Calvary Lutheran Church

A Life-Changing Event

Grace and peace are yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our blessed Lord and Savior. Amen.

Matthew 17:1-9

 Dear Christian friends:

            Sometimes things happen that can change a person’s life completely. Serious accidents, crippling diseases, the loss of a loved one, the fall into some public and disgraceful sin—these are all negative events that can have a tremendous impact on people’s lives. Or, there are the positive events as well like a tragedy averted, a successful surgery, meeting Mr. Right or Miss Right, the birth of a child, a moment in the lime-light. These can also change lives forever.

            These then become the peaks or, in some cases, the valleys of life that standout above all the others. I’m sure you can all think of at least one event, if not several, in your life that fall into these two categories.

            This morning’s text is one of those life-changing events. It was a life-changing event for Jesus, for three of his disciples, and we may say for us as well. Yes, go home today and mark on your calendar for February 11, 2018,

A LIFE-CHANGING EVENT

            So tell me, did Jesus know when he ascended that mountain with his three disciples, Peter, James, and John, that he was going to be transfigured? This event is recorded by two other Gospel writers, Mark and Luke, and it is Luke who informs us that Jesus’ purpose in going up that mountain was simply to pray. And it was while in prayer that the transfiguration happened to him. I believe it may have been as much a surprise to Jesus as it was to the disciples.

            You see, we tend to think of Jesus mostly as God who simply appeared in the form of a man but was not true man. There is a name for that kind of thinking, it is called “Docetism.” Docetism has its roots in Gnosticism which says that God is good and material things like human bodies are inherently evil so that God would never associate himself with a human body.

            Martin Luther wrote in his Smalkald Articles and I quote, “We reject Schwenkfeld’s delirium (Schwenkfeld was a docetist) and assert that the human nature in Christ is and remains a creature, as John says, ‘The Word (i.e. Jesus) was made flesh.’” Yes, Jesus was and is to this day true man in every sense of the word, except without sin. 

            Paul made this clear when he wrote to the Philippians that Jesus “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8).

            So as true man Jesus had to grow up not only in stature, that is, physically, but also in wisdom and knowledge as to who he was. By the age of twelve, he knew he had to be about his heavenly Father’s business. By the time of his baptism, he knew that his heavenly Father loved him.

            But Jesus as true man was tempted in every way, and that included the temptation to question his own God-nature. That was the temptation the devil had for Jesus in the wilderness when he said, “If you truly are the Son of God then tell these stones to become bread.” And “If you are the Son of God throw yourself down from this tall building” (Matthew 4:3,6). In order for that to be a temptation, Jesus had to at least have the ability to doubt that he truly was God’s Son. And that being the case, then the transfiguration had to be a life-changing event for Jesus himself. After all, Jesus calmed the storm, but Moses also parted the Red Sea. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but Elijah also raised the widow at Zarephath’s son from the dead. Many of the same miracles that Jesus performed while on earth were also performed by Old Testament prophets and later Jesus’ own apostles. But only Jesus was transfigured.

            So what does it mean to be “transfigured”? I’ll give you the Greek word used here, because you are familiar with it. It is “metemorphotha”. That is the Greek word for which we get the English word, “metamorphosis”. Remember back in biology when swimming tadpoles changed into land-dwelling frogs; or when squishy, crawling larva changed into beautiful, flying butterflies? That is called a “metamorphosis”. In other words, metamorphosis is not just a change in outward appearance, but a complete change in essence.

            There is another Greek word for simply a change in outward form. That word is “metasxamatiso”. This is the word Paul used to describe Satan as “masquerading as an angel light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Satan appeared as an angel of light but deep down inside he was still Satan. Paul also described false teachers as “masquerading as apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13). But deep down inside they were still false teachers. But Jesus didn’t just appear to change, he did change. His essence changed into God. That God-glory which Paul told the Philippians Jesus had let go when he became a man, well, brace yourselves folks, he just took it up again.

            So how did this change in essence affect his outward appearance? “His face shone like the sun.” Have you ever tried looking at the sun on a clear day? Don’t do it. You’ll hurt your eyes. It is so bright, so intense. That’s what Jesus’ face looked like. “And his clothes became as white as the light.” Luke says his clothes became like lightning. Have you ever seen lightning bright up the night sky? What in the world was happening here? For the first time in Jesus’ human life his God-glory and God-nature were visibly displaying themselves through his earthly body and garments.

            And as though that were not enough, suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. Yes, Moses and Elijah—two men who had lived 1,500 years and 850 years respectively before Jesus. This tells us something about life after death. But why make their appearance now? Luke says that they spoke to Jesus about his “departure which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” In other words, they talked to Jesus about his suffering and death on the cross that would happen soon.

