In Surpassing Glory

The Glorious Son, Path, & People God Chose

3.2.25 [Luke 9:28-36] River of Life (The Transfiguration of our Lord)

Grace and peace are yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and his Son, Jesus our Lord and glorious Savior. Amen. 

When you’re an authoritative speaker and marvelous miracle-worker you’re going to attract a lot of attention in any age. Jesus of Nazareth certainly checked both those boxes. His powerful preaching and his mastery over maladies and evil spirits drew crowds from all over to hear and see him. Large crowds of Galileans, Gentiles, & Judeans, all wanted to learn more about this Rabbi. Men with money, power, and influence—a Roman centurion, a synagogue leader, and a member of the Sanhedrin—requested his help and expertise. Jesus didn’t have to search for people to disciple. People came to him. They asked him to follow him and become his disciples. But that’s not how it worked. 

If you were going to be one of Jesus’ disciples, he called you. Jesus chose his disciples. Do you know how many he called? Twelve is the right answer. Not a big group when you consider the big work they were tackling. So let me ask you: How many do you think you could name? More than five? More than seven? Could you get nine or ten? Do you think you could get all twelve? 

Matthew gives us the roster of the twelve disciples in Matthew 10. Peter and his brother, Andrew. James and his brother, John. Philip and Bartholomew (also known as Nathanael). Thomas and Matthew (or Levi). James, son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, also known as Judas, son of James. Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot. 

So how’d you do? I bet you recognized more than you felt like you could come up with. I bet you also realized a few of these guys you don’t know anything about. And that’s okay. Because the Bible does not tell us a whole lot about guys like James, son of Alphaeus or Thaddeus, or Simon the Zealot. All we know is that they were men Jesus also chose to be his disciples and later his apostles. 

At the same time, there are a few disciples we know well. And today’s Gospel reading includes them. Peter, James, and John are probably the best-known of Jesus’ disciples. Some describe these three as Jesus’ inner circle because there are times when Jesus only brings these three near his side.

But that doesn’t happen a lot. In fact, there are only 3 times. The first time was when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead. The last time was in the Garden of Gethsemane, as Jesus prayed in severe anguish as he was preparing for his suffering and death on the cross. 

Today’s text is the second time. On the mount of Transfiguration, the appearance of his face was changed. His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. And in this state of glorious splendor, Jesus had a conversation with two Old Testament luminaries, Moses and Elijah. Just reading what Luke says is hard for us to imagine. 

But, imagine for a moment you woke up to this glorious splendor. Jesus, your Rabbi, is shining even whiter and brighter than anything you’ve ever seen in your life and he’s having a conversation with Moses and Elijah about his departure. That would be pretty cool, wouldn't it? After you picked your jaw up off the floor, it would be hard not to interrupt with a thousand and one questions. You’d want to bask in the glorious glow of that experience for as long as you could. 

And you wouldn’t be alone in that sentiment. Luke tells us that (Luke 9:33) As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to Jesus: ‘Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Now, what kind of shelters Peter had in mind, where he was going to get the materials, and why he thought a lack of shelter was the reason Moses and Elijah were leaving remain a mystery to us. The best explanation we are given is in parentheses. He didn’t know what he was saying. 

Peter’s offer might not have really been thought through, but we see his thinking. And we get it. It must have been incredible to be there in that glorious splendor. Who wouldn’t want to stay there as long as you could? 

We’ve all had those moments in life, right? Maybe it was a wedding or the birth of a child or a grandchild. Maybe it was a trip you’d dreamed of and spent years saving for and planning. It could have been some special experience that caught you by surprise. But we’ve all had those splendid moments we want to soak in as long as we possibly can. If it were up to us, we’d freeze that moment in time. We’d choose to go back in time and bask in that glorious glow for a little longer. 

What could be wrong with that? 

Well, we’ve seen that go very wrong for others, haven’t we? You likely know someone who seems to be so stuck in the past that it’s harming their present and threatening their future. Maybe it’s the adult who just refuses to grow up and leave childish things behind. Or the one who tries to opt out of anything they deem too new-fangled. Or the guy who thinks he still has the strength he had in his twenties. Maybe it’s the widow who seems stuck in a cycle of grief. Maybe it’s someone who has moved here and can only talk about how great back home was. Even though they mean well, and you wish them well, their desire to stay in some moment causes real problems.  

