Transfiguration

Matthew 17:1-9 - Transfiguration - January 20, 2013

Hear Him
Finding God in Christ Alone

“I don’t believe in God.”  You’ve heard people say it.  So have I.  But what does this even mean, “I don’t believe in God”?  If you think about it, it can be taken in two different ways. 

One: You don’t believe that he even exists.  That is, you don’t believe that he is out there at all the way a grown child no longer believes in Santa Claus.  Or two: You don’t believe in him; that is, you don’t believe that he is reliable or trustworthy or ultimately good—the way a betrayed child no longer believes in his dead-beat father.  Now, all sorts of people make this first claim.  He isn’t real, they say.  He’s a myth, they say.  People made him up in order to enforce their repressive standards of morality, they say. 

It’s easier for one to say this, that he doesn’t believe that God exists at all than to say that he is mad at God, or that God let him down, or that he is afraid of God.  Boy, what insecurity to confess to.  Oh no.  You don’t hear folks talk that way quite so much.  People guard themselves more than that.  You’ll sound a lot more intellectual, after all, if you just deny his existence altogether – like, hey, he’s thought about this; he’s broken the shackles of ignorance and superstition; this guy’s deep.  But it is not deep to deny God; it is foolish.   Not only because of the consequences, but because of the obvious fact that God most certainly does exist. 

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good” (Psalm 14:1 & 53:1). 

Now notice why it is that the fool says this in his heart.  Why is it that the so-called atheist suppresses the truth of God’s glory and power even though the created things around us make it so plain?  Why does he deny it?  Well, it’s because he’s corrupt.  That’s why.  That’s what the Scriptures say.  His deeds are vile.  He doesn’t do anything good. And furthermore, deep down, he knows it.  And he knows that God knows it.  As St. Paul says in Romans 1, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”   

The reason that sinners pretend that God doesn’t exist – and don’t get me wrong here – people are perfectly capable of persuading themselves of the lie – but the reason people don’t “believe in God,” is because they are guilty of the sins that God threatens to punish.  That’s the short end of it.  They can’t trust God.  They are his enemies.  And so just as they suppress the knowledge of their sin – that is, their conscience – so they also suppress the knowledge of their God.  Once it is not God who has made us, well, then it is no longer God who judges us. 

Now, by nature, we know that God exists.  And so in this sense we can say that we naturally believe in God.  But by nature, as we confess, we are sinful and unclean.  And so we cannot say that we naturally trust God.  We don’t.  By our natural reason and strength, we see only an angry God who judges us. That’s why people throughout the ages have re-formed God in their own image – to make Him not so … angry at their sin, to make themselves less accountable. 

But think of this!  If our natural knowledge of the law makes us God’s enemies, how much more so when God reveals His law on Mt. Sinai with the 10 Commandments.  Moses’ face shone bright.  Oh, God was real!  No one doubted that.  But the more real God became the more scared they became.  That’s why they covered Moses’ face with a veil.  If you want to believe in God, and know and trust Him as God wants you to, you must find Him, not where human reason can locate Him, where He shines bright in glory, but where God’s mercy places Him, where He hides His glory in humility and pain. 

The historical account of our Lord’s Transfiguration teaches us this very lesson. 

Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  This is exactly what Peter confessed in his greatest moment just six days before the events of our Gospel lesson.  Jesus said that against this confession the gates of hell shall not prevail!  Well said, Peter.  But Peter had not yet known the full meaning of his own confession.  It was right after this – while Jesus was explaining “that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things … and be killed, and be raised the third day” – it was when Jesus said this that Peter rebuked his God: “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”  See, Peter knew that this was beneath the dignity of God.  He could figure that much out on his own.  But what he could figure out by nature proved to be nothing less than the gates of hell prevailing in his own thoughts. 

“Get behind Me, Satan!” Jesus said. “You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”  Well said, Jesus.  For Peter saw things with the eyes of man.  He figured things the way a man figures things.  He had a lot to learn.  He needed God to teach him the things of God. 

That is why Jesus brought Peter, James, and John to a mountain alone.  And as He prayed, He altered His form before them.  His face shone like the sun.  This revealed His divine power and endurance.  And His clothes were as bright as light.  This revealed His divine perfection and righteousness.  That which you know by nature about God – that there is this God – that He is holy and almighty – these three disciples could see shining visibly in Christ.  He is God.  He showed it to them. 

Now, they had known it was true already.  Jesus revealed nothing in His Transfiguration that Scripture had not already spoken of Him.  That’s why He appeared with Moses and Elijah.  Moses represents the Law, the Torah that he wrote down.   Elijah represents the Prophets who preached and testified of Christ.  It is as Paul writes in Romans 3: “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.”  St. Luke tells us that Moses and Elijah were talking to Jesus about His future exodus – that word exodus – you know it! – they were talking about how He would die as the Passover Lamb and lead His people out of slavery and into freedom.  They were talking about nothing other than what Scripture had already spoken of in abundance. 

