Transfiguration Sunday B 2023

Mark 9:7–8 “7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.”

Today, among other things, we tie together Christmas and Easter. The main event we focus on today— the Transfiguration— is a rare moment in Jesus’ life when His two natures are on display.

At Christmas, we celebrate the ‘incarnation’. When the eternal Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin’s womb and was born into this world, He took on human flesh. We call that the ‘incarnation’. The second person of the trinity became the man, Jesus Christ. That’s what you were singing about roughly six weeks ago: “Veiled in flesh the godhead see, hail th’incarnate deity….”

Jesus has two natures; He is fully God; and He is fully man. Those two natures— the human and the divine— are joined in Jesus Christ. And they are not just stuck together momentarily; the human nature is not simply a costume that He put on as if He were going to a Halloween party; the two natures are joined together so completely that, although they stay distinct— His human nature doesn’t become divine and His divine nature loses nothing— they are truly one. They are joined so completely that Mary, for example, is rightly called the “Mother of God.” Anything that is true of one of His natures is also true of the other. You can’t separate them. You can’t say that Mary is only the mother of His human nature. They can not be divided.

This is an incredible mystery.

For most of His life, what people saw was His human nature. Yes, they got glimpses of His divine power through the miracles that He performed— healing the sick, feeding thousands, calming storms— but the Transfiguration is a rare moment when His divine nature shines through. For a moment, His human flesh can not completely veil His divine nature. His divine glory shines through and God the Father proclaims, again, proudly, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (Mark 9:7).

But Jesus isn’t looking backward to His birth as He speaks to Moses and Elijah there on the mountaintop. The Evangelist Luke tells us that the three of them are talking about Jesus’ crucifixion, His death, and His resurrection. And it’s time that we turned our focus there, as well.

The incarnation is an incredible mystery. He is fully God and fully man— 100% God and 100% man. That’s amazing on a number of levels. But what is even more important is the purpose of the incarnation. God did not perform this miracle simply to show off; He did not do it just to come down and say ‘Hello’; the Son of God took on human flesh so that He would have a body to sacrifice on the cross for your sins (Hebrews 10:5; quoting Psalm 40:6-8). As the Prophet Isaiah expressed it, “4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4–6). Or, as St. Peter would write years later, “24 [Jesus] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

By the way, His human nature and His divine nature are still united. Jesus did not leave His body behind after the resurrection, did He? In fact, through His human flesh, He gives life and immortality to all who eat and drink of them in faith. His human nature is not an afterthought. It did not simply go tagging along at the ascension. He took it with Him so that it would continue to be a means of salvation for all who believe.

That is, after all, the true path to glory. You and I chase after fame and approval from those around us. But that’s not the glory that scripture promises you. What would you gain if you, somehow, won the fame and approval of the whole world, but remained an enemy of God—to hear from Him, on the last day, “I never knew you.” Conversely, what can this world take from you if you have the assurance of His favor—the knowledge that you will hear Him say to you, on the Last Day, “Well done, my child”?

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it’s time to remove the veil. It’s true, what we will be is not yet seen (1 John 3:2). But you are being conformed, right now, to the image of Christ. “18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18). And, “we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

It’s time to put away disgraceful, underhanded ways. To take up the true fast of putting to death the veil of our sinful flesh with all of its wicked desires.

It’s time to look to Christ, to see Him clearly, and to see yourself more clearly, as well. “6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6) The day is soon coming when that work that He has begun in you will be completed. The mystery does not end with Christ’s incarnation. Let me tell you about another mystery. “51 We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:51–58).

So gaze upon your transfigured Lord and Savior with the eyes of faith. Because, “12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,” (2 Corinthians 3:12). “18 [W]e all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18).

See Him with the eyes of faith and listen to Him. Listen, so that you understand what He is preparing to do. Follow Him all the way, through Lent, to the Mountain of Calvary. And see yourself there. See Him there, on the cross. See your sin in all of its horror. See Him carrying your sin, dying your death.

And, see Him making Himself like you to make you like Him.