The Transfiguration of Our Lord, 02/14/2010

Sermon on Luke 9:28-36, by Hubert Beck

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

(English Standard Version)

SEEING THINGS AS THEY ARE IS NOT THE SAME AS

SEEING THINGS AS THEY WERE MEANT TO BE SEEN!

With What Eyes Is Jesus To Be Seen?

It is important to see things as they are. One can neither evaluate a situation nor correct a situation without seeing things as they are.

There are, however, places and times when one sees what things were meant to be, to recognize something in "what is" as being a way to see into that which is so that "what was meant to be" can come into focus.

The miracles of Jesus were something like that. He clearly saw, along with those around him, the sick, the lame, the blind, the demon-possessed. He never denied that those things existed.

They were not "the way things were supposed to be" in God's original creation, however. Therefore in the kingdom of God that was being revealed in Christ they were "corrected" so that those around could see the way things were meant to be. He showed this when he healed the sick, caused the lame to walk and leap, opened the eyes of the blind, cast out the demons holding such a tight grip on those whom they had possessed. It was as though he were saying to those who saw things "as they are" on earth that they were a distortion, a misrepresentation of "what they were meant to be." The replacement of that deformation with a new formation of healing and wholeness took place when the kingdom of God drew near. That kingdom was revealed by the King appearing in their midst - Jesus, the Restorer and Renewer.

We heard Jesus say that very thing only a few Sundays ago when he read from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue worship, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." . . . He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:18-21) In him that which Isaiah had seen as "what was meant to be" had come into their presence as that which they could see before their very eyes.

His words were well received at first, but when he pressed the point, saying that he knew they were thinking: "What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well," they were "filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill. . . so that they could throw him down the cliff." (Luke 4:23-29) Jesus, himself, recognized that "no prophet is acceptable in his hometown." (Luke 4:24)

Who Is This Man?

His fellow townspeople, i.e., could not really comprehend who he was. Those who study Luke's gospel carefully point out that this very question of who Jesus truly was takes place in a mounting fashion as Luke records what was happening prior to the event that holds our attention today. He tells us that shortly after Jesus began gathering his disciples he healed a sick man - but not before he forgave him his sins. The forgiveness he pronounced caused the religious authorities gathered there to ask, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?" insisting that only God can forgive sins! (Luke 5:21) Not long thereafter Jesus calmed a storm when he and the disciples were crossing the lake, and now it was the disciples who asked, "Who then is this, that he commands even winds and waves, and they obey him?" (Luke 8:25) A short time after that Herod heard about Jesus and felt queasy about what he heard. "John I beheaded," Herod said, "but who is this about whom I hear such things?" (Luke 9:9)

Finally Jesus, himself, asks the disciples, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" They tell him that there are varying opinions out there - John the Baptist returned (Herod's fear), Elijah (who Malachi, one of the last Old Testament prophets, had said would come back, bringing renewal to Israel), while others thought he was one of the other prophets in returned form. "But who do you say that I am?" he asks point blank. Peter, undoubtedly speaking for all the disciples, boldly answers, "The Christ of God." (Luke 9:18-20) Jesus accepted that title without hesitation, but orders them to keep it to themselves, saying, undoubtedly to their consternation, but very likely even more to completely blank looks when he said it, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." (Luke 9:21, 22) He follows that with stern words concerning the necessity that they must take up their crosses as they followed him, assuring them that it was in losing their life they would find it and thus be saved. Strange words to their ears, without question - especially when they had just named him "the Christ of God" who, they were sure, was about to restore Israel by freeing it from the clutches of Rome.

He tried to tell them - three times, in fact, according to Luke - that he was set on the way to the cross. Each time "they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying." (Luke 9:45) (See 9:21, 22; 9:44; and 18:31-34) The first of those times occurred before that which we hear in our text, so he had begun to prepare them for what lay ahead even prior to this marvelous transformation of the Jesus that Peter, John and James saw into the "Jesus who was meant to be," the Jesus "hidden" within the body that accompanied them to this mountain to pray.

