Transfiguration of our Lord (02Exodus 34:29-34/2 Peter 1:16-21/St Matthew 17:1-9
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
This is the last Sunday after our Lord’s epiphany. It is the Feast of the Transfiguration. Epiphany-tide is meant to expose to us the reality that the Savior born in Bethlehem is God made manifest in flesh. Next Sunday we enter the time of preparation for Lent. We shall accompany our Lord into the gloom and agonies of His suffering and death.
But before He descended into those dark depth He is shown to us once more in His divine glory. He ascends the mountain and is glorified. He hears the voice of the Father, This is My Son, My Chosen; listen to Him! Heartened by this assurance, as He was at His baptism, He embarks to Jerusalem, setting His face toward His Cross and death.
It is written, After six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. Of the Twelve our Lord took only the three who composed the inner circle; the only nine were not permitted. Yet these three were not qualified of themselves. For St Luke tells us that Peter and the brothers were heavy with sleep and could not stay awake.
What splendid visions to behold, but these disciples were drowsy! Indeed the last six days had been trying. Six days before, Peter had confessed of Jesus, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then our Lord had told them of His impending death. The agitation over this horrifying prospect coupled with their ceaseless labor, brought them to the point of exhaustion. And Peter looses his temper, blurting out a most unfortunate denial of the Cross.
Now, in the quiet serene of the mountain top they begin to dose off. But they fought sleep. And how blessed they are for doing so. Think of what they would have missed had they not kept awake!
After six days. Six days have elapsed since our presence in the house of the Lord. Here, in the midst of our Lord’s disciples, we made our confession last Sunday. Today, on the seventh, the Lord leads us up into a high mountain apart to be transfigured. We have come out of six days of labor. After a wearisome week, where we lost our tempers, where we made unfortunate blunders, denying the Cross by our words and deeds, where we have become exhausted by the labor of our vocations.
Perhaps we find it a little strenuous to follow the Lord Jesus to the mountaintop and see Him transfigured in the Holy Sacrament. The quiet hour in God’s house may tend to make us sleep and drowsy. How appealing the thoughts of our comfortable beds!
But like the three, rouse from your slumber, see and hear what is going on around you. For here you behold the glory of the Lord. Here you are accompanied with glorified saints. Here our lowly Master reveals His glory and majesty that was His from the foundation of the world. In the Holy Communion Christ takes you out of the turmoil of this busy, noisy, sin-filled world and lead you to the quiet mountaintop, the true Mount Zion, that He may give you a bright vision of a better land.
Indeed He is truly present here in the Tent, the Tabernacle of His house; but more, He has promised that in the Holy Sacrament you shall receive His Body together with the Bread and drink His Blood together with the Wine. You partake of Him and He becomes part of you. The glorified Christ, who sits on the throne, is here to commune with you, to form an inseparable union with you.
And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him. Fifteen hundred year before, Moses had ascended Mount Nebo and died there. Nine hundred year before Elijah had been taken from this world in a chariot of fire. Now, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples find themselves in the company of these men, out of the world of the dead, but living!
And again you are here with them today. For the glorified Christ is present here. In heaven the angels bow before Him and sing their Trisagion, Holy, Holy, Holy. The glorified saints stand before Him and sing their song of victory: Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb! (Rev 7:10). At one and the same moment the Christ who is present in heaven is also present here on earth in His Supper. And we join our voices with the heavenly choir and sing our praises to the Lamb who was slain. With angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify His glorious Name.
As we sing we receive with our mouths and into our bodies the seal and the unfailing assurance that the peace of heaven and the glory of Christ is ours even here and now. We are even now part of the company of heaven. We sing with Moses and Elijah! Truly this is the mountaintop. At no time are we closer to heaven than here in the Divine Service, in the moment of communion with our Lord and King.
Does this prospect fill your soul with fear and trembling? We read that the disciples were filled with awe, that they fell on their faces and were terrified. The Israelites could not behold the reflected glory of the Lord shone in the face of Moses! How can we stand in the presence of the holy Christ? For in the light of unmasked purity and brilliance our sins are shown in the blackest color. Sinners are uncomfortable in the presence of holiness.
