Transfiguration... The First Super Sunday

Matthew 17:1-9

Paonia United Methodist Church

February 6, 2005

Transfiguration, The First Super Sunday

What a morning!

Baptisms, new church members, and communion coming up.

Now, for those of you already looking at your watches

Wondering if you are going to be out of here on time,

Let me tell you to relax…

You will eventually get back to the world

You were trying to leave behind

When you got here.

Many of our services run about 50 minutes,

Today’s may run a little longer,

But whatever your plan is, I assure you that you will

Make it to your Superbowl parties on time.

Please set aside the clock, and allow yourself

To engage in this mornings message.

Now, you might wonder why I would even begin

A request like this…

Seems kind of irrelevant to anything that we might actually

Want to look at…

But, I think that you will find that it has everything to do

With where we are going this morning.

Our expectations and God’s purposes...

They are usually not the same. What happens when they collide?

That is where we are going this morning.

So, please buckle up and return your seats and trays to their full

Upright positions as we take off this morning

To the first Super Sunday….

The story of the Transfiguration…

God’s purposes revealed.

Matthew 17

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

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.”

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!”

When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

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.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Super Sunday!

What makes it super, I hear you ask?

Well, several things…

How many of you have heard of the transfiguration before?

How many of you stayed awake through my sermon

On the Transfiguration last year?

Does anyone know what the

Transfiguration is?

This is one of those verses that scholars just love to write about.

Something happened here.

Since I had such a great response last week when I asked you

To repeat after me, I thought we would try it again.

Say it with me…

Something big happened here.

Okay, that’s the first part.

Jesus has been baptized and has begun his public ministry.

He and the disciples go up a mountain and Jesus is transfigured before their eyes.

Something big just happened.

Well, what happened?

And how big was it?

Well, take a look at the event itself as described by the Bible before we start to

Take apart the meaning.

Jesus was changed in the presence of the disciples.

His face and his garments took on the radiance of the glory of God.

Then, Elijah and Moses, two of the great OT leaders happened to be

Standing there beside him talking to him.

How significant is this?

Well, I suspect it’s fairly significant since they had both been dead for

Several hundred years and now they were having a conversation with the

Messiah right in front of their eyes.

And, if that is not enough, God speaks again from

the clouds.

How many of you would be convinced if you were watching this that this would

Be at least what you would consider fairly significant?

I would be persuaded to think so.

So what was the significance?

I am glad you asked!

It was a moment in which God revealed to Jesus’ disciples

Jesus’ true nature… divine and of God.

Moses and Elijah standing there represent the support of the law (Moses)

And the prophets (Elijah).

God repeats his Jesus’ baptismal blessing so that the disciples,

Who had not yet been called at the time of Jesus’ baptism

Could hear it for themselves.

The divine glory illuminates Jesus and strengthens

Him for the hard days ahead…

The journey to the cross.

How is that for significant?

The Law, the prophets, God all line up to strengthen Jesus for the days ahead