Transfigured and Restored Redux

Sick and Tired

Who’s tired? Show of hands? I don’t just mean that you’ll need a nap this afternoon, I mean who’s tired mentally, emotionally, spiritually? Our schedules are busy and chaotic, there’s always something that needs to be done, there’s never anything genuinely uplifting on the news, then there’s the need to eat right, keeping a budget with inflation being so bad, and the million other things that are constantly vying for our attention, our time, and our resources. It’s exhausting, life is exhausting. And it’s to the point that when I stand up here and try to challenge you to spend more time in devotion or get more involved with church or to be more faithful with you tithe, I feel like saying “Josh, I’m tired and I just can’t” wouldn’t be an unreasonable response. For what it’s worth, this isn’t a new problem, even though I’m sure modern technology has made it worse, the disciples faced the exhaustion of life too.

The Rush of Ministry

So the disciples sit down together after they had been sent to the villages to proclaim the word and after the feeding of the five thousand, and Jesus starts talking. Everyone perks up a little, because Jesus’ lessons are always beneficial and enlightening. He asks them who the people think he is, and they answer pretty quickly - easy question, they hear things, they talk to people. Then he asks them who they think he is, which feels like a trick question. Peter jumps right in - never afraid to be wrong - and says “The Christ of God.” What an incredible thing to hear, what an emotionally draining thing to hear - that they, who are sinners, are sitting in the presence of God. This highlights their dust and their dirt. All they are is ashes before a holy God. And then he sucker punches them, and says that he is going to suffer and be rejected and die. Are you kidding me?! How do you think you’d feel if one of your loved ones admitted they were about to die? And if he just accepted the title of “The Christ of God,” emotional and mental knock out. But he doesn’t end the lesson there, they are his followers and he warns them about the costs of following him. They will have to daily take up a cross and they will lose their lives for his sake.

At this point, I think it is completely reasonable for the disciples to be completely exhausted in every sense of the word. They have been through a spiritual, emotional, and mental gauntlet. So then eight days later, when they were presumably still up and about ministering to people - not recovering - it’s as if Jesus casually says “lets go climb a mountain quick to pray.” And I’m sure Peter and John and James were thinking, “can we not just pray here, do we actually have to climb a mountain?” And can we really blame them, for being “heavy with sleep” as our text says?

Tired and Dusty

In fact, I think we can actually identify with the disciples here. You see, Jesus does incredible things through you and me - just like he did the disciples. Through our daily lives he proclaims his kingdom to the world as we love our families, as we live with integrity, we do our best to act according to his will. So many of y’all do things for the church, just like the disciples serving bread and fish, where you set up for meals, where you usher, where you show up for meetings. And you also sit at Jesus feet when you come to worship at this altar and learn from his Word - just like the disciples. And all of this can leave us feeling burned out. What makes this even worse, our own evil also weighs us down making us dusty and dirty - worth no more than ashes to our holy God. Each time we speak poorly of our neighbor without talking to him one-on-one first, each time we disrespect our parents, each time we wish we had our neighbor’s stuff our robes get a little dustier and a little dirtier. We reach a point of mental, emotional, and physical tiredness and the next thing Jesus asks us to do, whether that is coming to church in the morning, going to a Bible study, showing love to our neighbors, or loving him, can feel like He’s asking us to climb a mountain. And sometimes we make the tragic mistake of not going with Peter, John, and James. Sometimes we make the tragic mistake of not following Jesus up the mountain, and stay with the others down below. Not bringing ourselves into Christian fellowship, to the Scripture, to faithful preaching, to celebrations of baptism, and to the Lord’s Supper. We are no more than ashes, we are worth no more than ashes.

