Jesus, Among Others
Luke 9:28-36
I read a story recently about a terrible fire in a chemical plant. Several area fire departments responded to the blaze, and the whole community gathered at a distance to watch. The media was there in helicopters and satellite remote trucks. The president of the company was among the crowd, and he was frantic. He gathered together the chiefs of all the fire departments and explained to them that in the midst of the fire was a safe that contained all the company’s super-sensitive documents including the top-secret formulas for all their best-selling products. He pledged to give a $500,000 donation to the fire department that brought the blaze under control and saved all the super-sensitive documents in the safe.
The chiefs rallied their firemen and women, pulled out all the stops attempting to bring the blaze under control, but it wasn’t happening. The fire continued to rage. After quite some time the crowd heard another siren in the distance that kept growing louder. Before long this old beat up, dilapidated 1930’s style fire engine filled with a bunch of men in their 60’s and 70’s came roaring through the crowd, right past all the other fire departments. The truck didn’t even slow down as it burst through the front door of the plant and right into the middle of the blazing inferno. Everyone, firefighters, media members and the crowd just gasped thinking about what these guys did. However, before long the fire was under control and this group of aged firefighters stumbled out the front of the plant coughing. Everyone cheered their heroic effort. They saved the safe.
A few hours later in front of the gutted plant the president of the company handed the 82 year old chief a check for half a million dollars. In the press conference that followed, one reporter asked the chief what they planned to do with that incredible reward. He didn’t even hesitate. "These guys already told me they want to buy a new fire engine that has some brakes!"
There are two reasons to tell that story. First, it was funny. Second, there are usually two levels to every story. One level is the level of what—what are the facts of the story. This level tells us what happened. The second level is the why level—why did the event happen. To understand the story of the Transfiguration we have to get to the why level—why did the Transfiguration happen? The Transfiguration happened to reveal the unique nature of Jesus Christ. As we review the events of our Scripture today we can discover that Jesus was unique in his person, in his mission and in his message.
The historian Luke records for us that Jesus took Peter, James and John to the mountain to pray. The mountain carries great significance in the biblical tradition. At God’s command, Abraham took his son, Issac, up on Mount Horeb to offer him as a sacrifice. Moses encountered God on the mountain and answered the call to lead the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, and this very scene causes us to remember when Moses came back down Mount Sinai (the mountain of God) carrying the Ten Commandments, and in Exodus 34, we are told that Moses face “glowed because he had spoken to the Lord face to face” (Ex. 34:29). Moses brought a glimpse of God’s glory back down the mountain with him. And Elijah, too, remember, had his greatest victory in life on Mount Carmel as he called fire down from the sky and consumed the 600 priests of Baal. So it was to the mountain that Jesus took the disciples, and there on the mountain they experienced a glimpse of the glory of God.
The mountain and God’s glory have a history in the Hebrew tradition. This unique moment recalls the “shekinah” glory of God in the Old Testament—the glory of God’s presence. It was the glory of God’s presence on Mt. Sinai in the Old Testament days of Moses, that led the Hebrews in a cloud by day and fire by night. It was the glory of God’s presence that filled the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle during the nation of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, and that would also fill the Temple built by Solomon in their later history. This moment was a brief moment in time when three seemingly hapless disciples (they couldn’t even stay awake, for Pete’s sake) had the opportunity to glimpse the divine nature shining through Jesus Christ. They got to glimpse behind the veil of eternity and they literally saw the brilliance of God’s glory in human form. And they were amazed. So amazed, in fact, that Peter wants to build some shrines to all three men in the vision, but before Jesus can respond, the cloud of God’s presence overshadows the scene and speaks to reveal the unique person of Jesus—“This is my Son, my chosen One.”
The voice confirmed the message spoken at Jesus baptism at the beginning of his ministry. But here, the voice from the cloud adds “my chosen One” to pronouncement of his son. My chosen One is the Messiah whom the nation of Israel had long awaited. This pronouncement highlights the fact that Jesus is God’s chosen person to bring salvation to His people. He was God coming down to humanity in flesh. It was after this encounter on the mountain that the Apostle John would call Jesus “the Word become flesh” (John 1:1). And Peter, who was here on the mountain, would write “For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming again. We have seen his majestic splendor with our own eyes. And he received honor and glory from God the Father when God’s glorious, majestic voice called down from heaven, ‘This is my beloved Son,’…we ourselves heard the voice when we were there with him on the holy mountain” (2 Pet. 1:16-18). They testified to Jesus as Messiah.
