First Presbyterian Church Of San Anselmo

Luke 9:28-43: In this highly symbolic story, called the Transfiguration, the disciples see Jesus transformed before their eyes.  Moses and Elijah appear, connecting Jesus with the long history of God’s deliverance and God’s word to a sometimes unfaithful, but always beloved, people.  We’re told they speak about Jesus’ “departure,” which in Greek is literally, “exodus.”  This is not a random word.  It points to the meaning of the cross waiting for Jesus; it is about release and freedom.  In his first sermon in Nazareth, back in Chapter 4, freedom was the overarching theme.  It’s easy to forget that the cross is not simply, or perhaps even primarily, about making forgiveness possible – Jesus has already been doing a lot of forgiving up to this point – much less about paying God off for our sin, which is a traditional and highly problematic way of talking about the cross.  Rather, it is about freedom, release from captivity, the possibility of an open future.  Jesus, Moses and Elijah talk about what Jesus will “