Transfiguration, 2024
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. Matthew 17:1-9
Transfiguration
January 21, 2024
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
After six days of creating, God rested. After six days, Jesus, in likewise manner, needs a rest. He needs a break from healing, from teaching, and from restoring creation back to its original glory. He needs to be refreshed. Messianic work is hard work. It takes a toll. Jesus did not neglect His own wellbeing. That’s why He travels up the high mountain. He needs to be cared for, strengthened, comforted.
While on that high mountain, Jesus is transfigured. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light and Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Jesus. It is as if Jesus is taking a momentary break from His humiliation. He has not come to be served but to serve. But even those serving need a moment every once in a while. So Jesus climbs that high mountain so that He might be served. Just a short break before the final stretch of His ministry. Because once He walks down that mountain, it’s onward to Jerusalem, to suffering, to His death, and to His resurrection. No more breaks. No more rest to be had.
And Jesus is served. We must note Who it is that serves Him. His heavenly Father comforts Him with the company of Moses and Elijah. The greatest prophets of the Old Testament. They speak with Jesus. Luke tells us that they discuss Jesus’ exodus. Jesus is leaving this world by His death on the cross. He must die in order to lead His people into the heavenly Promised Land.
Peter and James are on the mountain too, John having tagged along, following his older brother. And they hear this conversation about the Jesus’ exodus. Peter doesn’t get it, though. He mistakenly thinks that what they have there up upon that mountain is greater. They could all just stay right there. Peter thinks that he knows that is good and it’s not crosses or suffering or atoning for the sin of the world. And Peter, handyman that he is offers to make them three small tents. Instead of being willing to celebrate Good Friday and Easter, Peter wants to celebrate the Feast of Booths. “Tis good Lord to be here,” he says. “Let me serve you here. You don’t need to serve me. Let me make here three tents—literally three tabernacles—one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
But Peter and the other two cannot serve Jesus in the way He needs. He didn’t bring them up on that high mountain so that they might serve Him. His glory isn’t found in the feeble fumbles of our worship. Both Mark and Luke tell us that Peter didn’t know what he was saying. Mark adds that it was because Peter was scared out of his wits that he offers this. So it always is with sinful, fallen creatures before the glory of God. Jesus needs rest and comfort from His heavenly Father. He needs the service only the Father can give. That’s why He ascends a high mountain, which symbolizes being closer to heaven.
The heavenly father gives Jesus the rest He needs. A bright cloud overshadows them. Overshadows—much in the same way the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters of Creation. Much as the Holy Spirit overshadowed the Virgin’s womb, conceiving Jesus. Much in the same way as the Holy Spirit came and rested upon Jesus at His Baptism in the Jordan. And the Father speaks a word once again to comfort His Son, “This is My beloved Son. This, not you Peter. But this is My beloved Son which whom I am well pleased.” This is the same word that the Father speaks of His Son when He was baptized by John. The word in this translation is rendered as “well pleased.” What it means in the Greek is “to think well of.” The Father thinks well of His Son. If we were to translate this into colloquial English, we would say that the Father is proud of His Son.
Hearing this word of His Father, that His Father is proud of Him, Jesus is strengthened and emboldened to walk down that high mountain, across the plain, and up to Jerusalem to lay down His life and die for the sin of the world. Having been served by His heavenly Father, Jesus once again serves us.
The disciples are terrified. Jesus speaks tenderly to them, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” With a Word, Jesus comforts them. They lift up their eyes. Moses and Elijah are gone. Only Jesus stands before them. Smiling upon them. They need only Jesus. His rest is over. It’s time for Jesus to get back to His Messianic work. He warns them not to tell anyone about what they saw. Not until everything is finished, that is. The people won’t understand it. They’d turn Jesus into a mountain-top king. They’d say ignorant things like Peter did, thinking that they need to serve Jesus. But Jesus cannot be served by the likes of us. Rather, He serves the likes of us. He came to serve not be served. He came to care for us, strengthen us, comfort us.
Jesus’ glory is not found in the likes of great earthly power, earthly wealth, or earthly majesty. Rather, His glory is found on the cross. Because it is on the cross that He serves us. That’s where He is going. This is where we are also about to turn our faces in the coming weeks as Lent, Holy Week, and Good Friday approach. But we also know Easter is coming. And yet, we cannot have Easter without Good Friday. We cannot have the empty tomb without the cross. And so in order to bring us to our own resurrections, Jesus’ glory is now found in the baptismal font, where He joins us to His death and resurrection. His glory is found now on the altar, where He feeds us with His crucified body, with His poured-out blood. Jesus’ glory is manifested in His loving service to you.
After six days, you need a break. Monday through Saturday you work and serve your neighbor, which is right and good. And your works cause your neighbor to glorify your heavenly Father. So after six days, God gives you rest. He even commands it. He invites you to come to Church, where He has promised to be. “Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there with them. He invites you here, to these pew, so that God might give you a place of rest. And by the way, true rest is not napping on the couch on Sunday afternoon or sleeping in on Sunday morning instead of coming to church because Sunday is “your only day to sleep in.” True rest is coming here, to this place, to rest in the pews and by receiving what God would give you—forgiveness of sins, eternal life, salvation, His Body and Blood, and the like.
You were not made for rest; rather, rest was made for you. You need a break. You need comfort, strengthening, and care. You need rest, and rest for your souls. The other six days of the week can exhaust you and wear you out. So after six days, Jesus says, “Come to Me, and I will give you rest.” May we always find that rest here. May we always continue to be served by God here. That’s the whole point of Church. That’s the whole point of St. John Lutheran Church in Center Point, Iowa. It is a place of rest. Here, you hear God’s Word. You confess your sins. You receive the Absolution, the Sacrament of the Altar. You sing and speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, resting and basking in the glory of God, which is given to us by Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory and honor forever!
In +Jesus’ name.
