The Transfiguration of Jesus

Mark 9:2-9 I want you to picture in your mind’s eye three different mountains.  The first is Mt. Sinai.  There are flashes of lightening at the peak and thunder shakes the ground beneath.  To place a foot upon it is to invite death.  From that mountain is heard the voice of God—calling us to be holy as he is holy, promising life for obedience but death for disobedience in the smallest degree.

Now I want you to picture another mountain—Mt Calvary.  There upon that mountain a rough cross has been planted in the ground.  A man hangs upon that cross, suspended by nails driven into his hands and feet.  There is a crown of thorns above his head.  He has been beaten and misused to such a degree that he is barely recognizable.  He dies there, surrounded by lawbreakers, abandoned by God.

And now I want you to picture the third mountain—the mount of transfiguration.  It is only because of what happens there that we can really understand what happens on the other two.

On the mount of transfiguration stands Jesus Christ with the glory and majesty of Almighty God shining from him.  Moses is there—the same one who stood upon Sinai in God’s presence and received the Law.  Elijah is there representing all those prophets who preached the law and promised a Savior. 

And standing there with them are Peter, James and John—men who knew what it was to fail in keeping God’s commands—men who were hoping in God’s deliverance.  And there above it all was the same cloud of God’s presence that was at Sinai and the same voice that was heard by Moses-- but this time proclaiming Jesus as his beloved Son.

Only here on the mount of transfiguration can we understand what God wanted from all of us at Sinai—that he wanted sons and daughters who would be like him in holiness and righteousness—that he would be like his beloved Son.

It is only here on the mount of transfiguration that we understand Mt. Calvary—that the one who hangs there on that cross surrounded by criminals, forsaken by God, dying that shameful death is absolutely innocent.  It is only here that we understand the depth of God’s love for us, that he would give his Son into death for us.  It is only here that we understand what our salvation cost.  The Bible says that:

After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

            Many years after this event, decades really, Peter wrote to his congregations who were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus and he told them that he and James and John were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ majesty—that they heard the voice of God from the cloud calling Jesus his beloved Son.

            John would say to his congregations:  that which we have seen, that which we have heard, that which our hands have handled this we proclaim to you concerning eternal life. 

That is why the disciples were there that day.  Jesus did not bring them along for his own benefit—so that he could draw attention to himself.  In fact, he did not count equality with God as something that he had to hold on to but made himself nothing. 

Instead, he brought the disciples there that day so that they could see with their eyes and hear with their ears who he really was—so that they could understand what was taking place on the cross—so that they could bear witness to him for the sake of the world’s salvation.

So it is for us that we believe in Jesus through their witness that Jesus was no ordinary man.  Not just a wise teacher or miracle worker or good man—but that he was true God in human flesh.  The Bible says that:

Jesus was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.

            As John began his Gospel he said:  In Jesus was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  Jesus said of himself:  I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness. 

            These are claims that no man can make without blaspheming, unless—unless they are true.  Up to this point the disciples knew Jesus as a good man, a kind man, a powerful man—but still just a man.

The saw him eat and drink.  They heard him pray to his Father and they heard his words of frustration about those who opposed him.  They witnessed his exhaustion at the end of the day.  His feet and hands got dirty just like theirs.

But in this moment when Jesus was transfigured they knew something else about him—that he was not a mere man—but that he was God.  The light that was in the beginning—the light that existed before the heavenly bodies—the light that refused to shine as he died on the cross—the light that will exist at the end which has no need of the sun--shown forth from his human flesh:  God of God, light of light, very God of very God.

This then is who would be rejected by his own people and betrayed by his friends and be put to death on the cross. 

If we were to witness the events of Mt. Calvary apart from the events of the mount of transfiguration we would never understand what happened there.  We might say to ourselves that it is simply one more criminal being put to death and good riddance.  If we heard his words at the cross we might say that, no, he was not a criminal—a good man—but obviously deluded, thinking that he can forgive his enemies and bestow a kingdom even in death. 

But here on the mount of transfiguration we understand that the beaten, broken, dying man of Calvary is God—the God who was there in the beginning—the God through whom the world was created—the God who is life and light and yet dies in darkness—that is who Jesus is as he dies upon the cross of Calvary.

And that changes everything for us.  Now we understand God’s love in a way that we never could without the transfiguration.  Now we understand what it cost God to bring us back into his family.  Now we understand what God had been planning all along from the very first time he promised Adam and Eve that he would send a Savior.  The Bible says that:  There appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

            Even though Moses wasn’t there when the first promise of salvation was made in Eden, he was the one the Holy Spirit inspired to write down the promise God made to Adam and Eve to send a Savior to defeat Stan and destroy his works.  Moses was the one who stood on Mt. Sinai and received God’s law.  He was the one who promised that a greater prophet than he was would come forth to speak God’s Word.

Elijah was perhaps the greatest prophet of God, representative of all the prophets who faithfully spoke God’s word and called the people to repentance and renewed God’s promise of a Savior for each generation.

Elijah and Moses stood with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration as a visible sign that all of the promises of God are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  The words they had written and the prophecies they had made and the miracles they had performed, all of it had but one purpose and that was to reveal God’s salvation in Jesus Christ. 

After Jesus’ resurrection, when he was trying to teach his disciples that his death and resurrection had been God’s plan all along, he told his disciples that the Law and the prophets and the psalms were all written about him. 

And so they were.  When we read the Old Testament we are not reading about something strange or foreign—we are reading about Jesus.  The Bible—Old Testament and New is his story from beginning to end and it was written so that we might believe in Jesus and have life in his name.  The Bible says that:

Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

            This scene on the mount of transfiguration ought to be the goal of every Christian life—to be in the glorious presence of Jesus, united with all the faithful saints of old.  That’s what we all ought to be hoping for and longing for and praying for.  It’s just that Peter got a little bit ahead of himself when he suggested the tents.

The salvation of the world had not yet been accomplished.  Sins had to be atoned for.  Death and the devil needed to be defeated.  That’s why the disciples were terrified—they were in the presence of God as sinners.

But Jesus would go the cross and sins would be taken away and the devil would be defeated and death and the grave would be emptied of its power so that one day we could go to heaven and be in God’s presence and stand before his throne unafraid and unashamed with all the saints who have come before us.  The Bible says that:

A cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”  And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.  And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

            The mount of transfiguration and mount Calvary go together.  What Peter, James and John saw on the mount of transfiguration when the glory of God was revealed in the flesh of Jesus would make no sense to anyone who did not know the story of the cross and the empty tomb.  They would only know it as another demonstration of Jesus’ power.  That’s why Jesus wanted them to wait.

But after he died that horrible death and after he was raised from the dead then those two mountains would be joined together forever in the proclamation of the apostolic church:  that God himself has taken on flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth for the sake of the world’s salvation, died upon a cross to forgive our sins and was raised to give us eternal life.

That is what Jesus Christ has done for us and that is why his word and his ways are no burden or imposition to us.  Why wouldn’t we let his word have the final say in our lives when he has shown such love to us and why wouldn’t we share that with others?

Jesus has been raised.  The day of silence is over.  Now is the time to share that message with the world, that there is peace and hope and forgiveness in Jesus.  Amen.