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Atlantis: the domain of the Stingray
20Jan
2013
Sun
19:22
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
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Transfiguration of Our Lord

Matthew 17:1-9

Transfiguration 2013 Wordle
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When I was growing up, I used to play with Legos; in a way, I still do, from time to time. However, when I was young, Lego introduced a new system called Light and Sound. These sets included a box into which you could put a 9-volt battery which would power tiny lights and pieces which, when turned one way or the other, produced a siren-like sound. Why do I bring this up? Well, when I read accounts of the Transfiguration of our Lord, I’m struck by the fact that we are informed of the lights (or sights) and sounds of the event.

The lights and sights: Jesus brings with Him, up onto a mountain, Peter, James, and John, before whom He is transfigured. There’s a reason why He takes these three, and it’s more than because these are His “inner circle” of disciples. Reading through Deuteronomy, we learn that facts are established upon the testimony of two or three witnesses. Jesus confirms this, especially in regard to dealing, in the church, with someone who sins against you: “by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” (Matthew 18:16) So, Jesus brings three men to witness His transfiguration so that, when the time comes, they can recount the events that day on the mountain, which Peter and John have done in writing for us.

What they and the other Gospel writers record is a glimpse of Jesus in His divine glory. For a moment, Jesus sheds the veil of humility and shows to them His divinity, though still fully human. Here is God, in the flesh, revealed to be so once again—brought to light. Jesus is God, and the brightness of His glory was proof that day for Peter, James, and John. To confirm this, Elijah and Moses appear—a man who didn’t die but was assumed into heaven, and a man whose burial is known only to God (who some suppose didn’t die but was assumed as well). They talk with Jesus, and there is thought that these three are talking about what Jesus is about to do—die with the sins of the world on the cross of Calvary.

It’s impressive! Peter, ever the one to say what many would think, wants the sight to last; he wants to mark the occasion and location. “Let’s make this place a shrine! Here is the place where God made His presence on earth known! James and John are here with me to verify it.” You might well think that this is what he was expecting of Jesus when earlier he answered Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16) “Shine, Jesus, shine,” a popular modern “worship song” proclaims, “fill this land with the Father’s glory.” That’s the point of Messiah in Peter’s mind; to him, it’s all about seeing the good and glorious thing, and this proves the might and power of God in Christ to save.

Then come the sounds: As if to be the zenith of this mountain-top experience, a voice from a bright cloud calls out for all to hear: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” “Hear Him,” the Father declares. Just as there is a lot going on in the account of the Magi from two weeks ago, there is much to hear in what God the Father doesn’t say here. He doesn’t say, “Behold the glory, now.” He doesn’t say, “Mark this moment with a shrine.” He says, “Hear Him!” Listen to Jesus, because what He has to say far outweighs what you are now seeing. For the moment, the Father tells Peter, James, and John to ignore what they’re seeing.

And what does Jesus say? “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.” Here is the Word from God Himself saying to ignore it...for now—until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.

And here’s the neat thing. In one passage, Jesus is at once called the Son of God, and in the next, He calls Himself the Son of Man. In His glorious transfiguration, Jesus is called the Son of God—His divinity is confirmed for Peter, James, and John who hear the voice of the Father. But that’s not the point for the coming of the Son of God in the flesh. Rev. Kurt Hering put it this way,

Here is why Jesus commanded His disciples to tell no one what they had seen. There was nothing yet to tell. His glory was yet to come—at Calvary. Then there would be plenty to tell. Then their faith would be complete as would their message.

Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man because He is come to give His life as a ransom for many—and He has given His life for your ransom, dear listeners. Jesus said as much immediately after today’s lesson:

Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands. The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up. (Matthew 17:11-12, 22-23)

And it will be in light of His resurrection that the glorious light of the transfiguration would find its fulfillment—you could say that Jesus proves His divinity, His mastery over death and the devil, by rising again from the dead, because only the God can raise from the dead, and here He is, the Son of God.

Now, Peter, James, and John are free to give their eye-witness account of the transfiguration. Now, they can say that they heard the voice from heaven declare that Jesus is the Son of God who should be listened to, much like what was heard when Jesus came out of the waters of the Jordan at His baptism. And the focus of their discussion of the transfiguration always lands at Jesus’ death and resurrection—the point at which God’s glory truly shone, because God glories in saving His people.

