The Transfiguration Is Not About the Transfiguration
The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Last Sunday after the Epiphany
February 22, 2009
Mark 9:2-9
Jesus was transfigured, but simply showing His glory wasn't the reason
He was. The Transfiguration would seem to be about the
Transfiguration, but it's not. If it were, Peter's idea would have
been a good one. Jesus probably would have told Peter, James, and John
to pack, for they weren't going to be coming back.
But no, the Transfiguration isn't about the Transfiguration. It *is*
about the Word. Peter, James, and John weren't the only ones Jesus
brought up onto the mountain. He invited Moses and Elijah also. Why is
that? Moses and Elijah represent something. What they represent is the
Word. At the time of the events of the New Testament the New Testament
didn't exist. The Bible was what we call the Old Testament. One of the
ways the New Testament refers to the Old Testament as is the Law and
the Prophets. The Law referred to the first five books—written by
Moses—the Prophets the rest of the Old Testament, much of which are
the prophetic books.
Paul speaks of the Word of God in the Epistle reading. God spoke
creation into existence, He did it with His Word. God brought light
out of darkness. How did He do that? By speaking—"Let light shine out
of darkness."
No, the Transfiguration isn't really about the Transfiguration. It
*is* about Baptism. What do you have in Baptism? You have water, of
course. And you have the Word. The Word of God is connected with water
to make Baptism. But what does this have to do with the
Transfiguration? The same thing the Baptism of our Lord had to do with
it. When Jesus was Baptized, what did God the Father say? "You are My
beloved Son." Now, here, on the Mount of Transfiguration, God the
Father is saying: "This is My beloved Son."
See, you and I can't all be up there on the Mount of Transfiguration.
For that matter, neither could Peter, James, and John. Or at least,
they couldn't stay. But they could be Baptized. And so can we. There's
a reason Jesus was Baptized. And there's a reason He was transfigured.
Jesus certainly didn't do these things for Himself. He did them for
us. That's why He gives us Baptism. The glimpse of glory on the Mount
of Transfiguration wasn't only a glimpse of Jesus' glory, but of ours
as well—given to us in Baptism. If Peter, James, and John were amazed
by what they saw on the mountain, they hadn't seen anything yet. They
would see Jesus face to face in eternal and full glory in heaven, and
they would share in that glory. That's what God gives us in Baptism.
So, no, the Transfiguration isn't about the Transfiguration. It *is*
about Holy Communion. If it seemed a stretch that the Transfiguration
was about Baptism, though Jesus had not instituted it yet, at least He
Himself had been Baptized already. But what about Communion? The
Lord's Supper was not even on the disciples' radar. There was nothing
up there on the mountain about bread and wine, or any meal, for that
matter. How is the Transfiguration about Holy Communion?
Communion is what Jesus was doing on the Mount of Transfiguration. He
was communing with Moses and Elijah. The disciples didn't quite get
that. They thought they should have a gala event, honoring these three
men. It went right over their heads that they were actually communing
with Jesus and the saints who had gone before them. This is what the
Communion liturgy is getting at when it says, "therefore with angels
and archangels and all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your
glorious name." If you look around the altar rail when you commune you
will see the other members of this congregation communing with you and
you with them. Who you won't see are Moses and Elijah. But they're
there, communing with you and you with them. You won't see Peter and
James and John. But they'll be communing with you as well, and you
with them.
The Transfiguration, *is* about the Transfiguration, of course. Of
course, it's about the Transfiguration. Jesus was transfigured before
them so that they, and we, can see who it is that has come to bring
salvation. He's the God who is divine and radiant in His glory. He's
the God of Abraham and David and Moses and Elijah. He's the God who
spoke creation into existence with His Word and who was Baptized by
John the Baptist. He's the God who communes with His people and
invites them to commune with Him. So, yes, the Transfiguration *is*
about the Transfiguration.
But Jesus didn't, after all, stay up there. He didn't, when all was
said and done, remain in His glorious transfigured state for very
long. That's because the Transfiguration, when you come down to it,
wasn't really about the Transfiguration. Jesus tells us what the
Transfiguration is about when He is coming down the mountain. It's
about the cross. Everything, after all, is about the cross. Christ is
about the cross. His Ministry was about the cross. Salvation is about
the cross. The Transfiguration is about the cross.
Once again, we see Jesus telling people *not to tell people about Him
and about what they had seen!* It's seems very strange until you
realize that who He is and what He does means nothing for us apart
from the cross. That what people had seen didn't help them one lick
without Jesus ascending the hill of Calvary. Jesus didn't pay for the
sin of the world on the Mount of Transfiguration. But He did on
Calvary. What Jesus accomplished on the cross is given to you in His
Holy Word, delivered to you in your Baptism, and offered to you in
Holy Communion.
The Transfiguration is all about you. It is about what God does for
you, in Christ. In the Transfiguration we see why Christ came, what He
came to do, how He accomplishes salvation. Seeing Moses and Elijah up
on the mountain and Jesus in the middle of them, we see that Jesus is
at the center. He is the key to the Scriptures. Hearing the voice of
the Heavenly Father up on the mountain, "This is My beloved Son;
listen to Him," we hear the call to make disciples of all nations,
Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Seeing our Lord bring Peter, James, and John into communion
with Him and the saints triumphant, we rejoice in the invitation to us
to commune with Him and the angels and archangels and all the company
of heaven.
Peter, James, and John may have been wondering why they weren't to
tell anyone about what they had seen but we don't have to wonder or
keep quiet. Jesus said not to speak of it until after the
resurrection. It's now after. We tell others. We give to them the
message of the cross, not platitudes. We give them Christ. It's what
we need, it's what they need. It always goes back to the cross. As
Paul said in the Epistle: "we proclaim not ourselves but Christ." He
was transfigured. He suffered. He rose. He gives you salvation. Amen.
SDG
--
Pastor Paul L. Willweber
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS]
San Diego, California
princeofpeacesd.net
three-taverns.blogspot.com
It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything
except where the marks of the Church are concerned.
[Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian]
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