St Matthew 17:1-9/2 Peter 1:16-21/Exodus 34:29-35
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
It is called a “Feast” of the Church year. And indeed it is. The transfiguration of our Lord is a feast for the eyes and for the ears. What the eyes see is marvelous: Jesus, suddenly metamorphisized; His face shining like the helios, the sun; His clothing dazzling white! The Light of Light begotten casts the bright beams of His glory upon us.
What the ears hear is equally amazing: the Father’s voice proclaiming this glorified and shining Man to be His beloved Son. And that addition that was not preached at His baptism – Listen to Him! Heed His Word, for it creates and sustains faith, it gives life, it rescues from death and hell. This is a wonderful sermon the Father preaches! And Moses and Elijah, the Lawgiver and the Prophet, testify to His glory as the Only begotten Son of the Father. Do you think it an overstatement that all of Scripture proclaims Christ?
We must be clear about something: Jesus did not get another body atop the mountain. It was His same Body, the very flesh that He received from the womb of His virgin Mother. It is that Body that shone like the sun. Not reflected light as Moses’ face; but this is the uncreated Light – the Light that was with God in the beginning; the Light that is the life of men. This is important to remember to know the fullest joy of this day.
Because what Peter, James and John witness, what they saw on the mountain, eyewitness of His majesty, Peter writes, was a glimpse of their own future – and yours, too. Beloved, wrote St John to the baptized, we are God’s children now; and what we will be has not yet been revealed; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because He shall see Him as He is (1 Jn 3:2). When Christ who is your Life is revealed, writes St Paul, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Col 3:4).
At the Second Coming of Jesus, all who have lived and died trusting in Him will be raised in bodies that will be like His, shining in glory. This is exactly what the angel told the prophet Daniel about the Last Day when those asleep in the dust of the earth awake – some to shame and everlasting contempt, but some to everlasting glory: Those that are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above (Dan 12:3).
So on the mountain Jesus gives the favored three, and you through their eyewitness, a glimpse of what His finished work in you will look like. It was a vision meant to comfort and sustain them; to remind them of what Jesus was about to do was necessary. Tell the vision to no one, He command, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead. He must first die. He leaves this mountain for another: Mount Calvary. The place of glory for the Place of the Skull.
But if the vision of the Mount of Transfiguration reveals what Jesus desires to accomplish in us, it is Calvary that reveals how He does it. He will lift you to His glory by entering into your shame. He will clothe you in His brightness by letting His Father clothe Him with your sin. He will reconcile you to the Father, as beloved sons and daughters, by being forsaken by Him. On that mountain the Father’s voice did not speak; but rather, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
But having accomplished the Father’s will, having suffered and died for you, He was raised to life again; clothed once more in the divine glory that is His from eternity, and in His mercy and love for you, has given you to share with Him. Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead. First suffering. Then glory. First the Cross and death. Then the Resurrection and Life. You are given this same pattern of God’s work in your own life.
Beloved, your moment of transfiguration has already occurred. It happened on the day of your Baptism, when you were clothed with Christ. There, like Moses, you met God face to face. And that is the day the Father looked upon you and said, “This is My Child! This is the one I love and in whom I am delighted!”
What does the Baptismal liturgy say? “Receive this white garment to show that you have been clothed with the robe of Christ’s righteousness that covers all your sin. So shall you stand without fear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the inheritance prepared for you from before the foundation of the earth” (LSB 271).
Here at St Peter’s we only give a little white napkin. The Early Christian Church actually placed a full robe on the newly baptized. Some churches still do that. As with everything in the liturgy, it teaches. Nothing is superfluous. It is a confession that by Baptism into Jesus’ death your life is headed for the everlasting glory revealed on the mountain. It is written, As many of you as were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.
Peter was right when he spoke, It is good Lord that we are here. Indeed it is good, eternally good. But he was wrong to want to build three tents; for there is only One tent – the flesh and blood of Jesus, in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells. And through Holy Baptism you are called His Body!
But we are given only a glimpse here. A brief moment meant to comfort us for the journey ahead. For after the transfiguration comes the journey to the other Mount. The journey toward death. The final glorification of our bodies does not happened without death – except for those who are alive at our Lord’s Second Coming. Come, Lord Jesus!