A Mountain Top Experience

Now why is that a tragic mistake? Why should we feel pity for the disciples on the ground? Why should we feel self-pity if we content ourselves down in the valley? Well let’s talk about the rest of the story. The three disciples trudge up the mountain, their clothes are dusty, they’re sweating, they’re thirsty, and they are ready for a nap. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity for their tired feet, they see the sky over the mountain. They climb the last few steps to the crest, breath in the clean, fresh air, and begin to thank God for His wonderful creation. What a blessing to be able to pray with Jesus, there on the mountain top! Suddenly, their eyes had to adjust so they could look over at him again, and when they did he was talking to two guys who were also glowing with glory. They realize, “guys, that is definitely Moses and that is definitely Elijah.” Even Peter is speechless when he hears that. In the quiet, they start to hear what Jesus and Moses and Elijah, representatives of the Law and the Prophets, are talking about. They are talking with Jesus about more of the stuff he was saying earlier. About how he’s going to be leaving, and they know what that means, they’re over there talking about Jesus death and the accomplishments he will complete in Jerusalem! This fully wakes up the three disciples, they are fully focused and attentive to Jesus and the glorified Moses and Elijah. Peter finally works up the courage to say something and, almost like a fanboy, he says, “it is so awesome that y’all are here. We never ever ever want to leave. We’ll go ahead and set up tents for each of you, don’t worry about it, we’ll do it for you, and then we can stay in fellowship for a long time!” Then a loud, booming voice comes from the clouds and says “this is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” The three disciples look at each other in awe and terror, that God just talked to them and confirmed what they had been talking about - that Jesus was the Son of God.” As we look to our text for today, let the cross remind us of our savior!

Energized

This would have certainly energized and galvanized Peter, James, and John. And you know what, I think it can do the same for us. This transfiguration of Jesus does a great job of reminding us of what we are looking forward to! Just picture the dusty, sweaty, thirsty, tired disciples (a lot like us) and the perfectly clean, put together, well rested Moses and Elijah with Jesus. That’s what our restoration is going to look like! On the last day, all the faithful, the people of God will be perfectly restored and with Christ. This world, our bodies, will receive ultimate rest, we will never be thirsty, we will never be spiritually exhausted, we will never suffer again. We can look to this transfiguration whenever we feel burned out next Sunday morning, the next Bible Study, the next time your neighbor is hard to love, the next time it’s hard to love Jesus and His Word - we can look to this transfiguration and see a light at the end of the tunnel. Some weeks, temptation shows up a lot, and some weeks, we give in a lot. Sunday morning comes around and we have watched so much on TV we shouldn’t have, said so many nasty things to our neighbor or about our brothers and sisters, or held onto hatred so strongly in our hearts that we feel too ashamed to go to church. Some weeks we make it to church, and all the times the past week we have taken the Lord’s name in vain, all the times the past week we have been dishonest, and all the times we have dishonored our parents keep us distracted from the worship of our God. That’s when Jesus comes to us in his Word and in his body and blood here on this altar. You see, because even when we fail at the good stuff, the Holy Spirit has blessed each and every one of you with faith and you will be restored. Look at the transfiguration and remember you are saved. Look at the transfiguration and remember the hope of Christ’s resurrection. Look at the transfiguration and remember that there will come a day when you are no longer dusty, and tired, and thirsty. When the cross turns our ashes into rejoicing and celebration.

Back Down the Mountain

So that’s where we left the disciples, staring at this awesome reminder of our shared future paradise with Jesus. Our shared future glory that Christ won for us on the cross. That’s not the end of the story though. After God speaks and says “this is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” Jesus is by himself again. The glimpse of the restoration is a memory in the minds and hearts of Peter, James, and John. So what do they do now, after having been reinvigorated by this incredible experience? Well, they go back down the mountain, Jesus leaves his glory to go down the mountain. The rest of the chapter sees Jesus casting out a demon from a child and preaching and teaching the disciples. Jesus continuing his work here on earth.

There’s a lesson here for us to. We have the hope of the Gospel to rejuvenate us and recharge us and remind us of our hope. But we don’t just sit around and stare at our hope. We are called to go back down the mountain. To be involved with the ministry of the church. To use that motivation to get ourselves to church, to attend Bible Study, to love our neighbors, to love Jesus and live according to his teaching as best we can. We are saved, and when we get burned out we can look towards the transfiguration to remind us of the restoration Jesus promises us, giving us the hope and energy to go back down the mountain and live in Jesus’ ministry.