Here’s the kicker, though. Old Adam doesn’t like hearing that. Again, Peter expressed it for us. Just after he confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God,

Jesus began to show to His disciples 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. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:21-23)

Old Adam is strange in this regard. He is often okay with Jesus, so long as Jesus doesn’t die and rise again, or so long as we don’t trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection for our forgiveness life, and salvation. “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” What you end up with, as far as Christianity is concerned, is a religion that fails even to mention Christ crucified. Jesus is the Truth, this religion will claim, and this Truth will set you free, it will say, but it neglects to say what it is that the Truth means or what the Truth has done to set you free. Jesus loves me, the religion will state, but it will neglect to state how Jesus demonstrated His love for me. Jesus is your Friend, this religion will tell you, but it will not say how true of a friend Jesus is for you. At best, Jesus is a great teacher and a good example, but He is not, according to this religion, your substitutionary sacrifice—He did not take your sins from you and die in your place! That’s not what He went for to the cross for. “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

Yet, the voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” And what does Jesus say? “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” That is what it means for Jesus to be the Truth. That is how Jesus demonstrated His love for you. That is how true of a friend Jesus is for you. He is more than a great teacher and a good example—more than a man who shone like the radiance of the Sun on a mountain top—He is your substitute on the cross, the propitiation for all of your sins.

The cross certainly doesn’t look all that glorious, especially when compared to the transfiguration. But, again, we heed the Father’s words: “Hear Him!” Do not be swayed to that which is false by the body you see hanging lifeless from the cross. That is your victory! He has taken your place and died the death due you for sin, and for that, you get to live. And this, dear hearers, is a life in eternity in the Father’s presence, as well as that of the Son, because the Son of Man has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, where He now sits as your Prophet, Priest, and King, ruling all things for your benefit, interceding on your behalf before the Father, and sending men into all the world to proclaim Christ and Him crucified.

And that brings us to a final point. This is, perhaps, a most difficult thing for the church now to hear. The men that Jesus sends to fill the pulpits are His spokesmen—as the Father spoke of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus now says of His called and ordained servants, “Listen to him.” Don’t look at him, don’t see him for what you think a pastor should be, don’t look at him for the broken, sinful man that He is, or the scoundrel that he may be if he is one, but listen to the words he speaks, for when he faithfully proclaims the Word of God—Law and Gospel—then he is to be listened to. He may be the most faithless, vile, disgusting example of a human being you’ve ever met—chief of sinners, as St. Paul called Himself—but so long as the Word he proclaims is true, then Jesus is in those words; so long as he administers the Sacrament according to its institution, then Jesus is verily present, body and blood, for forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Old Adam will seek to convince you otherwise. As it goes, Old Adam will work to convince you that any little sin committed your fellow Christians is proof that they are not saved and not worthy of forgiveness—you will want to latch on to that speck in your brother’s eye to the neglect of the plank in your own. (cf. Luke 6:42) So, also, Old Adam will cling to the speck in your pastor’s eye and use it as proof that He is not to be heard, and worse, that his administration of the mysteries of God are ineffective (as if, somehow, the effectiveness of the holy things of God depended on the stewards).

To this end, the Reformers wrote Article VIII of the Augsburg Confession:Although the Church properly is the congregation of saints and true believers, nevertheless, since in this life many hypocrites and evil persons are mingled therewith, it is lawful to use Sacraments administered by evil men, according to the saying of Christ: The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat, etc. Matt. 23, 2. Both the Sacraments and Word are effectual by reason of the institution and commandment of Christ, notwithstanding they be administered by evil men. (Triglot)

The words of today’s text ring true of Christ: “Hear Him!” Jesus tells you that He went to the cross and grave and that He rose from the dead for your forgiveness, life, and salvation. Ignore the mountain-top experiences as fleeting, perhaps only a foretaste of eternal glory, and do not be swayed to false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice by Old Adam’s misuse of the bloody crucifixion and body in the grave. These, He has overcome, as He has promised.

They ring true also of Jesus’ called and ordained ministers. Call your pastors to repentance if you know of their sin, but do not let their sins or evil-ness sway you away from Christ—if they proclaim Christ crucified for the forgiveness of your sins, you have exactly what he says, for the sake of Jesus Christ. Indeed, you are forgiven for all of your sins.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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