Suffering and death with Jesus come first. The glorification with Jesus comes afterward. First the Cross, then the Resurrection. First death, then Life. First the font, then the Altar. First the Baptism into Jesus’ death, then the sharing in His Life.
Some churches place the baptismal font at the entrance to the nave so as to symbolize the journey from font to altar, from womb to tomb. We enter the Body of Christ through this saving bath and journey this life toward the eternal Feast of Glory. What do you sing after the Sacrament of the Altar? “Lord, now let Your servant die in peace,” I know it says “depart,” but really its “die.” “I have feasted on Christ’s own flesh and blood, I am prepared to die.” You go to the Sacrament of the Altar as if going to your death, so that you are able to go to your death as if going to the Sacrament.
Perhaps now that beloved Psalm is a bit clearer, Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me? All the while He feeds you upon this journey. Do you see how the promise of the glorification give us the courage to face the inevitable deterioration of our bodies? The suffering and death to come?
We try to deceive ourselves but in our saner moments we know that we can do nothing to stop our bodies from falling apart. Not the best diet, not the best exercise program, not the finest clothes or the best makeup will be able to help. The moment will arrive when we can’t do some of the things we always took for granted before, because our bodies are simply giving out on us. For some this moment may feel like it has crept up all too soon.
But remember: these decaying bodies of ours have been marked and tagged by the Redeemer; sealed with the promise and guarantee of sharing in His resurrection glory. So we can face our own physical demise and yes, even our deaths, with a hope that cannot be quenched!
It is just as St Paul wrote, So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens . . . So we are always of good courage (2 Cor 4:16-5:1, 6).
And as if the blessed promise of our Father in heaven regarding Baptism were not enough, we have our Lord Jesus’ promise: Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day (Jn 6:54). As often as He spreads His Table before you, Christ strengthens and sustains the inner self, and comforts you with the promise of the resurrection for the outer self; in other words, “in body and soul unto life everlasting.” What more could we ask?
We have the prophetic Word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the Day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts.
Beloved, this feast of the Transfiguration is a feast of glory that will be ours in Christ. Listen to Him. Hear His Word. Receive His glory hidden – Body and Blood – and continue to depart in peace until that day when He shall come and touch your grave and say, Rise and have no fear. Then you shall lift up your eyes and see no one but Jesus only. Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
It is called a “Feast” of the Church year. And indeed it is. The transfiguration of our Lord is a feast for the eyes and for the ears. What the eyes see is marvelous: Jesus, suddenly metamorphisized; His face shining like the helios, the sun; His clothing dazzling white! The Light of Light begotten casts the bright beams of His glory upon us.
What the ears hear is equally amazing: the Father’s voice proclaiming this glorified and shining Man to be His beloved Son. And that addition that was not preached at His baptism – Listen to Him! Heed His Word, for it creates and sustains faith, it gives life, it rescues from death and hell. This is a wonderful sermon the Father preaches! And Moses and Elijah, the Lawgiver and the Prophet, testify to His glory as the Only begotten Son of the Father. Do you think it an overstatement that all of Scripture proclaims Christ?
We must be clear about something: Jesus did not get another body atop the mountain. It was His same Body, the very flesh that He received from the womb of His virgin Mother. It is that Body that shone like the sun. Not reflected light as Moses’ face; but this is the uncreated Light – the Light that was with God in the beginning; the Light that is the life of men. This is important to remember to know the fullest joy of this day.
Because what Peter, James and John witness, what they saw on the mountain, eyewitness of His majesty, Peter writes, was a glimpse of their own future – and yours, too. Beloved, wrote St John to the baptized, we are God’s children now; and what we will be has not yet been revealed; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because He shall see Him as He is (1 Jn 3:2). When Christ who is your Life is revealed, writes St Paul, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Col 3:4).
At the Second Coming of Jesus, all who have lived and died trusting in Him will be raised in bodies that will be like His, shining in glory. This is exactly what the angel told the prophet Daniel about the Last Day when those asleep in the dust of the earth awake – some to shame and everlasting contempt, but some to everlasting glory: Those that are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above (Dan 12:3).
So on the mountain Jesus gives the favored three, and you through their eyewitness, a glimpse of what His finished work in you will look like. It was a vision meant to comfort and sustain them; to remind them of what Jesus was about to do was necessary. Tell the vision to no one, He command, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead. He must first die. He leaves this mountain for another: Mount Calvary. The place of glory for the Place of the Skull.
