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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this celebration of the Transfiguration is the account heard in the Gospel reading. You may be seated.
The great mystery of the Christian faith, or one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith, is that the cross and glory are not mutually exclusive. They actually go together. The biggest struggle that the apostles had in Jesus’ preaching and teaching was that He would die for the sins of the people. You remember, Peter says, “Oh Lord, may it never be that You would have to be crucified.” And Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan.” The concept of Jesus dying, that shame, that cross, for all of our minds does not go together with glory. And yet in this morning’s text is the transfiguration, that little glimpse into the glory that awaits. The door closes, that’s it, because the way of Jesus is the way of the cross.
From the moment of His conception, what was it said about Jesus? He would be the Savior of their sins, which is why He would even be named Jesus. If Jesus has paid for all of your sins and my sins, then why? Why would we have to go through crosses in this life? Now, crosses are not common afflictions that all people have. Having cancer is not a cross. Breaking your leg is not a cross. Losing your job is not a cross. That’s common to a believer and an unbeliever. Having the cross is only for the believer. Suffering for the faith. Denying yourself. Taking up the cross and following Jesus.
But when you and I consider our life, we do everything we can to avoid suffering for Jesus. Unless we have to, we will do everything within our power, denying that the life of the baptized believer is a life like Jesus’. Think about this. At the very beginning of this Epiphany season, back in January, the first Sunday of the Epiphany, it was the celebration of the baptism of our Lord. It was the celebration of the baptism of our Lord. The only other place in Scripture, besides this morning’s text, where the Father speaks from heaven and says, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” At the very end of this Epiphany season is the only other place in all of Scripture where the voice from heaven cries out, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.”
Just as in your baptism, because you are baptized into Christ, the Father says of you when you were but an infant, “This is my beloved son, this is my beloved daughter.” Or if you were baptized as an adult, “This is my beloved son, or this is my beloved daughter.” And yet after the fact of you becoming God’s child, your life still had suffering. Now, if Jesus paid for my sins, shouldn’t my life then as His child be suffering-free? And that is not the life of the baptized. If Christ is the beloved Son of God and it is spoken to Christ at His baptism, does He still need to go through the cross? He’s God’s child. He’s God’s chosen. The Father’s pleased with Him. Does He still need to please the Father more by going through the cross? Yes.
That’s how you and I think. That’s how Peter thought. See, it’s very interesting. This picture of transfiguration. It is as if God says, quickly look at what you will become upon your death and resurrection. This is what you will look like. And the door is closed. And now He says, live your life by faith. But not in silence. Live your life by faith, by faith. Listening to Him. The one difference between the Father’s voice at baptism and the Father’s voice at transfiguration are those three words: “Listen to Him.”
And hasn’t that been the problem in your life and my life since we were little? Hasn’t that been the problem of why we are sinful? Was it not Eve that did not listen to the voice of God saying, “Do not eat from that tree?” And was it not Satan that cast doubt on the words of God saying, “Did God really say that you must not eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden?” And has that not been your and my struggle? To try to figure out God, outguess God, improve upon God’s proclamation, or just plain not listen to it.
And we think in terms of listening to him telling us, don’t do that, don’t do that. He’s really talking about listening to the words that say, “You are my beloved son, you are my beloved daughter.” What do you find yourself saying to people in your life whom you love? You wish them to tell you that they love you. You know it before they say it, but why is it then if you know it before they say it, you still appreciate them saying it to you? Because you and I struggle with doubts and fears and a whole host of other sins.
It is the same thing with Christ. When the Father said, “Listen to Him” now, Listen to him as the one who tells you, you are my beloved. The problem with the prodigal son was that he didn’t trust in the father’s love. He heard the father say it, but until he actually experienced it, when he had nothing to offer, did he finally listen and grab hold of it.
Now this is interesting. In the upper right-hand corner of the windows, the far right window top one, is the depiction of transfiguration. Jesus is in the red robe. Moses is in the purple robe with the two tablets of the Ten Commandments. And Elijah is in the green robe with the scroll of the writings. There’s this conversation going on between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.
Now, when you were a little boy or little girl, and your parents were talking a very serious conversation with another adult, how well would your parents handle you interrupting that conversation with some bright idea of your own? And yet, you know what Peter did? That very thing. Jesus is talking to Moses and Elijah, and he’s not talking about how the basketball game last night went with the Longhorns and the Jayhawks. Although if you would like to know, I’d be glad to tell you, but we’re not going to go there. They’re not talking about anything else other than Jesus and all the prophecies that were written about Jesus in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in this Jesus. They’re talking about serious stuff. And the most serious thing about all this conversation is that God of God and light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, is going to be the one who dies. Yes. For the begotten and the creature who was made.
That’s what they’re discussing. And instead of Peter shutting up and listening to this conversation and growing in his faith, he thinks, “I got this, God. I’ve got this figured out. I’m going to fix what you’re talking about. Let’s just stay here so that you don’t have to go to the cross.” So of all the bold things that Peter does, he interrupts this conversation between Peter, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, like a little kid and has this great idea, “I’m going to build three shelters.” And of course, it’s going to be honoring Christ. One for you, Jesus. One for you, Moses. And one for you, Elijah.
