“Joining Jesus on his Passover Pilgrimage, part 1”: a sermon for TRANSFIGURATION SUNDAY (15 FEBRUARY 2026)

·        Text: Gospel of Luke, chapter 9

     Destination: Jerusalem.  Once more, it’s time to take to the road.  Lent begins this coming Wednesday – Ash Wednesday – the day which signals the start of a 40-day season which will prepare us to celebrate Easter…in Jerusalem, as it were.  If we’re going to celebrate in Jerusalem, we have to get there.  We must embark on a kind of pilgrimage, a thoughtful journey during which we will open ourselves once again to the power of the Holy Spirit to transform – transfigure? – us into the image of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 3.18).  Let us join Jesus as he sets out to walk to the capital of his nation to celebrate the Passover festival, yes – but also to be the Passover lamb (cf. 1 Cor. 5.7).  Indeed, Jesus has several reasons to go to Jerusalem, and none of them are pleasant.  Today, we are going to begin to explore the “dark side” of Jesus’ ministry – the prophetic side.  Before our journey can get underway, we find Jesus on a mountain-top, conversing with two prophetic figures from ancient times – Moses and Elijah (Lk. 9.28-36).  As if that’s not strange enough, the subject of their conversation strikes us as being equally bizarre – they are discussing Jesus’ “exodos” (Greek for “exodus”) which he must fulfill in Jerusalem (Lk. 9.31).

     Echoes of Exodus.  A panoply of biblical clues is on display here in order to make us understand the meaning of the pilgrimage upon which Jesus is about to embark.  A mountain, a glorious cloud, talk of an “exodus” and tabernacles (“tents”), not to mention two famous biblical figures who had both, in their own times, spent 40 days on the summit of Mt. Sinai (cf. Ex. 24.18; 34.28; 1 Kings 19.8).  Obviously, there is a strong “exodus” theme being developed here – Jesus is discussing with Moses the “exodus” that he will experience in Jerusalem at Passover time, Israel’s national holiday, the yearly feast during which the people of God celebrated their rescue from slavery to a foreign power.  This is not the first time in the Gospel story that Jesus is portrayed as re-living Israel’s exodus from Egypt – Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan reminds us of Israel’s crossing of both the Red Sea as they left Egypt and the Jordan River as they entered the Promised Land after having wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.  Of course, after his baptism, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness, being “tempted” (i.e. “put to the test”, “tried”) by Satan, just as Israel had been “tested” by God in the desert (cf. Lk. 3.21-22; 4.1-2; Pss. 81.7; 95.9).  Jesus “passed the test” – he proved himself faithful to God – where Israel had so often failed.  All this to say that the season of Lent reminds us of these periods in the story of the people of God – either 40 days or 40 years – and invites us to share their experiences and learn how to faithfully follow our Lord through “the desert pilgrimage” of the Christian life.

     Hopes of freedom.  Just a few verses before the Transfiguration episode, we find Peter’s famous “confession” that Jesus is the Messiah, Israel’s long-awaited king (Lk. 9.18-20).  Jesus’ messianic identity is re-affirmed following his transfiguration by the voice from the cloud who declares – as the voice from heaven had declared at his baptism – “This is my Son, listen to him!” (Lk. 9.35; cf. 3.22; Ps. 2.4-7).  As in Psalm 2, the “Son of Yahweh” is Israel’s anointed king (i.e. “messiah”).  Now we see the importance of all the “Exodus” imagery – just as Moses had led the people of God from slavery to freedom, the expectation was that the Messiah – the “prophet like Moses” (cf. Dt. 18.15-19; Ac. 3.22; 7.37) – would lead Israel to freedom from their enemies.  At the time of Jesus, that, of course, meant the Romans.  Not surprisingly, at Passover time each year, as the people of God celebrated the original Exodus, the hopes and expectations of the Messiah’s victory were re-ignited.  Would this year finally be the year?

     Running to battle.  Once Moses had descended from Mt. Sinai after having received the Law, the 12 tribes of Israel had undertaken their desert journey.  After Jesus descends the Mount of Transfiguration, he “sets his face to go to Jerusalem” (Lk. 9.51), accompanied by…12 disciples.  The apostles represent a “new Israel”, the renewed people of God that Jesus has come to rescue and lead to freedom.  After having discussed his “exodus” with Moses, Jesus can undertake his final journey.  Let’s join Jesus and learn about the “dark dimension” of his mission.  The messiah leaves the glorious mountain-top experience to set out for Jerusalem, just as Moses had left the burning bush in order to return to Egypt.  Both Moses and Jesus had to go and confront the enemies of the people of God.  Along the way to Jerusalem, Jesus will make it clear that his arrival in the capital will not consist only of good news.  Not only is Jesus a king who will announce freedom, he is also a prophet who will pronounce judgment.

