There's Always More

Honestly there is so much that could be said about this text that it is hard to cover everything in a short time and do any of it justice. I feel like there are two areas that I really want to focus on this year.

The first is about the appearance of Moses and Elijah. Oftentimes when we look at this text read our Bible notes or commentaries they point out that Moses and Elijah are likely there to direct our attention to the fact that they represent the Law and the prophets, respectively. While this is true, there is also likely even more meaning on top of this one that I heard this last week. It really struck me and I wanted to share it and focus on it with all of you.

Not only are Moses and Elijah representative of the Law and the prophets but they also have stories that in a way tell a story that is similar to Jesus’. Moses like Jesus turns dazzling white after spending some time with God on the mountain and receiving the 10 Commandments, so there is a connection and similarity that Jesus is like Moses in that way. But, in perhaps a more subtle but meaningful way if we remember Moses’ death we can see how both Jesus and Moses are brought up to a mountaintop to overlook their land and their people and then die for the sake of the prosperity of others. Moses led the people safely all the way to the entrance of the Promised Land and Jesus led people to a deeper and fuller understanding of God’s love for them and the whole world.

Just seven verses before our text today, Jesus had just predicted his death for the first time after Peter had declared him the Messiah of God, so perhaps this presentation of Moses means more than the Law but also a way to help Peter, James, and John to make multiple connections between Moses and Jesus, so that they can better understand why Jesus is here and what he is going to go through on behalf of the world and everyone in it. You could say that both Jesus and Moses had a huge burden on their shoulders as the one people looked to for guidance and a better understanding of what God wanted for them.

Then we turn to the other figure standing with Jesus, Elijah, who represents the one of the greatest prophets of Israel. He did many miracles as Jesus did like raising people form the dead and healing people. So, like Moses we see how Jesus is similar to Elijah and that he is even compared to Elijah in those same verses I mentioned before when Peter calls him the Messiah. Some people in the crowds following them think that he is Elijah come back. So just like Moses who not only has the similarities in the law but also in his death, Elijah also has a similarity in that he was taken up into heaven. So Moses helps to show and represent the kind of death Jesus will undergo up on a mountain so that the people may prosper, and Elijah is there to help represent how Jesus will rise from the dead and enter into heaven in glory.

Moses and Elijah are more than the law and the prophets but also perfect examples to show these three men the ways in which Jesus will die and rise for the sake of the world. We even see that Jesus predicts his death a second time and they still don’t fully grasp it. Jesus is trying to help them come to understand the way he will die and the way he will rise and hopefully they will understand eventually so that they can share the Good News of what it means for the world. Which is probably why God steps into this scene and reminds the three disciples to listen to him.

That listening could mean several things. It could mean that they are literally hearing the words but need to listen harder. It could mean that they need to not just listen but understand the deeper meaning of what Jesus is saying when it comes to things like his passion prediction and his parables. It could also mean that they need to listen because they are going to be the hands, feet and voice of Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit sooner rather than later. Because again in one of the stories we skipped over at the beginning of chapter nine we see Jesus commission the twelve to go out and heal and teach in his name. There is a lot of work to be done and they are going to be the ones to do the real hard work of sharing it after he is gone.

We see that they struggle with that throughout the gospels but we also see in the second half of our text that they are unable to cast out a demon and Jesus has to do it instead. Their work is more than just being the disciples of Jesus but about going out into the world after he is gone. That’s the second part I really wanted us to focus in on today. This whole idea of listening is more than just learning. Jesus’ passion predictions are obviously about his sacrifice and what it means for the world, but it’s also a call to the disciples that WORK is needed. All this preparation is for the sake fo the world not just for them to become more intellectual and spiritual about their relationship with God, but about being the ones to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world.

The transfiguration is an incredible moment in the life of the disciples and a beautiful story about Jesus, and it is a reminder that Jesus represents so much about God and how God relates to people. How Jesus relates to, and represents everything about Moses and Elijah and that there is so much we could learn about Jesus by listening and learning about them. That their lives and stories of faith are represented and reflected in Jesus and that Jesus reflects their stories in the world. It shows just how massive and long God has been at work to bring about salvation and an everlasting relationship for us.

Listen to him! Don’t just build booths, don’t just sit in awe. Listen and act. Pay attention to what it all means and go out into the world and heal it. Go out into the world and be the hands and feet of Jesus so that we can show we listened and heard the message. So that we can live out the grace that has been shown to us. I believe that the greatest gift we can give God for giving us the greatest gift of live everlasting through God’s Son, is to share that message, share stories like the Transfiguration so that people can know just how much God has done for this world and continues to do this world by transforming lives changing them from ordinary to dazzling. For God has done great things and will continue to change our world and us, so that we may all know and experience the meaning of life with him. Amen.