The Transfiguration of Our Lord

The Transfiguration of Our Lord (B)

 February 11, 2024

Text: Mark 9:2-9

            The bookends of the Epiphany Season, beginning, as it does, with the Baptism of Our Lord, and culminating in His Transfiguration, underscore the purpose of this holy time: To reveal… to manifest… that this Man, Jesus of Nazareth, is God.  And He is God for you.  He is the eternal and beloved Son of the Father, anointed with the Holy Spirit as our Messiah, the Christ, our Savior. 

            St. John baptized our Lord in the River Jordan at the inauguration of the Savior’s public ministry.  And when he did, as we heard, heaven was torn open, and there was Jesus, the Son of God, in the water, the Spirit descending upon Him as a dove, and the voice of the Father declaring: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11; ESV).  As we observed on that occasion, what happened to Jesus at His Baptism is what happens to us at our Baptism into Christ.  There is Jesus, the Son of God, in the water for us, and we join Him there, being made one with Him.  And the Spirit of God descends on us.  And God, His heavenly Father, now speaks to us as our heavenly Father, “You,” you, now, who are united to Christ Jesus, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  Baptism not only writes the Name of the Trinity upon you, body and soul.  It does do that, for you are precious to God, and He never wants to lose you.  He wants you to be His forever.  But so also, now, it tucks you into the life and being of our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  You are enveloped by Him.  You live and move and have your being in Him.  You walk in Him.  Your very identity, now, is in Him.

            Now, today, we commemorate our Lord’s Transfiguration.  As He is about to undertake His Passion for us, His suffering and death for the forgiveness of our sins, Jesus goes up onto the holy mountain and is transfigured, metamorphosed, before the eyes of His disciples, Peter, James, and John.  What happens?  There are at least three things we should note. 

            First, Peter, James, and John serve as the requisite two or three witnesses upon whose testimony a matter is to be established.  They fulfill the biblical legal standard (Deut. 19:15; Matt. 18:20).  That will be the Apostles’ job from now until the end of time, to bear witness to what they have seen and heard.  They heard the teaching and saw the miracles.  These three saw the Transfiguration.  The Apostles were there when Jesus was arrested, tried, and crucified (albeit hiding in the shadows, afraid).  And they saw, heard, and touched the body of the risen Lord.  So they testify.  They bear witness in their preaching, suffering, and by their writing it all down for us in Holy Scripture.  We see through their eyes.  We hear through their ears. 

            Second, there is the presence of Moses and Elijah with the glorified Lord.  The Law and the Prophets, what we call the Old Testament Scriptures, are all about Him, and He fulfills them.  What the ministry of Moses and Elijah anticipated has come to pass in the flesh of Jesus.  And (don’t miss this) it is this that finally brings Moses into the Promised Land.  It is the return of Elijah.  And they live, these two saints of old.  They are not dead, but living.  Jesus has power over death.  Moses died and was buried, only God knows where.  But here he stands with Jesus on the mountain, as He once did on Sinai.  Elijah was taken up bodily into heaven in the whirlwind, as we heard again this afternoon.  But here he stands with Jesus, talking with Him about the salvation now to be accomplished in the Lord’s sacrifice.  This is to say, heaven itself is open in Jesus.  Heaven appears with Jesus on the mountain.  And yes, we know one another in heaven.  That is apparent, here.  The Apostles know Moses and Elijah.  And they commune with them, around the Person of the glorified Jesus.  That is what heaven will be like.

            And, now, this is the Third thing… All eyes now on Jesus.  The uncreated Light of divinity is shining through His humanity.  And even His clothing is intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.  The Source of the light is Jesus Himself.  Like fire in iron.  Like the burning bush on Sinai, Jesus’ flesh is radiant with divine glory, but is not consumed.  It reveals who He is.  One Person, two natures, divine and human.  This Man, born of the Virgin Mary, is our God, before whose flesh Peter, James, and John, rightly fall in worship and adoration.

            And then the cloud, and then the voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (Mark 9:7).  It is like a re-run of our Lord’s Baptism.  In fact, it is the Baptism’s fulfillment.  It all happens again.  There is the Son, this time not in the water, but on a mountain.  There is the voice from heaven, the Father once again identifying Jesus as His Son, this time telling us to listen to the voice of His incarnate Word.  And where is the Spirit?  He descends, this time not as a dove, but as a cloud.  The cloud.  As He did on Sinai at the giving of the Ten Commandments.  As He filled Tabernacle and Temple at their respective dedications.  The cloud of God’s presence.  The cloud that contains within it the divine, and now also, since the Incarnation, human, presence of the Son of God, Jesus Christ.  The Spirit brings Jesus in whom we hear the voice of our Father.

            Do you see the connection?  In both Jesus’ Baptism and His Transfiguration, our Triune God appears, revealing that this Man is God.  And in our Baptism into Christ, we are united with Him in such a way that we now look forward to our future transfiguration, when we, too, will shine with His glory, made to be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.

            Well, this transfigures our whole life, even now.  Our baptismal life is, as St. Paul says, “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).  And what does that mean?  The life is there, and necessarily so.  For a thing to be hidden necessarily means it exists and is present.  But we know that Christians, this side of the veil, don’t look all that different than our unbelieving neighbors.  We suffer the same setbacks and misfortunes, the same illnesses, and by all appearances, the same end… we all die.  We still sin.  And we still struggle.  In fact, some unbelievers struggle and suffer less than many Christians.  It is not the case that baptismal immersion into the life of the Trinity suddenly makes everything easier for the Christian, that our life is suddenly carefree.  Often quite the contrary.

            And now we must descend with Jesus down the mountain, to walk the way of Golgotha.  Where will that end?  The cross.  Suffering.  Darkness.  Death.  If we didn’t know better, we would despair.  It is for just that reason God gives us, at this very point, the Transfiguration of our Lord.  It is just a little glimpse, a little lifting of the veil.  Remember who He is, the Man, Jesus.  Now you’ve seen His glory.  Death cannot keep Him.  Things are not as they appear.  Behold, the light of resurrection and life radiating through the cross and suffering.  He is working all this for your good, for your life and salvation.

            That is the truth to which we must cling, beloved, in Lent, and in life, until that great Epiphany on the Last Day when Christ is finally and fully revealed, and when we, ourselves, are revealed as the sons of God.  That is the reality.  We have that life now.  But how do we know it?  The Father tells us how.  “Listen to Him.”  Listen to Jesus.  Live in Him.  Live in your Baptism, where you are immersed into the life of the Holy Trinity.  Live by every Word that proceeds from His mouth in Scripture, in Preaching, and in Holy Absolution.  Recline at His Table, and believe what He says you receive there: His very body.  His very blood.  Jesus Himself.  By faith, behold the radiance of His divine glory shining through the bread and wine.  “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5).

            So, beloved, come what may, rest in that reality.  You are in Christ, and Christ is in you.  God is your Father, well pleased with you for the sake of Christ.  And you are possessed by the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, heaven is opened.  And Easter is coming.  Soon, soon, the trumpet will sound.  But first, Ash Wednesday and the Lenten journey.  Let us, therefore, take up our cross, knowing the cross is not the end.  And let us, with confidence and joy, follow Him.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.