This is a merry-go-round. It used to be in Leonard Park, in Joplin, MO, between 4th and 7th streets. It was just an ordinary merry-go-round, in an ordinary park. When you look at it, it looks very ordinary, doesn’t it? But, on one very ordinary evening, as a certain young man sat on this merry-go-round talking with a girl he found very interesting, he leaned over and gave her a kiss, and that merry-go-round suddenly had a much deeper significance. I didn’t realize, at that moment, just how important that merry-go-round would become to me. Let me say: very. I didn’t know that 14 years later I’d be able to look out my office window and see that merry-go-round. Didn’t realize it at the time, but that merry-go-round was pretty significant to me.
World history is full of key events that seemed insignificant at the time they happened. When we look back on them, we realize just how important they were. Looking back at D-Day we see what a decisive plan the invasion of Normandy was. It was a massive undertaking to stop the 3rd Reich. But at the time, the success we look back on now was uncertain. The weather could have hampered the landing craft. The Germans could have failed to be tricked into thinking that the main assault was at Calais; the commanding German officer of the defense forces might not have taken the weekend off and gone back to Germany to visit his wife. To the average GI the first days and weeks of the invasion were not only confusing, but no one was certain of the outcome. They lived through a decisive turning point in history - they made history - but couldn’t fully appreciate what was going on.
This story in Mk 9 (and Mt 17 and Lk 9) that we call the Transfiguration is one event I think we probably don’t understand even looking back on it. How many of us have ever really taken the time to appreciate the significance of this moment in the life of Jesus?
What does it show? Why does God reveal His Son to these men? Why do Matthew, Mark, and Luke record it as a part of the gospel? Why am I up here today trying to preach about it?
I want for all of us today to leave here with a renewed appreciation for this event -- not just so we can understand some event, but so that we can allow it to have some impact on our lives the way it’s supposed to.
Ill - When Steve Jobs used to get up to unveil the latest Apple technology, it was always a big deal. Sure enough, much of that technology really is affecting the way we live. What could be bigger than a new IPhone, or an update of the IPad?
Let me suggest that’s a way to begin to understand this event we call Jesus’ transfiguration. This is like an unveiling of something that’s just arriving. It’s something big! It’s done in a way that says, "What’s happening in human history right now is significant. This is going to shape the future of all creation."
God has revealed His big plan to you and you have an active part of it! If we can sort through it, especially now on this side of the cross, I see the Transfiguration giving us 3 important lessons.
I. Jesus is Greater!
I occasionally look in the mirror, and I notice I don’t look the same. I run across an old picture of me, and I especially notice I don’t look the same. Maybe what’s on our side is that as we get older and start to look different is that our eyesight gets worse too! Sure, our appearance changes.
But, as far as we know, no other person has ever experienced the change that suddenly happened to Jesus, described here by Mark. This was a significant revelation of Jesus, not just to these bewildered disciples, but for us too. For one thing, it puts Jesus next to 2 extremely significant OT characters and reminds us that Jesus is greater.
They’re up on the mountain. Jesus’ face literally “lamps” – like the sun. His clothing becomes “white as light” – that’s Matthew’s description; Luke says “bright as a flash of lightening,” Mark says “whiter than anyone could bleach them” – maybe Mark’s mom used to do laundry on the side! Once again, it’s helpful to see a scene from 3 different perspectives, all describing the same thing. All 3 make it clear that Jesus is…
A. Greater than Moses or Elijah
Somewhere, right around the time that Jesus’ appearance is changed, there are 2 men who appear next to him: Moses and Elijah. They’re talking with Him. Think about this: they had both been gone for over 1,000 years. Won’t it be great one day to talk to Moses and Elijah?
These were great men:
1. Moses had led God's people out of Egypt. It was Moses who received the Law. Of all the heroes of the OT, there’s very little negative said about him. In fact, in many ways, he foreshadows Jesus Himself. And when he died, apparently God personally buried his body at a secret location in Moab. This is a significant man. Clear on into the 1st century, the Jews would cling to their claim on Moses, the great man who received God’s Law and led Israel out of captivity. Then there was…
2. Elijah. He had been a faithful prophet for God. He faced incredible odds at a time in Israel’s history when it wasn’t very popular to oppose the wicked king. It was Elijah who stood alone on Mt. Carmel as a champion for God. It was Elijah’s prayers that God used to start and end a 3½ year long drought in Israel. And when Elijah died…well, he never died. God gave him an incredible exit, escorted by a fiery chariot and a whirlwind into Heaven.
