Last Sunday after the Epiphany, rcl yr a, 2026
EXODUS 24:12-18; PSALM 99; 2 PETER 1:16-21; MATTHEW 17:1-9
listen to him
We are going to do something quite special in a moment—it’s a short rite called The Admission of Catechumens, where I will anoint Zachie and Kevin as they take a significant step deeper into life in Christ. I’ll give a sense of why this is important, and why it is is special in a moment—I’ll come back to that.
First I’d like to share a few thoughts on our readings—especially on the significance of the Transfiguration, and especially on God’s commandment that we listen to Jesus.
Comparing what we read in Exodus—and the story of Moses ascending the mountain and descending with the 10 commandments, with what we hear in Matthew where Jesus ascends another mountain—is instructive. We are certainly meant to see parallels here: Moses goes up a mountain, as does Jesus with Peter, James and John. In both Exodus, and in Matthew, there is a cloud. There’s a communication from God: Moses receives and shares God’s law, and with Jesus’s transfiguration a voice speaks from the cloud. Much like Moses is leading his people through the desert to the promised land, Jesus is leading his disciples up the mountain and eventually to the cross and the empty tomb. In both accounts there is transformation and light, with both Moses’s and Jesus’s face shining. So there is something special happening here, in both stories—God is communicating with his people, God is leading his people into a new future, prophets are present, and both Moses and Jesus are transformed.
There are some differences, though, and these are instructive too. Moses is the main figure on the mountain in Exodus; in the second telling, Moses does appears with Jesus (along with Elijah), but the main figure is Jesus. Jesus, in Matthew, is the new Moses. What God gives to Moses is the law in the form of the ten commandments; in the Transfiguration, though, we are given Jesus himself. In Matthew, if there is a new law, it is found in Jesus himself, God’s voice pointing not to stone tablets, but to a person: “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” says the voice from the cloud.
Sometimes Christians have a hard time with the Old Testament law. Sometimes for very wrong reasons, often seen in Christian anti-semitism. It is true, though, that Christians don’t have a straightforward relationship with the law of the Old Testament—we keep the 10 Commandments, but we don’t keep laws related to food, or to ritual worship. But we did keep the Old Testament books, and we believe them—they too are an account of God’s relationship with his people. And we do keep the moral sense of the law, if not the ritual and food-related law, summarized for us by Jesus when he asks us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
But there’s a deeper sense to this keeping of the law than following a command to love God and neighbour. The way Jesus puts it in Matthew, speaking of himself: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter,not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.” Jesus himself tells us that the law endures. It is not abolished. It endures both in the synagogue and in Jesus. And so the voice from the cloud tells us: “listen to him.”
We take the view, following Jesus, that the law (and the prophets too) are fulfilled in Jesus himself. And this is at least in part what the story of the Transfiguration tells us: the law that was given to Moses is given again, but this time, it is given in a person—and in a person to whom we belong. What is given to Peter, James, and John—and all of us, too—is Jesus himself.
And this is what we are meant to see, in dramatic fashion, in this story of the Transfiguration: in part, our own continuity, and sharing, with Judaism and the synagogue: this is not a break with Judaism, it is more like a new shoot growing from a living root. We look where the Father points, and to the fulfillment of the law—we look to his Son, Jesus, “the Beloved; with [whom the Father is] well pleased; [and so,
at his command, we] listen to him!”
Zachie and Kevin are taking a significant step today in bending their ear to the one who fulfills the law—they will be bending their ear to hear, for them, the words of Jesus, following the commandment of God to listen to his Son. As will we. They are taking a special step into the life of God, and into the life of Jesus in his church, in the power of the life-giving Spirit of God.
In the early church there were very few children being baptised—it was largely adults—and so what developed was a course of instruction call the catechumenate, and those who were being instructed were called catechumens. In an age where more and more adults are being baptised, as a church we are renewing the catechumenate; today we do that at St. John’s.
My work will be to instruct; their work is to learn, and go deeper (and to help me see things anew as well); the sponsor’s work is to accompany and support; (André and James will sponsor Kevin; Zachie’s sponsor Mike can’t be here today, but will still fulfill that role); your work, along with me and the sponsors, is to accompany and to pray for the catechumens and their sponsors.
We will do the admission at the door (with apologies to those online!) because they are crossing a threshold, and this represents them coming closer to font and altar. Zachie and Kevin will affirm that they are seeking Jesus; they will affirm the summary of the law and commandments (making the Transfiguration a particularly good day to do this); they will commit to worship, and affirm their openness to hear the Good News of Jesus; I will pray for them in this seeking, and anoint them as an expression of God’s work strengthening them in this undertaking.
Make no mistake, this is a very good day in the life of the church: Jesus is drawing people ever closer to him; Jesus is speaking to Zachie and Kevin; may we too listen closely and with wisdom. Pray for them, their sponsors, and for me, in this season of preparation and instruction, and as we admit Zachie and Kevin into the order of catechumens.
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.
As our parish musician, he provides both support and leadership so that a variety of parish programs can find musical expression and attract participation. When our handbell choir is in season, he is one of our ringers. At parish dinners, he provides popular piano music for the guests to dine by. For both worship services and concerts, he will rehearse and accompany vocal and instrumental soloists from our congregation on piano, organ, or even accordion.
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.