The Transfiguration of Jesus: Beauty, Meaning, a Source of Strength

Good morning! Here we are: standing on the cusp of World War III, apparently. Now I love the lectionary. But as I approached writing this sermon, I was struck by one difficulty using a lectionary presents. Sometimes, something major happens in the world or in the community and the lectionary or the church calendar just doesn’t seem to match. It’s hard to celebrate a major church holiday when major suffering and injustice has broken out somewhere and the eyes of the world are focused there. So how could the transfiguration of Jesus speak into our lives? One thing I love about Christianity is that it’s not irrationally triumphalistic. There is always something to celebrate, something to be grateful about. And that’s partly because the good news of Jesus is made better by the bad news that comes before it. And so we’ll get to Easter, but we get there through Good Friday. The joy of Christianity happens in a fallen world. The good news of Jesus gives beauty to our sorrows and the suffering of Jesus infuses our celebration with greater meaning. The transfiguration isn’t just a moment to celebrate. It’s a moment that gives clarity to the rest of Scripture and also to our lives. So we might look at this event and ask us with the rest of 21st century North Americans, “Is this useful? What can I use this for?” And even though that’s the wrong question to ask of the transfiguration, God graciously adds to the beauty and meaning of that moment and gives us some practical things to take away. So I’m going to be asking three questions this morning. The first is what does the transfiguration tell us about God? The second is what does the transfigutation tell us about our salvation? And last we’ll ask what does the transfiguration tell us about our us? So first, what does the transfiguration tell us about God?

What the transfiguation tell us about God

At the moment of the transfiguration, something about Jesus is revealed. In that moment, Jesus doesn’t perform a sign or a miracle, he IS the sign and the miracle. What is he the sign of? He’s revealed a true picture of who he really is, a picture of his divinity. From the transfiguration onward, the appearance of the incarnate, human Jesus can be seen as an icon, a symbol or window into the spiritual reality he represents. The human Jesus is shown to be the divine Son of God. Anything that this person does, God himself is doing. And that point will become extremely important as we unpack what the transfiguration means for salvation and for us. But before we go there, let’s look a bit deeper at what the transfiguration says about God.

God the Father speaks at the transfiguration. “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him!” God the Father himself is backing Jesus’ ministry. When we reflect on the transfiguration, we should see a link back to Jesus’ baptism, when the voice of the Father affirms Jesus and his ministry. But here, we see a reaffirmation of Jesus, that God wasn’t kidding at his baptism. We see the proof on Jesus’ transformed face. Everything that the earthly Jesus has done up to this point has been done by the divine Jesus.

And just as God’s appearance at Jesus’ baptism commissioned his ministry, God’s appearance at the transfiguration propels Jesus into the final act of his earthly ministry, blessing and affirming Jesus’ long road back to Jerusalem, and ultimately, the cross.

What else does the transfiguration tell us about God, and specifically God the Son? We see the quintessential representative of the Law, Moses, and of the Prophets, Elijah, serving as witnesses to Jesus’ glory. We’re also told that they were speaking. I would buy tickets to that lecture. So there’s a picture of all of Scripture, the law and the prophets, all of salvation history up to that point, bearing witness to Jesus’ glory and receiving the Father’s words affirming him as the Chosen one and the Son of God.

Also, Moses is finally in the promised land, so we’re happy for him that he finally made it.

What else do we see about Jesus in this moment? We get a true picture of Jesus in his glory, and that means that we get a glimpse of the resurrected, ascended Jesus. So we’re getting a picture of God’s kingdom in the past with Moses and Elijah, but also the future where Jesus is glorified. So the transfiguration is a unique apocalyptic moment caught up in eternity, it might be right to call it a microcosm of all eternity, and it’s rightly pointing to Jesus. With the Father and the Holy Spirit, we see at the transfiguration all glory to the SON, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Well, after you infer that an event is a microcosm of all eternity, what more can you really say? Well, there is more. Let’s look at what the transfiguration tells us about salvation.

