The Transfiguration
Today we begin our journey to the cross, to that one Event that divided history in half, to the one Event that tore the veil between God and humanity.
This one Event is specifically why you are here today and why, if you have faith today in Jesus Christ, your life is completely different than if would have been otherwise. The cross is why we have triumphant hope.
It is what has brought us together as a community. It is why we can be born-again, why we have a living relationship with the living God.
And this year we wanted to mark the journey to the cross by looking at the events that led up to Good Friday, the day Jesus died for our sins.
So we’re calling the Sundays leading up to Easter Sunday: “Journeying with Jesus”, and, in good Church at the Mission form, we’re going to look at the events leading to the cross out-of-sequence.
In a few weeks our youth will be leading the entire worship service on the theme of Jesus’ 40-days in the desert. That is where Jesus is tempted by Satan to abandon His calling, to abandon His journey to the cross for the purpose of self-interest. Please pray for the youth as they prepare the worship and the message for that day, on March 14th.
Today we’re going to look at the second step in Jesus’ journey to the cross, and that is the Transfiguration.
We need to place the Transfiguration in its proper context. Let’s zoom through the gospel of Matthew: By around chapter 16, a number of critical things have happened.
Jesus has given his revolutionary, radical manifesto for Kingdom living that we know as the Beatitudes; He has taught us the principals of the Kingdom in Matthew chapters 5-7. He has healed a leper, healed a gentile Centurion’s servant.
He has cast demons out of people. He’s taught his disciples extensively about how they were to conduct their lives and ministries after He was no longer with them. Jesus has challenged the Pharisee’s and other religious leaders rather gently at first about what it really means to serve God. He’s taught parable after parable of the Kingdom.
He has endured the murder of his cousin John the Baptist at the hand of Herod. He’s fed 5000 + and then 4000+ with a few loaves and fishes.
He has ramped up his conversations with the religious leaders because, as He said, they had been breaking God’s commands for the sake of their traditions. He begins to call the Pharisees hypocrites and blind guides whose worship of God was in vain, their teachings nothing but human rules.
He has specifically warned His disciples about the teachings of the Pharisees, pretty much completely discrediting them as leaders leading people astray.
Numerous miracles have been performed by Jesus. People in general have developed a huge interest in Jesus as a result of all these things we’ve touched on. And Jesus knows this. He knows.
And so he asks His disciples: “Who do people say I am?” The disciples have had their ear to the ground so they know the buzz about Jesus: “"Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
Then Jesus asks Peter in chapter 16: “Who do you say I am?” Peter has his own insights that he’s gotten not from the crowds, not from popular understandings, but from his own experience of Jesus and from what God has revealed to him.
“"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."”, says Peter. Peter gets Jesus. Peter GETS Jesus. But in the next breath, after Jesus has predicted His own murder, Peter, in deep sorrow for what Jesus has said, Peter is rebuked by Jesus for being human-focused rather than focusing on God’s purposes.
Finally, right before our passage today, Jesus has just said: v24-25”"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it”.
So now Jesus is with His disciples on the way to Jerusalem, on the way to the cross. Clearly, there’s confusion about who He is. He has spoken so radically and with such authority and with all kinds of miracles accompanying His teaching.
It’s KIND OF obvious that Jesus is pretty special. When you include things Jesus says both in Matthew and in the other gospel accounts, He has made strong claims to be God. He has made it clear that He and the Father are one. He has proven His divinity by His miracles.
There shouldn’t be much confusion, especially for the disciples, as to Who Jesus is, but there is. A lot of confusion. And even for the three among the disciples who are closest to Jesus, for Peter and for James and for John, they’re a little befuddled. Who wouldn’t be?
“You mean we’ve been eating with and walking with and examining the life of….God?” Perhaps it was just all too big for their brains to comprehend.
Anyhow, Jesus now takes the three I’ve mentioned, Peter and the brothers James and John, “and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter 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." 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.
7 But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."
So what’s happening here, really. Simply put, Jesus’ appearance transformed in front of disciples. Their big questions about who Jesus is are given one colossal, entirely unexpected answer.
Each of us has wondered "Who is Jesus?" Does He have a place in my life? That's the 1st question we often ask when we're new to spiritual things: “Can I fit Jesus into my life? Can He be a part of me?”
If we keep on with Jesus, if we walk in the faith we have and practice being a Christian for long enough, we should get around to a better question: “How can I better be a part of His life? How can I be a part of His life? How can I be of use to His Kingdom?
What role is there for me to play that let's me be me, but a 'me' that's empowered by the Spirit of God to live for purpose...for His purpose?
