Untitled Sermon

(ESV)

The Transfiguration

28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 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. 33 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. 34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” 36 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.

Goal: For the Hearer to try and understand why the Transfiguration of Christ is so integral to His mission on Earth.

Good Morning Sons & Daughters of St. Paul’s … May the Grace and Peace of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with you all … Let us Pray

Well, there have been some challenging messages that we have embraced over the past few weeks. We learned what it means to be a part of the body of Christ. We learned how our attitudes greatly affect the successes of our ministry efforts towards our neighbors and last week we found out that we are to love those who hate or curse us. Leading up to our Gospel lesson for today Christ tells his disciples in verses 23-25 That “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” How appropriate of a lead-in is this statement to discussing our Lord’s transfiguration on Transfiguration Sunday?

is this statement to discussing our Lord’s transfiguration on Transfiguration Sunday?

Some of you may be asking yourselves …what is Transfiguration Sunday really about? If you listened closely to our gospel reading and sermon text for today, you may have figured out that transfiguration really means a transformation, a changing. Kind of funny that we have been talking about the transformation that our lives must take to be true followers of Christ. Now we hear in our gospel text that Jesus Himself was transformed or transfigured. His glory was revealed.

On this Sunday of Transfiguration, it’s also a transition Sunday. We move from the Epiphany season into the season of Lent. We move from the season when Jesus’ glory is revealed into the time when His glory is covered up…when it is hardly seen at all during His suffering and passion. In either case, we see Peter making a confession here. He says … “Master, it is good for us to be here.” We learn through the years of listening to God’s word, of studying God’s word and reading it for ourselves that we, too, would agree with Peter’s confession “Master, it is good for us to be here.”—To be strengthened in our faith, to grow in the knowledge of our salvation.

The psalm-writer reminds us in : "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked." Meaning … It’s better to be in the temple for a day than anywhere else. We would agree with the psalm-writer, with Peter…

MASTER, IT IS GOOD TO BE HERE …

I. Here we see the glory of Jesus

II. Here we learn of Jesus’ mission

I. To see the glory of Jesus

Peter had already made an earlier confession about Christ. In the verses right before those I quoted earlier (verses 18-20), we find Jesus asking His disciples the opinion of the people concerning Him. He asked the disciples, ‘Who do the people say that I am?’ They gave Him all sorts of answers. They said, ‘some say you’re Elijah. Some say you’re Moses, some say you’re another prophet.’ Jesus said, ‘Who do you say I am?’ Peter made his confession when he said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Then our text takes place. It says: “28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.” Here, Jesus was teaching His disciples a multitude of things. Firstly, that even though He was the Son of God … Jesus also needed time alone to commune with His heavenly Father. Jesus taught His disciples the importance of praying. Jesus taught His disciples the importance of being off by themselves in order to pray so they could concentrate. They had to get away from the crowds at one time or another.

We could learn something ourselves from this lesson, but there was going to be a greater lesson. “29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white” The gospel is saying … “whiter than anyone could bleach them…as white as snow or even whiter.” The Lord was revealing His glory in His Son to those who were gathered there. As our text continues, we find that they almost miss it! We’re told: “32 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.” It probably was late at night … and I would guess that any day with Jesus was a busy day and I can only imagine that this day was no exception. We

aren’t told why they are so tired, we are just told that they were there alone with Jesus and they went to sleep. They did wake up… but when they became fully awake, they saw Jesus in His glory standing with two other men. Their eyes were opened … their hearts were opened … their minds were opened, and they saw the glory of Jesus. They saw and recognized these two men as Elijah and Moses. Now … Peter is finally realizing what a great event this truly is! Here is Moses, the first lawgiver, the one who delivered Israel to the Promised Land; and Elijah, the great prophet and Jesus.

Verse 33 says … “33 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." Peter seemed to feel safe on this mountain. He was comfortable with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. He wanted things to stay the same. He didn’t want them to change. He was fed up with watching Jesus being made fun of and rejected by the chief priests and so many others. He witnessed Jesus being rejected in His hometown. On this mountain, he witnessed and understood Jesus’ glory and he wanted to stay right here.

But … there are some frightening things about that glory. We are told in verse 34 … “34 As he (Peter) was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud”. Certainly, they remembered that cloud of glory that went with the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. But, no one could enter that cloud. It stayed over the temple as a sign of God’s presence and they were frightened. That is really a part of the glory of Jesus.

Like Paul and the others, when we look at Jesus’ glory, we too, as sinners, are terrified. When we look to Jesus and see His glory, we see Him as God’s perfect Son. We see ourselves as God’s imperfect children. We see the Lamb of God as the sinless Savior of the world. We see ourselves as sinful sons of man. As He was perfect, we are imperfect; the list goes on and on and on. We realize because of our sinfulness, we cannot stand in the presence of our Savior. We cannot even view His glory completely because it would frighten us unto death. The prophet Isaiah says to us in Ch 64:6 … "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” We too, are terrified by God’s glory in relation to our sinful nature.

