Transfiguration
Mt
17:1-9
1/21/24
“And after six days Jesus took with
him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain
by themselves.” Our text begins by
telling us that the trip up the mountain occurred “after six days.” The natural question is, “Six days after
what?” It is an important question
because it is only by looking back that we can understand the events in our
text.
We learn that when Jesus and the
disciples came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked them, “Who do people
say that the Son of Man is?” They answered, “Some
say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one
of the prophets.” Then Jesus asked them the really important question as he
said: “But who
do you say that I am?” Simon
Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God.” Jesus praised Peter as he said
that Father had revealed this to him.
Then
Matthew tells us, “From
that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem
and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and
be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Our Lord had just been confessed as the
Christ. Now he said that he was going to
suffer and die.
This was too much for Peter. First century Jews had a number of different
expectations about the Christ. The one
thing they all had in common was that the Christ would be mighty, powerful, and
victorious. Peter took Jesus aside and
said, “Far be it
from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” However, Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get
behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not
setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Jesus had spoken about his suffering and death. Peter had
objected to this. So Jesus went on to say that suffering and death was not
something that was only true of him. He told his disciples, “If anyone
would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Our Lord had said that he would suffer and die. He had told the disciples that following him
would mean suffering and even death. This was not exactly an encouraging
message! So in our text Jesus leads
Peter, James, and John up by themselves on a high mountain.
There Jesus was transfigured. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes
became white as light. At Christmas we
celebrated the mystery of the incarnation, as the Son of God became man. He became man, but he did not cease to be
God. He was – and still is – true God
and true man. At the transfiguration
Christ revealed his divine glory as true God.
While our Lord was transfigured, there appeared to them
Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus.
Moses and Elijah had both encountered Yahweh at Mt. Sinai. Now they appeared on a mountain speaking with
Jesus as the Son of God shines in glory.
Always ready to speak first, Peter said, “Lord, it is good
that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and
one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
Peter suggested that he should make the kind of booths that were made
for the celebration of Tabernacles.
Yet while Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud
overshadowed them. A voice from the
cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well
pleased; listen to him.” The bright
cloud indicated God’s presence. The
voice of God the Father directed their attention to Jesus. Peter’s statement seemed to place Jesus on
the same level as Moses and Elijah.
However, the Father’s voice clearly indicated that all of their focus
should be given to Jesus.
The disciples were terrified by the voice and fell on their
faces. However, Jesus came up and touched
them saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” When they lifted up their eyes they
saw no one but Jesus. They then began
making their way down the mountain and Jesus commanded the disciples, “Tell no
one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”
Six
days earlier Peter had correctly confessed that Jesus was the Christ. He had said that Jesus was the fulfillment of
God’s promise to send rescue and salvation for his people. He was the One of whom Isaiah had said, “but with
righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of
the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”
Yet Jesus had then said that he was
going to suffer and die. How could this
be? Peter certainly didn’t understand as
he tried to correct our Lord. But Jesus had rebuked him saying he was the voice
of Satan. Jesus had declared that the
things of God were directed toward his suffering and death.
Jesus has just spoken of his suffering
and death. Now he shines with divine
glory. The transfiguration of Jesus
shows us that his suffering and death does not mean the absence of God. Suffering and death is not a contradiction of
God’s saving work. Instead, it is the
very way in which God accomplishes it.
The Father’s
words should sound familiar. We heard them two Sundays ago at the Baptism of
Our Lord. We saw then that these words refer to Isaiah chapter 42 where God
says, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him.”
At Jesus’ baptism he was designated as
the Servant of the Lord. The Servant of
the Lord in Isaiah is also the suffering Servant. Jesus was identified as the One who would
bear our sin. He was the One upon whom
the Lord laid the iniquity of us all.
God the Father sent the Son into the
world to bear our sin. He did this in
love because often we do not love him.
He did this in love because often we do not love those around us. We
selfishly turn inward as we focus on me, myself, and I. We put ourselves before God and our neighbor.
At his
baptism Jesus took up our sin in order to be the sacrifice on the cross. The apostle Paul tells us, “For our sake he
made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God.”
Jesus received God’s wrath and judgment in our place as he hung on the
cross. By his death he has redeemed us
from sin – he has freed us from its power.
Jesus
has just predicted his Passion. God the Father again speaks the words that
identified him as the sin bearer – the One who would be the sacrifice for
us. Yet this occurs as Jesus stands
there transfigured. He reveals his
divine nature as he shines in glory.
The glory
of the transfiguration points forward to Christ’s resurrection. It shows us what awaits on the other side of
the cross. Christ died on the cross as
he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” There was nothing glorious about the
cross. It did not look like anything was
happening except the tortured death of an innocent man. It did not look like
God was anywhere to be found as a terrible injustice took place.
But on
Easter God raised Jesus from the dead.
In this event he showed that the cross had actually been God’s most
powerful action to bring us salvation. The cross was not the absence of
God. It was instead God working through
his Son to give us forgiveness. We know
that because of the resurrection.
Through his action God defeated death and gave us life.
Suffering
and death were not the contradiction of God’s saving work. It was instead the way that God worked
through the Son in order to give us forgiveness. God worked through the cross, and Christ’s
way of the cross led to resurrection. It
led to glory.
Christ’s
cross was the means by which he won salvation for us. But the cross is more than just the means of
forgiveness. It also describes the life
of those who believe in Jesus. When
Peter objected to Jesus’ cross, our Lord went on to say, “If anyone would come after me, let
him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever
would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake
will find it.”
Christ calls us
to take up the cross and follow him. He
calls us to follow him, even when this involves suffering and loss. He tells us that following him will bring
suffering and loss for that is why he calls it a cross.
It is hard to
confess Christ openly in this world – to let others know that you are a
Christian by what you say and do. It
brings the world’s disdain. It causes
division – especially in families – because one either believes in Jesus or
rejects him. There is no middle ground when it comes to faith in Christ.
Jesus declared
that it would be this way. He said, “Do not think that I have
come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a
sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter
against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a
person's enemies will be those of his own household.”
But we follow
Jesus and take up the cross because in his resurrection he has already shown us
where the way of the cross leads. It
leads to resurrection and eternal life with Christ. It is a way in which Christ’s Spirit
strengthens us in faith through his Means of Grace. It is a way in which Christ’s resurrection
gives us the living hope that sustains us as we look forward to the day when
the Lord will raise us up as well.
Jesus Christ
shines forth in divine glory this morning.
He does so after predicting his Passion for the first time. The glory of the transfiguration points
forward to Christ’s resurrection. It
shows us that suffering and death do not contradict God’s saving work. Instead, this is the very means by which
Christ won forgiveness for us. Christ passed through the cross in order to
redeem us from sin. Then he rose from
the dead as he brought us life.
Confident in this we now take up the cross and follow Jesus because
Christ’s resurrection has shown us that this way leads to resurrection and
eternal life.
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