Transfiguration Sunday
Jan. 30 & Feb. 3, 2008
Text:
Matthew 17:1-9
‘TIS GOOD LORD TO BE HERE
Why is
it that everyone is looking for some mountaintop experience when it comes to
one’s spiritual life or their relationship with God? What is it that makes us, or any of God’s
people, expect excitement?
Well
now, does it get any better than this?
Peter and James and John are on a high mountain. Jesus is transfigured. He is shining from within, clearly confirming
that he is the Son of God. Moses and Elijah are attending to Him, speaking to
Jesus as their Lord and discussing His upcoming exodus. This is marvelous.
It’s a
glorious moment, especially considering what happened only a few days
earlier. When Jesus had asked the
disciples who they thought He was, Peter correctly
calls Him the Christ, the Son of the living God. OK, but when Jesus goes on to say that He
must be delivered up, be betrayed, and suffer and die, Peter says this can not
be…what sensible disciple wouldn’t have said that…Jesus rebukes him as Satan and sets Peter back a bit. It was bad moment for Peter, though he will
eventually know the Lord was right. You
see, Peter was trying to prevent Jesus from going to the cross,
he was trying to prevent the salvation of the world. That was so bad, and this is so good. This is glory and triumph, and he is feeling
everything is just fine.
So,
let’s keep it this way. Let’s stay a
while. Peter now says, “Lord, it is good
for us to be here. If you wish, we can build three tents, one for You, one fore Moses, one fore Elijah.” Jesus is here with the big three disciples, a
couple of His greatest prophets, and there’s no danger or threat, no betrayal
lurking here. This is truly a
mountaintop experience, and Peter wouldn’t mind one bit if it lasted a good
long time.
But
look out, Peter’s doing it again. This
is great, it’s glorious, a mountaintop experience to be sure. But if the Lord follows Peter’s plan and
camps out here fore the foreseeable future, it means He has stopped going
toward
Peter
gets it wrong, again, because he is just like you and me, made up of sinful
flesh. Peter prefers glory to
suffering. The shining moment on the
mountain grabs him, and he surely wishes this is way it could always be—none of
that betrayal and death stuff Jesus talked about earlier. However, Jesus does not admonish Peter this
time, but a cloud overshadows the mountaintop and it’s not just any cloud. This is the very Old Testament cloud—the kind
that led
We’ve
heard this line before, at the Baptism by John.
He confirmed then that this was the Christ, His Son, and the Son was
doing the Father’s will. All this was being accomplished for the
salvation of the world. Jesus didn’t
become flesh to be baptized or to come to a mountaintop, He came to save
sinners. He was far more glorious before
This is
the Father’s beloved Son. Hear Him.
When
they all come down from the mountain, the jury, I believe, is still out on
Peter. He’ll still be one for
appearances and excitement over the Word.
When Jesus predicts His cross again, Peter won’t like it any more than
before. And when He
sees the cross only hours away, he will deny the Savior three times.
But the
Lord is merciful to Peter, and continues to speak His Word to Him. One day, in his second epistle, peter will
write about this day, about the Transfiguration…this what he says:
For we
did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received
from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent
Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased.’ And we heard this voice when we were with Him on the holy
mountain. And so we have the prophetic
word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark
place, until the day dawns and the morning
star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is
of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but
holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1: 16-21)
So,
says Peter, he and the other disciples saw the glory and majesty of Christ on
the mountain, even as they heard the Father speak from the cloud. The voice confirmed the glory of the Son, and
the Son in His glory confirmed the Word.
Peter’s hearers didn’t see the Transfiguration, but Peter tells them
they have something better, they have the Scriptures, the Word of God. They don’t see the Savior, but they hear Him.
Now
what? At the end of the service we will
sing one of my favorite hymns.
’Tis good Lord to be here; yet we may not remain
But
since Thou biddest us leave the mount, come with us
to the plain.
Dear
people, I cannot tell you how good it is to be here. Here in this sanctuary. For week after week we hear the precious
Gospel. Most week,
I feel like I have been to the mountaintop.
It is good to be here, because Jesus is here. And there is no better place to be than with
Jesus. Just in the past month or so, think about we have privileged to hear…the
birth of Jesus, told to us and sung to us by our children and grandchildren and
the choir, we have heard in this Epiphany season who Jesus is and what He has
done for us. We have witnessed children
being baptized, we have come to the altar to receive
the body and blood of our Lord Jesus. Word and Sacraments, God’s means of grace. He is here.
How do you know that? He says so
in His Word. In other words, how do you
know? Because you follow the Father’s
command: Hear Him. In His Word, you hear
Him.
And
except for the occasional mountaintop, you and I are on the plain. But it’s good to be here, because the Lord is
with us here; and because He is with you, you also know the mountaintop of
Amen