MASTER, IT IS GOOD TO BE HERE
Luke 9:28-36 March 2, 2003
LUKE 9:28-36
28About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31appeared in glorious splendor, talk-ing with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusa-lem. 32Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, "Mas-ter, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what he was saying.) 34While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and en-veloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35A voice came from the cloud, say-ing, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him." 36When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.
+ + + + + + +
Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
What is Transfiguration? If you listened closely to our gospel reading and ser-mon text, you may have figured out that transfiguration really means a transformation, a changing. We heard in our gospel and in our text that Jesus was transformed or transfigured. His glory was revealed. On this Sunday of Transfiguration, it’s also a transition Sunday. We move from the Epiphany season into the Lenten season. We move from the season when Jesus’ glory is revealed into the time when His glory is covered up…when it is hardly seen at all during His suffering and passion. In either case, we see Peter making a confession here. He says, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here.’ We learn through the years of listening to God’s word, of studying God’s word and reading it for ourselves that we, too, would agree with Peter’s confession ‘Master, it is good for us to be here.’—To be strengthened in our faith, to grow in the knowledge of our salvation. The psalm-writer reminds us: "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked"(PSALM 84:10). It’s better to be in the temple for a day than anywhere else. We would agree with the psalm-writer, with Peter…
MASTER, IT IS GOOD TO BE HERE
To see the glory of Jesus
To learn of Jesus’ mission
I. To see the glory of Jesus
Peter had already had made an earlier confession about Christ. In the verses before our text (they took place about a week earlier) we find Jesus asking His disci-ples the opinion of the people concerning Him. He asked the disciples, ‘Who do the people say that I am?’ They gave Him all sorts of answers. They said, ‘some say you’re Elijah. Some say you’re Moses, some say you’re another prophet.’ Jesus said, ‘Who do you say I am?’ Peter made his confession when he said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Then our text takes place. It says: 28About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. He was teaching His disciples a number of things. First of all, even though He was the Son of God; Jesus also needed time alone to commune with His heavenly Fa-ther. He taught His disciples the importance of praying. He taught His disciples the importance of being off by themselves in order to pray so they could concentrate. They had to get away from the crowds at one time or another.
There was going to be a greater lesson. 29As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. The gospel says ‘whiter than anyone could bleach them…as white as snow or even whiter.’ The Lord was revealing His glory in His Son to those who were gathered there. As our text continues, we find that they almost miss it! We’re told: 32Peter and his companions were very sleepy…the original says they were sleeping. It probably was late at night; they probably had a busy day. We aren’t told why, just that even though they were there with Jesus alone, they went to sleep. They did wake up… but when they be-came fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. Their eyes were open, their hearts were open, their minds were open and they saw the glory of Jesus. They saw these two men, Elijah and Moses. Now, Peter realizes what a great event this is! Here is Moses, the first lawgiver, the one who delivered Israel to the Promised Land; and Elijah, a great prophet (we heard a little about him in our first les-son) and Jesus.
33As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." Peter felt safe on this mountain. He felt comfortable with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. He wanted things to stay the same. He didn’t want them to change. He had seen Jesus being made fun of and rejected by the chief priests. He had seen Jesus not accepted in His hometown. Now he saw Jesus’ glory and he wanted to stay here.
Yet, there are also some things frightening about that glory. We are told: 34While he (Peter) was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. Certainly they remembered that cloud of glory that went with the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. No one could enter that cloud. It stayed over the temple as a sign of God’s presence and they were frightened. That is really a part of the glory of Jesus.
When we look at His glory, we too, as sinners, are terrified. When we look to Je-sus and see His glory, we see Him as God’s perfect Son. We see ourselves as God’s imperfect children. We see the Lamb of God as the sinless Savior of the world. We see ourselves as sinful sons of man. As He was perfect, we are imperfect; the list goes on and on and on. We realize because of our sinfulness, we cannot stand in the presence of our Savior. We cannot even view His glory completely because it would frighten us unto death. The prophet Isaiah says to us: "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away"(ISAIAH 64:6). We too, are terrified by God’s glory in relation to our sinful nature.
