Not Blinded by the Light

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The Gospel begins with a journey up a mountain. On a mountaintop you have a 360-degree view. It lets you look at the world around you from afar. You get a lay of the land. You can behold what you never could in the valley below. 

Mt. Tabor in present day Israel is the traditional site of Christ’s transfiguration. I was there. I ascended to the summit of Mount Tabor on a tour bus. Jesus and his three disciples climbed up on foot. The view from this mountaintop is amazing. Jesus took Peter, James and John up this mountain and gave them a panorama, a view, of him, and scripture, that no one had seen before. 

The journey up Mt. Tabor was a response to claims made about Jesus. In Luke 9:18-20 Jesus asked his disciples: Who do the crowds say I am?” Some speculated that Jesus was the ancient prophet Elijah. Others thought he was a resurrected prophet, either John the Baptist or some prophet from Israel’s history. Then Jesus asked them: “Who do you say I am?” Peter responded with two words: “God’s Messiah.” Jesus’ response was that Peter was right, he was the Messiah, but they were to keep quiet about this revelation for the time being. 

In response to Peter’s declaration, Jesus made another claim based on his identity as God’s Messiah. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” (Luke 9:22). 

Jesus called his disciples to follow him, as God’s Messiah, be a witness of his death and then die with him. Jesus took these three witnesses with him to show them that Peter’s declaration of Jesus’ identity as God’s Messiah and Jesus’ declaration that the Messiah must die and rise were the truth, and nothing but the truth. Jesus would present evidence that demanded a verdict: Jesus is the way, the truth and the life! 

Upon reaching the summit of Tabor, the first vista or view that Jesus placed before the disciples was the true and ultimate meaning of his identity as God’s Messiah. The Old Testament scriptures speak of God as light. “God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.” (Habakkuk 3:3-4)

The Prophet Moses was called up the mountain to speak with God and experience that glorious light. Scripture reveals that God’s glory came to rest on Moses. His face glowed for days. Moses couldn’t control it; he had to put on a veil to hide his glowing face. The glory that came to rest on Moses would fade as time passed. 

In the transfiguration, Jesus began to glow. The glory associated with presence of God was not reflected by him; rather, it emanated from within him, even permeating the clothing he was wearing. Jesus revealed that within him, a real mortal man, resided the divine. The Incarnation, defined as the union of divinity with humanity in Jesus Christ, is the foundation of the witness of the Apostles passed on to the church was revealed to Peter, James and John in the flesh of Jesus. 

The next vista or view addressed Jesus’ declaration that the Messiah must die and rise. Moses and Elijah suddenly appeared. Their appearance was and continues to be a great mystery. Theologians have debated over why Moses and Elijah were selected to appear and the nature of their appearance. Were these two great figures from the Old Testament apparitions or did they appear in a bodily form? The debate has raged over the centuries. Without becoming too embroiled in this subject, I offer the following:

Not a word in scripture speaks of Elijah’s death. In fact, 2 Kings 2:1-18, testifies that Elijah was taken up into heaven in chariots of fire driven by the horsemen of Israel. The eminent Lutheran scholar RCH Lenski in his commentary on Luke opined: “Elijah ascended bodily to heaven and thus undoubtedly appeared here in his glorified body.”

The case for Moses is not the same. In today’s Old Testament lesson Deuteronomy 34:1-12, we are told unequivocally that Moses died and that God himself buried Moses in an undisclosed location in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor. Yet, there he was with Elijah and Jesus. Like others before him, Lenski could not speak with the same confidence with respect to Moses and his appearance and the nature of his body. He believed that Moses’ spirit went to heaven, and, like the angels sent by God to speak to people, he took on a human form for this event. In the end Lenski had to confess this was a mystery that will be revealed fully and finally in eternity. 

Why did Moses and Elijah appear? Why not Isaiah and King David, or Job and Daniel or any other possible pairing of prophets? This is also a great mystery and the subject of much debate. However, there is no doubt that their appearance was testimony which corroborated or proved Jesus’ statement that God’s Messiah was called to die and rise. 

Moses was the one God chose to reveal the legal code by which God’s chosen people were to live. He revealed the promises that God had made to Abraham. God promised Abraham a land, a nation, blessings and the coming of a seed of Abraham by whom the whole world would be blessed. He revealed a moral code of conduct by which all were to live. He revealed the sacrificial system that began with Passover. He revealed the Day of Atonement on which the sin goat was offered to satisfy God’s wrath aroused by human sin and the scapegoat (upon whom the people’s sins were confessed) whose death took away those sins. Moses revealed that one day God would raise up a prophet from among His people who explain everything to them and the people were to listen to him.

