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Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. You may be seated. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Dear Saints, it was about eight days after these things. What things? The conversation that Jesus had with his disciples up at Caesarea Philippi. We remember that conversation. Well, we know that Peter remembered that conversation because it was one of those moments that will stick with you.
“Who do people say that I am?” Jesus asked. Some say Elijah, some say one of the prophets, some say John the Baptist raised from the dead. “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus gives them this great blessing. “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. Well, this was not revealed by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”
But then remember what happened. Jesus took them aside and began to teach them that the Christ must suffer many things, be handed over to be beaten and scourged and even crucified, that he would die and then on the third day be raised again. Peter took Jesus aside as if he would rebuke him and said, “Lord no, it can’t happen to you.” And Peter turns to him and says, “Get behind me, Satan! You have on your mind the things of men and not the things of God.”
You just have to think that maybe that conversation is playing over and over in Peter’s mind for that week as they travel around. And especially as they’re walking up the mountain — Peter, James, John, Jesus — to get away. Jesus often would go into the mountains or into a desolate place in order to pray, but this time he’s bringing his disciples with him for this blessed moment.
You have to wonder if Peter’s reflecting on this. Is he going to try to convince us again that he’s supposed to suffer? Is he going to bring up that being rejected and beaten and flogged? Is he going to talk about that again? Am I going to have to stand up and rebuke him again? And what happened last time? Boy, he got pretty angry when I said that. And what does this mean that he has to suffer, that he as the Christ has to die?
I can’t help but think that this is on the mind of Peter and James and John. They follow Jesus up the mountain and then Jesus picks a spot there on the mountain and says, “This is where we’re going, it’s now time to pray.” Jesus kneels down to pray, the disciples fall asleep. It seems like whenever Jesus is praying, the disciples are sleeping.
But as he’s praying, Jesus is now visited by these, this is quite amazing, these two greatest of prophets. Here’s Moses and Elijah and they’re talking. It’s only Luke that tells us what they’re talking about — they’re talking about Jesus’ exodus, his departure, which he was going to accomplish. In other words, Jesus doesn’t have to argue with Moses and Elijah about his suffering; they know all about it. That’s what the conversation of the throne room of God is about.
But then Peter and James and John wake up. You have to think that one of them woke up and looked over at Jesus and says, “Whoa, this is something,” and he taps the other guys on the knees, “Wake up, wake up, you’re gonna want to see this.” They open their eyes; it says they became fully awake and they look, and there’s Jesus. His face is radiant, glowing like the Sun, and his clothes are white. Mark tells us his clothes are whiter than anyone any launderer on earth could ever get clothes white. They’re just beaming white. Jesus is radiating with this glory and they’re talking with the prophets, Moses and Elijah.
They listen a little while; the disciples listen with amazement and with fear, and then Moses and Elijah begin to depart. Peter says, “No, we can’t let this end. Master, it’s good to be here. Don’t leave yet. Let’s make some tents.”
It’s a “skeine.” The Greek word is the same word used for the tabernacle in the Old Testament. The same word that’s in John chapter 1 when it says Jesus became, the Word became flesh and he dwelt with us. Tabernacle; he tented with us. “Let us make some booths,” I think we say, “or tents or something.” Yeah, tents. Let’s just stay here. We don’t want to leave. But Peter didn’t know what he was saying.
And now comes the glory of God in the cloud, just like the Old Testament. And the voice of God the Father, who’s going to give us now his second of three sermons that we’re going to hear in the Gospels: “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to Him.”
And their fear, which I think was probably at about level 8 when they saw Jesus in glory, ramped up to level 9 when they saw the cloud, and now the voice ramps it up to level 10, and they fall on their faces. But then Jesus goes and He grabs them and lifts them up, and they look and they see just Jesus, normal Jesus. The glory is gone, and he tells them not to tell anyone until after the resurrection.
Now I want to put the transfiguration of Jesus in the context of Jesus teaching the disciples that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer. I want to put this moment, I want to put this event in the context of Jesus trying to bring the disciples and us along to understanding what he in fact came to do.
And I’d like to suggest it in this way. I’ve been thinking about it all week, trying to sort this out: was the transfiguration of Jesus an act that he did or something that happened to him? In other words, was it Jesus who decided that He would simply radiate with glory at this particular day? Or was it the result of Him going and standing before His Heavenly Father in prayer? Like Moses.
Remember the Old Testament when Moses would go into the tabernacle and he would come out and his face would glow, and he had to wear a veil over his face because of the glowing, the rays of light coming out of his face? They were getting less and less, and he had to wear that veil over. But Moses didn’t have a choice if his face was glowing. He stood before the Lord and he radiated with that glory.
I wonder if that’s how it was with Jesus. It seems like it’s very passive. He began to radiate; he began to change; the text is passive. But I have to think — and here’s my suspicion on this — that this is probably how it is. This is the neutral position for Jesus. This isn’t Jesus turning the light on. This is Jesus turning his humiliation off.
In other words, I don’t know how it was with you, but when I got up this morning, well, I might not be 100% presentable, but I’m more presentable now than I was when I woke up this morning. And I suppose that’s how it is for all of us, right? We wake up and we say, boy, we don’t have a lot of glory, but we’ve got to do whatever we can to improve the glory that we have so we can go and present ourselves.
But with Jesus it’s the opposite. Jesus has the glory. He is, we said it in the creed, God of God, light of light, very God of very God. He is the divine Son of God radiating with this divine glory so that it’s necessary for Jesus to hide the glory, to cover the glory.
No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a bushel, but Jesus hides his divine nature under his human humility. This is how Paul says it in Philippians chapter 2: he empties himself so that we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus. He makes himself approachable for us so that his presence doesn’t bring us fear or even destruction. Remember how God said it to Moses, “No one can look on the face of God and live.”
So the strange thing, and here’s what I’ll suggest, and I think this is the point, the strange thing is not that Jesus is transfigured before them on the mountain. The strange thing is that he’s not always like this. That he wasn’t born in the manger like a little baby ball of sunshine.
That he didn’t go into the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist and the water evaporated away from him. Or imagine it this way: imagine if Jesus was transfigured at other times. Imagine if he was transfigured in the garden of Gethsemane when they came to arrest him. They all come with their pitchforks and their whips and all their whatever they’ve gotten; they come looking for Jesus, and Judas kisses him on the cheek.
Jesus just goes, and they all run. Or when he’s standing before Pilate and Pilate says, “Are you the king of the Jews?” and Jesus and Pilate falls down and worships him and gives him the throne. Or when Jesus’ feet and arms are tied to the cross and the soldiers have the nail there right in his hand and the other one is raising the hammer to pound his flesh to that wood, and then the glory — and they drop those weapons.
But Jesus hides his glory so that he might suffer. He hides his glory so that he can die and be buried. It’s necessary, he says, to Peter, to the disciples, to you and me. It’s necessary for the Son of Man to be beaten, to be handed over to be crucified and die and be buried. It’s necessary. And then on the third day to rise again, the one on the cross, the one in the grave, the one being beaten and having his beard ripped out and being spat on, this one is the glorious one, the Son of God, who hides his glory with his flesh and his humility so that he can be your Savior.
So we give thanks to God that Jesus gives to Peter and James and John and to you and to me this little glimpse of glory to know what he suffers in his death so that we would know that the blood of God is spilt for us, that the Son of God has suffered for us, and that the Glorious One has entered into this humiliation so that you might share in this glory and come to this glory in life everlasting.
So may God grant this vision of Jesus, transfigured, to find a seat in your own heart, to give you his comfort and his peace. Amen.
And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
