Luke 9:28-36; Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Today we celebrate Transfiguration Sunday, one of the most meaningful events in Jesus’ life. Reading for preparing my sermon, I found some pastors claiming that this Sunday is about Jesus, and how amazing he is, and we should not preach about anything or anyone else. This text, they claim is not about our faith, our doubts, or our serving, but about our admiration for who Jesus is.
I disagree with them because this event is not an isolated event, it has a reason. The reason for Jesus taking the decision to show his glory to Peter, James and John is found in Luke 9 verses 18 to 20. In these verses, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.” Ten verses later we find the transfiguration of our Lord. Luke explains that Jesus’ earthly ministry was coming to his end. His last journey to Jerusalem is at hand, and he will soon face the horrors of the cross.
For three and a half years, his disciples have observed Jesus as He taught and preached, healed the lame, and the blind; casted out demons and raised people from death. But despite all this the disciples were not quite sure of who Jesus was. They knew He was a great teacher, a healer, a prophet equal or greater to any in the Old Testament; Peter even confessed him as the Messiah, but their attitude was not according to their belief. On their way to Jerusalem for instance, they were arguing about who was the greater, and who was going to be seated at the right hand in Jesus’ kingdom; they came to Jesus complaining about someone out of the group preaching and healing in his name.
Jesus knew that something was missing, and they were not ready for what was coming. They were not ready to face the reality of the cross. With his transfiguration Jesus is intending to show them beforehand who he was; the transfiguration is also the way Jesus is answering the question he asked his disciples ten verse before, who do you say I am? The transfiguration is also God’s the Father answer to the same question. Jesus already knew who the crowds believe he was; he knew who Peter and maybe the rest of his disciples believed he was, but his disciples needed to know Jesus and God’s answer. And that is the reason -I believe- why the transfiguration took place.
The synoptic gospels say that Moses and Elijah came and talked with Jesus about his departure. Maybe at this point or before is when Jesus began to have doubts about the cross. Doubts he confessed in Gethsemane; maybe at this point he started praying to his Father to “pass the cup”, and God answered him by sending two of his great leaders to comfort and remind his son that there was no other way, that his suffering was worth it.
“The law (represented by Moses) requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” As Hebrews 9:22 states it. Moses and Elijah came to remind Jesus about his Father’s faithfulness. They came to remind Jesus Psalm 16:10 “that he will not be abandon to the realm of the dead, nor will God let his faithful one see decay.”.
The gospels describe that Jesus face shone with all his glory, a cloud -which in Jewish imagery represent God’s presence- covered Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Now it should not be any doubt in Peter, James, and John’s minds. They have seen the glory of God; they have seen Jesus as he was before “he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Shinning before them and being visited by Moses and Elijah was Jesus’ answer to the question, “who do you say I am.” And to Re-affirm what they saw, once again God the Father spoke to them, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” And that was the Father’ answer to the same question.
Jesus took these three disciples so they could see his glory on top of the mountain before they could see his humiliation on the cross on the hill called Calvary. I am sure that in those moments when they felt discouraged because of the persecution, jail, and torture they remembered that moment; they said to themselves, we saw his glory, we heard God’s voice and that memory helped them to continue. Because the experience at the top of the mountain, because they saw Jesus’ glory, they were able to endure all the suffering the Early Church endured.
What message does God have for us today? The same message he had for Jesus and the disciples: Take Heart, don’t be discourage by the circumstances. Jesus was going to Jerusalem; he knew what was waiting for him. He was hundred percent human, and he was afraid about his future. Moses, Elijah, and God came to encourage Jesus to continue his journey to Jerusalem; they came to remind him about his mission; about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. The next day Jesus and the disciples came down from the mountain and he continued healing and walking toward Jerusalem. He had received new strength.
When the religious leaders were planning his death; when they thought they were going to win his glory shone before his disciples.
The disciples also needed encouragement for what was ahead of them after Jesus’ death and resurrection. They were persecuted, put in jail, and condemn to die; they had the mission to take the Gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and all the earth. The experience they had on top of the mountain helped them to endure everything and to fulfill their mission, because before the darkness covering Jerusalem of Good Friday, they saw the light of God’s glory in Jesus.
To us this morning The Holy Spirit wants to remind us that we are here today because at one point in our journey, we also had a top of the mountain experience, a transfiguration moment. A moment when we saw the glory of God shinning on our lives. Those moments are what keep us going; those moments are the strength that help us keep going in our journey and to fulfill the mission to take Jesus’ Gospel wherever we go.
When discouragement come to your life, when you feel ready to throw the towel, just remember those moments when you have seen the glory of God; when things do not go the way you planned them, and you feel as if God has left you, just remember, “you have seen the glory of God.” Now that our world is at the brink of a war, remember, when the leader in Jerusalem thought they were controlling everything, Peter, James, and John saw the glory of God. Transfiguration Sunday is a reminder that God has the future in his hands. Darkness do not have the last world because the glory of Jesus still shines. Therefore, let us continue with what Jesus has entrusted us to do. Because we too have seen the glory of God.