Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday, February 6,
2022
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Amen.
Matthew 17:1-9 Six days later Jesus took with him
Peter, James, and John the brother of James; and he led them up onto a high
mountain by themselves. 2There
he was transfigured in front of them.
His face was shining like the sun.
His clothing became as white as the light. 3Just then, Moses and Elijah
appeared to them, talking with Jesus. 4Peter
said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, I will make three shelters here:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5While he was still speaking,
suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them.
Just then, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom
I love; with him I am well pleased.
Listen to him.” 6When the disciples heard this, they fell face down and were
terrified. 7Jesus approached
and as he touched them, he said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” 8When they opened their eyes, they
saw no one except Jesus alone. 9As
they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Do not tell anyone
what you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” (EHV)
Fear
not; Jesus pleased God for you.
Dear brothers and sisters of the Holy Son,
As
Christians, we rightly emphasize the suffering, death, and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus without which we would all be lost to eternal condemnation. However, it may be that, at times, we forget
what Jesus had to accomplish before He paid for the sins of the world. It may also be that even though we believe
that Jesus is our Savior, we may struggle with feelings of guilt which leads us
to feel uncertain about our futures.
Therefore, I tell you, Fear not; Jesus pleased
God for you.
When Jesus
walked this earth, the people who met Him didn’t comprehend the fullness of
Jesus’ nature. Though some believed
Jesus was the promised Messiah, there was much confusion, even among His
disciples, about who He truly is. Vast
crowds viewed Jesus as a miracle worker and healer. Some followed Jesus for a while, but when
what He taught became hard to understand, they went away. Others thought Jesus was a great prophet God
had sent to help them, much like the judges God had sent before there was a
king in Israel—someone to rescue them from foreign enemies. Others, especially the leaders: the scribes,
Sadducees, and Pharisees, thought Jesus was a troublemaker and blasphemer.
Likewise, today, confusion about Jesus exists
among many people. There are still large
groups that think of Jesus mostly as a morality teacher. Others wonder if He ever even existed. Some wonder whether Jesus was really true
God, and others question whether Jesus was a Man or just appeared to be
human. Both in Jesus’ time and in our
own, confusion about Jesus leads to terrible consequences. Not knowing who Jesus truly is, and what He
did for us, leaves one vulnerable to the devil’s lies and accusations. So, I repeat, Fear not; Jesus pleased God
for you.
“Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the
brother of James; and he led them up onto a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured in front of
them. His face was shining like the
sun. His clothing became as white as the
light.” The Greek verb used here comes down to us as
metamorphosis, the word we use to describe the transformation of a caterpillar
into a butterfly. Much like a
caterpillar wraps itself in a cocoon before being transfigured into its more
impressive form, Jesus wrapped Himself in human flesh so that He could be in
the world without the world knowing it.
There on that high mountain, the wrap was laid aside to reveal to those
three men the true God-Man who came into this world for our rescue. They saw Jesus in all His divine glory and holiness.
As is always the case when sinners come near
the presence of God, Peter, James, and John became terrified. Centuries earlier when Moses went up the
mountain to receive the commandments from God’s hand, “The people saw, and
they trembled and stood far away. Then
they said to Moses, ‘Speak with us yourself, and we will listen, but do not let
God speak with us, or we will die.’” (Exodus 20:18-19) Even from that great distance, God’s glory
was too much for the sinner to face.
Therefore, God promised the Israelites an Intercessor. His Son led those three disciples up the
mountain to show that Jesus is the fulfilment of God’s promise to Moses after
the people were terrified to be in God’s presence: “I will raise up a
prophet for them from among their brothers, like you, and I will put my words
in his mouth, and he will speak to them everything that I command him.” (Deuteronomy
18:18)
While in the world, Jesus looked like an
ordinary man, but lest we think Jesus sinned like an ordinary man, as some
modern heathens pretend, God is declaring that while Jesus lives as a Man, He
remained holy as only the Son of God can.
Therefore, Fear not; Jesus pleased God for you.
While Peter was mumbling mindlessly about
building shelters to keep Jesus, Moses, and Elijah here in their glorified
state, the scene changed. “While he
was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them. Just then, a voice came out of the cloud,
saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him.’” That cloud was illuminated with a brightness
beyond what our words can express. Yet,
the Father’s voice rang out clearly. The
message the disciples needed to hear is that Jesus was perfectly pleasing to
His Father in heaven in every thought, word, and deed. You and I need to know this.
In some ways, this is repeating the Father’s
testimony from Jesus’ baptism. At the
same time, it echoes what God had told Moses centuries earlier. Jesus is our true Prophet bringing to earth
the message of salvation from our God.
Thus the command, “Listen to Him!” Because we could never live to please a holy
God, God sent His Son to live in our place.