But, My Beloved … As we look to the glory of Jesus, we should also find comfort … comfort in knowing that this Jesus is the Savior of mankind; that this Jesus did not come with just the law, but He came with God’s grace. In the first chapter of John’s Gospel, he talks about the birth of the Savior; he talks about how the Word became flesh. When you have time today, it would be good to read that first chapter of John. Verse 14 reminds us … "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This too, is the glory of Jesus, who comes to our world full of grace and truth. He is the Word of God, be-come flesh. He came to reveal His glory so that you and I would be saved.

In the glory of Jesus we find comfort…comfort because He was able to defeat death. He was able to overcome the devil. He was able to put our sins into the tomb. Paul tells us in …"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” This too, is the glory of Jesus that you and I see, day after day, in the forgiveness of our sins. Like Peter, we too would say, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here.’ It’s good for us to be here to see this glory of Jesus, even though it might be frightening, it is comforting.

II. To learn of Jesus’ mission

Peter was bold in saying, “Master, it is good for us to be here.” He felt safe and sound even though our text tells us that “He did not know what he was saying.” In the other gospels we’re told he was so frightened, he didn’t know what to say. He never expected to see Moses or Elijah. He never expected to see Jesus transformed right in front of him … to the degree that he could barely look at Him because of the brightness of His glory. He didn’t know or fully understand what Jesus’ real mission was. We’re told in our text why Moses and Elijah are there … They came to discuss something. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Jesus was going to leave. He wasn’t just going to just walk down the mountain and leave … He was going to go to Jerusalem. While in Jerusalem, He would depart in death from the presence of His disciples and those who loved Him. Moses and Elijah came to speak with Jesus about His departure from this earthly plane.

But, there’s more … remember how scared they were because of the cloud that came? … they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Verse 35 says … “35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” God was saying … listen You guys … This is the Savior of the world. They were commanded to listen to him.

In these next few days, they really had to listen … because it would change from this glory of Jesus into the suffering and death of Jesus. There would be a transformation. Verse 36 …“36 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.” The disciples kept this to themselves and told no one at that time what they had seen. One could say they were too scared to speak. In Mark’s gospel, it says that Jesus told them not to tell anyone. Can you even think of what was going through their minds? They had seen Jesus’ glory and they were terrified … But they also realized His mission was to become the Savior of the world.

Today, we make a step of transition where we leave behind the glory of Jesus for the next six weeks as we study together Jesus’ gruesome suffering and death. We will listen to Jesus … the words that He speaks. We will see Jesus in the sacrifice that He makes. Lent is sometimes looked at as a sad season, but we need to remember that it’s a blessed time also because it reminds us of the mission of Our Savior Jesus Christ. Mark reminds us of that in his gospel when he says in Ch 10:45 … "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus did this with His words and His actions. We find that the ransom that God demanded was no more … no less … than the life of His only begotten Son.

That’s how Jesus fulfilled His mission. In we’re told … "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!” Once again, Jesus’ mission was to fulfill the law. He became obedient unto death. He died so that you and I would not have to die … so we could inherit everlasting life. He died in the most gruesome way possible. He was mocked and beaten, and He died on the cross to take away the sins of the world.

You and I see Jesus’ glory in His death. We realize that this is part of Jesus’ mission. We see it in His Word; we experience it in His sacraments. At baptism, we’re reminded in a very visible way by the washing of the water and the words of forgiveness for our sins. Today, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper … we are once again reminded of the very body and blood of Jesus in the bread and wine … this is to remind us of His death and also to remind us of His forgiveness. Jesus said in , "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Again, Jesus’ mission was to serve mankind, and to save mankind from itself.

Every Wednesday, Saturday, or Sunday that we gather here … we should say, “Master, it is good for us to be here.”

· Every time that we gather together to study God’s Word, we can say, “Master, it is good for us to be here.”

· Each and every day when we open up our Bibles … we should be saying, “Master, it is good for us to be here.”

· As we place our-selves in God’s Word … listening, studying or reading, we see a glimpse of Jesus’ glory… certainly a glory that can frighten, but certainly a glory that comforts.

It reminds us of the mission of Jesus … the one where He came to die for the sins of the world. Our sinful nature doesn’t want us to read or study God’s word … it doesn’t want us to hear God’s word … but … the transformed Man says … “Master, it is good for us to be here.” puts it pretty simply …"Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For who-ever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD.” Like Peter, we too confess, “Master, it is good for us to be here.” Amen?

Let Us Pray … Father we thank you for Allowing Your Son to take our place on that cross. We confess that we fall short in every way, but through your Son we have hope. Give us the strength to not be afraid of Your voice and to follow your guidance for the rest of our days. We pray this in the name of You Son and Our Savior Jesus Christ. AMEN.