     Freedom and judgment – these are two themes that we find in the original Exodus story.  As the Israelites come through the Red Sea to freedom, the pursuing Egyptians experience the fierce judgement of God – the waters which had divided to allow the people of God to pass through collapse on Pharaoh’s soldiers and drown them.  This is a common biblical dynamic – when God acts, there is always both salvation and judgment.  In this case, salvation for the Israelites and judgment for the Egyptians.  At the end of the “Song of the Sea” in Exodus 15, we find another parallel between the Exodus story and the Gospel story – the song ends with a declaration that “Yahweh will reign forever and ever” (Ex. 15.18).  That Yahweh is establishing his reign (his kingdom) is the essence of the “gospel” of Jesus – “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God” Jesus declares time and time again (e.g. Lk. 4.43).  Jesus is a prophet of the kingdom of God – he is more than a prophet, but he is definitely not less than a prophet.  Indeed, Jesus often refers to himself as a prophet (e.g. Lk. 13.33; cf. 24.19).  Jesus speaks “the word” to the crowds – i.e. he speaks the word of God (cf. Lk. 5.1; 8.11, 15, 21; 11.28).  Unlike most prophets, Jesus never says “Thus says the LORD” or “Listen to what God is saying” – he just speaks.  As a messenger of the kingdom, Jesus announces both salvation and judgment.

     Parables.  This is how his parables work – those who embrace the message of the parables (the message of the kingdom of God) show themselves to be the recipients of salvation; those who reject/misunderstand the parables show themselves to be ripe for judgment (cf. Lk. 8.9-10).  Parables are a poetic, prophetic form of discourse (cf. Is. 5.1-7; Ez. 17.1-10; 24.1-14).  Another way to translate the Greek word parabole is “riddle”.  Contrary to the popular misconception that parables are a “simple” way of communicating to uneducated country folk, Jesus deliberately opts for this rhetorical vehicle for his teaching precisely because parables are opaque, multi-faceted and open to interpretation, and ultimately, will only disclose their meaning to those who have the right attitude (cf. Lk. 8.9-10; cp. Is. 6.9-10).  This is the meaning of the Parable of the Sower (Lk. 8.4-8, 11-15).  As C.S. Lewis said, “What you see depends on where you stand and also on what sort of person you are”.  Indeed, when the disciples question Jesus about why he teaches through parables, he contrasts “the secret of the kingdom of God” which is disclosed to his closest followers with “the parables” that are offered to those “outside” (8.10).  Jesus supplements these cryptic remarks with a quotation from the prophet Isaiah (Is. 6.9-10; cf. Jer. 5.21; 6.10).  God had commissioned Isaiah to proclaim the word to Israel so that:

“they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven”.

At first blush, this strikes us as being quite unfair.  Surely, Jesus desired for his audience to understand what he was saying?  Well, yes and no.  Through his teaching, Jesus is not seeking primarily to transmit information, like a benevolent teacher who does her utmost to create the conditions required for her students to “pass the course”.  No, Jesus is not that kind of teacher.  Jesus is searching rather for transformation in the hearts and minds of his hearers.  Jesus is not concerned so much with what people know, but rather with who people are.  The king is seeking subjects for his kingdom.  Though Jesus’ “inner circle” is privileged to have the secret of the kingdom spelled out for them, in principle, the secret is an open one, accessible to all who are willing to share Jesus’ vision of a world where heaven comes to earth (cf. Mt. 6.9-10).

     The subject of Jesus’ teaching is, indeed, the kingdom of God (Mk. 4.26, 30; cf. 1.15).  Jesus compares those who are fit for the kingdom as “fruitful fields” that yield abundant harvests (Mk. 4.20).  In the Scriptures, “the righteous” are often described as fruitful plants (cf. Ps. 1.3; Jer. 17.7-8).  The prophets had described the exile as having been the “uprooting of Israel” from the Promised Land and the return from Babylon as being the (re)planting of Judah in her “native soil” (cf. Jer. 1.10; 31.28).  Jesus is re-establishing the people of God, he is planting Israel in the Land, he is sowing the word and looking for a harvest – the king is building his kingdom.  Far from the halls of power, the anonymous king is recruiting his disciples among the peasants of Galilee (cf. Lk. 9.18-22).

     Which story are we in?  The disciples seem to be fully on board with the “Exodus motif” – they, understandably enough, identify themselves and their nation with the Israelites at the time of Moses who were being oppressed by the Egyptians.  They are the companions of the Messiah, the new Moses, and they are on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover festival – all the ducks seem to be in a row.  This is surely the moment when history will repeat itself – the oppressed people of God will be rescued and the evil pagans (i.e. the Romans) will be judged.  Yahweh will establish his kingdom, will establish his Anointed on Mt. Zion (cf. Ps. 2) and destroy Israel’s enemies.  It made perfect biblical sense for the disciples to have this scenario in their minds as they follow Jesus on the way to their national capital.  It makes perfect sense to us that they don’t understand Jesus’ predictions of his imminent suffering and death in Jerusalem (cf. Lk. 9.21-22, 44-45).  You see, Jesus has another biblical story in mind – a dark and tragic story that turns the usual salvation-and-judgment theme inside out.  We will take a look at that story next time.  For the moment, Jesus and the disciples are on the way to Jerusalem, proclaiming the kingdom of God and holding very different definitions of the kingdom in their minds.  Jesus has his reasons for going to Jerusalem, and the disciples have theirs.  Jesus is a “dead man walking” – it’s as if he is already carrying his cross (cf. Lk. 9.23-24).  The disciples, for their part, think they are on a march which will culminate in inevitable victory and “glory”.