THE MOUNTAIN EXPERIENCE

A week after his first assertion that he must go to Jerusalem to die, Jesus took Peter, John and James to a mountain where he gave himself to prayer. Then a remarkable transformation took place. Matthew and Mark call it a "transfiguration," but Luke simply says that "the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white." Moses and Elijah suddenly join him "appearing in glory and speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem." His three companions, apparently quite worn out from the ascent, were roused out of a half-sleeping state, saw this incredible vision, but did not know what to make of it. Did they hear the conversation between Jesus, Moses and Elijah or was that conversation strictly among the three? We are not told.

What we are told, however, is this: from this moment on, Jesus' feet were firmly set on the way to Jerusalem and his death. The word for "departure" in Greek is "exodus," which both looked back at what had taken place under Moses' leadership when the people of Israel were freed from physical slavery in Egypt and at the same time looked forward to a new exercise of freeing activity, this time from sin and its ultimate penalty, that would take place on the cross. His earthly ministry was coming to its climax.

It is worthwhile to ask a simple question at this point: Was this moment designed to fortify Jesus for that which lay ahead of him or was it designed to inform the apostles about who this man was and what his true mission was to be? One can make a case either way.

Moses and Elijah bring to mind the way in which the Old Testament was known at the time - the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah). Jesus regularly refers to the scripture of his time in precisely this way, for the Law and the Prophets was the accepted word of authority among all Jews. So the conversation taking place among them must have had something to do with the necessity that he fill full all that God's men of old had said and written, giving the fullest meaning to all that lay at the heart of everything they had said and done. (This is a helpful way to understand the "fulfilling of the scriptures.") The support of Moses and Elijah must have given courage and strength to this Jesus who was conversing with them. They, who also appeared in glory, as the text says, brought the glory of God with them and Jesus was clothed with the same glory they had been enjoying for centuries before this.

On the other hand, this glorious spectacle of grandeur and glory must have done more than merely astonish the disciples. It must have, above all, been instructive, totally clarifying the questions concerning who Jesus was that had, up till now, been so foremost in the minds of all those who had encountered or heard about Jesus. "Who is this man?" If there was any question left in the minds and hearts of these who had only recently said that they believed him to be "The Christ of God," that response was most surely confirmed by the cloud that suddenly overshadowed them and the voice that came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One, listen to him!"

But whether they had heard the conversation - whether they knew that Jesus' journey would now lead to Jerusalem and the cross - we do not know. If they did, its inner meaning was still as unclear as when he had told them the same thing a week earlier, for they still could not speak of it meaningfully. "They kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen." Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus, himself, told them to keep it to themselves, but they probably would not have known what to say even if they had wanted to talk about it. Jesus, in fact, would repeat his intention to suffer, die and be raised again to all the disciples on two more occasions after this, as we have noted, (9:43b, 44 and 18:31-33) "but they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said." (18:34)

So we repeat, was this momentary revelation of his glory, this short time of "seeing things as they were meant to be seen," designed to strengthen the nerve of Jesus as he now turned his feet toward Jerusalem and his redemptive suffering and death, or was it to make it clear to this inner core of his disciples that the man they would now accompany to his death was most certainly the Son of God, his Chosen One, to whom they must listen? As they saw his descent into shame and defamation, into apparent helplessness and ultimately death, it must have tried their confidence that he was who this voice in the cloud said he was to the nth degree. Yet, firmly planted in their minds from this time on, was the "glory" and the "cloud" that so marked the divine presence throughout the entire Old Testament. Need we choose? Perhaps it was for both that this remarkable vision was given! Both certainly needed it, for the journey from this point on was all downhill so far as the human eye could see.

SEEING WHAT WAS MEANT TO BE SEEN

We must press beyond the questions we have been asking, though. Was not this vision of Christ, transformed and transfigured momentarily a few weeks or more before his death, something of a "foretaste" of the glory to be revealed in his resurrection? Was not the cloud that enveloped the top of this mountain but a preview of another cloud that would sweep over the disciples gathered on another mountain when their Master was taken permanently from their sight to return to his proper place at the right hand of God the Father from which he shall return to judge the living and the dead? Do we not sense something here of the divine economy of salvation being set into full motion?