I say it again, won’t it be great to talk to these 2 man in Heaven? Well, in Mark 9, they’re talking with Jesus on top of this mountain.
What did they talk about? Lk says (9:31) they talked to Jesus about His “exodus” that He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
We talk about a lot of things, don’t we? We have babies, and we tend to sit around and talk about baby stuff with other people who have babies. Our babies get older, and we end up talking about school, and sports, and our pets, and we wonder what we used to talk about before those things. Then, the kids grow up, and we talk about grandkids, and doctor visits, and weather, and a whole lot of memories…if we can still remember them.
Let’s learn from Moses and Elijah a good subject for our conversations. You want to know what to talk about with someone? They were talking to Jesus about the most important news of the day– the moment when Jesus would fulfill His purpose for coming to earth.
You see, Moses and Elijah were very interested in Jesus’ work! Their opportunity to enter Heaven was depending on Jesus too! They would be forgiven on the same basis as anyone else. So, they spoke to Jesus about His mission on earth.
As interesting and significant as Moses and Elijah would have been, notice this: Jesus is the center. No man, no preacher, no saint, no friend, not you, not me, not anything else should be the focus of our worship. And if any person or any group of people points us in any direction other than toward Jesus, they’ve gotten off track!
Peter, James, and John had admired these 2 men all their lives. Moses personified the whole OT Law! Elijah personified all the OT prophets! And here they were, way past 1,000 years after they’ve left! Peter was overcome! So, as they began to leave, the disciples would like them to stay. God's voice boomed from Heaven – “This is My Son Whom I love, listen to Him!”
There’s the sound of a rebuke when Peter makes his suggestion. He’s overcome by the whole thing. He’s just woken up. “Lord, this is great, let’s build 3 shelters here - one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!” It’s right then that God’s voice thunders from Heaven.
- Jesus is the Beloved Son, Listen to Him!
Ill – We’re not exactly sure - the mountain where Jesus was transfigured may have been Mt. Tabor, but no one is certain. Even though Peter’s idea for building shelters there for Jesus and Moses and Elijah was shot down by God, guess where 3 churches had been built by the 8th century to commemorate the event!
Jesus isn’t just greater than Moses and Elijah, He’s also...
B. The center of God's plan
This whole scene shows a stunning picture of God's plan. It would make a great mural.
Remember, Jesus has just begun teaching His disciples plainly that He’ll be tortured and put to death and resurrected in Jerusalem. Here, on one side, is Moses, Mr. OT Law. Here, on the other side, is Elijah, Mr. OT prophets. Jesus’s appearance has changed - more like the kind of glory He had at the beginning of creation, and the kind of glory He’ll have after His resurrection. It’s like a graphic timeline of all of earth’s history, all at once. That’s the picture we’re looking at here.
Ill - If a person saw only one part of a blueprint, he wouldn't understand the whole building. That’s where the disciples have lived up to this point. They don't understand God's plan for all of history. But here they see right before their frightened eyes God's cosmic blueprint for the whole universe; all of time/space history, all in one view. And in the center of it all - Jesus.
V8. It’s no mistake that when it was all over the disciples look up and “they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.”
Sometimes we forget this. We forget that the whole of Scripture is centered around Jesus. We forget that the entire OT is there for the purpose of leading us to Jesus.
We need to remember that no matter where we turn in the Bible, Jesus is there.
-In Gen 1, when God says, “Let us make man in our image...” Jesus is there.
-In Eden, when God tells what will happen to the serpent, Jesus, the woman’s seed, is mentioned as the one who will crush His head.
-When God calls Abraham to set him apart, He promises that through Abe’s offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed, and that’s because Jesus would come through Abe
-As Jacob blesses his 12 sons, he predicts things for Judah that will be fulfilled only by the Messiah - by the coming Savior Jesus.
-David ascends the throne as king of Israel, and the Lord promises that throne will always exist - only the King He’s speaking of is the Eternal King of kings.
-The OT prophets have a lot to tell Judah and Israel, but all throughout their messages there are glimpses of the One Who would come and set God’s people truly free.
This event tells us a lot about God’s plans for human history -- but the most significant thing it tells us is that Jesus is in the very middle of those plans.
If we could make a mural of each of our lives this morning, I wonder, would they reflect that same centrality of Jesus? Would Jesus be the center of your life history? What would that mural look like. The fact is, each of us is painting that mural, daily – our thoughts, our plans, our joys, our passions, our words, our decisions, are painting a graphic of what we’re all about. What does yours look like? Who’s in the middle of it? When God makes His picture, He makes it clear: Jesus is the center.
