Unbelievable Transfiguration

Life Giving Lessons in Luke  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Have you ever seen something that was just unbelievable?

28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure, q which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “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.” (He did not know what he was saying.)

34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

These three are Jesus’ inner circle, they are the ones with the backstage pass to his power and authority. Similar to
Jesus’ face changing is reminiscent of Moses’ looking radiant after coming down from Mount Sinai
There are two significant points to these two men appearing with Jesus. These important characters to the OT appearing with Jesus solidifies the importance Jesus plays in this bigger story. Further these are people that others had opined Jesus was. Both of these facts are confirming identity.

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”

20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”

As the two men discuss with Jesus his departure, Peter and his companions become fully awake. Arguably this is a lot to take in, and Peter’s first thought is lets normalize this! Lets treat them as guests and set up tents!
God uses this moment to again solidify who Jesus is to these disciples, and appears as a cloud of smoke. This is both a powerful and meaningful gesture on God’s part.

21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

9 The LORD said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the LORD what the people had said.

4 Then the glory of the LORD rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the LORD.

And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

We have seen this before, again a powerful display of God’s provision and power.
SO WHAT?!?!
In all of this weirdness God doubles down on the person and mission of Jesus, but what does this mean for us?
If the three people closest to Jesus didn’t get it, then how much more can we wrestle with this as believers sitting in church today?
Further how much more can a non believer wrestle with this? These understandings of who Jesus is takes a personal commitment of time and study, but it also takes faith, and faith is a muscle built over time.
So when we deal with other believers and non believers, don’t feel as though you need to have all the answers. Sometimes just getting someone to a place where they are more open to the truth is a huge step.
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