Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the ninth chapter of the Gospel according to Mark:
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And 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. And 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.
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
This Transfiguration Day, the last day of the season of Epiphany, we begin to prepare ourselves for our journey through Lent. And in this journey, we shall be penitent. If we are not, we do not understand the season well. We shall be penitent, for this time has been set aside for us to look upon the cross and see what our sin has wrought for our Savior. Our sin has put Him to death upon the cursed tree, and we should even yet repent of that.
But, we do not despair in our penitence. We should not be so introspective and so pious that our sin and the cost of that sin causes us to doubt in our salvation, the very salvation won for us on the cross. Glorious Day! Jesus is dead! There, and only there, and in that way, and only that way, salvation is won for you and for all humanity. Your sin put Jesus on the cross, yes, and so did mine, and so did the whole world’s, but it is only through Christ’s death that payment is made for sin, and only through that death are you welcomed to eternal life. For if there is eternal life, it is found in the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and that promise He has given even to you.
But what does that have to do with this day? This day, you may have noticed, we have sung many Alleluias and we will sing many more. This day, when we are done, the alleluias go into a box and do not come out for seven weeks. This day, we see a glimpse of the glory of God shining in and through Jesus Christ, and we cry out Alleluia! We cannot help ourselves. But, soon, alleluia will be too much. We will not see Jesus as the God-man that we know He is, but we will only see Him as the man, the weak man, the man made of flesh and bone and sinew, who will hang naked upon the cross. Alleluia is too much for that grand day.
Hosanna, perhaps. Save us now. Perhaps, a forgive us, Lord. Alleluia, though, is too much for Lent. That’s why we prepare ourselves today. We see our Lord transfigured in today’s text and we cry out Alleluia! We see His divinity shining forth through Him, even changing His clothes, and we cry out Alleluia!
That’s better than Peter. Peter decided to open his terrified little mouth and say something that was just idiotic. Imagine saying to a master plumber you called to your house, “No worries, I’ll get the pipes and you just chill.” Peter says to the Master Carpenter, let us build YOU three tabernacles, three places of dwelling.
If the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to build Himself a house upon the mountain, He would have. Moses and Elijah, both who are dead, need no home, for their rest is in God Himself. They have no need to dwell on earth, but are only there to speak with our Lord about His coming exodus, His coming death upon that hill in Jerusalem. They aren’t sticking around.
And Jesus isn’t staying on the mountain either. He doesn’t need to dwell there. He’s going to be high up soon enough, but it won’t be because He climbed a mountain. It’ll be because He is nailed and tied to a cross which is lifted up for all people to see. And that doesn’t beg an Alleluia, it requires the quiet whisper, Surely, this man is the Son of God.
That’s what the Transfiguration is all about. We see the glory of the Lord shining in and through Jesus. We hear one of the only places that God the Father speaks, and He points to His Beloved Son. We see bright lights, brighter than the sun. We see white clothes, shinier than bleach. We see Jesus only.
And that’s the point. Jesus only. Because the glory of Jesus, well, it doesn’t really, really look like a bright, shining action figure. It looks like a dead man on a tree. That’s glory. When Jesus is high and lifted up, it looks like the cross, lifted high up into the air. And because Jesus went to the cross, the Father highly exalted Him. Jesus went to the cross for you. He died for you. He went into the grave for you and for all of your sins. And there, the Father was greatly pleased with His sacrifice and so raised Him out of the grave, exalting Him and all that He his and all that He has, and that means that you, too, are exalted to the high places in Christ Jesus.
Now, our Lord reigns from on high for you. He ascended into heaven, and we cry Alleluia! And He will come back from heaven, bringing it with Him, and we shall shout Alleluia! And we will be brought up out of our graves with a shout and cry of the angel. And I’m guessing he is going to be shouting Alleluia, too! Praise the Lord. That’s what Alleluia means. Praise the Lord. Praise Yahweh. Praise Jesus. Praise our God. Praise Him for all He’s done.
And we see that in the Transfiguration because Jesus doesn’t hide any of His divinity from His apostles. We see all that Jesus is and all of who He is. We see the Lord for all that He has been promised to be for us, and we give thanks and praise. But this isn’t the end of Jesus’ story. It’s here for us to see that He is both God and Man. It’s here to show us that He is everything He always promised His disciples. It’s here to show us that Jesus is for us in every way.
But it’s here for us to lead us to the cross, where there we see the naked glory of Jesus. Stripped down, beaten, flogged, bloody, crowned with thorns, given sour wine, pierced, nailed, mocked, whipped. That’s what the glory of God looks like. It doesn’t look like we would expect, but the glory of God is not lightness and being. The glory of God is Christ and Him crucified, what Paul always and only endeavored to preach, and what we do, too. Christ crucified for you. Not Christ transfigured for you. Again, the Transfiguration is good, but it is not the end, it’s not the goal of Christ. His goal, His mission, is to come and save sinners.
And so He did. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Son of Mary, died for your sins, whether you feel far or near to Him. And just as His divinity hid behind the flesh that He inherited from His mother, so does He seem hidden today in His Word of Absolution for you. So does He seem hidden in the invocation of our Baptisms. So, too, does He seem hidden in the bread and wine today.
Yet, in all these things, Jesus is here and He is for you. He hides not His forgiveness from you. It is here, and it for you. The Absolution is for you. Baptism is for you. The Lord’s Supper is for you. He is the God-man, He is the transfigured one, He is Christ and He is crucified and risen for you for the forgiveness of your sins and the promise of everlasting life with Him. He is the Beloved Son, and we listen to Him whenever He speaks His words of forgiveness and strength. They are here for you, today and always, because they are the Lord’s gifts, the gifts won for you by this good God-man, this transfigured Christ, the crucified and risen one. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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