The Shining Face of God

Good morning! Welcome to the Vineyard. If this is your first time, my name is Kevin and I’m the pastor here. Our vision at the Vineyard is simple - we want to embody Jesus to our neighbors. This happens by growing in three ways, through what we call our pillars.

First, is Presence. We want everyone to experience the presence of God. This is what transforms us to love him and others. God’s presence is where we become fully alive. We want you to know the Father.

Then, Formation. God doesn’t just love us; he is forming us to be his people who can carry his life and love to those around us. Formation is where we learn to embody the Jesus way of life. We want you to imitate the Son.

Finally, Mission. Being on mission is how we join God in the work he is doing to bring his reconciliation, justice, and mercy to earth. This is how he is bringing healing and renewal to the world. We want you to partner with the Spirit.

Presence. Formation. Mission. Be thinking about your next step. Where is God calling you to go deeper with him?

Pray...

Intro

Today is Transfiguration Sunday, and in a moment we will read of Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountain. This Sunday marks the end of the season of Epiphany with one final great revelation about Jesus. This Sunday is, in part, for those who have ever wondered, if God is real, what is he really like? Is he good and gentle, or is he angry and vindictive? I’ve called the message this morning The Shining Face of God, because on the mountain we will catch a glimpse of exactly what God is like in the face of Jesus Christ.

I want to begin by reading the Matthew’s account of the transfiguration. I’ll be reading from Matthew 17:1-8.

Jesus’ shining face

Right off the bat we get a reference to time. For reasons that will become apparent in a moment, this is more accurately read “After six days...” Remember, when you’re reading the Bible the authors are seldom interested in simply filling out the picture with details - the details mean something. They are part of the message.

Jesus leads arguably his three closest companions up a mountain and is there transfigured. His appearance changes before their eyes. It’s like a veil that was covering a work of art is finally removed, and in this moment they see Jesus as he truly is. Again, we get some details about his appearance. His clothes become dazzling white and his face shone like the sun. Then some other important things happen that we don’t have time to talk about today.

I’ve read this account dozens of times in my life, both devotionally and for preparing sermons. This time as I read it again the appearance of Jesus face really grabbed my attention. His face literally shines. Why is this detail there? What is Matthew trying to point to? To answer this we need to go look for the gospel as it was revealed in advance in the OT.

Moses shining face

Read Exodus 24:12-18.

Moses has led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and brought them to the foot of Mt. Sinai. Here God invites them to enter into a covenantal relationship with him. After the Israelites agree, God invites Moses to come upon the mountain to receive the terms of the covenant inscribed on tablets of stone. Notice that Moses doesn’t go alone - he takes his closest companion with him.

Then a cloud covers the mountain. Sound familiar? And this is no mere cloud; it is the presence of God himself. And after six days - remember our previous reference - God speaks to Moses from the cloud.

Remember, we are asking the question what is God really like, and why did Matthew specifically include the detail of Jesus face shining like the sun? We need to read on. While Moses is up on the mountain for 40 days, the people become restless and begin to think he’s not coming back. So they go to Aaron and demand that they make them a visible god that can go before them - effectively breaking the very first commandment of the covenant - “You shall have not other gods before/beside me”. Moses comes down the mountain to find the people worshipping a golden calf and basically having a wild party. In anger he throws the stone tablets of the covenant down breaking them as a sign that they have already broken their covenant with God. It seems like everything is lost before it even begins.

After some divine judgement God hits the reset button. He invites Moses back up on the mountain to get new tablets although - and I think this is hilarious - this time Moses has to make the tablets himself for God to write on! God again descends on the mountain in a cloud of glory. We finally come to the part I want you to see. Read Exodus 34:29-35.

Notice the shining face of Moses. Sound familiar? Moses enters the cloud of God’s presence to receive his revelation. His face shines as a result. But here we notice that it is not that intense, and it does not emanate from Moses but is rather reflected by him. His shining face is not like the sun that produces its own blinding beam, but more like the moon that reflects the sun’s rays.