Elijah did not author a prophetic book bearing his name. His prophetic work is recorded in Old Testament books entitled 1st and 2nd Kings. Elijah was noted for his obedience to God’s will and direction and the miracles that God worked through him. God used Elijah in the battle for the hearts, minds and souls of God’s people who lived in the north part of the Holy Land, the Israelites. 

They had drifted away from the worship of God to the worship of Baal (the supposed god of rain and fertility). Elijah declared that the Lord God would cause a drought that would last until Elijah announced it was over. Elijah’s prophecy came to pass and for three years it did not rain but rained again at Elijah’s word. God also used Elijah to resurrect the one and only son of the widow of Zarephath. 

Perhaps Elijah’s greatest moment was when God used him to battle the Priests of Baal and Asherah on Mt. Carmel. He had challenged them to a showdown. Both he and they would offer an animal sacrifice. The god who consumed a sacrifice by fire would be declared the true God. The Priests of Baal failed. Elijah prayed: Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” (1 Kings 18:37). Fire came down from heaven and burned Elijah’s offering. The people came back to God. 

The disciples testified that Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus. They “spoke about his [Jesus’] departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:31). The word translated as “departure” in our text is literally “exodus” or “walking out.” Moses part in this heavenly conversation testified that in the Torah God revealed that the Messiah, the promised seed of Abraham, would be offered as a sacrifice for sin and rise from the dead. Elijah, testifying for all the prophets revealed that all prophecy saw the coming of the Messiah as a sacrifice, that would free people of their sin, draw them to a living relationship with God and open the gateway to eternal life. 

The final testimony was given by God himself. God’s glory was veiled by a cloud. His words were simple. “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”(Luke 9:35) 

With these words God declared unequivocally that Jesus was his only-begotten Son. He declared that his promises recoded in Deuteronomy 18: 18-19 had come to pass. “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.”

The Transfiguration was a glimpse into heaven. I believe that God allowed this glimpse into eternity not to fuel speculation and cause divisions around the mechanics of Elijah’s and Moses’ manifestation and the meaning of their appearance. The disciples’ testimony was meant to spark faith in God and in Jesus. On the day recorded in the Gospel Jesus brought heaven and earth together for a brief time. Jesus’ words would be heard differently by the three from that time forward. 

There were many in Israel who doubted the resurrection and emphatically stated that Moses did not preach resurrection. See Luke 20:27-40. Jesus responded to their claims as follows: “But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” (Luke 20:37-38). Peter, James and John saw Moses and Elijah. Jesus had lifted the veil that separated heaven and earth and allowed those three to see the truth of his words about resurrection. 

The revelation given to Peter, James and John was meant to give them courage and faith. Jesus wanted his disciples to see every tragic step to the cross, his trial and conviction, his suffering and death, not as a series of failures that put an end to his ministry, but as a pathway to eternal life in his kingdom. He called them on a journey with him. He wanted them to be witnesses to the tragedy that would be visited on him and his glorious resurrection. The Gospels teach us that despite the glimpse into eternity, the three failed. When Jesus died, they ran for cover and wanted to stay hidden. However, Jesus did not leave them there. 

Luke’s Gospel teaches us that on the first Easter Sunday, the risen Jesus walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27) 

Later Jesus appeared to all the disciples and he said: “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:44-45). Jesus made the two on the road and then eleven disciples the witnesses that he wanted them to be. He equipped them to proclaim the Gospel that causes people to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. 

Jesus ‘Transfiguration had a profound impact on Peter. Reflecting on the events revealed in today’s Gospel lesson he wrote: “For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.” (2 Peter 1:16-18) 

Peter declared that his testimony concerning Christ’s incarnation, his ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection was not the product of human thought so that it can be comprehended intellectually, but was revealed by Jesus himself, in the flesh, so that this doctrine may be received by faith. Peter went on to say: “We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

What Peter wanted to impress upon us is this; that the Gospel as taught by him and his fellow apostles was not only confirmed by the testimony of God from heaven, but also by all the prophecies of the Old Testament. He declared that in the world to come, when we shall walk in the light of God's countenance and see the true Morning Star, Jesus Christ, face to face, we shall no longer need the written Word of the Gospel. Until then we need the light of Christ as shed by God’s word. The light of Scripture will not blind us. It is a gentle light that goes before us and lights our way. The Holy Spirit uses these words to open our minds so we can understand the Scriptures. 

We can believe and trust that the words of the one that was transfigured can transform our lives. “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11). 

Believe that God has a purpose and a desire for you and your life and he will use his word you heard today, and every day hereafter, to accomplish that purpose. 

Amen. 

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View this sermon as presented live: https://youtu.be/LB8IjCoayuI