sermon on luke 9:28-36 for transfiguration sunday, february 10th grace, mercy and peace from god the father and from jesus christ, the fath

Sermon on Luke 9:28-36 for Transfiguration Sunday, February 10th
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the
Father’s son, will be with us in truth and love. Amen.
The lesson for our meditation today is our gospel, recorded in Luke 9,
I’ll re-read several verses:
Luke 9 - 28 About eight days after [Jesus said] this, he took Peter,
John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he
was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes
became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and
Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They
spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment
at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when
they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing
with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him,
“Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three
shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not
know what he was saying.)
34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they
were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud,
saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When
the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples
kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they
had seen.
Dear hearers of the Word, witnesses, brothers and sisters of Christ,
our eternally transfigured Lord. How’s your hearing? Now, I don’t mean
how well do your ears work – but how well do you hear...better yet,
how well do you listen? When someone speaks to you, do you ever tune
them out, because they’re boring or because you disagree with them? Do
you find yourself not listening, because you already think you know
what’s going on? Well, a lot of people thought they knew what Jesus
was about, and weren’t listening to his real message – so God arranged
a demonstration for them, and for us. We’ll talk about that
demonstration today, in light of our gospel, in which our Heavenly
Father tells us, “Listen to Him…This is My Son.”
Now, if we want to get a good bead on what our God wants us to hear
(and learn) from this message, we should understand where the
Transfiguration fits in Jesus’ earthly ministry. It really is a
crucial point, in fact, we might call it the turning point: the
Pharisees and other powers-that-be have already begun to actively
oppose Jesus. After the Transfiguration Luke tells us that “Jesus
resolutely set his face toward Jerusalem,” where he would go for the
last time, and that opposition would turn deadly, one of his disciples
would betray him, and he would be crucified. So here on the Mount of
Transfiguration God the Father encourages his Son and his disciples
before the trials they were about to face.
But his disciples needed more than just encouragement. Six days
earlier, Jesus had asked them “who do you say I am?” Peter answered
“you are the Christ.” Now, from that answer, you might think Peter
understood Jesus’ mission. However, when Christ began to speak of his
upcoming suffering, death, and resurrection, Peter rebuked him. It was
obvious, then, that he hadn’t been listening, that his own earthly
desires had prevented him from understanding Christ’s Word and
Christ’s mission. The rest of the disciples were no different – after
his resurrection, they asked him if he was going to establish his
earthly kingdom. They would not abandon the notion that the Messiah
was to be an earthly king who would reinstate the kingdom of Israel as
a political power.
Most of the Jews of the time thought as Jesus’ disciples did – they
failed to listen to those who came before – to those whom God had sent
to teach them. Two of these teachers stood before the disciples now –
Moses, who gave the Law, which the entire nation of Israel accepted
and pledged themselves to on Mt. SInai; and Elijah, who preached when
only 7000 still listened to and believed the Word of God. There is a
sad yet interesting parallel, here, with the nation of Germany - in
the land that produced reformers, theologians and teachers like Martin
Luther, Martin Chemnitz and Johann Gerhardt, much of the population
has fallen to atheism, modernism and humanism, and no longer listens
to the Son of God, the Word of God.
And how are your listening skills, dear child of God? Are you looking
for an earthly “bread” king to fulfill your earthly desires? Do you
ever wonder why God could let your earthly life be so hard, when
unbelievers often seem to have it so easy? Do you fail to believe your
God when he tells you to listen to His Son? We do fail. Whenever we
allow the worries of this world to distract us from the Word of our
Lord, we fail to listen. Whenever the world, Satan, or our sinful self
leads us to trust in something other than Christ, we deny him. Christ
said, six days before, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words…the
Son of Man will be ashamed of him…." And these words are confirmed
here by the testimony of the Father “This is my Son, whom I love.
Listen to Him.” Listen to Him, God the Father says to us – for only
those who trust in his Word and listen to Him, will have the right to
be called Sons of God. The authority of Christ’s Word is here
confirmed – we ignore it at our own peril.
