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Sermon for Transfiguration
Isaiah 61:10-11 + 2 Peter 1:16-21 + Matthew 17:1-9
You heard the words today describing the majesty of Jesus as He was transfigured before Peter, James and John on that mountain in Israel. You weren’t there. You didn’t see it. But Peter was there. He saw it. He saw Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. He heard the Father’s voice from the bright cloud. And then, after Jesus rose from the dead, Peter revealed what he and the others saw, just as Jesus told him to do. You heard Peter’s words in the Epistle: We were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
You weren’t there. You didn’t see it. But it doesn’t matter one little bit. Because the words you are hearing right now that describe Jesus’ transfiguration are the Holy Spirit’s words. The image that these words paint for you are the Holy Spirit’s portrait and the truth of Jesus’ majesty and divinity is being etched into your heart by the same Holy Spirit. Today, through the Spirit’s words, you behold the majesty of Christ.
We learn from the Spirit’s words that Jesus’ transfiguration took place about a week after another key event in the ministry of Christ. It was at that time that Peter confessed to Jesus, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. It was at the same time that Jesus promised to build His Church on the ministry of that confession, and that the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. And, it was at the same time that Jesus began to show His disciples that He, the Christ, the Son of the living God, had to suffer, and die, and rise again from the dead, at which point Peter rebuked Jesus, at which point Jesus said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan!” And then Jesus revealed to His disciples that He, and they, and anyone who wants to follow Him, first has to bear the cross and suffer on this earth before finally being vindicated and glorified.
Now, you know—you have heard—where things went from there, how Jesus was crucified and died and rose again, how the Church has been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief Cornerstone. But all of that was still in the future for the apostles. All of that was still unknown, unseen, still hidden. So Jesus grants a few of them a special vision so that, later on, they could reflect back on it and understand, and so that they could reveal it to us.
First, the transfiguration itself, the changing of the figure of Jesus from that of an ordinary man to the brilliantly shining face and the dazzling white clothing that you would expect God Himself to have, if you could see God. And that’s just the point. God the Father makes it crystal clear in the transfiguration that this seemingly ordinary Man Jesus actually shares in the divine glory and majesty of the Father. As if all the miracles and other signs hadn’t been enough, Jesus is manifested here as the glorious Son of God.
Actually God has been depicted this way once before in Holy Scripture. In the book of Daniel, chapter 7, this is what Daniel saw in his vision of God: “I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool.” That part of the vision was about God the Father, even though it sounds a lot like how Jesus is described in His transfiguration, doesn’t it? Then Daniel says this: I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed. That term, “Son of Man,” was Jesus’ favorite title for Himself. This is what the three disciples were seeing, Jesus revealed as the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the One at whose name every knee should bow, as the apostle Paul would later write. This is the One through whose name alone we must be saved.
The majesty of Christ is also revealed in the holy conversation He was having with the two great prophets, Moses and Elijah. What’s this all about? Well, God wanted Peter, James, and John, and us, to see that Jesus has the approval of the Old Testament. That’s important. Jesus did not come to set up a new religion, but to fulfill the true religion of the Jews, which, itself, was the continuation of the true religion begun in Eden. Everything about Jesus, from His birth to His preaching and miracles, to His suffering, death and resurrection—all of it was prophesied ahead of time. All was going according to plan.
And it makes sense that Moses was there. As we saw just last week, Jesus came to be a Prophet like Moses, but better. Moses was the deliverer prophet who led God’s people out of slavery to the promised land, and then died. Jesus would be the great Deliverer prophet, who would die. And by His death, all who believe in Him are saved from the slavery to sin, death, and the devil.
And it makes sense that Elijah was there. He was the persecuted prophet, who once raised the dead, the prophet who never died, but ascended to heaven still very much alive. So Jesus would be persecuted from now on, despised by the leadership of His people. He had raised the dead already and would raise the dead again. And He Himself would be raised from the dead and would ascend to heaven, like Elijah, very much alive.
And then the greatest glory, the greatest sign of majesty in Jesus, is the voice of God the Father that spoke from the brilliant cloud: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. This is, of course, the second time the Father has spoken those words over Jesus, the first time being at Jesus’ baptism. But those words are also connected to Old Testament words. Already in the second Psalm, this is what God says about the Christ, the Anointed One: You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. And in Isaiah 42 God says about the coming Christ, Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! That is, “in whom I am well pleased.” All of the Old Testament was pointing to Jesus: His life, His death, His resurrection. And God the Father has “set His seal on Him,” as Jesus Himself once put it.
That’s why it’s foolish to imagine that you can believe in God without believing in Jesus. God is only pleased in Jesus—in Jesus and in those who are found clinging to Jesus by faith, bound to Jesus by baptism, eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus in the Sacrament. Those who trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins have God the Father’s approval. Those who will not repent and believe in Jesus have only the Father’s wrath.
Now, why hide all this glory and majesty from the rest of the world? Why only reveal it to these three believing disciples on the mountain? Because faith must not rely on sight, or else it isn’t faith. Faith must rely on things unseen. Faith must come from the Word of God alone! All of this majesty that was revealed in Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration was building up to this one command from God the Father: Hear Him! Hear Him! God commands us to hear His Son. It is not optional. This is the Father’s will, that you should hear the voice of His Son, and believe Him, and do what He says, in all things.
You don’t hear Jesus directly since He ascended into heaven. You hear Him through the ministry of His Word, through the mouth of those whom He has sent to preach and teach His Gospel. Jesus said to His apostles, “He who hears you hears Me.” That means you are to hear the preaching of the Word of Christ, and not despise it, and not find better things to do when His Word is being preached. Hear Him!
When Jesus gives His Church’s ordained teachers the authority to forgive and retain sins, hear Him! And believe the Word of God spoken by His ministers, both when they absolve, and when they excommunicate.
When He says that He will die and when He says that He will rise again on the third day, oh, Peter, James and John, hear Him and don’t doubt. And you who hear Him today, know that Jesus died for your sins and was raised to life for your justification.
When He says This is My body, this is My blood, hear Him, and don’t doubt the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament. But instead, when He says, “This do in remembrance of Me,” hear Him and receive His Sacrament often.
When He promises His Holy Spirit, when He calls you to repent, to believe, and to walk as children of the light, in faith toward God and in love toward your neighbor, hear Him!
When He says that He will come again and call His sleeping children from their graves and take them to be where He is forever, hear Him!
You weren’t there with Peter, James and John on the Mt. of Transfiguration. You didn’t see what they saw. But that’s OK, because you have heard what they heard, and that’s all that matters. No matter what your eyes see, no matter what your reason tells you, no matter how much your flesh complains, hear the Word of Jesus again today and believe what He says. Then you won’t be afraid when the cross comes and you suffer for the name of Jesus. Because the One whose glory was revealed on the mountain still reigns at the right hand of God. And soon He will share His glory with you, even as you now share in His sufferings. Amen.