That is why this event is remembered in the calendar of the church only a few days before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season. From here we are being called to descend from this mountain so that we can walk with him and the disciples the via dolorosa, the way of sorrows.

It is ever so tempting to set up three tents, to stretch out this moment of glorious transfiguration, to savor the glory and the glimpse of divine presence in as close to its raw form as is possible for the human eye. "It is good that we are here," Peter said, although, Luke tells us, Peter "did not know what he said." In fact, we are told, they were afraid as they were wrapped in that cloud out of which that voice had spoken, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him."

We, too, must "listen to him." He bids us come with him to another mountain still more terrifying, the one named Golgotha. There the human eye can see nothing more than the awfulness of a gross miscarriage of justice, a meaningless suffering, the grieving of a hopeless mother and a little band of horrified friends, the death of a remarkably good man. Here there was no altered face above dazzling white clothing. Here there was no cloud of glory with a voice coming out of it proclaiming this man the Son of God. Here there was only a face with no form or majesty that we should look at him, a body whose appearance was so marred beyond human semblance that mortal eyes had to turn away from him. (Isaiah 52:13-53:3) Here, to eyes that "see things as they are," there was nothing but a cloud of despair hanging over his head. Here there was only a voice uttered in agony, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" It is to this man that we must listen - but we can hear him speaking to us only if we go with him from this Mount of Transfiguration to the Mount of Calvary.

Moses and Elijah give us the clue to "what is meant to be seen," though! For here the full weight of a world out of kilter, a world at odds with God, is placed upon the shoulders of this man now transfigured into the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Here, those with eyes to see "what was meant to be seen" will find the deepest love of God for a world that is determined to go its own way - and he is calling it back to its originally intended course of loving and serving him. The scene set before our eyes this morning is intended to give us eyes to see what now lies before us "as it was meant to be seen." Those who sleep during this moment will have no way of understanding that which will unfold before our eyes and which will be told to our ears and which will be held before our hearts in the weeks to come.

To listen to this man is to hear those hard words he spoke to all the disciples eight days before his ascent to the Mount of Transfiguration: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." (Luke 9:23, 24) Although it will not be easier to hear and do these words if we stand with Peter, James and John on this mountain today, it will be impossible to hear and do these words "as they were meant to be seen and heard" if we have not recognized this man for who he truly was, if the cloud has not wrapped itself around us, removing all distraction from those words, "This is my Son, my Chosen One, listen to him!"

"Listen to him." The words which he speaks are of such a nature that it reshapes our lives in ways that even we shall never be able to fully recognize just as the words spoken to Moses on Mt. Sinai made his face to shine even though he did not know it until Aaron and the people of Israel told him what they saw. Those words were joined to the waters of our baptism in which we lost our lives as they were gathered up into the death of Christ, whose resurrected life became the spring of new lives within us which we celebrate with the rise of the sun every day, making the sign of the cross over our hearts in token that we do not claim our lives for ourselves. They belong to the man of the cross. Those words are joined to bread and wine, showering grace upon us when we are overwhelmed with our sinfulness, strengthening us when we are weak, nourishing us when we are called to follow the one who loves us into the ways of loving others.

"Listen to him" - and then "Go with him." This, after all, is what it means to come down from this mountain - to remember the glory, the words, the ecstasy of having stood in the presence of the living God - and out of that memory to transform this moment into a way of living that shows the world who "sees what is" that there is more to life than seeing what can be seen. There is a world "that was meant to be" - and, indeed, is already! It is found in Jesus, God's Son, the Chosen One, he who has performed the miracle of sending his Spirit to take hold of you and me, sinners all, making of us a small but very real vision of "what is meant to be" squarely in the middle of "what is"!

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lutheran Pastor, Retired Hubert Beck

E-Mail: hbeck@austin.rr.com

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