Peter’s present nostalgia was even more problematic. He wanted to stay because he forgot who Jesus is and the glorious path our God chose. Because right before this moment of glorious splendor, Jesus had a tough conversation with his disciples. Jesus knew the crowds were talking about him. They had ideas that he might be Elijah or John the Baptist or one of the other prophets come back to life. But Jesus wanted to set his disciples straight. (Lk 9:20) Who do you say I am? he asked them. And Peter answered well when he said: God’s Messiah.

Messiah is a loaded title. The Messiah was God’s Anointed One, his Chosen One. So Jesus explained to Peter and the disciples what God chose him to be and do. (Lk 9:22) The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the spiritual leaders and people of Israel and he must be killed and on the third day raised to life. 

Peter could not imagine his Teacher suffering such disgrace. And death! So he rebuked Jesus and then Jesus rebuked him for having in mind the concerns of God. That’s what happened eight days earlier. 

So Peter’s offer here is a form of subtle spiritual sandbagging. Let’s linger here a little while longer. Let’s delay all that disgrace and death. That’s why the Father reminds Peter who Jesus is. (Lk 9:35) This is my Son, whom I have chosen. Listen to him. 

God had to remind Peter. But he didn’t have to remind his Son. Even though the glorious path God chose would be tougher for Jesus than it would be for Peter, Jesus our loving Savior embraced it & us.

All believers need that kind of regular recalibration. At any given moment, we say we are listening to Jesus. But, just like Peter, we don’t have much of a stomach for the cross. We are glad that Jesus died there for us—of course—but we are not so eager to daily pick up our own crosses and follow Jesus. We don’t want the pain. We’d like to avoid all the bad stuff and just enjoy ourselves where it is good. We make offers to God, as Peter did, but we don’t do what he says. We worry all the time, but we don’t pray continually. We devour the news of our day, but we don’t spend quiet time in the Scriptures. We rush off and gossip about another, but drag our feet when we are called to rebuke someone. We look for a church that checks all our boxes, instead of serving as a part of a church that meets the needs of others and proclaims the eternal glories of Lord Jesus. 

So we must listen well to our Lord and Savior who says: Whoever wants to bask in temporal glories and spare themselves sorrow and suffering will lose everything I have won for them on the cross. Whoever sets aside those good things and follows me will receive the glory I have secured for them in my sacrificial death. 

Does that path sound intimidating? It does if you’re really listening. Picking up your cross daily and following Jesus wherever he calls us to go is unnerving. It’s frightening. It’s far more than we can handle. At least on our own. 

But we are not on our own. That is not the path God has chosen for us. If we listen carefully, we will be strengthened and encouraged. Jesus is with us. He is going before us. And he gives us an excellent example of how to approach tough things here. 

Look at what Jesus is doing on this mountain. He is praying. Praying fervently. Look at what God does for his Son. God sent Moses and Elijah to encourage Jesus. As they discussed Jesus’ departure, his exodus, they couldn’t tell Jesus anything he didn’t already know. They didn’t need to convince Jesus it would all be worth it. So they must have been encouraging and glorifying him. 

God gives us the same. He hears our prayers. He gives us people to encourage us. And we need that—especially for these days. 

A month ago, after a lot of research and a lot of prayer, our leadership made a challenging and courageous decision that we were not going to stay in this building. It has been good for us to be here. But we are not going to remain here. Together, we are going to pick up our cross and follow Jesus into a new community. 

And that may be frightening to you. It may be intimidating. It might sound like more than our group can handle on our own. But we are not on our own. We have God’s ear. We have his encouragement.

We are not choosing the comfortable path. We are trusting in God to provide for us and through us. We are trusting that God chose us to be his ambassadors, to be his witnesses, to be his royal priests in a new place. When we begin to feel like we’re not up to the task, let us remember the disciples we can’t remember. Jesus chose them. He used their gifts. Through their humble imperfect service, God gifted and grew his Church. May he do the same today through humble believers like you and me. Amen.