Jesus declared, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the
Prophets. I did not come to destroy them
but to fulfill them. Amen I tell you:
Until heaven and earth pass away, not even the smallest letter, or even part of
a letter, will in any way pass away from the Law until everything is
fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:17-18)
Our enemies want you to think you are beyond
rescue because of your sin. Alternately,
Satan would try to get you to doubt Jesus’ work on your behalf. God wants you to know that He gave His faithful,
perfectly holy Son to be your sin, so that He could punish all of our sins in
Jesus. If Jesus had sinned, He would
have had to die for His sins only, and His death would have been useless to
us. However, God the Father was making
sure we knew His Son would never fail us.
Therefore, I can confidently say, Fear not;
Jesus pleased God for you.
Now, the world is filled with guilty
consciences. Some wallow in that guilt
suffering daily, even to the point of despair.
Other consciences get so abused with constant sin that they become
defiant against God, imagining that they actually obey His commands. Most people troubled by their consciences
seek ways to appease that constant nagging with works, but they too fail to
find true peace, because the law always accuses. The law shows that we have failed to live
according to God’s will. That is why it
is so important for us to know and believe what Jesus has done for us. Before Jesus went to the cross to suffer the
penalty of death for sins on our behalf, He had already lived perfect obedience
for us all. His trust in His Father was absolute. His holiness as the Son of God remained perfectly
intact as the Son of Man.
Without the transfiguration of our Lord, we
might have nagging doubts about whether Jesus was righteous enough to
substitute for sinners like us. Likewise,
the devil would be only too happy to torment us with his lying questions and
accusations. But here on that mountain,
we have God the Father’s testimony that Jesus perfectly satisfied our Creator
on our behalf. Jesus accomplished
everything His Father requires of us. Therefore,
the Holy Spirit comforts us through St. Paul saying, “God made him, who did
not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness
of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
We don’t become the righteousness of God by imitating Jesus. Rather, Jesus took the guilt and shame that
separated us from God so that His Father could credit Jesus’ perfect obedience
to everyone who is called to believe.
As the disciples heard God speak, they were
obviously terrified. Though they knew
Jesus, they were just beginning to understand the fulness of what God was doing
through His Son. Sure confidence would
come later. For now, Jesus was there to
comfort them. “Jesus approached and
as he touched them, he said, ‘Get up, and do not be afraid.’ When they opened their eyes, they saw no one
except Jesus alone. As they were coming
down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, ‘Do not tell anyone what you have seen
until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’” The time to report this vision had to wait
until Jesus finished His mission. The
ultimate testimony about the holiness of God’s Son came when the Father raised
Jesus alive from the tomb. Then the
whole world would need to know, and the disciples would remember, all that
Jesus had done for them and for us.
Dear friends, all of us feel guilt. Only a true sociopath has a conscience so dulled
that it doesn’t feel the accusations of his guilt, but I would contend that
even then the guilty conscience is only suppressed. For most of us, however, guilt is an everyday
affliction. We hurt someone, and knowing
it is wrong, we despise ourselves for the pain we cause. We fail to do what is right and the accuser
is right there pointing out our weaknesses.
Sometimes, in anger, hurt, jealousy, or greed, we strike out
intentionally, but later that nagging conscience is there troubling us
again. The conscience is actually good
for us in that way if it turns us back to Jesus. When guilt for your shortcomings weighs down
heavy upon you, listen to Jesus say, “Come to me all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)
Sometimes, too, this twisted world tries to
make us feel guilty by imagining guilt where God has not commanded, or by
pretending good is evil and evil is good while accusing us under those false
constructions. The only cure for all
this guilt is Jesus. Every command God
has laid upon humanity was fulfilled by the One Man who lived perfectly holy in
our place. Then, because the wages of
sin is death, Jesus took our place on the cross so that no sin can ever be held
against those who believe in Him, because Jesus paid for the sins of the whole
world with His innocent death.
There is no reason for anyone to be consigned
to hell for eternity for Jesus has won salvation for all sinners. Still, it is also true that those who reject
God’s grace, or the work of His Son, remain condemned in their sins. Jesus declared, “The Father loves the Son
and has put everything in his hands. The
one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son
will not see life; instead, God’s wrath remains on him.” (John 3:35-36) Listen to God’s Son; we are saved only by
faith in Jesus, and that faith is given to us through the Word and Sacraments
of our Lord. Through baptism and the
hearing of the Good News of all that Jesus has done for you, God worked faith
in your hearts, faith that trusts the testimony of the Father in heaven and
that of the men Jesus chose to bring Good News to you.
To anyone weighed down with guilt and shame for
what you have done in your life, hear with a humble heart the proclamation of
the Father in heaven, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well
pleased. Listen to him.” The Savior who died for you also lived
the holiness God expected of you, and His righteousness is now credited to all
who believe Him. Therefore, today and
every day, remember what Jesus has done for you with His life and His
sacrifice. Then in your going, serve the
Lord in joyful peace. Fear not; Jesus pleased God for you. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
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