The Transfiguration of Our Lord-St. Luke 9:28-36-St. Valentine's Day

‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Ps. 19:14) Amen.

‘Grace, mercy and peace will be with you, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.’ (2 John 3) Amen.

‘Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face altered, and his clothing became dazzlingly white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah’. (Vv. 28-30)

This event occurred in the middle of the night. Jesus did not want, as He tells these men elsewhere, anyone to notice this or know about this event. In the event of the transfiguration, we get to see something of what happened when Jesus went off to pray by Himself. Luke often tells us of these pauses in Jesus’ ministry. It is a note that was peculiar to Luke’s Gospel.

This dazzlingly white appearance of Jesus as He prayed was then all the more dramatic for the contrast. Jesus also brought these three of His disciples along because He wished to show the true reality about Himself to them and if this happened during the day it would not have the desired effect. During the day, the light of the sun would have washed out Jesus’ transfiguration. Also, if this happened during the day, there would have been the ever present crowds.

So, it is as Paul tells us, ‘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 Corinthians 4:6). So this is not really just about this physical transformation. Jesus’ transfiguration is about your faith. Jesus is trying to teach you and me something about the faith we have been given in Him.

Your faith is rooted in the words of the Old Testament.

We see this in what Luke writes. ‘And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah’. (Vv. 28-30) Moses is used in Scripture for the entirety of the Law of God. Moses was the Lawgiver of greatest excellence. Elijah is seen as the representation of the prophets of God. He was seen as the most excellent of the prophets. In this the Holy Spirit points us forward to the later statement Jesus makes, in chapter twenty-four (vv. 44-45), to the disciples after His resurrection that the Law and the Prophets find their fulfillment in Him. If Jesus had used names He would have said instead, “Moses and Elijah find their fulfillment in Me”.

With Peter and John and James, we see in this glorified appearance of our Savior a small bit of the glory that we have now in Jesus. We do not see this yet until we reach heaven but it is already yours. ‘And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 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. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.’ (Vv. 30-33)

We see this glory of ours pictured in Moses and Elijah as they stand speaking with Jesus about His coming Exodus. That is what the word means here. It is translated for us as “departure”, but the Greek is exodon, that is exodus. What this refers to is Jesus’ going away from earth to heaven. We all know when that happens.

So we are again pointed forward to what Jesus’ mission really is. Jesus was not in the world to rescue people from a government that they did not happen to like or from one that was oppressive. Rather, Jesus came to rescue you from eternal death as the judgement you have received because of your sins.

This as we can tell from the Gospel and from our opening hymn that this is not what Peter was thinking about. After all, we sang ‘’Tis good, Lord, to be here! Yet we may not remain; But since Thou bidst us leave the mount, Come with us to the plain.”’ (The Lutheran Hymnal 135:5) Peter did not have in his head thoughts of eternal salvation. When we have a mountain top experience in our own lives we are often the same way. You and I do not want that time to end. We do not want to go back to our regular life.

Yet, we cannot stay. We cannot make tents for ourselves and for our Lord. We must return to the plain. That is, you must return to your regular life and the troubles and trials that are daily with you. So, we pray with the hymn writer ‘“Come with us to the plain.”’ If we cannot stay on the mountain, we need our Savior to come with us. And He does. Jesus does return to the plain with us. You have Him always with you. He guides and protects you as you go through your individual trials and troubles.

So, it seems that heaven is far off. It seems often times that not only is heaven far off, but Jesus is too! Yet, Jesus tells us where heaven is at the opening of the Gospels when He begins His preaching ministry. After all, Jesus starts that ministry by proclaiming, ‘“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is upon you!”’ (St. Mark 1:14-15) There is a reason that is a remarkable statement. As Luke teaches, what Jesus is really saying is, “I am here among you. Heaven is right here in this place. Heaven is no longer in the temple because that is no longer where God has made His dwelling among men.” What is being said is where Jesus is; there is heaven.

Heaven is here! Heaven is here because Jesus is here giving out His gifts of His Word read and preached and the gift of His Sacrament.

So now we have a pointing backward. ‘As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” and when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.’ (Vv. 34-36)

We are reminded here of Jesus’ Baptism (St. Luke 3:21-22). At that point, the Father spoke as well and made a similar statement about Jesus. Except this time there is a new exhortation for the disciples. ‘“Listen to him!”’ we are told. For remember, you also are a disciple of Jesus. This statement is not simply for these three or for the Twelve, it is a command from the Father for all believers in Christ. As Jesus Himself teaches, no man knows God the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son reveals him (see Hebrews 1:2).

This cloud is also familiar to you and me. There was a cloud at the Exodus out of Egypt (Exodus 40:34-38). That cloud led the people of Israel just as this cloud also leads this the earliest of the New Testament church. This command to listen to Jesus is not listen, except. There is no exception given. We are to listen to all that is contained in God’s holy word. You are not allowed to make exceptions. You are not allowed to pick and chose those things that you agree with or that you like.

This is how you and I follow our heavenly Father’s command given here. We listen to what is said in the Bible. So, we will now listen to what the Bible tells us about our Savior’s suffering and death and resurrection in the coming weeks. You and I will hear again what Paul meant when he wrote. ‘We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’ (2 Corinthians 5:20b-21)

In Jesus’+ Name. Amen.