February 19, 2023 – Transfiguration Texts: 2 Peter 1:16-19; Matthew 17:1-9
Dear Friends in Christ,
Ever wonder where we get certain sayings from? Are you “down in the dumps?” “Dumps” is found in the Dutch and German languages. In Dutch it means a “mental haze or dullness.” In German, “heavy or gloomy.” The earliest use of the word is found in Sir Thomas More’s A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation, written in 1529. “What heaps of heaviness, hath of late fallen among us already, with which some of our poor family be fallen into such dumps.”
Maybe you would prefer “to be on cloud nine?” Meaning being elated, on the highest cloud, closest to heaven. Why nine? Most likely it comes from The International Cloud Atlas, written in 1896. Ten types of clouds were listed. Cumulonimbus was number nine on the list. It is the tallest of all clouds and therefore the closest to heaven.
I can say with confidence we would all prefer “to be on cloud nine” than “down in the dumps.” We would all like that “mountaintop experience” where we can feel good all the time. Like Peter in today’s text, we want to find a good place. If we could do that maybe it would change our perspective on life. We are going to look at another saying in the course of this sermon. We have put it in the title . . .
“THE TRANSFIGURATION WILL TIDE YOU OVER”
As we live the tension between the dumps and the mountaintop, we are to live by faith, which helps us to navigate the good times and the bad times. There isn’t anything that isn’t touched by sin and death. Because of this we can’t always find ourselves on “cloud nine.”
As we wait for the fulfillment of faith and hope and the eternal mountaintop, the cloud nine of heaven, we rest in the word of promise which will come to pass. Our gospel is a mountaintop experience. What Peter, James, and John see is not only for them, but also for us. The prophetic Word of our Old Testament lesson from Exodus is fulfilled in our Gospel. Peter who was an eyewitness to this miracle encourages us in the Epistle today “to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” (v. 19b). Like them, we have to leave cloud nine and live in the dumps of this world, but we do so with renewed faith and hope.
This glimpse of heaven we see today in the people – Moses, Elijah, Peter, James, John – and the transfiguration of the most important person on this mountain Jesus, are designed “to tide us over” until we reach the fulfillment of the transfiguration of Jesus in us. We are “tiding over” until we become like Christ and see the Savior face-to-face.
“Tiding over” was a seafaring term and the word tide is synonymous with “time.” The literal meaning was “in the absence of wind to fill the sails, float with the tide.” John Smith, the captain who help to establish Jamestown wrote this in 1627: “To tide over to a place, is to go over with the tide of ebb or flood, and stop the contrary by anchoring till the next tide.”
As we navigate our time on this benighted sphere, Christ has given us what we need to tide over. We might prefer the wind, but the tide will have to do. Let’s say it this way. We want to be in heaven with Jesus and all of that glory. That is the mountaintop. That time has not yet come. So, the Lord gives us His Word – the testimony of the apostles and the Old Testament – to get us through the dumps. Like Peter, we would like to stay on the mountain, let’s build here. But we have to move along with simply the promise of what’s to come.
We are each getting older. Sagging skin, bones brittle, graying hair. We live life in the shadow of death. What the disciples see in Jesus is their future. What they communicate to us is our future. I love this verse, after the transfiguration, verse 8, “And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” Beautiful. Isn’t that what we want to see? Luther gives this great description that moves us from “in the dumps” to “cloud nine.” Listen:
“First, the resurrection of the dead and the future glory and brightness of our bodies are shown. Secondly, there is added the appearance of Moses and Elijah, who prove by their appearing that they had never really died, and that there is yet another life, besides the earthly life, from which they were transferred. Thirdly, this appearance teaches us also that we should despise death, and look upon it merely as an emigration or a sleep. In short, this appearance proves that this life is nothing at all in comparison with the future life. Fourthly, this appearance proves that sin is overcome. For it necessarily follows as an incontrovertible conclusion, that, where death is overcome, there sin is also overcome.”
If you came here “down in the dumps” I pray that this good news of the transfiguration will tide you over. This gospel should strengthen our faith and keep us from giving up when all seems to be against us. The only God who saves us, the Triune God, is going to do it. Your tide is in the name of the triune God, the one placed on you at your Baptism. This will tide you over until that saving wind hits your sails and you are forever in the full majesty of Christ.
Amen.