The Transfiguration; Coming Boldly Before the Throne
Today is a very special day for football fans. Today is Super Bowl Sunday. The culmination of the season, where the two, arguably, best teams in the NFL face off to prove to the world that they are the best of the best. Today is also a very special day for those of you who don’t really like football, as today signifies the end of the season, it’s over now, at least until the fall. The Giants and the Patriots are the 2 teams playing today, and while they both are in this final game, their roads to get there have been very different. The Giants are somewhat surprising to most fans to be one of the final 2, while the Pats have gone undefeated all year long, no one has beaten them. The Giants have quite a mountain to overcome.
And speaking of mountains, this leads into today’s scripture reading, Matthew 17:1-8.
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “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.” He was still speaking when behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them saying, “Rise and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they say no one but Jesus only.
Aside from being Super Bowl Sunday, today is also known as Transfiguration Sunday in our liturgical Christian calendar, a day to remember this remarkable event, and look at how it impacts us and what effect is has on us today as Christians and followers of Jesus Christ. So what is it that we need to know about the Transfiguration to apply this to our daily walk?
1. This was an eyewitness account. The disciples had struggled with and not really understood some of Jesus’ teachings the week before, primarily the aspect of his upcoming death. In chapter 6 verse 22 Peter is the one who stood up and said, “Far be it from you Lord! This shall never happen to you!” This was a confusing and troubling lesson that Jesus was trying to teach his disciples, but they just were not getting it. So Jesus took them up to the top of Mt. Hermon, just Jesus, James, John, and Peter. And there, His divine nature was revealed to them. These 3 disciples could not really be effective ministers after the resurrection until they truly knew that Jesus has ALL the power and ALL the authority. It is from this encounter that they were able to later say:
“And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and WE HAVE SEEN his glory” –John 1:14
“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but WE WERE EYEWITNESSES of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” WE OURSELVES HEARD this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain” –2 Peter 1:16-18
Having an eyewitness is very important. We talk much about Faith in our Christian culture, and the Bible gives us the definition of this in Hebrews 11:1, that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”, but the Bible also gives us the historical eye-witness account of what really happened by the men and women who were there. Now, sometimes an eyewitness does not help us too much, as any parent of more than 1 child can attest to. When you are sitting on your couch and hear a loud crash coming from the kitchen, then the pitter patter, well, not really pitter patter at that moment, more like the blazing thundering of your 2 children’s footsteps running to you, with the child in front yelling, “Mom, I saw him do it!” and the child behind, in tears, saying, “I didn’t do anything!” That is where the wisdom of being a parent comes in to decipher what really happened, and the eyewitness may not help much.
Cowboy story of an eyewitness:
There was a cowboy riding his horse in the prairie when he came upon another cowboy lying spread eagle face down with one ear on a railroad track. The cowboy on the horse said what any cowboy would say, “What are doing?” The cowboy on the track murmured, “One wagon….two horses….two men…….one with a shotgun……one woman wearing a blue bonnet”. The cowboy on the horse was amazed, “You mean you can tell all that by just listening to the railroad tracks?”
“No”, the other answered, “they just ran over me.”
Sometimes having an eyewitness account helps a lot.
The first point here is that we have disciples of Jesus, telling us, “Yes, this happened to me, I was there, I saw it, I heard it”. They are our eyewitnesses, and through our faith we believe.
The end of verse 5 gives us words from God regarding Jesus, “Listen to him”. The Greek word used here for to listen means more than to just hear, it means to understand and live accordingly. There is a call to a higher ideal of knowledge and understanding that is acted out in the way that we live. Are we listening to him today? Are we hearing what He is telling us? Has Jesus changed your life? If so then you have been changed from the inside out. Just as the light was radiating from within Jesus, so a light radiates from within us as children of Christ, it is just up to us how we show this light to others. And how we show this light leads us into the 2nd point of how we can apply the transfiguration in our daily lives today, and that is:
2. By getting off the Mountain
The Bible mentions 11 different mountains by name, and on each mountain something amazing happened. On Mt. Hermon was the transfiguration we are talking about today, Moses met with God more than once on Mt. Sinai, Abraham’s faith was tested to the extreme on a mountain in Moriah when he was told to sacrifice his son, Isaac. It seems that on the mountaintops it is clearer to hear God’s words for us and to be closer to him. We all have these same mountains in our lives today, not that we are out climbing mountains, though some more adventurous than I do, but the more figurative mountains. My marriage, birth of my children, my salvation, answering a call into ministry, those are all mountaintops in my life. Those are all experiences that I would have loved to dwell in and bask in and soak up for as long as possible. This is what Peter wanted also. Verse 4 Peter is ready to pitch some tents, make a monument, and probably send John down the mountain to catch dinner while having James build a fire. Why? Because he realized that he was in the presence of something very special, and he wanted that to last.
But Jesus knew that it could not last, it should not last, there was something that needed to happen after this great event on the mountaintop, and there is something that needs to happen in our lives after our great mountaintop experiences. W….Wait a minute. I should prepare everyone a little, I am getting ready to say a word that may cause some people to be uncomfortable, and I know it has me sometimes, but try to bear with me. The word is, are you ready? “Witness”. Yes, to witness and tell others what Jesus has done in our life, ever opportunity we get.
“But you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” –Acts 1:8
We can’t be effective witnesses while we are still on the mountain. We have to come down off our mountain, and often times, head down even lower into the valley, to share our testimony.
You may have the occasion to share Jesus with the CEO of a large company, get picked up in a Hummer, wearing your 3 piece Armani suit and Rolex, and spend the evening witnessing over caviar and sirloin steaks, and that would be wonderful. But are we as eager to witness to our friend diagnosed with cancer today, to the wife of an abusive husband, to the husband of an unfaithful wife, to the pregnant high school junior cheerleader, to the single mom with AIDS?
The Bible uses mountaintop experiences to bring us to God’s glory and presence, but also uses the valleys to bring this testimony to those who need to hear it. I used to be that person that would say, but I just don’t know what to say to them, I don’t think I could say anything to help them; I don’t know what to do in that situation. In truth, I just felt uncomfortable. I wonder how uncomfortable it was to have spikes driven through your hands and feet and hung on a cross? If Jesus loved me enough to do that, I love him enough to step a little outside what is comfortable for me and tell others how much he loves me, and how much he loves them
“Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself” – I John 5:10
What we need to say to others to witness is within us already. We just need to come down off our mountain.
The 3rd and final aspect of how the transfiguration is relevant to us today is found in verse 7.
“Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear’”.
3. Jesus is approachable.
Even after such a remarkable transfiguration and discourse with Moses and Elijah, Jesus was still approachable to his disciples, and he is just as approachable today, through prayer.
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need”- Hebrews 4:16
Despite our humanness, despite our sins, despite our sickness, despite our frailty, we can still take our needs to him with confidence because he is approachable. And through this approaching he will offer mercy, grace, and help in our time of need. Do you need something from Jesus today? Do you need to be closer to him today? The throne is always open. The alter is always open. Jesus is not out chasing us to come to him, he is waiting for us to come to him.
“Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” –James 4:8
We could all stand to draw a little nearer today. On this special day, Transfiguration Sunday, we are reminded of the eye witness accounts of this remarkable event, we are called to witness and share our testimony by getting off our mountains, and we called to remember that Jesus is always here, always approachable, just waiting for us. And because of our own transfiguration and the “uncomfortable” pain of the cross, we can always come boldly to the throne of God.
Let us pray.
