“A Strange Command with Glorious Future Significance”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Dear fellow witnesses of our Lord’s transfiguration, grace, mercy,
and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. [Amen.]
And faithful hearts are raised on high
By this great vision’s mystery,
For which in joyful strains we raise
The voice of prayer, the hymn of praise.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
413:4)
Gospel
Reading........................................................................................
St. Matthew 17:9
And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no
one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”
Prologue: Let’s start off this [afternoon / morning] with a
reminder that the word “epiphany” simply means reveal, make known, manifest.
God revealed, made known, and manifested through the leading of the Magi by
a mysterious star to the toddler Jesus that He was the Messiah sent into the
world to rescue, redeem, and reconcile with Himself not only the Jews but
all people of all races and nationalities throughout the world. During this
Epiphany season the appointed Gospel Readings for the one-year historic
lectionary have revealed, made known, and manifested the fact that Jesus is
truly God and filled with compassion for sin-laden and sin-broken mankind.
As we today celebrate the Transfiguration of Our Lord, we are
privileged by the reading and hearing of God’s Holy Word to witness along
with Peter, James, and John the revealing, making known, and manifesting of
our Savior’s glorious divine nature. And that’s something that all
believers in Him will someday see with their physical eyes in heaven itself.
In consideration of such, we stand on a pivotal pedestal from which we look
back at His immaculate divine conception by the power of the Holy Spirit and
subsequent virgin-birth, and forward to His majestic resurrection from the
dead and ascension-return to His heavenly-home.
Within the mysterious context of this event, however, Jesus issued
what sounds to be …
“A Strange Command with Glorious Future Significance”
that confronts us, confuses us, and even confounds us. Is our Lord’s
strange command with allusion to a glorious future significance an
oxymoron? … or a paradox? … or irony? Actually it’s no single one of them
but all three of them. It’s a self-contained contradiction, an
inconsistency, and strangeness all at the same time.
This command by Jesus was not an isolated one. When Peter in the
presence of Jesus’ disciples confessed Him to be the Christ, Jesus “strictly
charged them to tell no one about him.” (St Mark 8:30 ESV) After Jesus had
raised a ruler’s daughter back to life from death, “her parents were amazed,
but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.” (St Luke 8:56 ESV)
Donald Guthrie explained in his classic volume Jesus the Messiah:
“Although baffled by the vision, it would have been natural for [Peter,
James, and John] to spread reports about the sheer wonder of [His
transfiguration].” But Jesus in His divine wisdom knew what was better.
After all, “How much clearer the whole matter would become when Jesus’ glory
would again be seen after He had risen from the dead.” (Donald Guthrie in
Jesus the Messiah: An Illustrated Life of Christ. Copyright © 1972 by The
Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, MI. Pages176F.)
Co-authors Jerome Albrecht and Michael Albrecht explained Jesus’
seemingly strange command this way: “There was enough selfish desire for
preeminence among the disciples that they might have regarded this
experience as an indication that Jesus had special places in his kingdom for
this inner circle of three disciples. And it was very clear that the common
people had wrong ideas about the nature of Jesus’ kingdom and that they
would only misinterpret this event to support their false ideas about that
kingdom.” (G. Jerome Albrecht & Michael J. Albrecht in People’s Bible
Commentary: Matthew. Copyright © 1996 Concordia Publishing House, St.
Louis, MO. Page 249.)
In other words, Jesus told Peter, James, and John to be patient,
cool their jets!, and wait for a later more opportune time to report what
they saw. That time would be after His resurrection from the dead when in
the context of that most-majestic miracle this transfiguration event would
make better sense, be more believable, and the hearers of their report would
be more able and willing to accept the truthfulness coupled with an
understanding of its significance. So it was that some time after Christ’s
resurrection the apostle Peter wrote what we heard in today’s Epistle
Reading: “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to
you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father,
and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved
Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne
from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.” (2 Peter 1:16-18
ESV)
After all, it was on that holy mountain by means of that glorious
transfiguration event that …
I. Jesus Epiphanied Himself to His New Testament Disciples by His Old
Testament Prophets. (1-3)
1After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother,
and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2And he was transfigured
before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white
as light. 3And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking
with him.
The first statement of today’s Collect summarized what Jesus did
in this awesome event: “O God, in the glorious transfiguration of Your
beloved Son You confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of
Moses and Elijah.” We can’t let the important meaning of those two Old
Testament men escape us, namely, that Jesus was the fulfillment of all Old
Testament Law and Gospel-prophecy.
