Meditation on Matthew 17:1-9

Rev. Dr. Karen Crawford

First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown

Transfiguration Sunday

Feb. 15, 2026

Are you watching the Olympics? What’s your favorite event? Skating is my favorite winter sport. Although, it was difficult to watch the men’s figure skating Friday night. Who saw it?

The one who won the gold was a complete surprise—even to Mikhail Shaidorov, the 21-year-old skater from Kazakhstan, who won. Both Mikhail and Japan’sYuma Kagiyama, who won the silver, had errors in their free skate program and didn’t expect to go home with medals.

The athlete who was expected to win the gold, the one whom they had nicknamed the “Quad God,” didn’t make the podium at all. He shocked the world by falling in his free skate more than once and finishing 8^th. Ilia Malinin from Vienna, VA, had been featured in commercials and teasers for days leading up to the event. Jim kept muttering, “When are we going to see him skate?” In between other Olympic events, the camera would turn to him practicing his jumps—perfectly every time.

So, we are all left wondering what happened.

Ben Church of CNN Sports says, Ilia “took the ice in Milan having not lost a competition in more than two years. He held a commanding five-point lead heading into the free skate, a gap that only widened while his challengers skidded and fell before him. Average ‘Quad God’ would have earned him a gold medal. Instead, he popped his quad axel, the beginning of four minutes that started to feel like rubbernecking a car accident. You didn’t want to watch; you couldn’t stop watching. His failure in real time was somehow more jaw-dropping for its unexpected underperformance than his usual quad-popping is for its overperformance.”[1]

The young skater, O’Neill says, “discovered the enormity of the Games only when it was too late. ‘It’s not like any other competition,’ Ilia said. ‘It’s the Olympics, and I think people only realize the pressure and the nerves that actually happen from the inside. It was just something that overwhelmed me, and I felt like I had no control.’”[2]

What was most heartbreaking to me was when Ilia told the world what caused him to break down during the skate. While the audience was cheering him on, his past was haunting him.  “All the traumatic moments of my life,” he said, “really just started flooding my head.”[3]

Like the Olympians we cheered on this week, chosen as the best of the best athletes in the world, the three disciples ascending the mountain with Jesus are also special. They have been chosen for their particular gifts and characteristics and the future ministry that God has planned. The passage begins with, “Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.”  The others were not invited. Think about this. Of all the people in the world Jesus could have chosen to follow him, he chose these 12 ordinary people. And of the 12, he chose 3 to be the imperfect leaders of the group: Peter, James, and John.

They are chosen to see this vision of Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. Peter, formerly a fisherman, is now ready to be a builder of tents— for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Not here, but in other gospels, his suggestion is described as a blunder. In Mark 9, after he volunteers to build the tents, the writer says in verse 6, “For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.” In Luke 9:33, Peter says to Jesus, “‘Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said.”

Peter will be the one to whom Christ will say, “You are Peter, Petros, and upon this rock I will build my church.” He will also rebuke him in Mark 8:33, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” He will stumble and fall repeatedly during his 3-year journey with the Savior, culminating with his greatest fall, when he denies Christ three times before the cock crows and the Lord is led to his death.

This startling and terrifying encounter on the mountain is understood and will be remembered by all their human senses. Their muscles have felt the physicality of the climb. Their lungs have labored, feeling the difference in the oxygen content of the air at the summit. Their eyes have strained to adjust to the unaccustomed brilliance of the light of the Son. A bright cloud overshadows them as they hear the unmistakable voice of God, saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

Peter, James, and John will never be the same, again, though they are warned by Jesus to tell no one of this experience until he has risen from the dead. This memory, though frightening and humbling at the time, will be comforting and reassuring later, after Jesus has gone home to God and the Spirit comes to empower and send them out in Christ’s name.

The word for us today is, “Listen to him!” This word, listen, is “Shema,” as in Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God the Lord alone.” “The Shemah” is a Jewish prayer recited morning and night as a daily reminder of the covenant between God and the people. To listen, then, is not just to hear God speak. To listen is to trust and obey and follow God’s leading to love and serve with heart, soul, mind, and might.[4]

It can be hard to hear the voice of the Lord in a world where there are so many voices, many of which are negative rather than life giving. Sometimes, as the young “Quad God” from Vienna, VA, learned on Friday, the negativity doesn’t come from the people around us, but from our very own thoughts and bad memories.

Ilia was not the only talented Olympic skater to fail to win a medal. I was routing for Team USA’s Max Naumov, who finished the competition in 20^th place. After he skated, he held up a picture of his 3-year-old self, holding hands on the ice with his parents. Both were former Olympic skaters who were among the 67 people who tragically lost their lives in January 2025 when their plane collided with a helicopter minutes before it was scheduled to land in Washington, D.C.

“I wanted them to…literally share that moment with me,” Max said. “Cause they deserve it. They deserve to be there, right next to me.” After his parents’ death, the young man took over their skating academy. He wasn’t sure he would ever skate competitively again, but teaching the children helped him remember his love for the sport.

When the shining vision ends, Peter, James, and John are cowering in fear on the ground. Jesus goes to them, touches them and says in Matthew 17:7, “Arise and do not be afraid.”  With “arise,” Jesus is extending an invitation to us all to “rise above the old and to come forth into the light of a brand-new day.” Unexpected events come without warning, just as they did for the Olympians. These events can bring joy and gladness and grief, pain, and loss. “When these moments come,” says Pastor Rafael Vallejo, of Vancouver, British Columbia, “it can be comforting to know that there is an unseen hand” that lifts us up.[5]

As we ordain and install elders and deacons today, let us remember that they are not chosen to do the work of our ministry by themselves. They are our servant leaders, and we are called to walk alongside them and help them help us learn to trust and obey.

May we never get discouraged or give up on our hopes and dreams for the church.

May we remember to pray for our leaders and our church family. May we all learn to forgive quickly—forgive one another and ourselves. And may we never let past mistakes or bad memories cause us to stumble. May God bless our elders, deacons, and trustees for their willingness to serve the Lord with their gifts, skills, and experiences—all of which have been preparing them for this moment. To our new elders, deacons, and trustees, I say this. God is calling you now to arise and be not afraid. May you never grow weary of doing good. And may you always listen for God’s voice and be that unseen hand lifting up others if they stumble and fall.

Let us pray. Holy One, we don’t know why you have chosen us. We are imperfect, like your first disciples. But we are grateful for your love and good plan for us. Sometimes, we forget how faithful you have always been and your tender care of us, how your unseen hand has lifted us when we were struggling. Thank you for those who have agreed to serve you and your church. Teach us to pray. And may we all hear your voice, calling us to arise and be not afraid. May we know your will and come forth into the light of a brand new day.  In Christ we pray. Amen.

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[1] Ben Church, CNN Sports, accessed Feb. 14, 2026, at https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/13/sport/ilia-malinin-winter-olympics-shock

[2] Ben Church, CNN Sports, accessed Feb. 14, 2026, at https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/13/sport/ilia-malinin-winter-olympics-shock

[3] Ben Church, CNN Sports, accessed Feb. 14, 2026, at https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/13/sport/ilia-malinin-winter-olympics-shock

[4] Rev. Rafael Vallejo, Vancouver, BC, in These Days: Daily Devotions for Living by Faith (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing Corp., 2026), Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026.

[5] Rev. Rafael Vallejo, in These Days: Daily Devotions for Living by Faith, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026.