Transfiguration Sunday Matthew17:1-9
February 26, 2017
Today you’ll notice that there are white paraments (hangings) on the altar and lectern. That tells us this is a special Sunday in the church year. It’s the last Sunday in Epiphany, the season between Christmas and Lent. We use white to symbolize God’s glory and holiness and also the joy of knowing our Savior, who makes us holy to God. Today we are celebrating Jesus’ Transfiguration. After the service we’ll replace them with purple hangings for the Lenten season, which symbolize repentance. We won’t see white again until Easter.
When Jesus was transfigured – when his body glowed with his hidden glory as God –he was about to face the greatest task any man has ever faced. His teaching and preaching ministry were coming to a close. His intense suffering for human sin would soon begin. When you have something hard or challenging to do, how do you get ready for it? You probablyspend a lot of time thinking and praying about it, then you go through all the steps you need to do. You might even give yourself a pep talk or get some encouragement from others.
Jesus was about to enter combat to fight for the final battle for our souls, and he neededa pep talk, too.He got it when his divine glory radiated from his human body and he heard the words of praise from his heavenly Father. It encouraged him to finishthe race that would rescue us from the guilt and power of sin, the grip of death, and our inevitable future in the endless torments of hell. Every soul of every person who ever lived or would live depended entirely on what Jesus would do in Jerusalem one day soon, so JESUS PREPARES FOR HIS FINEST HOUR.
- In human weakness
There are no human words to describe what the disciples saw that day. Jesus took Peter, James and John up a high mountain. “There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.”It took those guys completely by surprise. Until now Jesus had looked likeanyotherman. No glowing halo around his head, no mysterious look in his eyes. Now he radiated with the brillianceof the sun and was joined by two famous Old Testament prophets, Moses and Elijah. It was such a beautiful sight that the disciples wanted it to never end. Peter even 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.” Then a bright cloud wrapped around them and they heard the voice of the heavenly Father: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”It was enough to send them facedown to the ground. Then suddenly it was all over and they were alone with Jesus. Gently he touched them and said, “Get up. Don’t be afraid.”
They needed encouragement, too. Earlier Jesus had told them to brace for the fact that one day soon he would go to Jerusalem for the last time. This time he would be mocked and rejected by the very people he came to save. He would suffer and die a horrific, torturous death by crucifixion. He’d already told them, but knowing didn’t make it easier for them or for him.
Jesus wanted them to know for sure that even though he appeared on earth in human weakness, he never stopped being God. From the moment he was conceived, his divine glory was “veiled in flesh”, as we sing in one of our Christmas hymns. He became a humble man so he could obey all of God’s Law perfectly in our place and then take our place in hell and death.But today these witnesses needed to see his glory as he is: “Light from Light, True God from True God.” This was God’s assurance that Jesus was who they needed him to be, and it gave Jesus the resolve to do what needed to be done for all people.
Jesus also got encouragement from others. In Luke’s account of this event he tells us that Moses and Elijah spoke to Jesus ‘about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” (9:31).Justbeing there with Jesus was proof that he would reach his goal. Moses and Elijah were already enjoying the glory of heaven. His work was as good as done.So “for the joy set before him [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
A lot ofpeople think of Lent and the scenes of Jesus’ sufferings as little more than a drama about human suffering. If we took away the rest of Scripture we could probably make a very gripping movie about a well-meaning man who met an unfortunate end. It would be a story of injustice, falseaccusation,rejection by people who once admired him, even being forsaken and betrayed by his closest friends. There would be scenes of a brutal whipping and a gruesome, inhumanedeath on a cruel instrument of torture. And as that movie would come to a close and the camera pans to the bloody crosswhileviolins weep in the background, viewerswould think: “Don’t let the death of an innocent man like this ever happen again!”
But that isn’t what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record for us. They tell about the living God who loved the world so much that he enteredit on purpose as a man to take our place before his own judgment and go to hell’s outer darkness in our place. It was his finest hour, and it is our greatest blessing.
- In divine strength
Jesus is God, but in the days leading up tohis suffering and death his disciples would only see the horrible human side of Jesus’ mission. They’d run for their lives when he was arrested. One of the boldest disciples would even end up denyingthat he knew Jesus. They would hide in fear. Yet the memory of Jesus’ transfiguration would return. Wait a minute! Jesus is more than a man. He’s our God! That memory would be reinforced when he rose again from the dead and strengthen them to serve him with all their hearts for the rest of their lives.In fact, years later Peter would use it to strengthen his readerswhen he wrote in his second letter,“We were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16)
They would never forget what they saw, and they’d never forget what theyheard.The heavenly Father told them, “This is my Son, listen to him.” Yet as they were coming down from the mountain Jesus told them something that at first might have sounded strange to them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead”. Why would he do that? Because there was still much more for him to do before they could tell the worldthat he was the promised Messiah. He didn’t want anyone to miss the point and think he’d come to set up a glorious earthly kingdom. He’d come to use his glory to open heaven and to set up his throne in believing hearts. Only when his work was finished would it be clear that “Godwas in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting men’s sins against them.”(2 Co 5:20)
You and I also hear the Father tell us, ‘This is my Son, listen to Him”. God is telling us to make his Word the center of our lives, too, because it ishis own authorized accountabout Jesus’ life, suffering, death, and resurrection. Through his Word he has given us faith in Jesus and gives us the resolve to finish the race of our lives, too, on our way to heaven.
In three days we observe Ash Wednesday and begin another Lenten journey with our Savior. In our midweek Lenten services we listen to God’s Son so that our faith is refreshed and strengthened. We will whisper when we take our seats, “It is good, Lord, to be here.”There will be sad moments as we see our sins laid upon Jesus, but we will remember what we have seen today. We have seena man in human weakness shine with the strength ofAlmighty God, proof thathis suffering ended in total, eternal victory. It was his finest hour.
Before John died, the Holy Spirit had him write this promise for us: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”(1 John 3:2)That’s when we will also say, “It is good, Lord, to be here” forever.That, dear friends, will be our finest hour. Amen