What the transfiguration tells us about salvation

The moment of the transfiguration happened when Jesus was the furthest point on the map from Jerusalem he had been. And from this point on, Jesus moves toward the triumphal entry and the Cross. The transfiguration gives new light to who that man is. When Peter, John, and James watch Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, they know that it was the same person they saw transfigured who was sitting there. And when he’s betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, it was that divine person who was betrayed. And when he was nailed to a Roman cross, it was that man who was tortured. And that means that they knew when these things were happening that that man, Jesus, wasn’t merely the unfortunate victim of Roman oppression. He wasn’t a misguided rogue religious teacher. The person nailed to that cross was much, much more, someone bridging time and eternity, attested to by the living Moses and Elijah, and God the Father himself. Someone with a wholly other state of being and divine power behind him. The person who is about to begin his journey toward the Cross only goes there knowing exactly what he is doing and moves with intention. That means that he’s going in order to accomplish something of real substance. A man, a being like the transfigured Jesus isn’t trapped into anything, isn’t the victim of anything unless he has a purpose in mind, and if a being like that moves with purpose, it is by DEFINITION great. So a transfigured Jesus crucified means that the crucifixion accomplished something important. When THAT man dies for your sins, it accomplishes something real. If sins can be covered by a sacrificial death, that death, that sacrifice is the one that can do it and did do it. So the transfiguration is important for apprehending something about our salvation.

What the transfiguration tells us about us

Finally, what about us? What about our lives, our time in this world? What does the transfigurationtell us about us?

When the transfiguration moment ends, the disciples are left with this human Jesus, who’d they’d been walking with, sharing meals with, learning from, probably even joking with, and they’d been given a glimpse of the spiritual reality of who he is. And so have we. Now what do we do with that? What’s the right response?

Apparently, if we’re not building tents, we’re doing OK. The Gospel writers dismissed Peter’s response. And maybe that’s because we need to suspend the instinct to do something, anything, when we learn something exciting about the things of God. It is probably best to take a moment and be still in the presence of God and reflect. If you’re a to-do list person, and you have to put something on the list, add that one. And we can always pray. I was going to start with this one, but I think any shifting to broadcast mode robs us of the beauty of the truth before us. So yes, pray, but before that, be still and reflect on the beauty and significance of the transfiguration and your time in prayer will be richer because of it.

So should we be thinking about our own transfiguration? Do we make the step from Jesus’ transfiguration and talk about how we can experience our own transfiguration? Yeah, probably. But I think there’s something more useful to us than seeing Jesus’ transfiguration as making a way for us to be transformed. I think that inasmuch as the transfiguration shows us the resurrection, it’s helpful for thinking about our changed lives. What really makes that possible is the resurrection. So yes, a picture of change, a picture of the spiritual reality informing everything happening is helpful. I don’t want to be too quick to discount that. But we need to be careful not to make the transfiguration do the work of the resurrection which truly makes a new life really possible.

The thing that’s the most helpful for us when looking at the transfiguration is the picture of Jesus in his glory, of who it is that’s on our side and is walking with us. When we lift our eyes up to the mountains with the psalmist for where our help will come from, we have an answer in the transfiguration. When we find ourselves in a desparate moment we have access to help, to communion, to peace that passes understanding, because the transfigured Jesus is the one who offers it. Yes, Jesus is our friend, and friendship is a valuable thing, as many of us have discovered over the trials of the last 2 years. But this friend is the source of all being. He holds your molecules together. He is inside and outside of time. And he died a shameful death for our ugliest sins so that we would never experience that shame before God. Because of Jesus’ transfiguration, he shows his sacrifice to be greater, our debt to him is greater, and his friendship is more valuable because at the transfiguration, we see him more clearly, we see him for who he is. And the more clearly we see Jesus, the more valuable he will become to us. So, I invite you to prayerfully reflect on the transfiguration this week, to see something more of the greatness of the Son of God, and then as you find yourself in need, when you call on him for help, you can call on him with the confidence that he is in control and he is with you in your distress. That strength and that help is available to Christians everywhere, whether you’re at home, or in a hospital room, or here in Bellingham, WA, or in far away in the Ukraine. The Jesus of the transfiguration is available to you, is near to those who call on him, so be at peace in his presence, today and always.