Mount Sinai carrying the stone tablets and the skin on his face is shining because he had been talking with God. In the same way, Jesus is up on the mountain praying when Peter, John and James see his appearance change. Right there, Jesus is in direct experience of God. Even more, Jesus is revealed as God. The 9th chapter of Luke is about Jesus’ identity: he begins to show himself as Divine. Luke writes that the disciples “saw his glory.” Jesus is revealed in a glorified state, in direct experience of ultimate truth and absolute reality.
Now, what is going on here? To our modern ears these readings seem far out, cosmic and abstract. But I think we could look at these stories as a way of describing two different realities: the ordinary everyday reality of human experience, and the absolute reality of divine experience. And these two realities seem to exist side by side.
The text in Exodus illustrates the difference between the two realities with the veil that Moses wears. Moses’ veiled face represents ordinary human reality, while his unveiled and shining face represents the glorified direct experience of the divine absolute. Jesus, too, is in a glorified state, but when Peter wants to build three tents, three abiding places to house and enshrine the glory in an attempt to hold onto the glory forever, a giant cloud rolls in and overshadows everything. They are all enveloped in fog.
So there is a dichotomy set up, these two sides, two opposing sets of reality. And in both stories, the ordinary reality and the divine reality shift back and forth. The divine absolute reality cannot be housed, enshrined, or captured. In other words, it cannot be understood by our limited human intellect. And here, I think, is the point we can take home from these cosmic transfiguration stories: the divine reality is always here, regardless of what is happening in the ordinary human reality, the reality of confusion and suffering.
So this is something for us to remember in difficult times: The divine reality is here, and it has always been here, even in the midst of the most atrocious acts of degraded human beings. The divine absolute is here, right here, right now. We cannot grasp it, we cannot understand it with our limited human intellect, but we may be able to apprehend it, to experience it, in a very direct and shocking way, in a way that turn our understanding of life completely upside down.
The veil is lifted, the light flashes bright like lightning, and we have a glimpse of the glorified state, a glimpse of divinity when all doubt falls away. What are some examples of this?
Example Glimpses of Divinity
Now what are some ways we can experience a direct glimpse of Divinity, a direct experience of the absolute and timeless eternal? Well, what about us? Take a look at yourself. What is it exactly that makes your heart beat, sustaining that heartbeat the duration of your life. You do not control it. You do not make it happen.
Or what about the breath. Breathing in and breathing out, the lungs function as if on their own. We do not make this happen with any conscious effort or control. And yet, it happens.
Another example, take the human voice: When a singer sings, the vocal mechanism forms itself and refashions itself differently for each note and each vowel. The human voice is the most complex and variable of all musical instruments. It’s like a pipe organ and an orchestral string section combined. And yet, the way this works is a mystery to us. Singers do not control it. They just sing, and singing happens.
Or another example, this time from birds: the murmuration of starlings: I’ve included a link to a video showing this phenomenon:

Murmuration of Starlings

Thousands of birds flying together, moving and flowing in a cloud like formation, and yet, none of them collide. How does this happen?
Or a final example, this one from astronomy: the infinite universe. When astronomers deployed the Hubble telescope, their access to the visual star field increased tremendously. They discovered that there are galaxies beyond our galaxy, the Milky Way. In fact, they discovered that there are about 200 Billion galaxies out there. And those are only the visible ones.
So, these glimpses of the divine, absolute reality– the divine mystery– are right here for us to contemplate.
What I’m suggesting is that these two mountain top stories, these revelations of the divine apply to us today, right here at the nitty-gritty, grocery store shopping, nuts and bolts level, so to speak. They are not simply fanciful and bizarre stories for our Sunday morning entertainment. If we read between the lines, we may find that, startlingly, the two realities described in the stories are not separate. They are two realities, and yet, they are not-two. Our ordinary human reality, with all of its chaos, confusion, problems, politics, violence and suffering, is not separate from the divine, absolute reality: the eternal truth. But we are too distracted, our attention is too fragmented to realize this not-two. And so, we miss it altogether. We miss what is right here in front of our noses all the time: the divine and eternal holiness of this very moment.
We are like the ancient Israelites, waiting at the base of Mt.Sinai, waiting for Moses to come down off the mountain, bringing the divine message, the covenant, the way to God. And, we are like the people in Jesus’ day, looking for a connection to God, for a direct experience of God, which Jesus offers to them in the new covenant. In both cases, the Divine is revealed on a mountain top, and then this experience of divinity is brought down from the mountain top and given to the people in the form of a covenant: for Moses, the ten commandments, and for Jesus- the new commandment of love and discipleship.
This experience is still available to us, today: the direct and mystical experience of the divine. At least, for one hour out of the week, here on Sunday morning, this church offers sanctuary. We offer sanctuary. Time and space for prayer, for communion, and for silence. Time and space to return to what is holy, that which is never separate from us, always available to us, in spite of the confusing messages and discord going on in the world. So for us, the message of Transfiguration is this: in times of trouble, return to prayer and meditation, return to silence as your foundation, your sanity, your refuge. The transfiguration is here and now. May we capture it in our hearts. Amen? Amen.