But our loving God won’t let us cling to an earthly hope for a worldly
Messiah – he won’t let us ignore Him or deny Him for long. God came to
them on that mountaintop, and comes to us through his Word, because he
wants to correct our understanding, so we might have a true faith, and
a true hope for a real salvation. “Listen to Him…This is My Son.”
Six days after Peter’s unfortunate lapse – or perhaps not so
unfortunate – you might even thank Peter when you get to Heaven, for
it is partly in response to his contradiction of Jesus that the Lord
gave us this remarkable glimpse of Christ in his undiminished glory.
Six days after Peter forgot, for a while, the real reason his Savior
came, Jesus led him, James and John to a high mountain.
There, Jesus was transfigured before them. Now keep in mind that this
was not simply a change in his appearance and the color of his
clothes. The English word we have for this is the same as it is in
Greek: metamorphosis – a change in form. This was a thorough change,
so that we might see Christ in all his glory, with his divinity
shining through his human form. Can you imagine how those three
disciples felt to see their Savior as he really is?
And as if this were not enough, then they saw Moses and Elijah
standing with Jesus. Two of the greatest servants of God of the Old
Testament – and you’ll notice they didn’t need to be introduced – were
standing, talking, with Jesus. Talking – the disciples not only saw,
but heard them – yet another assurance for us, that this was a real,
tangible event, not just a vision.
Then, a cloud envelops them, and God the Father speaks “this is my
Son, listen to Him.” And just like that, the cloud lifts, Elijah and
Moses are gone, and Jesus is standing, by himself, looking like he
always had.
We don’t know how long all of this lasted, but we can be sure that the
impressions created by the experience must have lasted for the rest of
their lives. Can we blame Peter for wanting to prolong this glorious
moment?
“This is My Son,” God the Father said. In answer to all those who
would follow the world, in response to those who don’t like the
message, he says “this is my Son, and I love him.”
This is My Son! This is no earthly messiah come to lead you in revolt
against the Romans. This is God himself, listen to him, as he
witnesses about himself in his transfiguration – as his divinity
shines through the human form he took in order to live among us. God
himself has come to live among you, to teach you and to die for you.
For only the death of God can pay for your sins.
This is My Son! This is the one the prophets told you about. For the
Christian faith is not a new one, but has existed since the Garden of
Eden. The prophets spoke of the Son before your birth, and so you
would know him when he stood among you. Two of them stand before you
now to testify – he is the fulfillment of the promise they received in
faith. Moses and Elijah are witnesses – early Christians testifying to
new ones, that Jesus is their Savior and Lord as well as ours, and has
come to pay for their sins, and ours.
This is My Son! God the Father testifies! This is my beloved Son, he
is God the Son, and I approve of what he is doing, and what he is
about to do. He will descend this mountain so he may ascend the mount
of Golgatha and die for your sins, for every time you have doubted
him, for every time you have put your trust in other things, other
gods, for all your sins, he will go to the Cross.
In love, God takes us to the Mount of Transfiguration, so we might
have faith to listen to His Son – for it is only in that faith that we
have forgiveness for our sins, and may be called Sons of God
ourselves.
“This is My Son…Listen to Him.” The Transfiguration is not just a
lesson of faith, it is a glimpse, however brief, of future glory. May
this glimpse of your heavenly future give you courage as you go forth
into the world. The prophets witnessed the coming of the Son, the
Father witnessed his love for his Son, and the Son witnessed himself
by the shining forth of his own glory. The Spirit has witnessed all of
this to you through the Word, created and strengthened your faith by
the Means of Grace. Now you, my friends, may go forth to witness your
faith, and your own transformation, to the billions of people who
don’t listen to our Lord, to your friends and family and neighbors who
yet reject him, the unbelievers living among you.
Peter was shaken, and wanted this glorious moment to last longer –
what an effect by a mere glimpse of heavenly glory. Here, in small
measure, was the glory of God revealed, and two of the departed
faithful stood with the Savior in glory. How wonderful it will be on
the Last Day, when not two, but all believers, when we all stand with
him, and behold him with the eyes, and hear him with the ears, of our
own glorified spiritual bodies…not for one brief moment on a
mountaintop, but in the City of God, in heavenly bliss, forever.
Amen.
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before
his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only
God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus
Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forever more! Amen.

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