As we look to the glory of Jesus, we also find comfort…comfort in knowing this Jesus is the Savior of mankind; that this Jesus did not come with just the law, but He came with God’s grace. From the gospel of John in the first chapter, he talks about the birth of the Savior; he talks about how the Word became flesh. When you have time today, it would be good to read that first chapter of John. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth"(JOHN 1:14). This too, is the glory of Jesus, who comes to our world full of grace and truth. He is the Word of God, be-come flesh. He came to reveal His glory so that you and I would be saved.
In the glory of Jesus we find comfort…comfort because He was able to defeat death. He was able to overcome the devil. He was able to put into the tomb our sins. He tells us: "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace"(EPHESIANS 1:7). This too, is the glory of Jesus that you and I see, day after day…the forgiveness of our sins.
Like Peter, we too would say, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here.’ It’s good for us to be here to see this glory of Jesus, even though it might be frightening, but also reminding us that it is comforting.
II. To learn of Jesus’ mission
Peter was bold in saying, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here.’ He felt safe and sound, and yet, what does our text tell us? (He did not know what he was saying.) In the other gospels we’re told he was so frightened, he didn’t know what to say. He never expected to see Moses or Elijah. He never expected to see Jesus changed be-fore them so that they could hardly look at Him because of the brightness of His glory. He didn’t know quite yet, to fully understand what Jesus’ real mission was. We’re told it in our text. We’re told why Moses and Elijah are there. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor. They came to discuss something. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Jesus was go-ing to leave. He wasn’t just going to walk down the mountain and leave, but He was going to go to Jerusalem and was going to leave there. At Jerusalem He would depart in death from the presence of His disciples and those who loved Him. Moses and Elijah came to speak with Jesus about His departure. It’s interesting here—the Greek uses the word ‘exodus’ which is like the exodus when the children of Israel came out of Egypt to be delivered to the Promised Land.
There’s more…remember they were scared because of the cloud that came…they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him." Peter, James and John were now told, ‘this is my chosen Son. This is the Savior of the world.’ They were to listen to him. In these next few days, they really had to listen to him, because it would change from this glory into the suffering and death of Jesus. There would be a trans-formation. 36When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disci-ples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen. We could say they were too scared to speak. Mark, in our gospel, says Jesus told them not to tell anyone. They certainly sat back and pondered these things. They had seen Jesus’ glory and were terrified. They also realized His mission was to become the Savior of the world.
You and I today, make a step of transition where we leave behind the glory of Jesus for the next six weeks as we study together Jesus’ suffering and death. We lis-ten to Jesus, the words that He speaks. We see Jesus in the sacrifice that He makes. It’s a sad time, yet it’s a blessed time because it reminds us of Jesus mission. Mark tells us that in his gospel: "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many"(MARK 10:45).
Jesus did this with His words and His actions. We find that the ransom that God demanded was no more, no less than the life of His only Son. That’s how Jesus ful-filled His mission. In Philippians we’re told: "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!"(PHILIPPIANS 2:8). Once again, Jesus’ mission was to fulfill the law. He be-came obedient unto death. He died so that you and I would not have to die, but would live forever. He died, not in a very pleasant way or a very normal way, but He died on the cross to take away the sins of the world.
You and I see Jesus’ glory in His death. We realize that this is part of Jesus’ mission. We see it in His Word; we experience it in His sacraments. At baptism, we’re reminded very visibly in the washing of the water and the Word of the forgiveness of sins. Today we celebrate the Lord’s Supper once again, where in, with and under the bread and wine we see and have Jesus very body and blood…to remind us of His death and also to remind us of forgiveness. As Jesus, Himself, said, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins"(MATTHEW 26:23). Again, Jesus’ mission was to serve mankind, to save mankind, to serve us and to save us.
Every Sunday that we gather here, we say, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here.’ Every other time that we gather together to study God’s holy word, we can say, ‘Mas-ter, it is good for us to be here.’ Each and every day when we open up our Bibles for ourselves and read, we say, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here.’ As we place our-selves in God’s Word, hearing, studying or reading, we see a glimpse of Jesus’ glory…certainly a glory that can frighten, but certainly a glory that comforts. It reminds us of the mission of Jesus that He came to die for our sins and the sins of the world. Our sinful nature doesn’t want us to read God’s word, doesn’t want us to study God’s word, doesn’t want us to hear God’s word…but…our new man says, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here.’ "Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For who-ever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD"(PROVERBS 8:33-35). Like Peter, we too confess, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here.’ Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