            Don’t you wish you could have been in on that conversation? Let’s speculate. Moses maybe said, “Don’t be afraid to face the cross. It will be difficult, it will be torturous, but you will be able to endure it. I, too, endured much in freeing God’s people from their slavery in Egypt. You will be freeing mankind from their slavery of sin.” And Elijah maybe said, “Remember, what you are about to do is all in your Father’s plan. I prophesied about it in my book, how you would be pierced and crushed for their iniquities but by your wounds you would heal all from sin, death, and hell.”

            What a life-changing event for Jesus! The temptations to doubt and fear were completely removed. His apprehensions about the future suffering dispelled, “Yes, I can do this,’ he must have said, and he did. He endured the suffering, he defeated death, he fulfilled prophesy.

            But this was a life-changing event for the disciples as well, “Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’” Peter was so impressed by this whole ordeal that he was willing to give up everything and just stay there on the mountain with Jesus and Moses and Elijah.

            Peter must have thought he had a touch of heaven right here on earth. And he did. He was in the presence of Jesus in his glory as God and he was face to face with two great prophets of the faith. What could be better than this? “Let’s just stay right here on this mountain top, Jesus” Peter said.

            But Peter’s enthusiasm was then disrupted first by a cloud that enveloped them and then by a voice from the cloud which said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” Well, that voice was too much for Peter and the other disciples. It changed their whole assessment of the situation.

            Jesus’ transfiguration and the appearance of Moses and Elijah was a shock, but in a heart-warming, comforting kind of way. Now the voice from the Father himself caused a fear to come over them that they never felt before. Suddenly the awareness of their sin got the best of them, and they fell face down to the ground terrified.

            Oh, I tell you, if we ever had a close encounter like this with the holy and almighty God as Peter did, our reaction would be the same—utter fear and terror. Perhaps for the first time in our lives we would recognize just how holy God is and how sinful we are. Our dulled consciences convict us from time to time when we sin, but we have become pretty good at drowning out that voice with excuses like “Lord, I’m not as bad as some other people I know.” Or, “Lord, you really can’t be serious about our sin, after all, we are only human.”

            But, you see, we weren’t there on that mountain to hear that voice. God’s law and judgment penetrated their callous and cavalier outlook on sin that day. They never viewed sin lightly again, “But Jesus came and touched them. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘Don’t be afraid.’ When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.” What a life-changing event for those disciples. 

            Peter, who was present on that mountain top, wrote about that experience later in his second epistle, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from the heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain” (2 Peter 1:16-18). Peter was saying, “This isn’t just some story that we made up. We lived through it, we were there, we saw the transfiguration, we know it happened, and it changed our lives.

            And now here you are today. You have come here today, on this Transfiguration Sunday, and you don’t just hear about this event, but you live through it. You can picture it in your mind as if you were actually there, and your faith takes a gigantic leap. Wow, maybe for the first time, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you know that Jesus is real. You know that he is your God, your Lord, your Savior through his work on the cross.

            And a peace comes over you. You don’t have to fear. You don’t have to make up excuses. You simple say, “Jesus, I lay my sins on you. Jesus, I put my trust in you.” And suddenly what goes on in the world isn’t so important anymore. The peaks and valleys of life are not so traumatic anymore. Death isn’t so frightening. And there comes this overwhelming desire to remain with Jesus—to praise him and thank him and worship him and serve him always. Now Jesus isn’t just part of your life, now he is your life. Yes, my friends, you too have been to the mountain top today and experienced a life-changing event.

            After describing the transfiguration Peter goes on, “We have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place,” (2 Peter 1:19).

            Peter is saying that you have something even more certain than just picturing yourselves with Jesus and the disciples on that mountain. You have the words of all the New Testament writers concerning everything that Jesus did and said, and that Word is like a bright light shining in a dark place. That Word has a power to create and sustain faith and love and hope and confidence.

            Peter concludes, “Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” What a beautiful way of saying, “until the day we stand with the Lord in heaven, and Jesus, the morning star, shines in all his glory before us.” That will be the ultimate life-changing event. Amen.

Let us pray:

Dear blessed Lord Jesus, thank you for your life-changing transfiguration. By it you convinced us again of your God-nature as the very Son of God. But also you convinced us of our sinful nature and need for a Savior. Jesus, you are that Savior by means of a most unique event—your own suffering and death on a cross in our place. Make our worship this morning a life-changing event, by drawing our hearts and lives closer to you as we listen to you through your Word. May we reflect your glory as we are being transformed daily into your likeness with ever increasing glory which comes from you. In your name we pray. Amen.