|
INJ
St Matthew 17:1-9
'God in Flesh Made Manifest'
Matins
Transfiguration | 28 January 2007
Dear Saints,
You know what were doing here. We've been gathered here by Jesus to hear His word and understand it. That's why I stand here in this pulpit and preach every week, so that we can consider the Scriptures together and ask, “What does this mean?”
This morning we want to ask this question about the account of our Lord Jesus' transfiguration. What does this mean? What does it mean for us? What does it mean that Jesus' flesh is glowing and shinning like the sun? What does it mean that Moses and Elijah are standing with Jesus and talking? What does it mean that the cloud covers the mountain? And what does it mean that the voice of God the Father speaks from the glory and says, “This is My beloved Son, hear Him”?
We will answer these questions following the outline of the Collect of the day. That's right, the collect, the prayer assigned to be prayed on this day of the Church Year. The collect for today, the Transfiguration of Our Lord, is rich, and in many ways it teaches us what the Transfiguration means for us. We learn what the account means to us as we take it up in our prayers.
I. First, “in the glorious transfiguration of the only-begotten Son the mysteries of the faith are confirmed.” Now what does this mean? Jesus transfiguration teaches us about the Scriptures, about the Old Testament, about the mysteries of the faith, the teaching of the Word. How does it do that? Remember, when Jesus stands on the mountain between Moses and Elijah, between the two greatest prophets of the Old Testament. By this the prophetic word is confirmed, the Scriptures are given Jesus' approval.
We see this in politics, when, for example, President Bush stands on the platform next to a foreign dignitary, that means something, it is an approval of what they are doing, it says, “We are partners. We are on the same team.”
The same thing happens in the Lord's Church, when we stand together at the Lord's Alter to take the offered body and blood of our Lord Jesus. “We are united, we have the same mind, we're on the same team.”
This is what happens when Jesus stands transfigured and talks with Elijah and Moses. Peter, who was there and saw all of this writes about it in his first epistle general, our Epistle lesson, in fact for today. He says,
“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. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, 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.” (2 Peter 1:16-19)
Jesus on the mountain with Moses and Elijah means that the prophetic word is more sure, it has Jesus' stamp of approval. Jesus is saying that He and Moses and Elijah are on the same team, they are preaching the same thing.
God promised Moses that He would raise up another prophet like him. “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” [Deuteronomy 18:18] Jesus is this promised great Prophet, for from the cloud the Father speaks and says, “Hear Him. Listen to Jesus.”
But how do we listen to Jesus? After all, Jesus never wrote down a single word. How do we listen to Jesus? Through the prophets and apostles, the mouthpieces of God, the voices of the One cry out for us. When we hear the prophetic and apostolic word read and preached we are hearing Jesus, we are listening to Him.
We know from the text, from the Transfiguration, what we are to expect from the Old Testament. We know this because we know what Jesus is talking about with these two prophets: His exodus, His departure, His passover, His crucifixion and death. That's what the prophets speak about.
“You search the Scriptures,” says Jesus to the Pharisees, “thinking that in them you have life, not knowing that these testify of Me.” [John 5:38] On the road to Emmaus, after Jesus is Resurrected from the dead, He walks unrecognized with to of His followers and gives them a catechism lesson, "'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” [Luke 24:25-27]
The Scriptures are about Jesus, they deliver Jesus to us, His Words and His promises and the benefit of all that He has done for us. The Church is built upon the Scriptures, the foundation of the prophets and apostles, with Jesus Christ the chief Cornerstone.
This is important because the devil is continuously tempting us to listen to his voice, to follow his word, and to doubt the Lord's Word of life. And we have listened to the devil, heard, understood and followed him. Repent. Listen to Jesus, hear only Him, and you will hear the sweet words of forgiveness and life and salvation.
So we pray in the Collect for Transfiguration that the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the fathers is confirmed.
II. Second, we also learn the in the voice that came from the clouds did, in a wonderful manner, foreshadow our adoption as sons. What does this mean?
You and I do not look transfigured. The only thing about us that is getting whiter is our hair. Far from shining with radiant glory, we seem to be more and more dull and broken; we're not transfigured but disfigured. Our bodies and even our minds are being bent toward our grave. Death is the exact opposite of the transfiguration.
I've been your pastor for about a year and a half now, and I've preach about a half-dozen funerals. I've been with some of you at the coffin of a loved one when you stand there and look at the body which was, only a few days ago, so full of life, and now is dead. I was standing like that on Thursday night. Each of us have been there, looking into a coffin, and we will surely do it again, and, unless Jesus returns soon, we will all one day be laid in a coffin ourselves.
No matter how good a job the undertaker does, there is no filling us up with life, there is not making us shine with radiance and glory. In this life of labor and tears and death our glory grows less and less.
But look, in the transfiguration of Jesus you see a glimpse of your future, the foreshadowing of our adoption as sons, a glimpse of your resurrection, of your future glory, a peak into heaven.
We see in the Transfiguration of Jesus a promise of the good things to come for all who are in Christ through the gift of our baptism. In our baptism the Lord adopted us into His family, made us His children, gave us His name and forgave us all our sins. He speaks to us with mercy, telling us that He is well pleased with us because of Jesus. What the Father speaks to His Son He also speaks to us who are in His Son.
Dear saints, this is really wonderful. We will not be in this life of death forever. Jesus left the mountain of transfiguration, cloaked His glory, and through much suffering won for us salvation. Jesus shares; He shared in our humility and shame and death that we might be partakers of His glory, of His forgiveness, of His life.
All good doctrine can be prayed. In fact, to be good doctrine it must be prayed. Learning from the Transfiguration to pray.
O God, who in the glorious transfiguration of Your only-begotten Son confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the fathers and who, in the voice that came from the bright cloud, did in a wonderful manner foreshow the adoption of sons, mercifully make us co-heirs with the King of His glory and bring us to the enjoyment of our inheritance in heaven; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+ + +
Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO
For Further Reading and Study:
