Sermon - Transfiguration 2022 - Matthew 17:1-9

Transfiguration of Jesus, Carl Block, 1872

The liturgical Christian year reflects the life of Christ. Because the Christian life is bound up in Christ, the liturgical year also reflects the life of a Christian. During a lifetime there are highs and there are lows, just as during the ministry of Christ there were highs and lows. In the church year we have great high feasts and low penitential seasons. Transfiguration comes as a high point at the end of Epiphany, which came right at the end of Christmas. Transfiguration comes right before the season of lenten preparation, then we reach lent itself, and holy week, and finally Good Friday before we can ultimately reach that joyous high feast of Easter. In order to endure this long penitential season of Lent we first go to the mount of Transfiguration.

Similarly, the Transfiguration took place historically at the end of Jesus’ ministry; as He came down the mountain He turned His face to Jerusalem and the hill He must die on. In order for Peter, James, and John to endure this journey to Jerusalem and the crucifixion and everything afterwards, they first go to the mount of Transfiguration. Here upon this mountain we’re directed to the one thing necessary by which we may endure what’s coming. In the midst of our afflictions, God directs us to look and listen to Jesus only.

While Peter was speaking, “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.”” When the disciples were terrified on the mountain, Jesus came to them, touched them, and said to them: “Rise, and have no fear.”  At the end of their mountaintop experience, “when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”

The answer to their fears and all of their worries, to every problem they’ve faced in the past or would find in the future, is found in Jesus only. How would Peter be able to handle the guilt of denying Jesus? By looking and listening to Jesus only. How would John be able to be the only apostle who stands at the foot of the cross watching his Savior die? By looking and listening to Jesus only.

The same is true for us when we face our problems. How do we handle the grim diagnosis or the chronic pain? How do we endure the grief, depression, and anxiety which we can’t seem to shake? How do we deal with the divorce or the marriage problems? How do we manage the trouble we’ve gotten ourselves into with the law? How do we cope with our children or siblings who have left the faith? How do we keep our heads when our faith is mocked by our workplaces and our friends? How do we remain steadfast when our once very religious country rapidly loses the faith? By looking and listening to Jesus only.

But how is that supposed to help? How is looking and listening to Jesus going to help me when I’m dying or losing my job or going to jail? St. Peter explains how it helped him and will help us: “When [Jesus] 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. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

Looking and listening to Jesus gives us much needed perspective during our problems. To illustrate, let’s say you’re in a dark locked room and you can’t see anything, the door is locked although the key is sitting right there five feet away, but since you can’t see the key or the door or anything it’s so easy to despair and want to give up and panic! But once the light appears everything has perspective and you can handle the locked door. That’s what Jesus and His Word is to us. He is a lamp in a dark place and puts everything else, all of our problems, into proper perspective.

When Peter, James, and John saw Jesus transfigured and His glory revealed, when they saw Moses and Elijah who had been gone a long time, they saw a glimpse of paradise! They got a foretaste of the resurrection when the saints will be raised from the dead and Jesus will dwell with His people forever! They got to experience, albeit briefly, the goal of everything that has been going on since the beginning of time. Moses, the slavery in Egypt, the law given on Mt. Sinai, wandering in the wilderness for a generation, Elijah, the Babylonian captivity, Roman occupation, Jesus’ crucifixion, everything was suddenly given perspective when they could see what it is all for.

Sure, Christianity is not only about paradise, it’s also about this world, but that doesn’t change the fact that the end goal of all of this world is living eternally, bodily, with all the saints, in paradise, surrounded by God’s glory. That’s the goal! That’s what Jesus came to accomplish for us. We’re not just here for kicks and giggles, to have a good time for a while, no, this is all about eternity in paradise. Jesus makes that clear for us like a light shining in a dark place.

That’s how looking and listening to Jesus only can help us in the midst of life’s many problems and take away our fears. I still have to deal with my problems, I still suffer and weep, I will still get frustrated and tired, but if I know what I’m fighting for and I can see the goal, then I can persevere until the end. Peter and James still had to go through Holy Week, they still had to face their own persecutions and eventual executions, but they endured because they were looking and listening to Jesus only, they knew the goal and so they could persevere until the end. The same is true for each of us! 

God knows His people and He knows their sorrows. Like God said to Moses: “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings.” God knew their problems, He knew how they suffered. But God didn’t take away their problems, not immediately and not even in the long run. In the short-term, their lives became more difficult since the Egyptians made their labors harder. In the long-term the Israelites had to wander in the wilderness until their deaths. But in the much longer term was the promise of paradise, not just the promised land in Canaan, but the promised land of the paradise in the world yet to come. That is the goal the Israelites really had to look forward to and that’s the goal all Christians are looking towards.

So let me encourage you the same way that God encouraged Peter, James, and John: when you’re surrounded by problems, look and listen to Jesus only. Let this give you hope, courage, boldness, and zeal! When you’re discouraged and distraught, frustrated with the problems of life, remember that God leads you up on a holy mountain with Him regularly. The Word of God is the light shining in a dark place, and everyday that you read it God is encouraging you. Every time you have communion you’re brought into the nearer presence of the resurrected body and blood of Jesus who comes to you, touches you, and bids you rise and have no fear. The daily reading of scripture and the weekly reception of communion are the means by which God lights the lamp in our dark world and directs us to look and listen to Jesus only. 

Dear Christian friends, whatever this week has in store for you, whatever troubles may daily rise to meet you, God knows about them all. By looking and listening to Jesus only, by having the proper perspective and living in the light of Christ, you will endure. God has prepared a place in paradise for you when Jesus was crucified to forgive you. That’s your ultimate goal. Rise, and have no fear. Lift up your eyes and see no one but Jesus only.