The Transfiguration of Our Lord + Matthew 17:1-9 + January 21, 2018

Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on a high mountain, probably Mount Tabor, the highest mountain in Galilee. There “He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as with as the light.” In that moment Jesus shined with the glory and radiance that was His because He is true God. Since His conception, though, the only begotten Son of God had hidden this glory. From eternity He is the “brightness of God the Father’s glory and the express image of His person” (Heb. 1:3). But when He assumed human flesh in the incarnation, St. Paul says He took the form of a slave and came in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man. Thought His entire life Jesus looked like any other man, even though He was the Word of God in human flesh. Throughout His ministry He reveals His glory through miraculous healings: water into wine, cleansing lepers with a touch, rebuking wind and waves on the Sea of Galilee, raising many from the dead. These are manifestations of His glory, which is what this brief season of the church’s year is all about. Christ’s epiphany, the manifestations of His glory and divine nature are given to us so that we might more firmly believe that the man Jesus IS the son of God, and that “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). The Transfiguration is the culmination of Epiphany, for here He is manifested as the Son of God.

He is radiant, brilliant, and not alone. He is accompanied by Moses and Elijah. Moses was the great Lawgiver who recorded the first promise of the Gospel to Adam and Eve, God’s promise to Abraham, and all the Levitical ceremonies which were pictures of the coming Messiah. He was the one whom God had spoken with face to face. Yet Moses died. God buried Moses in the valley opposite Baal Peor and “no one knows his grave to this day” (Deut. 34:6). In spite of death, there he stood, speaking with the one whom had spoken to him face to face in his earthly life. There stood Elijah, the prince of the prophets, the one who stood in the Lord’s presence and prophesied all the words that God had given him. Unlike Moses, Elijah did not die but “a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kg. 2:11). Translated alive into heaven, like Enoch of old, yet there he stands, conversing with Christ. These two men, the chief representatives of the Old Testament, speaking with the Christ they foretold. St. Luke tells us that they spoke “spoke of His exodus which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). Moses and Elijah appear to strengthen the disciple’s faith that everything that will happen to Jesus is only what has already been written by Moses and the prophets. In this Christ reveals His glory as the Messiah, the one whom Moses and the prophets foretold of old.

Peter begins to speak, impetuously, of course, desiring to build three tabernacles, one for each of them. Peter wants to remain and bask in Christ’s uncreated glory. He is filled with wonder and awe at this heavenly glory and divine splendor. Peter embodies today’s Introit verse from Psalm 84, “How lovely is your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD.” Who of us would not have said the same thing? Who of us would not want to remain on the mount of Transfiguration, learning from Moses and Elijah about the Christ and His salvation? Who of us would not have starred wide-eyed and said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here?” But this final manifestation of Christ’s glory is not over yet. “While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them.” This is the cloud of God’s glory. Moses tells us that once he had dedicated the Tabernacle in the wilderness, “the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle” (Ex. 40:34-35). The same cloud filled Solomon’s Temple at its dedication. Out of this cloud comes the voice of God the Father, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

At this the three disciples fall to ground, their faces in the dirt out of terrible fear. Sinners cannot hear God speak directly and not be afraid. When Jesus touches them and tells them to rise, there is no one there but Jesus only. Moses and Elijah have vanished. The cloud of God’s presence is gone. Jesus again appears as they had always known Him to look. The transfiguration, that great mountaintop experience of God’s glory had gone as quickly as it had come. The brief taste of heaven on earth had dissipated in the same way it had arrived. Not only does the vision end, but they must go back down the mountain, back to reality. There was no reliving the moment, that wasn’t the purpose of the moment. The purpose was to strengthen these men’s faith, to bolster their confidence that their teacher was the Christ, the Son of God whom they should hear.

Then reality hits them again. As they came down the mountain, Jesus commanded them saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.” How must it have struck those three disciples to hear that the same one they saw transfigured must rise from the dead! The transfigured one would suffer at the hands of unbelieving, impenitent sinners. The One whom God the Father called His beloved Son with whom He is well pleased will suffer bitter death. You can’t be raised from the dead unless you have died. And such will be the case for the transfigured One. Matthew begins this episode with the words, “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves.” He links this event specifically to what happened six days earlier. Peter had confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God. “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Matthew 16:21). Peter did not care for the suffering part and told Jesus so: “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You” (Matt. 16:22). But the suffering and dying is part of the reason the Son of God assumed human flesh. He comes to acquire a perfect righteousness for sinners but also to satisfy God’s entire wrath against sinners by His innocent, bitter sufferings and death. The transfiguration, the heavenly brightness, the divine glory, all of it serves as a reminder to these three men that the suffering and death is not the end of Jesus. It’s simply the work of Jesus, for He will be vindicated on the third day by being raised.

No one likes suffering. If we had the choice, we would remain on the mountaintop with the radiant Christ, Moses, and Elijah. But the cross must come before the glory, the death before the resurrection. Without His sufferings and death, His transfiguration is no good to us. He strengthens their faith in this vision but He also pulls back the curtain and for a brief moment shows them the heavenly glory which is the inheritance of all those who believe in Christ for the remission of their sins. He is the Son of God by nature, and possess that glory from eternity. He suffers and dies so that all who flee to Him for mercy will not only have their sins forgiven but be made into the sons of God, not as He is, by nature, but sons of God through faith in the promise of the Gospel. Just as Christ had to suffer before He could enter into glory, so it is for those who are sons of God through faith in Christ. We must suffer in this life even as our Lord suffered, though not for the same purpose. His sufferings were to atone for the sins of the whole world. Our suffering serves a different purpose. Our sufferings conform us to Christ’s image and exercise our faith so that we cling more and more to God our heavenly Father and less and less to the transitory things of this world. Jesus told His disciples, six days before the transfiguration, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). So God lays many and diverse crosses on each of His children. Suffering, trial, and cross isn’t optional for us. St. Paul reminds us in Acts 14:22, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”

Though we suffer, do not despair because of your sufferings. Christ is the Father’s beloved Son with whom He is well pleased, and He had to suffer God’s wrath for our sins. You are the Father’s beloved sons and daughters through faith in Christ. By faith you are well-pleasing to God the Father so that He counts you as righteous because of Christ. When you suffer, and whatever it that you suffer, you do not suffer on account of God’s wrath, for Christ has borne that all for you. Your heavenly Father allows you suffer, laying crosses on your back, for your good, to exercise your faith and to teach you to daily trust in Him for everything you need. Not only that, He lays the cross on you so that you desire more and more that heavenly vision which these three disciples witnessed. The transfiguration is your future. The transfiguration is the heavenly inheritance of all who believe the Gospel and remain steadfast in the faith unto death. The transfiguration is a picture of a life beyond the stain of sin, with guilt and regret removed, death eradicated, and the devil and his temptations cast out forever. It is a future lived in the radiant glory of the Triune God. In this life we suffer many things, but we suffer not as those being punished for our sins. We suffer as children of God and co-heirs with Christ of all His heavenly blessings and glory. If we suffer with Him, we will be glorified with Him. So bear your crosses in faith, dearly beloved of God. Trust Christ’s mercy and look forward to that heavenly inheritance Christ shows you today. Amen. 

May the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding guard your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.