Glory Close Enough to Touch

Today, we stand with Peter, James, and John on the holy mountain. We behold the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. It’s an astonishing moment. A wildly unexpected and unusual glimpse of heaven touching earth. But to understand what truly happened there—to understand why it matters as much as it does—we have to journey back through the Scriptures and trace the story of God’s glory.

In the Old Testament, the “glory” of God is not merely brightness or beauty. The Hebrew word kavod carries the sense of substance and overwhelming presence. The root of the word means heavy, or weighty. The glory of God is the reality of who God is—His holiness, majesty, and power—made manifest.

In our reading from Exodus, we see one of the clearest and most dramatic displays of that glory. Moses goes up Mount Sinai at the Lord’s command, and there is a cloud covering the mountain. “The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai,” and it appeared “like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.” Can you imagine? This glory is visible, but also dangerous, beautiful but terrifying. The people remain at the bottom of the mountain, at a distance, while Moses alone enters this cloud around the fire. For forty days and forty nights, he remains in the presence of divine glory, embodied in this mysterious way.

But this is not the first time the glory of God has appeared. Earlier, in the wilderness, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud when the people of Israel grumbled for food. Then, later, when the Tabernacle was completed, God’s glory filled it so powerfully that Moses could not enter. And again, centuries later in the days of Solomon, God’s glory filled the Temple so much that the priests were unable to fulfil their duties.

So again and again, we find that the glory of God comes near, but it also sets boundaries. It draws people in, yet also reminds them of how indescribably holy and awesome the divine actually is. The glory of God reveals both who God is and who we are not. But despite this, we find the wonder of God desiring to share His glory with His people. It appears time and again as God chooses to be present among us.

But going back to our first reading: here there is a noticeable separation. The people are at a safe distance from God’s glory, while only Moses is granted access. This is where we see the dramatic change that happens in Jesus’ transfiguration. It starts out as a normal day - or as normal as any day is with Jesus - but then Peter, James and John go with him up a high mountain. The writer of Matthew’s gospel has already made a call back to Moses’ experience, by telling us that this is ‘six days later’ - an echo of the six days that the cloud enveloped Mount Sinai. And again, we are up a mountain, now with a select group of chosen people.

Suddenly, before these disciples’ astonished eyes, Jesus is transfigured. His face shines like the sun. His clothes become dazzling white. Jesus himself becomes a tangible manifestation of glory, radiating with holiness.

Not only that, but Moses and Elijah appear with him, representing the Law and the Prophets, and both figures of enormous importance in the religious backstory. Moses, who encountered God’s glory, and Elijah, who met God not in wind or earthquake or fire, but in a still small voice. They both appear and stand in conversation with Jesus, the fulfilment of everything they had believed and proclaimed. And in an echo of Jesus’ baptism, the voice from heaven speaks once again, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

But the real difference here, the key development between Moses’ encounter with glory and Jesus’ transfiguration, is the accessibility of God. When Moses went up the mountain, remember that the people all stayed at the bottom. God’s glory was remote. But here, Jesus, the incarnation of glory, comes and touches the disciples, who have fallen on their faces with fear, reassuring them with that phrase we hear so often: ‘do not be afraid’. Instead of distance, God’s glory is now embodied in nearness. Divinity made accessible.

I think it’s often really hard for us to grasp the incredible nearness to God that we enjoy. Jesus changed the relationship between God and people, introducing a new intimacy that was unthinkable before. So today, there is another layer to the story.

It’s like we’ve been building a layer cake of glory, and now we’re at the icing on top - the Collect for this Sunday asks 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.” That’s the glory that was up a mountain, in the tabernacle, hidden in a cloud, then shining in the face of Jesus. The next chapter in the story is that the glory then goes on to shine in us, through the gift of the Holy Spirit. God’s glory has moved from distant to present to internalised - within us, part of us, gifted to us.

Not that we are divine ourselves - far from it! But we are fully alive in God. When we love as Christ loves, forgive as Christ forgives, serve as Christ serves, we reflect His glory, for we are places where God’s presence dwells. God’s glory is among us differently now, because of Jesus. It mingles with us along dusty roads, through the expected and unknown, with flawed people, the faithful and half-faithful, in places of hope, despair, and banality.

Glory resides in us, even though we may often feel far from it. We catch glimpses of it in worship, in Scripture, in sacrament, and in each other. And then we carry that light into a dark world, transformed forever. Not distanced from divine glory, but living in it. So do you feel glorious? Because you are!

We carry the knowledge of God’s glory into ordinary days. We listen to Jesus, as the voice commanded. We touch and are touched by a world that is often fearful and broken. And in those quiet, faithful acts, Jesus tells each of us, ‘do not be afraid’, and the glory of God continues to shine—not anymore as devouring fire on a distant peak, but as steady light in human lives. In you. In me. In us.

What wonder - you are full of God’s glory in Christ!

Amen.

Exodus 24:12-18; Matthew 17:1-9