Anyway, the disciples’ big question is addressed right at this moment in Matthew's account. What is that question? It’s “Who is Jesus? Why does He matter? Is He a good man who teaches a good philosophy?
Is He a guy with courage to face big-time leaders and call them out? Is He maybe that deliverer that God promised ages ago who will squish the enemies of the people of God like a bug? Who is this guy and why am I following Him?”
You know that's likely the bigger question on the minds of these disciples, each of whom who had given up everything in order to follow this peculiar rabbi.
So there they are, after walking up a huge mountain. Tuckered out. Thirsty. Wondering, "Yeah...so?" Nice view, I guess? And then without warning, without any kind of heads-up, Jesus changes, tranforms in front of their eyes. His face one second is like yours and mine, racially more likely to be Arabic or Black than Caucasian.
Next second it is as bright as the sun, blinding in radiance, throwing light everywhere, exposing every shadow, every dark place, every hidden thing is naked in His light.
And then, because that wasn’t quite strange enough, His clothes become as white as the light that shone from His face. His disciples are gasping: "Wow" "What in the..." "No way!"
They're in shock. Never witnessed ANYTHING like this. This is 2000 years before CGI, before special effects were even dreamed of. There's no denying, no justifying, no rationalizing this transfiguration away. Put yourself in the shoes of these guys. They are...dumbfounded.
The light, maybe it starts to go on in their minds. This is more than a carpenter, more than a rabbi. More than a great teacher. More than someone who's upsetting the religious status quo.
More than a little dangerous, this, our rabbi we had breakfast with this morning and who now stands before us in radiant majesty, in divine glory.
HE'S more than all this...but wait! Who IS that now, standing talking to Jesus? Is that Moses? The law-giver? The one who brought God's law to the people of God? The revered one of our people to whom God appeared in a bush of flaming fire? Is Jesus there standing and talking like...an equal?...to Moses?!? We listen…to Moses. People listen to Moses!
And who's that other guy? No! No way! Elijah, the prophet of God…the prophet who…demonstrated God's power, vanquishing the false gods with rain of fire?
The guy who was so holy He never died but God took him up to heaven in a chariot of fire? Man what an impressive duo. People have listened to both of them for ever. Alright! And HE'S there, with Moses...talking to Jesus? No way! What can this mean?
And Peter. Petulant, passionate person that he was. He figures... "Wow...look at the guys Jesus hangs with. I gotta DO something!" So he says to Jesus: "Lord...Jesus. This is great! So great!...I know. It's so good to be here! I'll make a tabernacle, a temple, a shelter for each of you! One for you, and then one for Moses and one for Elija..."
And Peter is interupted by...yet more light. A brilliant, bright cloud envelopes Jesus and the the others. And then a voice rises from the cloud: "This is my beloved Son, whom I love. With Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him".
And the three...Peter,James and John, fall on their faces, terrified.
I can imagine their conversation there on the ground. Trying to process this while it's still happening. "Wait. Moses is here. The law-giver whose face shone coming down from the mountain with the tablets. I'm suppose to listen to...He's huge in our world, they would have thought. We should listen to hi..."
"And Elijah. Who could be more worth giving an ear to than this guy. He's the prophet's prophet. The fire, the power of God unleashed by his prayers, the chariot."
"Yeah, but...the voice from the cloud said...Jesus...It...He called Jesus His Son".
And while they're there with their faces to the ground, shaking at what was happening in front of them. Have you ever been in a situation that was just too big for your brain to figure out and you’re desperately trying to process what’s just gone on?...Jesus comes to them. Like he did before when the disciples were in the boat and the sea raged around them, like he said to the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years…Jesus comes to them and touches them on the shoulder.
The spectacle has passed. It's just the 3 of them and Jesus now. The law-giver and the prophet aren't there any more. But Jesus remains. And He touches them. And He speaks to them, it would seem very gently. They don't know yet that the fireworks have ended.
"Get up," He said. "Don't be afraid". And they look and see...no one but Jesus. None but Jesus. (Song: None but Jesus).
And they go down the mountain. Jesus tells them to tell no one what had happened until He has been raised from the dead.
They have shared an amazing experience. Before they went up the mountain to their mountaintop experience, one of these three men knew that Jesus was the Messiah-knew it by faith, knew it by His experience of Jesus in real time, and knew it by revelation.
Two others had an idea. John, known as the disciple who Jesus loved, probably had the best window in.
But now, now they all knew: Jesus was God's Son. Should’ve rung a bell perhaps because God had said the exact same thing at Jesus’ baptism. Moses was the one through whom God gave the Law. Elijah was the one prophet of all time.