Furthermore Moses is there, the stern lawgiver, and we become conscious of countless violations of God’s holy Law. And Elijah, that great prophet and reformer, who insisted on undivided loyalty to God, wholehearted service of the Lord. He makes us conscious of so much halfheartedness, when our service this past week was divided between the world and God, between self and our Lord.
Our impulse is to avoid the mountaintop. We have not right to a place in the company of those who are to see the glory of the Lord.
But hear the conversation that takes place. St Luke tells us that Moses and Elijah talked with our Lord of His departure, His exodus, which He was to accomplish at Jerusalem. They talked of how the Lord Jesus was to satisfy all the demands of the Law and suffer all the punishment for men’s sins by His suffering and death. They spoke of how man’s halfhearted service of God was to be canceled by Christ’s wholehearted devotion to His Father’s will.
The same holy Christ brings you to the holy mountain in His Sacrament. And the conversation is no less surprising. Christ speaks to you, “Take, eat. My Body which was given into death for you. Take, drink; My Blood which was shed for the remission of your sins. I gave My Body and shed My Blood to free you from the guilt of sin and the punishment of the Law. Yes, more! Here I give Myself with all I am and have. I become part of you and you become part of Me. I in you and you in Me. We are united and share everything. All I did is yours; even My glory is yours. There is nothing to prevent you from joining with the angels and all the company of heaven, including Moses and Elijah, in lauding and magnifying My glorious Name.”
Thus you lift up your hearts and give thanks to the Lord our God. You join the chorus of angels and saints in heaven. We are not with them just yet, but only the narrow stream of death, one moment of dying, separates us. For a brief hour you enjoy the foretaste of what awaits you. Here is our Lord in His beauty, communing with His beloved. Here we are taken out of the ugliness of the world and partake in the beauty and splendor of that land that is our hope.
And Peter said, Lord, it is good that we are here. He wanted to remain forever on the mountain, far removed from the labors and sorrows of earth, in happy isolation and peaceful enjoyment. But our Lord said no. There was work to be done below. There was a world to be saved. Soon the glory vanished and the Master stood again in the form of the Servant, the Man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. He led them down from the mountaintop and when they descended they were immediately engulfed again by the sordid affairs of the world. The first sight that greeted them was a poor boy possessed by demons. From the sublimity of the mountaintop to the deepest depths of human degradation!
We share in St Peter’s desire to remain forever. Why is this so fleeting? If we could only live our lives in the joy of the moment, conscious of Christ’s nearness and presence and with touch of glory. But down we must go. Tomorrow we will be back to our tedious tasks, to the daily existence that will seem all the more monotonous and boring.
But it need not be. For the disciples who had seen our Lord’s glory, nothing was ever quiet the same. Those three who saw His glory on the heights of the mountain also saw His deepest humiliation in the dark shadows of Gethsemane. Indeed St John who stood beneath the Cross on Mount Golgotha, who was with our Lord on the other mountain, understood more deeply the true glory of Christ.
And years later, when St Peter writes of his approaching death, he assures his readers that he has preached to them the true Gospel. And in the face of death he rejoices at the splendor of what his eyes have seen, but more, he proclaims the joy of what his ears have heard and the more certain ground of hope - the Word!
The self-same Word read and preached to you for the forgiveness of your sins, joy and life! This is the lasting effect of this mountain in your life. For when they lifted up their eyes they saw no one but Jesus only. Jesus only in our hateful and hopeless world. That as you leave the mountain of His Sacrament you have the assurance of His abiding presence in His Word. He does not stay behind, but goes with you.
You go from here in the company of the world-ruling, death-conquering Christ who puts His Spirit within you. You live this life at side of your omnipotent Brother and Redeemer. You have been with Christ in the holy mount and have seen His glory. You have been given a glimpse of the goodly land that is our home. You have a foretaste of heaven’s bliss. You have heard the songs of the elect around Christ’s throne and have joined in the Alleluia’s of the heavenly choir.