And the person of Jesus Christ is still unique today. He is still the Messiah. He is still the One sent from God to save us from our sins. He is still God who loves us and calls us to himself. And he stands apart from every other religious leader ever in history. Even Moses and Elijah, whose presence in this scene could well represent the Law and the Prophets could not fully reveal the true nature of God. The Law, given through Moses, could only point people to God. And Elijah, and the other prophets, could only tell people what God’s great expectations were. But Jesus…well Jesus could show us God, could allow us to touch God, and to be touched by God. The Law and the Prophets were only partial revelations of God, but here on the mountain, God was revealing himself fully and finally through his Son, Jesus. Someone once said, “Jesus is God spelling himself out in language that man can understand.” Jesus was unique as no person had ever been or has been since.
Jesus was also unique in his mission. Of the Gospel writers who record the Transfiguration, only Luke tells us the course of the conversation that Jesus had with Moses and Elijah. Luke tells us “they were speaking of how he was about to fulfill God’s plan by dying in Jerusalem” (v. 31). The KJV says they were speaking of his “departure,” in the Greek the word is exodus, which is familiar to us from the Old Testament. The Exodus tells us the story of the Hebrew journey from slavery to the promised land of Canaan. So Jesus was on a journey—a journey to the cross. The cross was the place where God’s wrath and judgment were poured out upon Jesus to pay the penalty for the sins of humanity. That was his mission—through the cross to redeem sinful humanity to the God of creation. Jesus had only eight days earlier (if we follow Luke’s account) told his disciples that he would suffer and die.
Jesus’ mission is unlike any other mission or purpose of religion. Religion has been defined as man’s attempt to reach up to God. But Christianity is defined as God’s attempt to reach down to humanity. Christianity is not a religion. It is a person—the person Jesus Christ, and Jesus fulfilling his unique mission beckons us to the cross to find forgiveness and reconciliation. But Jesus journey did not end at the cross—for on the third day he arose, and gained the victory over death, hell and the grave, and he sits enthroned with the Father in heaven, and he will one day come again with the same glory that clothed him on the mountain that day. For his mission is unique, unlike any other in the history of time, and his “departure” was just another leg of the journey that we wait to be complete.
Then, there was the unique message on the mountain. The voice which said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One,” also said, “Listen to Him.” Here, God the Father marks out the responsibility of the disciples—“hear what Jesus has to say.”
This was a revolutionary message for these three disciples, and it would be a revolutionary message for the Gospel readers of Luke as well. Revolutionary in what sense? Put the words against the backdrop of the event. Who appears with Jesus? Moses and Elijah. The message was clear—“You’ve heard the Law, and you’ve heard the prophets, now listen to my Son.” As great as the Law and the Prophets were, they were now secondary to the fullest revelation of God in his Son, Jesus. That was revolutionary in 1st Century Judaism.
But what was the message Jesus spoke? Oh it had just been spoken a few days earlier. It was, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Jesus came to show the way to God was through self-denial and self-sacrifice. He came to show the way to God was the way of the cross. Jesus came to show that there is great redemption in suffering.
Self-sacrifice and self-denial are not the only things a disciple is to hear. We need always be reminded of “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” A disciple also needs to hear “come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest.” A disciple needs to hear “come you hungry and eat the bread of life.” A disciple needs to hear “come you thirsty and drink from the spring of living water.” A disciple needs to hear “come you sinner and find forgiveness.” These are the unique messages of Jesus Christ, and the unique responsibility of a disciple is to “listen to him.”
The irony of the Transfiguration is that as revolutionary as Jesus was in the first Century, he is just as revolutionary today. In an age of religious pluralism and multi-culturalism, to claim the unique nature of Jesus Christ as God’s chosen One is open one’s self up to charges of intolerance. We have done in our culture exactly what Peter attempted to do on the mountain that day. He wanted shrines built for Moses, Elijah and Jesus. He would put Jesus on the same level as Moses and Elijah. But the voice from heaven would have none of that.
We want to construct shrines to all the founders of the world’s religions, and place all the world’s religions on equal footing with each other. But Jesus does not ask for a shrine alongside the others. The transfiguration reminds us that Jesus transcends all cultures and is called to minister to all humanity as God’s chosen servant. Jesus is the multicultural icon for every generation, and his call is an equal opportunity call.
If the greatest need of humanity had been information, God would have sent us an educator; If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent a scientist; If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent an economist; If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent an entertainer; But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior. The world needs a Savior, not another just another religious example. The transfiguration is God’s declaration that just such a unique person exists—Jesus, who is the Christ, not Jesus, among others.
We know what happened at the Transfiguration, and, I pray now we will always know why it happened. Amen.
