Show Me the Glory!
Transfiguration Sunday
Exodus 34:29-35 and 2 Corinthians 3:12 – 4:2
March 2, 2025
Well here we are again at Transfiguration Sunday. I’m reminded of the first time I ever prepared for a sermon on Transfiguration, and the then interim pastor here, who had decided to go on vacation on that particular Sunday, and turn it over to me, called the morning of to make sure that I was ready, and to remind me that this was a very important Sunday. Just in case I wasn’t already nervous enough!
As I read these two scriptures to prepare, I was reminded of the movie, “Jerry McGuire,” and the famous phrase, “Show me the money!” I’m sure many of you remember this movie about a football player who was losing his fame and greatness which was becoming evident with his team and the league. His manager was pushing him to turn things around, to push himself harder, and believe in himself more. The manager knew that if his friend, Tidwell, could not recapture his fame and talent, there would be no money to support either of them.
Then, there was the famous line in the movie where his McGuire is throwing all the optimism at Tidwell that he possibly could, trying to explain the situation to him if he didn’t turn things around, and he had Tidwell look in the mirror and say, “Show me the money!”
Not convinced Tidwell said it with enough enthusiasm, McGuire has him say it again, “Show Me the Money!” Having him repeat it over and over again until he could say it with some convince ability for himself as he looked at himself in the mirror. McGuire needed the foodball player to believe in himself. He needed Tidwell to see his talent reflecting back at him.
McGuire knew that in order to get his friend back where he needed to be to regain his confidence and see the money coming in, he had to first get him to believe in himself. In order to get Tidwell to believe in himself, McGuire used a bit of creativity.
Creativity is another Superpower of optimism described in the Jacobs brothers’ “Life Is Good” book.
I would invite you to consider that the Transfiguration is a creative act of hope. It is a glimpse of the glory that Christ possesses. It is a turning point when God exalts Jesus above all other powers in creation, and it is a time when God is doing something new. God our Creator. God our ultimate optimist.
In our Old and New Testament scriptures, we have two very similar stories, and yet two very different stories.
In both instances, a man goes up to see God at the top of the mountain. In both instances they take people with them, although Moses does not have anyone with him when he meets God in the clouds on the mountaintop as does Jesus.
When Moses realizes that in seeing the Lord his face now shines, he covers it with a veil.
So let’s talk about this veil for a moment. Paul interprets the veil Moses wore over his face as shielding the Israelites from a glory they could not handle. A glory they were not ready or prepared to handle.
Matthew, Mark and Luke, all talk about the going up to the mountain and Jesus being transfigured which is accurate; however, Paul in this scripture today is also talking about the Transfiguration, but in comparison to the story of Moses in the Old Testament.
It’s important to Paul, as he speaks to the Corinthians, that they understand that in the new experience of Christ’s Transfiguration, there we see the Holy Trinity manifested.
Jesus, the Son of Man, goes to the mountain top. The Holy Spirit appears in a cloud and shines brightly, and the voice of God is heard.
Where the Gospels make the Transfiguration about the event itself, Paul stresses the importance of recognizing Moses wearing a veil to hide his face, in comparison to unveiled faces with Jesus who saw the glory of the Lord.
Paul is explaining to his audience that the Israelites of the Old Testament could not handle the glory reflecting off of the face of Moses, and even now in Paul’s day when they heard the reading of the old covenant, the Israelites still continued to hide behind the veil. They allowed their minds to be covered, and their hearts hardened from the truth. They refused to see Jesus for who he was, the Son of Man, the Christ.
Paul continues, “But you, who have been unveiled, you who have seen and understood the works of the Son of Man, you have the freedom to see the glory,” just like Peter, James and John on the mountaintop.
It is more than just knowing that you have the freedom to see the glory of God, however, it is the way you are being transformed, or as one of my commentaries described it, metamorphosed, or changed into the image of God.
Like a butterfly changes from within a cocoon, it springs forth in great beauty. It springs forth from its veil of darkness to see the light in a new and glorious beauty.
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we shine, we reflect God’s glory, and it is because of the resurrection of Jesus, his exit from the dark tomb into the light, that we have this freedom.
We can look into the mirror and properly see and believe that what we are gazing at is not our human selves, but the image of the Lord’s glory in our own face.
The veil or covering of darkness impedes our beholding and understanding, yet it can be removed by the Holy Spirit, who alone grants the freedom to behold and understand.
Being metamorphosed or changed, is changing your whole self from having a veiled face to having an open, shining, glorious face, making you an icon of Christ which is possible by the Holy Spirit.
While God wrote the Ten Commandments with his finger upon stone for Moses to take to the people, because of the sacrifice of Christ’s death and resurrection, we have God’s Word written on our hearts.
Makes you want to say, “Show me the glory,” doesn’t it.
Just as we were born out of creativity by God, we are born again through the resurrection of the Christ and by the Holy Spirit to live in the glory of God.
We, along with Moses and Jesus, are the intended recipients of God’s glory, and this glory comes in the form of a promised resurrection. However, we don’t get resurrection without death, or the kingdom of God without suffering.
God said, “Let light shine out of darkness.” God shines in our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Doesn’t it make you want to say, “Show me the glory?!”
When we accept the truth of who we are without shame as a Child of God. When we believe in the death and resurrection of Christ, and when we choose to have the freedom to allow the Holy Spirit to shine through us to others, what a difference we can make living in the image of Christ.
When we meet on Wednesday evening for Ash Wednesday, I will mark you with oil rather than ashes with the mark of the cross as we begin our 40 day journey of Lent. I am choosing to use oil as a sign of anointing and healing.
Certainly, Lent is a time to look inward to ourselves and reflect on negative habits that we can change; however, this year, I would also like to invite you to be creative and consider when you look into the mirror, what is reflecting back to you? Do you see the image of Christ? Do you believe in yourself enough to walk each day in the image of Christ and see yourself filled with the Holy Spirit? Do you see yourself shining so bright that when you leave your house, you can remove any veil that has brought darkness into your life, and you can say, “Show me the glory?!”
Say it with me, “Show me the glory!”
Say it like Jerry McGuire would, “Show me the glory!”