Transfiguration

Introduction

In the Silver Chair, Eustace and Jill are given a quest by Aslan (the representative of Jesus) to rescue Prince Rillian from a queen who has trapped him.

To find the young prince, they take a grand journey, eventually tunneling into the depths of a cave. They find that the young prince has been captured by a the witch, yet throughout the day, he seems happy to be there. However, at night they see him trapped in an enchanted silver chair. They help him to break free of the chair, but not before the witch sees them.

This witch starts a fire in the fireplace and begins to play music that disarm the children, and as they fall asleep, she starts to get them to doubt some very basic things about themselves, ultimately:

Where they are

Their purpose

Aslan’s (who represents Jesus in Narnia) existence

Eventually, one of them stamps on the fire, and they come back to their senses.

This book thematically talks about sleep over and over. A prevailing them is how the world and sin can lull Christians into a sleepy faith that is ineffective.

In an earlier chapter, Lewis Jill is sitting around a fire and getting sleepy. Lewis makes the observation, “It is a very funny thing that the sleepier you are, the longer you take about getting to bed.”

The sleepier you are, the less likely you are to do the thing that solves the sleepiness.

In today’s text, we see Jesus in his glorified form - and the disciples sleep through half of it. What can we learn from Christ and the response of his disciples? Stand and lets read together.

Read Luke 9:28-36

Luke 9:28–36 ESV

Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

Exposition

While on the mountain, they are praying and Jesus appearance begins to change. His face begins to shine (like the sun [Mt]) and his clothing becomes a dazzling white (as no one on earth could bleach them [Mk]).

We see in this verse that Jesus isn’t just your everyday rabbi.

The glory of God is often compared to an incomprehensible and blinding light. Moses wanted to see the glory of God, and God held him in the cleft or a rock. After Moses had communed with God, his face shone as he came down the mountain.

Jesus does not get light. He gives light, because He IS light. He is the glory of God.

Kent Hughes, “For a brief moment, the veil of his humanity was lifted, and his true essence was allowed to shine through. The glory that was always in the depths of his being rose to the service that one time in his earthly life. This was both a glance back at his prehuman glory and a look forward to his future glory.”

Jesus is not one of many godlike figures. Jesus is not a good, moral teacher. Jesus is not a helpful historical figure.

Two men, Moses and Elijah, began to talk to Him, discussing His departure and what He would accomplish in Jerusalem.

Why are Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration? Several reasons.

They are the greatest representatives of the law and the prophets.

They are both men who have seen the glory of God on a mountain in their ministries.

They both had a dramatic exodus. Moses led the people of God from Israel. Elijah was lifted personally into heaven.

Both represent God’s intervention on behalf of the people of Israel in dramatic ways.

Moses brought the people out of slavery and gave the law to the people of God. He is the embodiment of the law for God’s people. Elijah is the prophet who went against all of Israel and won by God’s power. He represents the prophetic power of God as he bid his servants to share his word.

Peter, James, and John are the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples. They go up with Jesus onto a mountaintop to pray. They fell asleep as they were praying.

The disciples made a habit out of sleeping when it was time to pray, didn’t they? This isn’t the last time they would be asleep at a pivotal moment of the redemption narrative - they missed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

How do you sleep through the Transfiguration and the Garden of Gethsemane?

They missed the glory of God. And they didn’t miss the glory of God because of how small it was. They missed the glory of God because they were asleep.

The sleepiness of your spiritual life might diminish your view of God, but it in no way diminishes the glory of God.

You are not missing the glory of God in your daily life because God is not there and God is not glorious. You are missing God because you have a sleepy faith.

What causes a sleepy faith? Three overarching things: A wrong view of Jesus, Sin, and Idolatry.

How do I know that I am sleepy?

When you care more about the things of this world than the esteem of Christ? Idolatry stamps out the glory of God with lesser things.

Are you consistently, carefully, and persistently toward Christ? If not, you are drifting. We drift when we are sleepy.

Do you see victory over your sin? A glorious and holy God rescues from sin.

What solves a sleepy faith?

The Word - The word rights our wrong views about Jesus.

Prayer - Prayer is the spiritual fire for our entire lives.

Repentance - Turning from our sins removes the sleep from our eyes.

Worship - Worship throws a bucket of cold water on our sleepiness.

The Gospel - Consistently preach the gospel to your heart.

Peter responds to this scene by asking Jesus if he can build tents for each of them.

Peter’s mistake was that Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were equals.

Moses and Elijah are no greater than the word they received, and they are standing before the one who is the Logos, the word made flesh, the one who bestowed all to them.

Every word of their ministries came from Him and points to Him.

Jesus is the sacrificial lamb in the Passover.

He is the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

He is the still small voice.

The glory of the Lord like a cloud descended upon them, and they became afraid. God called out, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to Him.”

God the Father is saying, “Jesus is my son, chosen by me, so listen to Him.”

The statement hasn’t changed.

Invitation

I want to end, as I invite you to respond to Jesus, by contrasting Him to humanity in this text.

He glimmers white while the disciples cannot help but fall asleep.

He is God over some of the greatest men to ever live, and they derive their greatness from Him.

Peter bumbled over the wrong things to say, while the God of the ages corrected Him from heaven.

This is the God we worship.