2 Peter 1.16–21 + Matthew 17.1–9
The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus takes three of His disciples—Peter, James, and John—up a high mountain, and there He was transfigured before them. His face shone with brightness like the sun. He clothes became white a light itself. In that moment, Jesus revealed His divine glory and brilliance, allowing it to shine through His human nature. He has always had this glory as the only begotten Son of God the Father. From the moment of His conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary, this glory has been rightly His. But until this moment He had concealed it under the weakness of human flesh, revealing brief glimpses of His divine glory in each of His miracles. But in that moment, Jesus allows these three disciples see the brightness of His glory, that He is God of God, Light from light, very God from very God in human flesh.
They also see two men with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Moses the Lawgiver, the one who traversed Sinai’s heights, received God’s law of Israel, and spoke with God face to face as a man speaks to his friend (Ex 33:11), stands before them. He had died fourteen centuries before. God Himself had buried Moses in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor, and no one knows his grave to this day, except the one whom buried him (Dt 34:6). The other is Elijah the Tishbite, the great prophet of the ninth century who confronted kings with God’s condemnation and turned Israel from the worship of Baal. He had not tasted death. He was carried to heaven in a chariot of fire in the middle of ninth century B.C. St. Luke tells us that these two departed saints “appeared in glory and spoke of His departure—literally, “His exodus”—which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Lk 9:31).
Peter speaks up, “Lord, is it good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But Christ did not wish it. For as glorious as the vision is, it is not to last—not yet anyway. A bright cloud envelopes them and a voice comes from the cloud—the same voice that rang out from heaven at Jesus’ baptism—saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him.” The disciples drop to the ground in fear, at the sound of God the Father’s voice, just as Israel had feared when God spoke to them from Sinai to give them the Ten Commandments. Afterwards, Israel told Moses, so that they told Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Ex 20:19).
Jesus rouses them. He was in fear of God the Father’s voice because He is God the Father’s only begotten Son. He touched them and spoke gospel words to them, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” Not because the cloud and voice are gone, but because for the Father Himself loves them, because they have loved Jesus, and have believed that He came forth from God (Jn 16:27). As they make the trek down the mountain, Jesus commands them not to tell anyone the vision until after His resurrection from the dead. But you know they were thinking about it, pondering the vision in their hearts, treasuring it, and asking what it meant, so that when the day came that they could tell others, those who heard of it, through the apostles’ preaching, through Matthew’s gospel, and through Peter’s own witness in his epistle, may think about it, ponder it, and ask what it means for all who believe.
What did Jesus teach these three disciples? What does He teach all who hear about this vision? He teaches them who He is. We have seen glimpses of Christ’s glory throughout the Epiphany season. He’s been microdosing us. But today, on this final Sunday in Epiphany, He shows us the fullness of His glory as the only begotten Son of God. His conversation with Moses and Elijah about His departure in Jerusalem shows that the Law and the Prophets—the entire Old Testament—speaks to Him and His work that He will accomplish on the cross, the gifts He will earn, and how He will give the blessings He earns to all who believe in Him. And in the voice from heaven, God the Father shows us these same things. The one who shines with divine glory is God’s beloved Son, and God the Father is pleased with Jesus, His teaching, His work, because Jesus’ teaching is God’s teaching. Jesus works are God’s works that He has sent His Son to do. Because He is God’s only begotten Son, who perfectly reveals His Father’s grace and truth, His goodness and teaching, they are to hear Him. If they want to hear God’s teaching, the true interpretation of Moses and Elijah, they are to hear Him.
Christ also taught these three disciples—and all who would believe their testimony—about their future, for the Transfiguration is a glimpse of the glory of which all believers are made coheirs. The Transfiguration is a picture of life everlasting. Just as Jesus did not shed the human nature He assumed in the incarnation, but His flesh was deified through the incarnation (though still remaining human nature), so it will be for all who believe in Christ. On the Last Day when Christ raises the dead, St. Paul tells us that Christ will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (Php 3:21). He writes, “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (1 Co 15:52–53). What this looks like is beyond our comprehension and even imagination. But St. John tells us, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 Jn 3:2). Not only will we be glorified as He is glorified, but we will enjoy the company of all the saints, engaging with each other in holy conversation. Rather than tabernacles—temporary dwellings—there will the many mansions in which we shall dwell with the Lord in perfect peace, in Godly glory, forever rejoicing that it is good for us to be there with the Lord.
The glory He shows us today is our future. But the path to that glory is the cross. This is why the three disciples were commanded, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.” Six days before His transfiguration, Jesus began to show them that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Mt 16:21). He must suffer, die, and be raised from the dead on the third day. Then, and only then, will He lay aside the weakness of the human nature and enter into His glory. He was also very clear that the cross—suffering specifically for Christ’s sake—must come before the disciples enter into His glory as well. After all, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Mt 10:24). He told them, six days before His transfiguration, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Mt 16:24–25).
To enter into Christ’s glory, you must share His cross. You must deny yourself, daily putting to death the sinful flesh’s desires and passions. You must patiently bear whatever cross God lays on you for the sake of hearing Christ and confessing His true doctrine. It may be being mocked by family. It may be being oppressed by the world’s wickedness at work while remaining faithful to Christ. For some of you it means driving past more conveniently located church buildings to this one where you hear God’s Word taught in its truth and purity. For all of us here it has meant severing communion with loved ones who prioritize worldly concerns over the truth of God’s word. The cross—however it comes to us—must be born patiently. Taking up the cross God lays upon us kills our sinful flesh and conforms us more to the image of Christ. Taking up the cross God lays upon us also confess the truth to those around us, to encourage them to the same, or as a witness against them on at the Final Judgment if they do not believe. But what comes from taking up our cross and following Christ isn’t really up to us, nor should it really concern us. What should concern us is daily denying our sinful flesh, taking up the cross God assigns us, and bearing our crosses as Christ bore His.
Christ showed Peter, James, and John the vision of His divine glory to encourage them; to encourage them in their faith that He truly is the Son of the Living God; to encourage them that He is the One whom they should hear and believe; and to courage them to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. Christ had these three men witness His transfiguration so that they might bear witness about it to you, so that you might be encouraged in the same. Christ’s glory you hear described today is the future of all who persevere unto the end in faith. His cross is the path. Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow Him, and He will bring you to this glorious inheritance. Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
