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Location: Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Tansfiguration Sunday 2/14/10 Text: Luke 9:28-36

Transfiguration Sunday


02/14/10

Text: Luke 9:28-36

Title:



Since the beginning of the church year last November we have been seeing the unfolding of Jesus glory. I don’t have the time to go through each chapter this morning, so all I can say is that we have heard from angels, ordinary people, prophets, John the Baptizer, God the Father, and Jesus himself, that he is the Messiah, the Savior of the World. Just before our reading for today Jesus has told his disciples that he has to die and rise again.



That brings us up to today; the last Sunday before Lent known as Transfiguration Sunday. Today we see further proof of Jesus’ divinity as we read the story of the disciples witnessing the glory of his Godhood showing in Jesus’ body and hear once more the voice of God the Father declaring him to be his beloved Son. We are told that when Peter saw Moses, Elijah, and Jesus in his transformed state that Peter wanted to build shelters for the three, obviously so they could stay. Saint Luke tells us, sort of as a side note, that Peter did not know what he was saying.



That is understandable, for I am sure that the three disciples were both amazed and confused at the same time about what they had just witnessed. Jesus who they believed was the promised Messiah, the one who was going to free them from the Romans restoring Israel to her former glory was changed into a radiant human being right before their eyes. Although the changing of his appearance no doubt caused them great wonderment the more important event to the disciples that day was in the appearance of Moses and Elijah, for any good Jew would know that their appearance was essential to the arrival of the Messiah. With their being there with Jesus on that mountain top it was only a matter of time before the nation of Israel would be restored to its full glory. Good times were ahead.



They did not get it even after seeing the glory of Jesus’ Godhood. We wonder why they did not, but so many Christians today still don’t get it either, as they to believe that Jesus must become the king of Israel, restoring it to its glory by putting down unbelievers and setting up Christians to rule over them. Justice will finally take place and things will be made good.



Of course the Bible does not teach that unless you take certain verses out of context and read between the lines, and believe that Jesus is not the fulfillment of the Old Testament sacrificial laws. I don’t know why people have such a hard time with this since the Bible is very clear that Jesus is the complete fulfillment and that in his life, death, and resurrection he finished what he came to do; that is take upon himself the punishment we still deserve from God the Father. The only thing that is left to do is his coming back in glory to raise all from the dead; those who denied him as their Lord and Savior to be sent to everlasting hell and those who trusted in him, who accepted his redemptive act, to everlasting life with him in the new heaven and earth.



I sometimes think that we have heard the story of our redemption and the story of Jesus’ transfiguration so many times that we are no longer amazed at what we read about Jesus and in our not being amazed we have lost sight of the big picture.



It is like the story I read of a man who took his new hunting dog on a trial hunt one day. After a while he managed to shoot a duck and it naturally fell in the lake. The dog headed for the water and instead of swimming out to get the duck he walked over the water, picked it up and brought it back. Well I don’t have to tell you that the hunter was amazed. He could not wait to show his hunter buddy his new dog. He got him to come with him the next day. A flock of ducks came over and both men blasted away. One of them downed a duck and the man could not wait until his new dog did what he had done the day before. Sure enough the dog bounded to the lake and started walking on the water to retrieve the duck. He picked it up and walked back dropping it as his master’s feet. He turned to his hunting buddy expecting him to say something, but he didn’t. The hunt went on and every time they got a duck the dog walked across the water picked up the duck and walked back to dry land. His buddy never said a thing about what was going on. The man who owned the dog just could not understand why his buddy was not as amazed as he was with what his dog was doing. He finally asked him, “Don’t you notice anything strange about my dog?” “Why I sure have.” said his buddy. “Your dog does not know how to swim.”



Now I know that is a funny story, but I think it perfectly illustrates the problem that the disciples that day and we today have grasping the meaning of the Transfiguration story. It is not an easy story to understand since it took place outside of our frame of reference. It just does not click with us anymore than the dog walking on water made sense to the man’s hunting partner. Dogs just don’t walk on water. Jesus doesn’t glow with the glory of God. Theologians have come up with all sorts of theories to explain what happened. It is believed by many of them that Jesus face and as St. Matthew describes the same event, his clothing, looked dazzling white because the sun had come up and was shining on him. And in believing this they have lost sight of the message that the Transfiguration teaches. Jesus is 100% God while being 100% human.



While what happened on that mountain was very special and out of the ordinary, in another way they were rather simple, and not as uncommon as you might think. This is what I mean. Jesus had gone up on the mountain to pray and as he so often did he invited Peter, James, and John to come with him. They went up a mountain away from the crowds, and there Jesus began to pray.



We do not know exactly what he prayed about, but more than likely, from the clues we get from the rest of the story, he was praying about what he knew he had to do; that is go to Jerusalem, be spat upon, made fun of, be beaten, die, and rise again. It was what had to be done.



It was only 8 days or so earlier that Jesus had told his disciples that he would suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests, and teachers of the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised to life. While the disciples seemed to have ignored what he said I am sure that he was praying about those things and what it meant for him and his followers when his face began to shine and all around him a bright light radiated and in that light two men, Moses and Elijah came to speak to him.



We are told that they came to speak to him about what was going to happen to him in Jerusalem and sometime later; we don’t know when, but eventually the disciples woke up and saw Jesus in his glory talking to Moses and Elijah before they departed the scene and they were left with Jesus. The moment has passed and the next moment of life arrives bringing with it the ordinary, the life of bewilderment, doubt, and fear. Everything they have witnessed is now a memory and then they hear a voice from the cloud. “This is my Son; my chosen one, listen to him!”



And it all changes, as it should for us, as God the Father speaks from within in a cloud acknowledging the identity that Jesus had already received at his baptism. Jesus is God's Son, God's Chosen One. In spite of the danger that lies ahead in Jerusalem, God will keep the promise given to his Son at the Jordan River. The transformed appearance of Jesus and the voice from the cloud provided visual and audio reinforcement of that promise. What the disciples saw and heard that day was a fleeting glimpse of the Easter glory that was still to come. It was a promise of what was to be.

The Transfiguration also set Jesus apart from Moses and Elijah. After the voice spoke from the cloud we read in verse 36 that, "Jesus was found alone". It is only Jesus who leads his disciples down the mountain to Jerusalem. Moses and Elijah did not come to help Jesus. Only Jesus alone could do what Moses and Elijah were unable to do. Only Jesus would go to his death on the cross where he would bear the shame and terror that made the disciples and all of us sinners shudder. Alone he would suffer our fate, so we do not have to. On the cross and in the tomb Jesus would look like a failure to all. But when God raised Jesus from the grave on "the third day," it became evident to all God kept his promise. The saving deed was done. Jesus knew what he was doing.

In the transfiguration we get a sneak preview of God's marvelous plan to love the world and do for the world what Moses and Elijah could never do: take us to the mountaintop where we could stand in the very presence of God, be overshadowed with God's dazzling glory and, in spite of our sin, still believe that we are God's chosen sons and daughters.

Every Sunday you too have mountain top experience when you partake of the Lord’s Supper. In that simple wafer and wine you see the glory of Jesus as he is there in, with, and under the wafer and wine giving you forgiveness, salvation, and life. That is why the service ends so quickly after the Lord’s Supper. You have been with him on the mountain top, but you cannot stay there and so you descend the down the mountain with him leading the way.

And because he is leading the way there is no need for you to worry about whether you are good enough or not, or to be tossed back and forth by the latest greatest television, radio personality, or author for you have been to the mountain top. You are loved and forgiven and now you are free to live your life wherever it is that you find yourself doing what God has made you to do; that is serving others, for now you know the whole story. Amen.