The Transfiguration of our Lord - February 16, 2011

The Church Season of Epiphany,
The Transfiguration of Our Lord,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (February 16, 2011)
One Year Series

“The Voice of Christ”

Readings:

Psalm 2
Exodus 34:29-35
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 17th chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verses.

Matthew 17:1-9 (NIV)

1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 While [Peter] was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

    Have you ever looked at something over and over, and suddenly you see something you’ve never seen before?    Here is the challenge with the Transfiguration: We don’t really know what to think about it.  And when confronted with something different we’re a lot like Peter, we try to react appropriately, but often we end up sounding foolish.  When we think about the Transfiguration of Christ it is a dazzling change in events.  Why did this happen?  What should we think about this?  Should we use this as an occasion to praise Jesus because He is glorious?  For on this day we may end up singing praises to Him, yet without any real substance behind our praise, except to say that He is beautiful and wonderful and glorious and so forth and so on...

The point of the Transfiguration is not simply that Jesus is glorious.  But, right before men, Jesus was transfigured, He made His first prediction of His suffering, death, and resurrection.  The Twelve Disciples now knew what lay ahead, even if they did not fully understand.  They especially Peter, did not want to accept Christ's prediction.  Thoughts of Christ suffering and dying were surely confusing and frightening to them.

And right after His prediction, Christ said to the disciples, "Get up, do not be afraid."(v. 7)  As Christ was going to suffer, so also the disciples (and we) too must suffer.  This is not a popular topic for Christians.  We would rather be joyfully celebrating, not living a life of pain and grief.  Thoughts of future grief and suffering and rejection are surely confusing and frightening for us.

But, in this setting of grief and suffering to come, Jesus went up the mountain with Peter, James, and John.  And with His prediction of rejection and death still echoing in their ears, Christ was changed so that His clothing became shining, exceedingly white like snow, as no earthly clothing can be.  The glory of Christ was revealed, His glory as the only-begotten Son of God.  This is the true majesty that is His by nature, the majesty that was usually hidden on earth, the same majesty that Christ now fully displays at the right hand of the Father.

So what is the meaning of this revelation this transfiguration of Jesus Christ’s glory?  Jesus gives us a hint by telling the disciples to wait until after the resurrection before they told others.  If they told others now, the meaning would become confused and misunderstood.  So the Resurrection of Christ is a key to unlock the meaning of the Transfiguration.

This means, first of all, that the glory of Christ revealed on the mountain was the assurance of the end result of His suffering.  The end was never in doubt.  Christ would indeed suffer and die, but He would most certainly rise again and ascend into glory.  The majesty of the Son of God cannot be taken away.  It was hidden for a time in the grave, but in the end it burst forth with life and light.

And too, the glory of Christ is His suffering.  His whole life was leading to Jerusalem and Calvary.  After all, Jesus’ flesh was conceived in His mother’s womb so that it could be nailed to the Cross as the atonement for our sins.  In other words, God became flesh so that God could die for you.  We see in the Transfiguration who it was that hung upon the Cross.  Christ the Son of God carried in His human body the fullness of God, all the glory and holiness of the Godhead.  It was this deity and glory that He allowed to be nailed to the Tree.  In this way, Christ Jesus offered the one perfect, final sacrifice, so valuable that His precious blood could pay for the sins of the whole world.

So there could be no doubt that He has died for our sins.  Our sins, so awful and un-glorious, doomed us to eternal shame and suffering.  But Christ, the Glorious One, took the shame and suffering away by taking them upon Himself.  The Glorious One became un-glorious on the Cross, and yet, by Jesus’ dying, achieved the greatest glory.  He achieved the purpose for which His glory took on human flesh.

And so the glory of Christ on the mountain shows us the result of His suffering and its benefit for us.  We are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory.  As the death of Christ cleanses us from the depths of sin and death, so also His resurrection is the assurance that we shall be raised, and we shall be as He is.  We shall be glorious, shining as the stars in the sky, because His glory is given to us.  All this is given to us freely in our Baptism.  Just as we have been united in the water with Christ in His death, so also we shall be united with Him in His resurrection.

So the Transfiguration does not reveal a Christ whom we must praise because He is so glorious and wonderful, as if He were a work of art so beautiful that we cannot help but praise Him.  Instead, He is our Beautiful Savior because His glory is found in His suffering and death and resurrection.  We praise Him because He gives us the glory of His holiness and the promise of a glorious resurrection.

Elijah and Moses appear, but not to distract us from Christ.  They are not like visiting celebrities on some red carpet runway, brought out in show so we should say, "Oooh, look!  It's Moses and Elijah!  How exciting!" Instead, these two testify to the glory of Christ.  He is the culmination of the Law and the Prophets.  He is so much greater than Moses and Elijah because He alone is the Son of God who redeems all mankind.  Moses and Elijah could not even redeem themselves, just as we neither can do.  Their greatness is only that they pointed to Christ.

For Christ is the fulfillment of all Scripture.  The voice of the prophets is speaking of Him.  The voice of the Law is speaking of that which only Christ fulfills, the Law which we by our sins have broken.  Even more than that, it was Christ who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, and Christ who spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice.  All the Word is the voice of Christ.

This is the Beloved Son of God.  Listen to Him!  Jesus Christ is the mighty, majestic God who could crush us under His foot, as we deserve.  But instead, He speaks to us words of gentleness and grace.  He tenderly comforts us in the afflictions that He has warned us will come.  He comforts us in the face of death by giving us eternal life in His Word.  Listen to Him!

In worship, everything is filled with the voice of Christ.  Jesus is the reason to come to Church - to listen to Him declare what He has done.  He has suffered.  He has died.  He has risen.  He has done it all for you, and has opened for you the store-house of His glorious treasures - eternal life, everlasting bliss, glory and Paradise beyond comprehension and imagination.  Not as you deserve, but out of His grace He has dealt with you.  He shines upon you even now with the splendor of His glorious grace. Jesus Christ transfigured before men to show His glory and the glory of Christ will one day transfigure  you so that you will shine before God.  Amen.

 

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