But if the vision of the Mount of Transfiguration reveals what Jesus desires to accomplish in us, it is Calvary that reveals how He does it. He will lift you to His glory by entering into your shame. He will clothe you in His brightness by letting His Father clothe Him with your sin. He will reconcile you to the Father, as beloved sons and daughters, by being forsaken by Him. On that mountain the Father’s voice did not speak; but rather, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
But having accomplished the Father’s will, having suffered and died for you, He was raised to life again; clothed once more in the divine glory that is His from eternity, and in His mercy and love for you, has given you to share with Him. Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead. First suffering. Then glory. First the Cross and death. Then the Resurrection and Life. You are given this same pattern of God’s work in your own life.
Beloved, your moment of transfiguration has already occurred. It happened on the day of your Baptism, when you were clothed with Christ. There, like Moses, you met God face to face. And that is the day the Father looked upon you and said, “This is My Child! This is the one I love and in whom I am delighted!”
What does the Baptismal liturgy say? “Receive this white garment to show that you have been clothed with the robe of Christ’s righteousness that covers all your sin. So shall you stand without fear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the inheritance prepared for you from before the foundation of the earth” (LSB 271).
Here at St Peter’s we only give a little white napkin. The Early Christian Church actually placed a full robe on the newly baptized. Some churches still do that. As with everything in the liturgy, it teaches. Nothing is superfluous. It is a confession that by Baptism into Jesus’ death your life is headed for the everlasting glory revealed on the mountain. It is written, As many of you as were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.
Peter was right when he spoke, It is good Lord that we are here. Indeed it is good, eternally good. But he was wrong to want to build three tents; for there is only One tent – the flesh and blood of Jesus, in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells. And through Holy Baptism you are called His Body!
But we are given only a glimpse here. A brief moment meant to comfort us for the journey ahead. For after the transfiguration comes the journey to the other Mount. The journey toward death. The final glorification of our bodies does not happened without death – except for those who are alive at our Lord’s Second Coming. Come, Lord Jesus!
Suffering and death with Jesus come first. The glorification with Jesus comes afterward. First the Cross, then the Resurrection. First death, then Life. First the font, then the Altar. First the Baptism into Jesus’ death, then the sharing in His Life.
Some churches place the baptismal font at the entrance to the nave so as to symbolize the journey from font to altar, from womb to tomb. We enter the Body of Christ through this saving bath and journey this life toward the eternal Feast of Glory. What do you sing after the Sacrament of the Altar? “Lord, now let Your servant die in peace,” I know it says “depart,” but really its “die.” “I have feasted on Christ’s own flesh and blood, I am prepared to die.” You go to the Sacrament of the Altar as if going to your death, so that you are able to go to your death as if going to the Sacrament.
Perhaps now that beloved Psalm is a bit clearer, Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me? All the while He feeds you upon this journey. Do you see how the promise of the glorification give us the courage to face the inevitable deterioration of our bodies? The suffering and death to come?
We try to deceive ourselves but in our saner moments we know that we can do nothing to stop our bodies from falling apart. Not the best diet, not the best exercise program, not the finest clothes or the best makeup will be able to help. The moment will arrive when we can’t do some of the things we always took for granted before, because our bodies are simply giving out on us. For some this moment may feel like it has crept up all too soon.
But remember: these decaying bodies of ours have been marked and tagged by the Redeemer; sealed with the promise and guarantee of sharing in His resurrection glory. So we can face our own physical demise and yes, even our deaths, with a hope that cannot be quenched!
It is just as St Paul wrote, So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens . . . So we are always of good courage (2 Cor 4:16-5:1, 6).
And as if the blessed promise of our Father in heaven regarding Baptism were not enough, we have our Lord Jesus’ promise: Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day (Jn 6:54). As often as He spreads His Table before you, Christ strengthens and sustains the inner self, and comforts you with the promise of the resurrection for the outer self; in other words, “in body and soul unto life everlasting.” What more could we ask?
We have the prophetic Word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the Day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts.
Beloved, this feast of the Transfiguration is a feast of glory that will be ours in Christ. Listen to Him. Hear His Word. Receive His glory hidden – Body and Blood – and continue to depart in peace until that day when He shall come and touch your grave and say, Rise and have no fear. Then you shall lift up your eyes and see no one but Jesus only. Amen.
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