This event in the life of Jesus also teaches us...
II. The Gospel is Real!
Communication is often the difference between life and death. During a war, if you can cut off an enemy’s communication, you stop him cold. Keep important messages from getting through, and everything is lost. Paul said that communication, that the Gospel message, is the power of God for salvation for those who believe. Getting the message is the difference between eternal life and eternal hell.
So, listen to Peter tell what he learned about the Gospel on the mountain that day:
2 Peter 1:16-21
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
The testimony that Jesus is glorified and powerful isn’t something that Peter, James, and John made up! God let them be eyewitnesses of His power and glory. Just like the words of the OT prophets weren’t something they made up on their own.
The idea that Jesus could heal, raise the dead, cast out demons, be resur¬rected and glorified wasn’t an invention or a mistake. They had it shown and hammered home to them on the mountain that day.
-Ill - We have a greater appreciation for things when we understand the sacrifice that’s behind them: I have a much deeper appreciation for the US flag every time I see it folded and presented to the widow of a man who faithfully served his country in the military so that I could be free.
I hope that we can develop a deeper appreciation for the Gospel when we read about this event. I hope, like these 3 disciples, we can look back at this glorified Jesus, this Jesus Who shines so brightly you can’t look at Him, this Jesus announced by the voice of God - and that we can remember this is the same Jesus Who had us on His mind as He allowed Himself to be tortured to death. Remember this event! The Gospel message means more when we remember that this was God, placed inside a human body, and still the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, the image of the invisible God – this was God in flesh Who would lay Himself on the line for us.
The message we’ve been given to share is big news! Real, Good news! And we ought to be excited about sharing it instead of shrinking from it! That takes us to our final point:
III. Mankind is on the Agenda
Only these 3 men (really 5 men) saw Jesus glorified. Peter, James, and John are told not to tell anyone, right? V9.
We like those commands from Jesus for some reason, don’t we? “See to it that you tell no one!”
But look again: They’re told not to tell anyone until the Son of Man arose. They’re actually commanded to tell!
Ill - Let’s think of this as a blueprint again. When a crew builds a building, there are usually several people who study the blueprints. That helps the job to go much better; when the workers know what’s going on. Suppose a man tried to build a building and he only allowed himself and 3 other men to look at the blueprints, and then told a crew of 3,000 to go to work, and then a few days later, added another 2,000. Chaos!
These 3 had seen the blueprint for the universe!; they had seen an overview of the whole plan of God for every creature for all eternity, and after Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God, it was their job to roll that blueprint out for everyone to see, just like they’d seen it.
At the time, they didn't understand completely what they’d seen. Later they did, and now we have the whole revelation of Jesus given to us today. In fact, it was Peter who wrote,
2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Sometimes we wait too! But Jesus didn't tell us to wait! We’re now supposed to be busy rolling out God’s plans for people to see them!
-That means in our homes we ought to have the blueprints rolled out.
-That means where ever you go during the day, you ought to be doing the same.
-That means we ought to be involved in the rest of the world getting God’s word in a language they can understand.
-That means we ought to have God’s plan for this church family constantly rolled out in front of us and everyone else.
The Disciples didn't realize at that time what a big part of that total plan they were to be, but they were, and they took it up, and the work of just a very few men filled with God’s Spirit picked up the plan and got it rolling.
We have the whole thing laid out in front of us, and our part in this is even more clear: if the world’s ever going to know God's plan, we're going to have to tell them!
We’re a significant part of that plan! Mankind is on the agenda, and that includes you and me, and every person whose life we’ll impact as a result of our time in this life.
Conclusion:
This is a pretty strange story, isn’t it? This was a pretty strange event, wasn’t it?
Sometimes a work of art is complex and needs some explanation. Sometimes it requires us looking at it, studying it, and understanding what it’s about.
Let’s not get lost in this story. That mountain in this story is there for us today to tell us about Jesus the Great Center of God's plan for all of time/space history. It’s there to help us to trust in the Scriptures that reveal the whole plan to us, and the power of the Gospel message that God has entrusted to us. And it’s there to help us face the important fact that we’re part of that plan.
We're not like a soldier who doesn't understand his impact on history or why he must fight. We're not like a crew of workers who’ve never seen the plans. God has granted to you the privilege to know some of the impact that you’re making in history today. God has granted to you to know the plan in which you’re a worker, and not only the plan, but also the way it will look when it’s done.
Listen to God. "This is My Son Whom I love. Listen to Him."
