Dearly
loved by God in Christ Jesus,
Just days before his Transfiguration, Jesus had
told his disciples for the first time that soon he was going to Jerusalem to
die. We plan to watch Jesus’ suffering and death over the 40 days of the Lenten
Season, which begin Wednesday, God willing.
It is important to know that one who says he is offering up his holy
life in an innocent death as our Substitute is qualified. He must have the
authority to do that.
This is what the Transfiguration of our Lord means.
Jesus reveals himself in his glory as God, and the heavenly Father once more
identifies his eternal Son. Peter, James, and John and we through their
eyewitness accounts see and hear that Jesus is eminently qualified and has full
authority to redeem us.
Behold, The
View and Voice of Our Redemption. They reveal our Redeemer; they reveal our
victory.
Jesus’ transfiguration, his glory shining out
from his human body as bright and blinding as lightening, is no less a miracle
than those we heard about during Epiphany. True, this time no blind man
received his sight; no crippled man regained the use of his legs; no leper saw
that suddenly his skin was clean.
There was no social benefit from the
Transfiguration. Jesus did not here feed thousands of hungry people. He did not
provide wine for a wedding. He did not save some fishermen from drowning.
Modern deniers of Jesus’ miracles turn those miracles into mere parables to
teach us to care for the sick and to exercise a social conscience.
You cannot do that with the Transfiguration. The
view and voice of our redemption on the mountain does nothing but reveal our
Redeemer. The three disciples got a glimpse of Jesus’ glory as the eternal,
holy Son of God. Jesus is qualified and has authority to suffer and die on
Calvary’s cross under our punishment for sin.
Literally, a metamorphosis took place. Jesus’
divine nature shined out. “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes
became as white as the light. “ John would write later in Revelation about
seeing that glory again in the face of the risen and ascended Christ, “His
face was like the sun shining in all its radiance.” Peter later wrote in
the words of our second lesson, “We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he
received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came from the
majestic glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well
pleased. We ourselves heard this voice when we were with him on the sacred
mountain.”
There on the mountain was not only the view
of Jesus’ glory as our Redeemer. There also was the voice of God his Father
speaking. The same voice spoke from heaven we heard at the start of Epiphany at
the Baptism of our Lord. Only the holy God has the authority and the power to
redeem the world from sin, guilt and death.
Since we once again see our Savior with his
face shining the sun, and his garments as white as the light, we return to take
up our daily callings with the conviction that Jesus is my Lord and my Savior.
Then our hearts are prepared to understand the message of Lent, which shows
Jesus in the deepest depths of his humiliation in his suffering and death.
The view and voice of our redemption meant to
strengthen those disciples and us for the heartache of repentance as we watch Jesus’
humiliation. They strengthen us because we see how it all turns out, why Jesus
did it. The view and voice of our redemption also reveal our victory.
Moses and Elijah appeared along with Jesus
that day. What we have here is the living Word of God along with his chosen
instruments for the written Word of God. Moses and Elijah represent all the
writers of the Old Testament that pointed ahead to what was about to take
place. Peter, James and John represented all the evangelists and apostles who
would write the New Testament eyewitness record of Jesus’ death on the cross,
and his empty tomb, and appearance to them until he ascended back to heaven.
This is what Moses and Elijah were discussing
with Jesus. St. Luke adds in his record of the Transfiguration, “They spoke
about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment in Jerusalem.”
The very presence of these living saints in the bodies God already had taken
into heaven is testimony to the triumph all believers receive in our redemption
by Christ Jesus.
The disciples did not understand any of this
at the time. Peter even turned into a Millennialist
who wanted to build heaven on earth. He wanted to do it without Jesus having to
go through his Passion. The overriding emotion that day was fear in the
presence of the cloud. This cloud may well have been the cloud of the glory of
the Lord that had led the children of Israel in the desert by day. Jesus told them “Get up, don’t be afraid.”
It was in the context of Jesus’ triumph that it would make sense. “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen,
until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
There it is. The view and voice of our
redemption. Jesus told the disciples not only that he would die but also that
he would rise again. Jesus trusted the Father would not leave his body to decay
in the grace. Jesus would receive the wages of sin and then the Father would
exalt him with the gift of eternal life for him and all sinners.
In the movie Apocalypse Now, Lt. Colonel Bill
Kilgore, is famous for saying, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
Smelled like victory.” Peter said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.”
We echo the Rock’s words. We love Transfiguration. It is the sight and sound of
our Redemption; our victory in Christ. Amen. <SDG>