The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Last Sunday After the Epiphany
January 17, 2016
Matthew
17:1–9
First, we must come to terms with which Jesus you
are going to seek. The one Peter thought was great was the one shining brightly
and gloriously. The one in holy conversation with the great prophets of old,
Moses and Elijah. The one who took no small effort to bring them up a high
mountain. The one who obviously wanted them to share in the splendor that is
Jesus Christ; radiant, brilliant.
Yes, this is the Jesus Peter chose. There was only
one Jesus for him, and it was not the one who had led them up the mountain. It
was the one who was revealing Himself in His true glory now that He was on the mountain.
This is the Jesus Peter wanted. It’s too bad the other apostles wouldn’t get to
see it, but, Jesus, let’s hang out together here for, oh, forever, just us
three with you and Moses and Elijah. It’s perfect. The Jesus who shows Himself
for who He really is.
But Jesus tips His hand at the end. Don’t tell
anyone about this until later. This was a glimpse. This wasn’t what was meant
to be here in this life. So He brought them again down the mountain and He went
back to being ordinary-looking Jesus. The Jesus who looked and talked like they
did. Sure, He was still healing and preaching, but nothing could compare with that
glorious sight on the mountain. That’s the Jesus Peter wanted.
Which would you rather have, the Jesus who is around
you all the time, looking a lot like He’s part of the crowd, or the Jesus who
will take you from the ordinariness of life and reveal Himself to you in all
His splendor? Up on the mountain, there were no problems. Just magnificent Jesus
with Moses and Elijah and brilliant radiance. Of course Peter wanted to stay.
But Jesus wasn’t transfigured to show us who He
‘really’ is. This was a glimpse. Jesus was transfigured for another reason,
which we’ll get to in a moment. The Jesus we want is the Jesus we don’t need.
The Jesus we need is the one we can become apathetic to. So when you come to
terms with which Jesus you are going to seek, seek the one He shows you, not
the one you think you want. When He shows you His glory, His transcendence, His
majesty, don’t be deceived. He’s not showing you what you need. He’s showing
you what eventually will be.
The only way you get the Jesus you think you want
is the through the Jesus who went up another mountain, this time with no
disciples. This time not in holy conversation with Moses and Elijah but in
suffering punishment with two criminals. This time His clothing is not shining
brightly in brilliant white, but tattered and torn, bloody and filthy. This
time His face is not shining like the sun but is bruised and cut and bleeding.
This time His Heavenly Father is not
speaking to everyone of His beloved Son but is forsaking His only Son. This
time there is no one there to say, let’s stay here, this is the place to be,
this is what we need. This time He is there on the mountain, alone, suffering
not His own punishment, but ours. Not displaying glory and radiance as we would
like, but grace and mercy and eternal love as we truly need.
If you seek Jesus, as Peter did, then don’t look in
the wrong place. Jesus brought them back down the mountain and told them not to
say anything until after He died and rose. This is the Jesus we need and so
ought to seek. The one who went to the cross. There is only one Jesus and if
you would like what He gives and does, don’t seek Him in ways He doesn’t come
to you. He comes not in glory but in humility. The Jesus who is God in the
flesh is the one who actually came in the flesh as a baby. The Jesus who is the
glorious Lord displayed His greatest glory in speaking on the cross, “Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Let these words sink deep into
your soul.
What does a magnificent display of glory do for
you? But the forgiveness of Christ Himself from the cross does everything for
you that you need. It erases your sins. It restores you to God the Father. It
releases you from the judgment of the Law and the punishment you deserve. It assuages
your guilt. On the Mount of Transfiguration God said, This is My beloved Son,
listen to Him. What better words to listen than these words from the cross,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
This is the Jesus you ought to seek. And once you
do you must come to terms with something else. There is only one Jesus and He
is the one who came to save you in His death and resurrection. There is, then,
only one person you ought to seek. There is only one person you ought to point
others to. Once you see Jesus for who He is, you see that He is the only one
that can give you what you truly need.
Matthew helps us see this when he tells us that on
the mountain Jesus was transfigured and then joined by Moses and Elijah. Moses
and Elijah were prophets who proclaimed Christ. They pointed people to the one
who was to come and now, Matthew is showing us, He was here. They proclaimed
that God would send the Savior, and now, Matthew is helping us see, He was
here.
You see, there is only one. Moses wasn’t it. Elijah
wasn’t it. David, Abraham, no other great patriarch, king, or prophet. Jesus.
He is the only one. God enveloped Peter, James, and John in a cloud, and said,
“This is My beloved Son, listen to Him.” Not to anyone else. Jesus alone. When
the cloud lifted from them and they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus
only. It is Christ who we need. It is Christ in whom there is salvation, no one
else. God the Father sent Him and He is the one we need.
Peter had said that he thought it would be a good
idea to make three tents, one for Jesus, one for Moses, one for Elijah. Nope,
there is only one, and it Jesus. He alone went to the cross. He alone suffered
for the sin of the world. He alone is the beloved Son of the Father. He alone
is the one we are to listen to. He alone is the one we are to point people to. There
is only one. There is only one Jesus and He is the one went to the cross. And
there is only one God who is the Savior, the Triune God who has revealed
Himself most fully and brilliantly in Jesus.
Don’t seek glorious displays from God. Don’t seek
manifestations of power or splendor. Just look to the humble places He reveals
Himself to you. It’s not high on a mountain, but in simple ways like the water
in your Baptism. Like the ordinary words which come from the mouth of a pastor
in pronouncing Absolution. Like the ordinary words that are proclaimed when the
Gospel is proclaimed. Like ordinary bread and wine which Christ gives to you to
give you His flesh and blood. There’s no display of glory or brilliance, just
His body and His blood.
What He gives you to eat and drink is the body Mary
carried in her womb and gave birth to. It is the body, to be sure, that was transfigured
on the mountain. But most especially, it was the body transfigured into a
bloody mess while it hung on the cross and which He gave over to His Father as
the sacrifice for the sin of the world.
What He also gives you in His Holy Supper is His
blood to drink. It is the very same blood that coursed through His veins as He
was growing in His mother’s womb and that kept Him alive while He lived on this
earth. But most especially, it was the blood He shed on the cross for the sin
of the world.
There is only one way to salvation. It is Christ
and Him crucified. There is only one thing you ultimately need, it is Christ.
There is only one God and He has revealed Himself in His beloved Son, the one
who went to the cross and gives you salvation in His doing so. Amen.
SDG
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