The apostle John some years later wrote in his gospel narrative:
“The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ.” (St John 1:17 ESV) The angelic messenger from God revealed to the
aging priest Zechariah the prominent position the Old Testament prophet
Elijah played when he described the meaningful mission of his future son
whom his wife Elizabeth would birth: “And he will turn many of the children
of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and
power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the
disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people
prepared.” (St Luke 1:16-17 ESV)
That is, God gave His Law through Moses, about whom today’s Old
Testament Reading revealed that “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with
the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the
mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had
been talking with God. Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with
him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and
told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would
see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining.” (Exodus
34:29, 34-35a ESV) That Law convicted and condemned the sinfully rebellious
Israelites then and still convicts and condemns us sinfully rebellious
people today. It reminds us ever so clearly and emphatically that we are
poor miserable transgressors-of-God’s-Law who deserve only His severest
temporal anger and most damning eternal punishment. But John the Baptizer
proclaimed the good news that Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the
sin of the world!” (St John 1:29-30 ESV) even as Elijah had done hundreds of
years earlier.
Nevertheless, as great and magnificent as the appearance of Moses
and Elijah alongside Jesus was, it paled in comparison with the fact that …
II. God Epiphanied Jesus to be His Beloved Son. (4-8)
4And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish,
I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for
Elijah.” 5He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed
them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I
am well pleased; listen to him.” 6When the disciples heard this, they fell
on their faces and were terrified. 7But Jesus came and touched them,
saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” 8And when they lifted up their eyes, they
saw no one but Jesus only.
The second statement in today’s Collect summarized the
significance of that divine declaration: “In the voice that came from the
bright cloud You wonderfully foreshowed our adoption by grace.” In fact,
the apostle Peter elaborated further on that significance in today’s Epistle
Reading: “For … he received honor and glory from God the Father, [when] the
voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with
whom I am well pleased.’” (2 Peter 1:17 ESV)
There are two especially relevant preludes to this statement by
the Father about Jesus. First, remember back a short four weeks ago when we
commemorated the Baptism of Jesus. The Gospel Reading for that festival
celebration contained the Father’s declaration: “This is my beloved Son,
with whom I am well pleased.” (St Matt 3:16 ESV) That statement validated
about Jesus that 1. He was 100% divine in addition to being 100% human and
2. the Father fully approved of Him as the substitutionary sacrifice that
would be offered on Calvary’s cross for the transgressions of all sinners of
all time.
Second, in the previous chapter 16 of his gospel narrative St.
Matthew recorded the following brief dialogue between Jesus and His
disciples: “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he
asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they
said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or
one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’
Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” (St
Matt 16:13-16 ESV) In addition to the Father, the apostle Peter also
testified that Jesus was 100% God in addition to being 100% man.
Those two statements—one by “God, the Father almighty, maker of
heaven and earth” and the other by a Spirit-inspired disciple of Jesus who
was also an apostle and author of two New Testament epistles—along with what’s
contained in today’s Gospel Reading provided indisputable evidence that
Immanuel was (and still is, for that matter!) “the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very
God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father
by whom all things were made.” (Nicene Creed) That’s critically important
for the simple and yet deeply serious reason that “Christ had to be true God
in order that A. His fulfilling of the Law, His life, suffering, and death,
might be a sufficient ransom for all people; [and] B. He might be able to
overcome death and the devil for us.” (Luther’s Small Catechism with
Explanation. Copyright © 1986, 1991 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis,
MO. Pages 126f.)
Okay. Drawing on a very familiar question that’s contained in
Holy Scripture (Exodus chapter 13 verse 14 and Acts chapter 2 verse 12) and
frequently used by the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther in his Small Catechism,
namely: “What does this mean?” that Jesus issued …
“A Strange Command with Glorious Future Significance”?
Well, it means that Jesus Himself realized and wanted His
disciples to also realize that the proof of His Messiah-identity lay not as
much in His self-epiphanying miracles and transfiguration as it would in His
future exalting resurrection following His humiliating suffering and death.
After all, He lived his holy life, innocently endured inhumane suffering,
and submitted to a cruel crucifixion death all to atone for our sins in
order to (in the words of today’s Collect again) “Mercifully make us
co-heirs with the King in His glory and bring us to the fullness of our
inheritance in heaven.”
So it was that …
I. Jesus Epiphanied Himself to His New Testament Disciples by His Old
Testament Prophets. (1-3) And, He continues to make known, manifest, and
reveal Himself to us today in a much less flashy fashion. He does so in the
simple means of the reading and hearing of God’s Holy Word, that’s all about
Himself; the Blessed Sacrament of Holy Baptism, in which we are connected to
Himself and His death and resurrection became our death and resurrection;
the blessed declaration of Holy Absolution, by which we are set free by
Himself to “be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in
everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness”; and the Blessed
Sacrament of Holy Communion, in which we receive Himself truly present even
though hidden in the consecrated bread and wine for the certain assurance of
forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.
At the same time, how so very wonderful that also …
II. God Epiphanied Jesus to be His Beloved Son. (4-8) In fact, today’s
Introit testified to that with the words: “Your lightnings lighted up the
world; the earth trembled and shook. For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.” (Ps 77:18b; 84:11a ESV) and the Gradual
did the same with the words: “You are the most handsome of the sons of men;
grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.” (Ps
45:2 ESV) May we also as God’s beloved sons testify that Jesus is God’s
beloved Son with all our thoughts, desires, words, and deeds.
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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