     Why?  This confronts us with an important question that we should ask ourselves during the season of Lent – why are we following Jesus?  The easy answer is: “Because he called us”.  Indeed, Jesus had invited his disciples to follow him and had chosen 12 of them to have the special role of “apostles” (cf. Lk. 6.12-16; cf. 10.1-2; 6.17).  Another question we can ask is: why did Jesus call us to follow him?  Every biblical character, from Abraham onwards, had to wrestle with the question of why God had called him/her, why God had chosen to reveal himself to them.  In each and every case, those called by God had to disentangle their own feelings of entitlement, superiority and their own desires for self-aggrandizement from God’s instructions.  Remember Saul, the son of Kish?  He was the stereotypical nobody – from the least significant family of the smallest tribe of Israel (cf. 1 Sam. 9.21).  When God chose him as the first king of Israel, it didn’t take long for him to become prideful – to the point of disobeying God’s orders given to him through the prophet Samuel.  Saul made the same mistake that the disciples are making during Jesus’ Passover pilgrimage – he thought that the fact that he had been called by God meant that he was important, that it was all about him, his prestige, his power, his agenda.  After Jesus predicted his death for the second time, what do the apostles do?  They start to fight amongst themselves about who is the greatest! (Lk. 9.44-48; cf. 22.24-27).  They assume that the kingdom of God functions the same way as the kingdoms they’re used to – they assume that kingdoms are all about power.  The kingdom of God does indeed possess power, but power of a different sort…

     Called to work for the kingdom.  What the disciples had forgotten was why Jesus had called them in the first place.  Jesus had called them for the same reason that God had always called people in the Scriptures – Jesus had called them to participate in the purposes of God.  Jesus claimed that the very purpose for which he had been “sent” was to proclaim the kingdom of God (Lk. 4.43).  Jesus had even delegated his power and authority to the apostles so they could share in his kingdom-mission of preaching and healing (Lk. 9.1-6).  Jesus was keenly aware of having been “sent” on a mission.  Jesus is not operating out of a sense of autonomy, from an idea of his personal “greatness” – no, he overcame those temptations in the desert following his baptism (cf. Lk. 4.1-13).  Jesus is committed to following the orders of the One who spoke from the cloud (on the mount of Transfiguration) and told the disciples to listen to his Son (cf. Lk. 9.35).  Jesus is operating in a system of delegated authority – the Father has delegated authority to him and he delegates it to his apostles (cf. Lk. 9.1-2).  This is why Jesus is always to be found praying (cf. Lk. 9.18, 28; 3.21; 6.12; 11.1).  He is always listening for the Father’s voice, for his marching-orders.  Everything comes from God and is for God’s purposes, for his kingdom.  Indeed, God never seems to chose the most talented people, the high-status people, the “obvious” people – au contraire, God seems to enjoy choosing the “little” people, the overlooked, the despised, the counted-outs (cf. 1 Cor. 1.26-29; Dt. 7.6-11).  God only requires one thing from those he calls – obedience (cf. 1 Sam. 15.22).

     Strange realm.  Through Jesus, God is establishing his kingdom, he is re-claiming his world.  He is exercising his authority as the world’s true sovereign.  What does this look like?  Well, perhaps not what most people were expecting.  Jesus and his apostles are going around preaching and healing.  This is good news for the hurting, the suffering, the abandoned and the lost.  God cares about us!  For those (of us) who are used to “organized religion”, Jesus’ kingdom-agenda can be a bit disturbing.  Notice that the people who oppose Jesus are the good, upstanding, conventional religious people (e.g. Lk. 6.6-11).  Jesus doesn’t “fit” into the synagogue-system, he can’t be managed or controlled.  He makes those who have status in the religious community nervous, jealous and murderously angry.  Jesus invites us to ask ourselves difficult questions – what is our congregation about?  Are we actually accomplishing anything worthwhile?  Do we exist for ourselves or for others? …for our wider community?  What is our Lord calling us to do?  The work of the kingdom goes on.  Is our congregation a place where the good news of God’s reign is proclaimed?  …where people can find healing?  …where the hungry are fed?  …where people find a family?  …where people are empowered to put their talents and abilities in service of the community?  This is the challenge of the kingdom of God.  May we embrace it as it embraces us.  Happy Lent and Bon Voyage!  Amen.