But Peter hadn’t learned his lesson yet.  He wasn’t listening.  He was looking.  And all he could see was glory.  He could see what his human eyes could evaluate.  He could see that it was good to know God.  Naturally.  He wanted to contain it.  He wanted to jar it up and hold onto it.  And so he suggested to Jesus that he build three tabernacles – isn’t that how God contained His glory in the Old Testament?  With a tabernacle?  Yeah, Peter’s idea wasn’t completely without Scriptural precedent.  But he missed the whole point of what Scripture would teach him.  He was still mindful of the things of men and not the things of God.  He still needed to learn.  And so God interrupted Peter in order to teach him that God’s glory is not grasped with the eyes, but with the ears. 

“Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’”

This precise phrase that was spoken by the Father at Jesus’ Baptism, as we heard last week, is repeated here word for word: The Father identifies Jesus as His eternal Son whom He loves.  The Father says He is well pleased with Jesus – both in His doing and in His suffering.  But these two words are added at His Transfiguration that were not spoken at His Baptism: Hear Him.  Listen to Him.  You see that He is God.  You see His glory shine.  You see that He is holy.  But listen to what He says to you.  That is the only way you will hold onto Him.  Not by looking, but by listening.  And what does He say?  

“He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mk. 16:16). 

“Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Mt. 16:19). 

“Take, eat; this is My body.”
“Drink of it, all of you. This is My blood of the new Testament, shed for [you] for the remission of sins” (Mt. 26:27-28). 

 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28). 

“Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Mt. 9:2). 

The Father tells us to listen to this.  These words are not sovereign decrees from a distant God who throws arbitrary lifelines down to save us.  No.  These words are the words of Him who Himself came down to earth to suffer in our place.  If we want to have a saving knowledge of God, we must listen to what this Man says.  In Him God is found in all His glory.  We listen to Jesus by listening to the Gospel.  

St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5: that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us [preachers] the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.  For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 

On Christ’s behalf, the Gospel is preached to you.  On Christ’s behalf, you are baptized and fed with the body and blood of Jesus.  On Christ’s behalf, the almighty God pleads with you to believe what you hear.  We don’t just believe in God, like we have figured something out – like we have been persuaded by what is obvious in nature.  No, we listen to Jesus.  We hear His word.  And hearing His word, we see His faithfulness and kindness toward us.  He makes peace by His suffering and death, and He speaks peace by His word and sacraments today.  We trust Him.  We believe in Him.  He does not betray us. 

It is good to know that God is real.  And Peter was right that it was good to be where God was.  But Peter, like we often do, had forgotten that God’s goodness was reason to be afraid when you’re a sinner.  But he was reminded.  The cloud was bright.  The voice was loud.  They were terrified.  Their sinfulness was never before so contrasted with God’s utter holiness.  Like with the children of Israel at the foot of Mt. Sinai, God’s glory proved too much.  And so should the law be for us.  It reveals something so lacking in all of our hearts and lives that it should bring us to our knees like Peter, James, and John. 

To our knees … because Jesus has something to say.  He has something to say to sinners who lust for flesh and money while they judge the lives of others; He has something to say to sinners who heap up earthly treasures, but neglect the needs of their neighbors and children; He has something to say to sinners who regret what they are and what they have done, but who can do nothing about it.  Jesus has something to say to sinners who must but fall before their holy God and beg for mercy. 

And what does Jesus say?  “Rise, and don’t be afraid.”  You are afraid of God’s glory.  You are afraid of what He sees in you.  You fear death.  You fear that God will remember what you want Him to forget.  But you can’t forget it.  You are afraid that He will judge you for secret sins that are so numerous that you don’t even know about all of them.  But God does.  You are afraid of God, Jesus says.  But arise.  Look.  I am God.  There is no one here besides Me.  And here is where you find Me.  Not in terror.  But in mercy.  In the form of your servant who now goes to take your sin away. 

The bright light was gone.  But by speaking peace, Jesus spoke the light of faith into the hearts of these terrified men.  So he does for us.  By hiding His glory, Jesus brings us to share in His glory forever.  It is not by seeing dazzling images that we have it.  It is by the Gospel we hear.  This is what Jesus revealed in His Transfiguration.  For it is in the blood of the Lamb that our robes are washed and made white to shine with our Lord.  It is His righteousness we have.  We are with Christ, God’s beloved children with whom He is ever pleased.  We have it, not by sight, but by faith.  And so we do well, as St. Peter tells us, to pay attention to what Jesus says, often – because it is more sure than what we can see.  It is a lamp that shines into the darkness of our hearts to bring us peace with God.  

In Jesus’ name, Amen.