Glimpse of Glory (Matthew 17:1-9)
Rev. Peter Heckert
02/19/23 

+ Grace to you, and peace, from God our heavenly Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. + Amen.

The text for our meditation for this Transfiguration Sunday comes from our Gospel text, especially where Matthew records, “And [Jesus] was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him.” Here ends our text; my dear Christian friends …

It’s hard to imagine what was going through the minds of Peter, James, and John when Jesus invited the three of them to go with Him up the mountain. It wasn’t unusual for their Rabbi to withdraw, especially after times of extensive ministering to the masses; He needed rest, after all, needed to pray and prepare Himself before going on to the next phase of ministry. But this was different. Irrespective of what they thought, up they went, leaving behind the other nine as they followed their Master. What awaited them when Jesus stopped … is nothing short of glorious. 

That is probably the best word for it, but I don’t know if there’s a word to adequately convey how incredible it was for the trio, when Jesus’ face literally lit up brighter than the sun, and His clothes changed from their (likely) drab normal color to a dazzling white. This is how Matthew records it for us, and certainly he does his best to describe what the three former fishermen witnessed, but there are limits to human speech, especially when one is trying to describe the indescribable. Jesus was transfigured, metamorphosed before their eyes, and gave them a glimpse of His raw divinity.

But the awe-inducing splendor doesn’t end there. Matthew tells us that, in addition to this incredible transformation of their Lord, the four were joined by two others who suddenly appeared and whom the disciples, inexplicably, immediately knew to be Moses and Elijah. These long-gone representatives of both God’s Law and His Prophets joined them, and more than that, they were speaking with their Rabbi! In his excitement, undoubtedly overwhelmed by what his eyes could see but his mind couldn’t comprehend, Peter declares, “Lord, it is good that we are here,” and there offers to build shelters for all three glorified ones standing before him. Well intentioned as I’m sure that offer was, it also belies the point of this sacred encounter. Jesus had not brought them up on the mountain to tabernacle, to dwell, in that place of holiness. Indeed, even before Peter has a chance to finish his statement, a bright cloud envelops them. Out of this cloud comes a voice, the voice of the Father. “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”

This is too much; mortal man can only endure the alien beauty of holiness for so long, and the voice of the Holy One brings the disciples to their knees and on their faces in sheer terror. This is to be expected of man’s fallen, sinful nature; however, true to His divine nature, Jesus comes to them and gives them a reassuring touch of comfort. “Rise, and do not fear,” He tells them, and when they look up, they see nothing “but Jesus only.” As they head back down the mountain to the oblivious other disciples, Jesus commands them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

Again, the wonder of this encounter really does escape sufficient description, but it does raise a question: what’s the point here? Why did Jesus reveal His glory to these three? What was the purpose of His transfiguration? While we cannot know the mind of our Lord beyond what we’re told in Scripture, we can say what Scripture most obviously says: this is a dramatic revelation and disclosure of who Jesus is. 

It reinforces Peter’s confession that came in the chapter prior to our text: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The presence of Moses and Elijah there with Jesus highlights what we heard the One who is greater than Moses speak in the Sermon on the Mount a few weeks ago: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” The Father’s declaration from the bright cloud is the same declaration that He spoke over Jesus in the Jordan: “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” though here He adds the exhortation, “listen to Him.” Of course, as the four men are descending from the mountain, what Jesus instructs His disciples points to an even greater revelation of His glory yet to come: “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

That’s right. What Peter, James, and John saw atop that mountain did not compare to the glorious, albeit horrific beauty that would be seen atop another mountain. There, instead of light, darkness blanketed the land as the whole of creation mourned the suffering and death of the Creator. His clothes weren’t dazzling white; indeed, He bore no clothes at all, but in nakedness and shame was He suspended between heaven and earth, the conduit of God’s wrath and mercy. His face didn’t shine as the sun, but was bruised and bloodied, twisted in agony – not merely from the incomprehensible physical pain that comes from crucifixion, but from bearing the whole weight of all human sin, all the brokenness of creation, within His body as He raised His face and cried, “Father, into Your hands, I commit My spirit.” The Transfiguration was spectacular, but there, on Golgotha’s skullish hill, is where we see Jesus most clearly as God, as He does what only God could do: make full and complete atonement for all human sin, including yours and mine.

That’s why we celebrate the Transfiguration in the church year when we do. For us liturgically celebrant Christians, it marks the boundary line between two stark seasons of the church year: Epiphany and Lent. It is the zenith of the prior, a dazzling revelation to Peter, James, John, and us of just who and what Jesus actually is: the Messiah, the Word incarnate, the Son of God … and it is from this point in the Gospel that things begin accelerating toward Jerusalem. As we know, of course, there is an even greater revelation of Jesus’ divinity than even His atoning sacrifice on the cross: His glorious resurrection from the dead three days later! That’s the pinnacle of, not only the church year, but of all creation to this point! That’s the eighth day, the beginning of the new creation, the first-fruit of what awaits all who trust in Christ alone for their salvation when He comes again, in the ultimate revelation of His divinity! The Transfiguration is glorious, a blazing display of Jesus’ God-ness, but it is just a glimpse of the glories that were, and are, yet to come.

+ In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. + Amen.