But now that God had come in the flesh in Jesus Christ, they knew that everything and everyone else paled in comparison. They knew their future was wrapped up in listening to Jesus, serving Jesus, loving Him and doing what He said to do...love others.
So...the question for all time. The most important philosophical question anyone has ever or will ever be asked. The most practical question...practical simply because it is the most positively life-altering question anyone can answer.
What's the question? It's Jesus' simple question to His disciples. "Who...do...you...say...I...Am?
Now some might say that those who saw...of course they believed! They were blessed to be eyewitnesses of these monumentous events. They didn't even really have a choice, did they?
Except, of course, that Jesus had already done all kinds of things that were 'proof' of His divinity.
He performed this miracle and then later that day that miracle...and some believed. Others walked away...indifferent. Mildly amused. No room in their hearts clearly for the son of God. Better things they had to do, apparently.
And then others who were direct witnesses to Jesus' irrefutable miracles chose to respond by determining, by plotting, to murder Him, to remove the problem of Jesus. To blot Him out of their lives so they could just get on with their lives as usual.
Sucks, eh? The choices we face. But for the disciples who witnessed the transfiguration, how could they refuse Him now? And for the other followers of Jesus who also saw, or who heard the spoken testimony or eventually who read the written testimonies of the disciples – what we know as the gospels - how could they refuse Him now?
For me, I was an atheist who believed in nothing. Until one day I met some folks who lived differently and loved me differently than I'd ever been loved. And they passed on to me the testimony of the disciples, the first-hand witnesses of Jesus life.
They pointed me to the Bible where I learned of Jesus' amazing grace and passionate love for me expressed in His willing journey to earth from heaven and then his willing but brutal journey to the cross.
And I was faced with the question, after hearing the gospel for the first time: “Can you refuse Him now?” I had to face the testimony that this mighty God came to earth, leaving behind His glory and awesome power, and came here to die for me! He loved me enough to do that. I’ll gladly spend my life trying to understand the love wrapped up in this gift to me and to you.
And I dared to trust, I dared to believe and to place my life in the hands of Jesus, to link my future to Jesus my King and to the people of God...His body here on planet earth.
And honestly, because the Spirit of God was at work in my life, because of His grace, because I recognized both my need and Jesus' ability to fill that need, I couldn't refuse. I couldn't refuse Him. I couldn't turn my back on His love.
And only weeks into my walk as a follower of Jesus, I had learned that Jesus would never give up on me, either. I was safe. I was home. At last. At last.
And now, what about you? Jesus is here, actually, by His Spirit today. And He’s asking: “Who do you say I am?” There is no more important question you will ever consider.
No greater opportunity for a new life awaits you than in your answer, your answer that, like Peter’s affirms that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
For me and for others of you who have followed Jesus for some time now, if we’ve become a little off balance, if we’ve let our hearts and minds and spirits drift from that place of knowing and walking hand in hand with Jesus, we can come to Him now and say to our precious, peerless Jesus: “You are my King.
“I renounce all other claims upon my spirit. I reaffirm my allegiance to You, O God. I confess with my lips: “Jesus Christ is my Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.
And what about you, if you are one here today who has never said “Yes!” to Jesus. Today is perhaps your day. The Scriptures don’t encourage us to put off to tomorrow what we have opportunity to do today. In fact they say: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Cor 6:2
If you are ready by chance, even right now, why don’t you pray a simple prayer of beginnings in your walk of faith with me right now?
It goes like this, and you can repeat after me if you mean it: “Lord Jesus. I have heard that you came to planet earth to die for me because you love me. This is something I believe. I believe that You died for my sins. I now turn away from my sinful ways and I turn to You.
“I receive you this day, Lord Jesus, as my Lord and Saviour. Thank you for laying down your life for me. Help me to walk in Your way, help me to follow you all my days. In Your holy name I pray”.
If you prayed that prayer, or if you’ve ever prayed that prayer and meant it, that means that you…are…a Christ-follower. I hope you will come in a few moments to receive the bread and wine, emblems of His grace, reminders of His great sacrifice for you.
And may we each take a moment now, as we pause to reflect, to consider how great a love with which we have been loved by Jesus. May we each take Jesus’ sacrifice VERY personally. And may we live as committed doers of the Word of God.
The earliest Christians did not call themselves Christians, though that word appears in the Bible. Their question to identify another believer was: “Are you Christ-like?” May we live Christ-like lives, ever faithful in our conduct and in our testimony, to direct all who seek and all who enquire to the Lover of our Souls, the Almighty Majesty on High, our matchless King Jesus. Amen.
