“And
when I think that God, his Son not sparing, Sent him to die, I scarce can take
it in, That on the cross my burden gladly bearing He bled and died, to take
away my sin. Then
sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee, “How great thou art!”
Mark 9:2-
Dear Friends in Christ,
In just three short days, the Passion Season will begin
again. It was about to begin for Jesus
and his disciples as well. Things were
going to get more and more difficult as the day approached when Jesus would be
arrested, tried and crucified, and the disciples needed to be prepared to face
those faith-shaking trials. They would
need to remember that Jesus really is God, that he was in control of his own
destiny, and that he had the power to overcome even death and the grave. That is why Jesus took them up the mountain and
was transfigured before them, in order to help them understand their
Savior.
Our text begins with
the words, “after six days.” Six days earlier Jesus had told his disciples
in blunt words about the death he would meet in
Whether
they agreed with this or not didn’t matter, these things would happen soon. The disciples would see Jesus as fully human,
allowing himself to be taken captive, tortured and
even crucified to death. Jesus knew that
if they did not understand who he was, and that he was still in control, they
would be severely tempted to believe that he had failed in his mission. For this reason Jesus tried to focus there
attention not only on his upcoming death, but also on the fact that he would
rise again. But the disciples did not
understand. They still had not grasped
the fact that the Messiah had come to meet the greatest need of all – the need
for forgiveness of sins and guaranteed life in heaven. But God wanted them to understand. He wanted them to understand who their Savior
really was, and so he gave them this view.
“Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high
mountain, where they were all alone.
There he was transfigured before them.
His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could
bleach them.”
This
was unlike anything the disciples had ever seen before, and the sight of Jesus
transfigured before them showed them that this man whom they loved and followed
was none other than God himself. Only
God could be so bright. In this way the transfiguration
gave the disciples an object lesson on whom their Savior was, so that when the
day came for him to be arrested and crucified, they would understand it wasn’t
weakness that had allowed this to happen.
And
those disciples needed this, you see, because they shared in our tendency to
focus on the moment and miss the big picture.
They had the tendency to hear Jesus and not realize that all he said and
all he was doing was part of God’s eternal plan to save the world. That plan started with the first promise in
the garden to crush Satan’s head. That’s
what the story of salvation is all about: God’s promise of a champion over sin
and death and the devil. That story runs
all through Scripture, hits a
And Christians
everywhere and of all times have always shared the need of Peter, James and
John, the need to focus in on the target of our faith - the need to know with
certainty who our Savior is. It is
always easy for Christians to get distracted and led astray thinking: Christianity
is nothing more than a set of rules and guidelines to follow to earn one’s way
to heaven; or that the church is nothing more than a building where we go for baptisms,
weddings and funerals; or that the only type of Savior we really need is one
who will give us health and wealth. The
devil delights when he gets us to lose sight of the ultimate goal of Christ and
the Scriptures, namely to prepare us for heaven through the forgiveness of sins
in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.
That
is why it is good for us to be here, in this section of Scripture today,
because Jesus meets these needs on the
Have
you ever thought to yourself, “Why Moses and Elijah?” “Why not Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob?” Well, Moses had been
placed, by God, before the people as a type or picture of Christ. He brought the Word of God to God’s
people. He was their prophet. He was also their priest, offering prayers on
behalf of the people, interceding for them to prevent their death under God’s
wrath. Moses was their ruler and
leader. He foretold the coming of
Christ. He foretold him in pictures, like
that of the Passover celebration, where the blood of the innocent lamb brought
escape from the angel of death. He
foretold Christ in the other sacrifices which showed the need for a blood
offering to pay for sin. Finally, he
foretold him in words – “The
Lord…himself will raise up…a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him” (Deuteronomy
Elijah’s
purpose was similar. Next to Moses, he
was the greatest prophet of the Old Testament.
Just as the Lord had personally buried Moses, the Lord affirmed Elijah’s
ministry by taking him physically to heaven, as we heard in the Old Testament
lesson. Unlike Moses though, Elijah’s
ministry consisted primarily in calling the people to repentance for their
idolatry and back to the one true God.
Do you remember his meeting with the prophets of Baal? He had challenged them to meet him before the
people for a showdown, to see which God was real and alive, by calling down
fire from heaven to consume their sacrifices.
Baal didn’t respond but the LORD sent such a fire it consumed not only
the sacrifice but the stones of the altar and the water in the ditch as
well. “How long?” he challenged the
people of
In
this way, the events of the transfiguration showed that Jesus is the one who
was to be the focus of all their attention.
He is the one and only Savior, who came to rescue man from sin and
death. His sacrifice on the cross, which
was in the very near future, would not be an accident, but the fulfillment of
God’s plan.
Still
God, who doesn’t leave us ever wondering what is truth
and what is not, was not done. If all
this hadn’t been enough to prepare the disciples for Lent, for Jesus’ passion
and death, one more witness gave testimony to the mission and ministry of
Jesus. “Then a cloud appeared and
enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I
love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, when they looked around, they no
longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.”
Soon the disciples would no longer see the glory. The time of the Passion would begin for them
just as it begins for us on Wednesday.
All their attention would be focused on Jesus’ frailty, his willingness
to suffer and die for sinners. While
Jesus would again and again foretell his death and resurrection, their dull
senses would only allow them to see his death.
The nearer they came to the cross, the harder it would be for them to
listen. The nearer they came to the
cross, the harder it would be for them to believe what Jesus had told
them. But Jesus wanted them to remember
his glory and his prediction of the resurrection. This would be their source of strength and
hope. That would be the key to believing
that far from his death being in vain, it was the
sacrifice that would win for them and the world the forgiveness of sins.
Since
they needed to remember that this was no ordinary man, but the Son of God,
divine and all powerful to save, God the Father himself spoke that this Jesus
whom they knew as their teacher is the Son of the Most High! “This
is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Listen to what he says. Listen closely. Listen when he tells you he’ll die for the
sins of the world. Listen when he tells
you he’ll rise from the dead. Listen
when he tells you he’s not only your teacher, but your Savior and Lord!
Dear
friends, we are just as weak of mind and faith as the first disciples. How often in our everyday lives isn’t it easy
to get caught up in our own suffering. We
quickly lose sight of the power of Jesus and worry, doubting his ability to
care and provide for us. We grow weak in
our faith as we try to trust in ourselves.
Don’t let it happen. Remember
that Jesus is pure and powerful.
Remember that he is the Messiah foretold by all the prophets of the Old
Testament from Moses to Elijah to Malachi.
Remember that he is the Son of the Most High, who said “This is MY Son. Listen to him!” Yes, this is the lesson that Jesus’ transfiguration
gives us as it helps us understand who our Savior is. Amen.