Do you know what the Father does then? The Father, in turn, interrupts Peter. The text says very clearly, “Peter, he was still speaking when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them.” And Peter shut his mouth and fell to the ground in fear, cowering at the feet of Jesus. And the Father told Peter what to think. The Father reminded Peter who Jesus is and what Jesus’ job is. The Father said, “This is my beloved Son.” Same thing He said at baptism, which also they would have heard. “With Him I am well pleased.” Same thing that was said at baptism, which they heard. What’s so important about that is because if the Father is pleased with Jesus, then He’s pleased with you. And there’s nothing more that you gotta do to make yourself pleasing to God. He made you pleasing to God in that sacrifice.
But the three additional words that Jesus heard as well as Peter, James, and John from the Father’s lips were, “Listen to Him.” Think about that. Peter, trying to put the great idea forth, gets told by the Father to shut up and listen. I’m sure none of you have ever heard that from your parents’ lips. You were probably the very obedient children. I was not. I heard that a lot.
But there are two kinds of people in this congregation. There are the Peters, as we always have the idea, we think we can improve upon it. We want to take this moment and teach you what you need to know about God so that you grow in this great faith and we can talk and talk and talk. Well, don’t look at Peters being the bad guy because James and John, which is the other kind of people in the congregation, don’t say a word. And they can be looked upon as, oh, look at them, they never spoke out.
And yet… If I remember right, as I know you will remember correctly, when the soldiers came to find Jesus in the garden, Peter, James, and John all ran away. So James and John were no better by shutting up because they didn’t listen and they didn’t grab hold of this truth of the cross, no different than Peter who spoke out, didn’t shut up and listen and grab the truth of the cross.
Why is the cross so central to the faith? Because sins have to be paid for. You know what Satan does to you and me? Whenever you and I suffer, we can actually think it, because of Satan’s temptation, that we’re paying our dues for our sins. That’s blasphemy, brothers and sisters. That’s blasphemy. That’s to deny the very cross and the sacrifice. That’s blasphemy. There is no suffering in this life, whether it is common to all people or whether it is suffering because you are a believer in Christ that pays for anything. It is really a part of living out the faith in this world.
When Jesus was baptized, when Jesus went through the rest of His life, every facet of His life was lived as the beloved and as the one who was pleasing to the Father. He was pleasing to the Father before He ever died on the cross. The only reason He died was to fulfill what you couldn’t fulfill, or I couldn’t fulfill. Someone had to be damned, and He was damned. Because if He was damned, you’ll never be damned. That means you are pleasing to the Father because of Him.
But the life of the cross, because we avoid it, is a very lonely way. Think about loneliness. It was lonely for Jesus, too. What did His friends do at the height of His need but leave them? What did the people who gathered around Jesus, who followed Him, do but leave Him? What did every facet of Jesus’ life find? People rejected Him far more than they embraced Him. So if they rejected Him far more than they embraced Him, think about the lonely life of the cross today.
And we think that if we say it the right way and act it out the right way, people will fall over themselves to be a part of us. Really? We have something better to improve upon than what Jesus Himself did? That’s a Peterism. Thinking that we can improve upon Jesus and avoid the cross in this life.
It’s interesting. That of all the times in the church year, because remember, this is not inspired. This has just been put together by people long before we ever lived that said, you know what? Let’s put transfiguration right before the beginning of Lent. Why? Because of this very point. The very point that they struggled with was the cross. And because they struggled with the cross… Because we want to avoid it and only have glory, did Jesus and His life of the cross be emphasized in lent of all times. How interesting.
At the end of the service, I’m going to walk out with this because we’re saying goodbye to Alleluia. Because we’re about to head into Lent when we don’t say Alleluia. That’s not scripturally there. It’s merely a practice to get us to see that there is always there the cross as a part of our existence. Yes. The Alleluia comes at the end on the glorious resurrection, the empty tomb, but the empty tomb has no meaning unless there’s first a Good Friday. That’s what Jesus is reminding His disciples here.
It is a strange and terrible work that Jesus is going to embark upon that will finally climax in our Good Friday service. But as He walks this road to the cross, He listens to the Father. And what word did the Father speak to the Son? So that the apostles knew what the Father said about the Son. The apostles heard Jesus say, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Those are the words that you and I need to listen to in the same way. So when the Father says, “Listen to Him.” He’s saying, listen to the affirming forgiveness found only in this one who was going to be obedient, not listening to Satan, not listening to this world, not listening to his best friends, but only the Father’s voice, so that you’ll be pleasing as well.
Next Sunday, if you don’t make it to Ash Wednesday, and even if you do, the Gospel reading is about the conversation that Jesus has with Satan during his 40 days in the wilderness. And in that conversation with Satan, he practices what the Father preached. He listened to the Father and clung to the Father. And he didn’t argue, improve upon, or change, but stuck with the promises that were told him. That is what you and I, and only what you and I have today.
In the name of Jesus, amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus, the life everlasting. Amen.