Transfiguration

The last Sunday of Epiphany is always Transfiguration. That’s actually a new thing – since Lutheranism came over to America, so maybe about 150 years or so. Before that, Transfiguration was always set at August 6, late in summer, just on its own. American Lutherans realized this was a good way to end Epiphany – the season of God revealing his glory in Jesus. But because it now depends on the date of Easter, it moves around. Sometimes earlier, sometimes later. Today is the great revealing of Jesus as God to his disciples. The Glory of the Lord is revealed in a Dramatic way we don’t see any other time in Jesus ministry. It reminds us of the Baptism of Jesus – where Father, Son, and Spirit reveal themselves in the River Jordan. Jesus ministry begins with him stepping into the water, The Father declaring his work of redemption pleasing, and Jesus being counted a sinner on our behalf.

Today, the voice from cloud sounds again. “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” The same words heard in the Jordan river. Now with this addition: Listen to him. Indeed we should hear the voice of our Lord Jesus and obey all that he commands us. But today he does not say much. The voice form the cloud speaks, but Jesus is mostly silent. He finally speaks when it has all ended, “Rise and have no fear.” This is not a moment of judgment on the disciples. This is a gift they are given, that they have been allowed to witness it. But they will not testify about what they have seen at this time. Jesus other word: Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead. Jesus explicitly ties the transfiguration to his death and resurrection. Luke tells us Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah about his coming death. So we have God revealing his glory in the Son, we have the Father’s voice from the cloud, we have explicit reference to the death of Jesus, and then: Nothing. They see no one, but Jesus only. The vision of Moses and Elijah, the bright glory of the shining face of Jesus have all gone.

For a moment, heaven broke through to earth. A small glimpse of the glory of the majesty of God came through. A tiny crack of light from eternity was shown to them on that mountain.

We heard on the Second Sunday of Epiphany how Jesus manifested his glory by turning water to wine. But few new what he had done. Then we heard about healings, the crowds saw and many believed as the glory of the Lord shown to the sick and dying. Last week, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and see obey him? He is very God of very God. Today, the disciples are overwhelmed. They know it’s a divine vision, the heavens breaking through into the world.

And then gone. Jesus is back to normal. We are told that the Eternal son of the Father, has no beauty that we should desire him. He is perfectly normal in every way when you look at him.

When we look throughout scripture at God coming to us to save us, we run into what Luther termed “The hiddenness of God.” God works in hidden ways. We heard Moses a couple of weeks ago asking to see God’s face, and God responding “man shall not see me and live.” Today, Moses talks to God, and then comes out and needs to veil himself. His face glows with reflected glory from having seen God. It frightens the people, so he veils, or hides his face so the reflected glory of the Lord is not seen.

God works through these hidden things, because his glory is too great. In order to come to us without destroying us, He works through common simple, everyday things. Water, Word, Bread and wine. These are great and most holy mysteries where the glory of the eternal God comes to earth brining us salvation. This hiddenness of God is for our good. It is one more sign of the love God has for us. We see how the disciples respond to the glimmer, the merest glimpse of glory from Jesus: They fall down to the ground. They sputter nonsense, they don’t know what they are talking about. When Israel sees Moses face shining – not the glory that Moses was looking at, but just a fading, reflected glory, they tell him to hide his face. We can’t handle the glory of the Lord directly. Our sin makes us unable to see him, we are too fearful because in the face of God, our sin would overwhelm and destroy us.

And so he works instead through hidden things. This is not only for our good, a loving act of God to hide his glory from us. It also prefigures and points us to the glory of Jesus on the cross. Certainly not a glorious scene from an earthly perspective. Nowhere is the glory of God more hidden, or more shown to the world. And this is where we are headed. Jesus tells the disciples that. In the back of the church, the sign up sheets for Lenten services are already up. We are heading quickly toward Ash Wednesday, quickly toward the season of fasting and repentance. Quickly toward the last journey to the cross. And Jesus mentions it explicitly in today’s Gospel. Tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” If the disciples had spread abroad what happened on the mountaintop, the people would have clamored for Jesus to do it again so they could see. Jesus would have been crowned by many of the people as a new – unstoppable – king. It would have entirely distracted from what Jesus really came to do. And so Jesus tells them – tell no one. Because he needs to preach and have them listen to his word, not just be a celebrity sitting on a raised platform with lights beaming from his face as the people all collapse to the ground. That’s not how this plays out.

God wanted to create a world with man praising him, obediently living in love and communion with each other and with him. No pain, no sin, no shame, no death. When we sinned, everything was turned upside down. It was the opposite of what God desired. And now, we were no longer able to do the will of God. Our nature was so corrupted that we were turned away from God, away from fear love and trust of his name. Now it was hatred of God, despising his word. And so the world was corrupted, everything was less than. And we could no longer handle close communion with God as there was in those early days of Eden. The image of bliss was shattered. The angel with the flaming sword now guarded the way to the tree of life, we had exiled ourselves from God’s presence. The cold shadow of death now loomed over the creation.

But God would not leave us in this state. There would be a redemption. But this redemption had to involve death, had to involve the shedding of blood. There had to be a blood sacrifice for the remission of sins. Only with Jesus death could the sins be taken away. And so the plan was put in place: The seed of the woman would crush the serpent, but he would be killed in the process. It would be a gruesome tragedy, an abomination before God and in the sight of the whole world.

And even God telling the people through Moses how they would come into the land to begin setting the stage for Jesus was too much for them to handle. Moses face shown, and the people were afraid. And so Moses face was veiled, hidden. Jesus is both the eternal son of the Father, and the hidden face of God. The glory safely behind the mask. Being very nature God, he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but took on the form of a servant. Until the mount of transfiguration. When Moses and Elijah join Jesus to speak of the promised redemption, the glory breaks through. The disciples can’t handle it any more than the people of Moses day could. They don’t know what is coming, despite the clear command and promise of Jesus about these things.

God works in hidden ways. And so redemption is won for us by the suffering of God’s Son. And those who would follow him to glory, must first follow him to the cross. This is why when Luther lists the marks of the true church, one of the marks is “Suffering” for the sake of the Gospel. Jesus tells us this in the beatitudes. “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.” The world rejects the glory of God, rejects the promise of salvation. And so God reveals himself through the Gospel to those who will hear and believe. And the church gathers humbly to hear this word. Here in this place, the glory of the Lord is revealed in these latter days. And it is revealed to us as we become partakers with Jesus of his sufferings, and so also partakers with him in glory. Our suffering in this world is given meaning by him, by his death and resurrection. Just as he redeems our souls and bodies from death by his death, so he redeems and gives meaning to our suffering in this world by his own suffering. And this is also to his glory and is worthy of praise.

And God continues to work through these hidden things. As surely as he works through the water poured as the word of God is spoken to redeem a sinner. As surely as he works through the word of absolution, that is forgiveness, spoken on earth, but declaring with certainty the heavenly reality that sins are forgiven, taken away and can not return. As surely as he works through his body and blood, given and shed for you, and offered at the table of the Lord for the forgiveness of your sins. This is the reality of God coming to us through hidden things, through humble and simple things to bring us the glories of salvation.

It is because of his love for us that he comes through these hidden means, so that we would not be overcome, but would receive them, would receive him, with grateful thanksgiving. When you look upon Jesus, you look upon your salvation. May God grant salvation through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to each of us in his love and his mercy. And may we never be offended by the humble circumstances of this salvation: The cross and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Jesus Name and for his sake.

Amen.