God’s shining face

Here we finally get to at least one of the things Matthew wants us to see in his account. Matthew is concerned throughout his gospel to show that Jesus is a new and greater Moses. That while Moses received A revelation from God, Jesus is THE revelation of God. Paul tells us that one reason Moses veiled his face is so that people wouldn’t see the glory fading. 2 Cor 3:13 “not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside.” The revelation given to Moses is one that would be surpassed by a greater revelation. Moses revelation is still from God and good, but it pales in comparison to his final and greatest revelation in Jesus.

Illustrate: have you ever noticed how bright it is at night when there is a full moon? While it’s still dark, it’s actually light enough that you can see pretty well. You wouldn’t necessarily stumble over anything. But have you ever noticed those days where you can see the moon but it’s broad daylight? While you can see it, the moon provides no light, having been eclipsed by the sun.

This is the point Matthew is trying to make about Jesus. As great as Moses’ revelation was, it is eclipsed by that of Jesus. On the mountain Moses reflected the light of God’s glory; Jesus radiated the light from himself. This is why the voice speaks from the cloud, in the presence of Moses and Elijah, “Listen to him!” meaning Jesus. The glory of Moses will fade; the glory of Christ never will. In Jesus we see the shining face of God himself.

What is God like?

So what is God like? Matthew wants you to understand without any doubt that God is like Jesus. Let me just remind you for a couple of minutes what Jesus is like and then we’ll close:

You may remember the story of the woman caught in adultery, trapped in sin and in the schemes of men. What does Jesus do? He doesn’t condemn her, he rescues her. Jesus is the savior of sinners.

Or the story of Zaccheus, the outcast of his own people because he worked for the Romans - as in IRS agent no less! Here is the most unpopular person in town, yet Jesus restores him in his faith by simply being willing to eat with him. Jesus is the friend of outcasts.

Or the story of the demoniacs, where Jesus literally crossed the sea of Galilee apparently for no other reason than to deliver them from the power of demons. Jesus is a deliverer of those oppressed by darkness.

Then there is the story of the leader of a local synagogue whose only daughter died. Jesus goes to his house and raises her to life. Jesus is the one who restores hope to those who thought they lost everything.

You may remember the story of the 10 lepers who came looking for Jesus to be healed. He graciously healed them, but only one turned back to give him thanks, and this one a foreigner. Jesus cares for the immigrant, the refugee, the minority, for those on the fringe, or without a home.

Then there’s the Roman centurion who came to Jesus asking that he heal one of his household servants. Jesus offered to come to his house, but the centurion said it wasn’t necessary - he trusted that if Jesus commanded it, it would happen, which caused Jesus to marvel at his faith. Jesus welcomes those who are on the wrong side.

And from our passage today, after experiencing this close encounter with the Divine, as the tremble in fear and bewilderment, Jesus comes to his disciples and touches them, reassuring them that they have nothing to fear from God. Jesus dispels our fear about who God is.

We don’t have time to go into all the examples of Jesus’ healing, feeding, delivering, befriending. But they are all there so that you won’t miss the point: When we see Jesus, we see exactly what God is like. You might remember a few weeks ago I taught on the Aaronic blessing. One of the lines of the prayers says, “The Lord make his face shine upon you.” God’s face was understood as his favor. It is a blessing that says, “May God’s favor rest upon you.”

When we see Jesus, we see the shining face of God resting upon us. It is not a face of anger but love, it is not a face of judgment but mercy, it is not a face of wrath but compassion. From Moses’ revelation we can know some things about God, but we also got a lot of things wrong. So God came himself, taking on human flesh so that now when we look at Jesus we know exactly what he is like. Jesus is the shining face of God.

Today I invite you to begin a relationship with this God if you never have. The Bible calls us to repentance and faith. Repent means to turn from the direction your life is going and to turn instead to Jesus. Faith means more than believing some facts about Jesus, but actually placing your trust in him, committing to learn to live in obedience to his lordship. If you are ready to make that decision, or if you would like to talk with someone about it, I would invite you to get with me after the service or go to the link on the screen (next steps slide).

And I would invite us all to examine our beliefs about God. What lies have we believed that we still walk in? God is angry. God is distant? God is vindictive? God is moody or capricious? All of these lies and more keep us from drawing near to God, and they are all dismantled by the glory we see at the transfiguration. Amen.