You come down from the mount joyously conscious that we are on our way home. The way leads down the mountain, through the dark world, into the valleys of pain and sorrow, yes, into the shadow of death, but His goodness and mercy follow you all your days. Lift up your eyes to the hills, for ahead lies the Easter dawn and the glorious lights of home
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
This is the last Sunday after our Lord’s epiphany. It is the Feast of the Transfiguration. Epiphany-tide is meant to expose to us the reality that the Savior born in Bethlehem is God made manifest in flesh. Next Sunday we enter the time of preparation for Lent. We shall accompany our Lord into the gloom and agonies of His suffering and death.
But before He descended into those dark depth He is shown to us once more in His divine glory. He ascends the mountain and is glorified. He hears the voice of the Father, This is My Son, My Chosen; listen to Him! Heartened by this assurance, as He was at His baptism, He embarks to Jerusalem, setting His face toward His Cross and death.
It is written, After six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. Of the Twelve our Lord took only the three who composed the inner circle; the only nine were not permitted. Yet these three were not qualified of themselves. For St Luke tells us that Peter and the brothers were heavy with sleep and could not stay awake.
What splendid visions to behold, but these disciples were drowsy! Indeed the last six days had been trying. Six days before, Peter had confessed of Jesus, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then our Lord had told them of His impending death. The agitation over this horrifying prospect coupled with their ceaseless labor, brought them to the point of exhaustion. And Peter looses his temper, blurting out a most unfortunate denial of the Cross.
Now, in the quiet serene of the mountain top they begin to dose off. But they fought sleep. And how blessed they are for doing so. Think of what they would have missed had they not kept awake!
After six days. Six days have elapsed since our presence in the house of the Lord. Here, in the midst of our Lord’s disciples, we made our confession last Sunday. Today, on the seventh, the Lord leads us up into a high mountain apart to be transfigured. We have come out of six days of labor. After a wearisome week, where we lost our tempers, where we made unfortunate blunders, denying the Cross by our words and deeds, where we have become exhausted by the labor of our vocations.
Perhaps we find it a little strenuous to follow the Lord Jesus to the mountaintop and see Him transfigured in the Holy Sacrament. The quiet hour in God’s house may tend to make us sleep and drowsy. How appealing the thoughts of our comfortable beds!
But like the three, rouse from your slumber, see and hear what is going on around you. For here you behold the glory of the Lord. Here you are accompanied with glorified saints. Here our lowly Master reveals His glory and majesty that was His from the foundation of the world. In the Holy Communion Christ takes you out of the turmoil of this busy, noisy, sin-filled world and lead you to the quiet mountaintop, the true Mount Zion, that He may give you a bright vision of a better land.
Indeed He is truly present here in the Tent, the Tabernacle of His house; but more, He has promised that in the Holy Sacrament you shall receive His Body together with the Bread and drink His Blood together with the Wine. You partake of Him and He becomes part of you. The glorified Christ, who sits on the throne, is here to commune with you, to form an inseparable union with you.
And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him. Fifteen hundred year before, Moses had ascended Mount Nebo and died there. Nine hundred year before Elijah had been taken from this world in a chariot of fire. Now, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples find themselves in the company of these men, out of the world of the dead, but living!
And again you are here with them today. For the glorified Christ is present here. In heaven the angels bow before Him and sing their Trisagion, Holy, Holy, Holy. The glorified saints stand before Him and sing their song of victory: Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb! (Rev 7:10). At one and the same moment the Christ who is present in heaven is also present here on earth in His Supper. And we join our voices with the heavenly choir and sing our praises to the Lamb who was slain. With angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify His glorious Name.
As we sing we receive with our mouths and into our bodies the seal and the unfailing assurance that the peace of heaven and the glory of Christ is ours even here and now. We are even now part of the company of heaven. We sing with Moses and Elijah! Truly this is the mountaintop. At no time are we closer to heaven than here in the Divine Service, in the moment of communion with our Lord and King.
Does this prospect fill your soul with fear and trembling? We read that the disciples were filled with awe, that they fell on their faces and were terrified. The Israelites could not behold the reflected glory of the Lord shone in the face of Moses! How can we stand in the presence of the holy Christ? For in the light of unmasked purity and brilliance our sins are shown in the blackest color. Sinners are uncomfortable in the presence of holiness.
Furthermore Moses is there, the stern lawgiver, and we become conscious of countless violations of God’s holy Law. And Elijah, that great prophet and reformer, who insisted on undivided loyalty to God, wholehearted service of the Lord. He makes us conscious of so much halfheartedness, when our service this past week was divided between the world and God, between self and our Lord.
Our impulse is to avoid the mountaintop. We have not right to a place in the company of those who are to see the glory of the Lord.
But hear the conversation that takes place. St Luke tells us that Moses and Elijah talked with our Lord of His departure, His exodus, which He was to accomplish at Jerusalem. They talked of how the Lord Jesus was to satisfy all the demands of the Law and suffer all the punishment for men’s sins by His suffering and death. They spoke of how man’s halfhearted service of God was to be canceled by Christ’s wholehearted devotion to His Father’s will.
The same holy Christ brings you to the holy mountain in His Sacrament. And the conversation is no less surprising. Christ speaks to you, “Take, eat. My Body which was given into death for you. Take, drink; My Blood which was shed for the remission of your sins. I gave My Body and shed My Blood to free you from the guilt of sin and the punishment of the Law. Yes, more! Here I give Myself with all I am and have. I become part of you and you become part of Me. I in you and you in Me. We are united and share everything. All I did is yours; even My glory is yours. There is nothing to prevent you from joining with the angels and all the company of heaven, including Moses and Elijah, in lauding and magnifying My glorious Name.”
Thus you lift up your hearts and give thanks to the Lord our God. You join the chorus of angels and saints in heaven. We are not with them just yet, but only the narrow stream of death, one moment of dying, separates us. For a brief hour you enjoy the foretaste of what awaits you. Here is our Lord in His beauty, communing with His beloved. Here we are taken out of the ugliness of the world and partake in the beauty and splendor of that land that is our hope.
And Peter said, Lord, it is good that we are here. He wanted to remain forever on the mountain, far removed from the labors and sorrows of earth, in happy isolation and peaceful enjoyment. But our Lord said no. There was work to be done below. There was a world to be saved. Soon the glory vanished and the Master stood again in the form of the Servant, the Man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. He led them down from the mountaintop and when they descended they were immediately engulfed again by the sordid affairs of the world. The first sight that greeted them was a poor boy possessed by demons. From the sublimity of the mountaintop to the deepest depths of human degradation!
We share in St Peter’s desire to remain forever. Why is this so fleeting? If we could only live our lives in the joy of the moment, conscious of Christ’s nearness and presence and with touch of glory. But down we must go. Tomorrow we will be back to our tedious tasks, to the daily existence that will seem all the more monotonous and boring.
But it need not be. For the disciples who had seen our Lord’s glory, nothing was ever quiet the same. Those three who saw His glory on the heights of the mountain also saw His deepest humiliation in the dark shadows of Gethsemane. Indeed St John who stood beneath the Cross on Mount Golgotha, who was with our Lord on the other mountain, understood more deeply the true glory of Christ.
And years later, when St Peter writes of his approaching death, he assures his readers that he has preached to them the true Gospel. And in the face of death he rejoices at the splendor of what his eyes have seen, but more, he proclaims the joy of what his ears have heard and the more certain ground of hope - the Word!
The self-same Word read and preached to you for the forgiveness of your sins, joy and life! This is the lasting effect of this mountain in your life. For when they lifted up their eyes they saw no one but Jesus only. Jesus only in our hateful and hopeless world. That as you leave the mountain of His Sacrament you have the assurance of His abiding presence in His Word. He does not stay behind, but goes with you.
You go from here in the company of the world-ruling, death-conquering Christ who puts His Spirit within you. You live this life at side of your omnipotent Brother and Redeemer. You have been with Christ in the holy mount and have seen His glory. You have been given a glimpse of the goodly land that is our home. You have a foretaste of heaven’s bliss. You have heard the songs of the elect around Christ’s throne and have joined in the Alleluia’s of the heavenly choir.
You come down from the mount joyously conscious that we are on our way home. The way leads down the mountain, through the dark world, into the valleys of pain and sorrow, yes, into the shadow of death, but His goodness and mercy follow you all your days. Lift up your eyes to the hills, for ahead lies the Easter dawn and the glorious lights of home
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
RSS Feed