Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this meditation is written in the 17th Chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew: 1–9:
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8 And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
To get some context here we need to go back to Matthew 16: (Matthew 16:21) tells us “As Jesus went about teaching and healing, there came a time when He began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised”. This teaching was very confusing for the disciples. (Matthew 16:22–23) Peter [even] took [Jesus] aside and began to [scold] him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23But [Jesus] turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” The disciples simply did not yet understand that Jesus came to die on the cross and save them from their sins. They were very confused. They did not know Mary was a virgin; to them Jesus was a man with very special God given gifts that allowed him to do miracles, heal and teach with such wisdom. In their heart of hearts they thought that Jesus was there to overthrow the Romans and set up a utopian style independent Jewish nation.
So it is that Jesus showed His true identity to three of the disciples in a very special way. (Matthew 17:1–2) “Jesus took with him Peter and James, and his brother John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light”.Jesus is both God and man. Up until this time, Jesus had hidden His Divine glory within His human body. Then, on this mountain … Jesus allowed Peter, James, and John to see a little bit of His glory as the Son of God. Jesus wanted Peter, James, John, and us, to have a clearer understanding of who He is.
As Jesus shone in glory, two new figures appeared. (Matthew 17:3) “Moses and Elijah, talking with [Jesus]”. Now both Moses and Elijah had been dead for centuries. This is the Moses who established Israel as a free nation by leading them out of Egypt and giving them the Law; and the “Elijah who did not die in the normal way, but went up by a whirlwind into heaven”. With the appearance of these two men, Jesus clearly showed that He reigns in both earth and heaven; a physical demonstration of eternal life.
Now, Peter had this bad habit of putting his mouth into action before he thought about what to say. Peter said to Jesus, (Matthew 17:4) “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Peter was overwhelmed; perhaps this was paradise central, the goal of Christ’s mission to this earth. The thought of living here was appealing, it was a good place. There are times in our life where we want to ‘stay in the moment’ away from worry over past and future.
It was then that God the Father interrupted Peter. (Matthew 17:5) [Peter] was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” It is as if God the Father said, “Hey, Peter, you can’t learn a whole lot with all that noise coming out of your mouth. If you want to learn, here is my beloved Son; be quiet and listen to Him.” The Father identified Jesus as His Son, the Eternal Word in the flesh. Pay attention to Him.
You see, up to now, when Jesus told them of the journey He was on, they refused to listen. They recognised Jesus as (Matthew 16:16) “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” but they could not comprehend the idea that the work of the Christ was to suffer and die to take away the sin of the world. If they could not understand Jesus’ work as their suffering saviour, then they could not understand Jesus at all.
Jesus chose this extreme demonstration of His glory to teach His disciples that He was indeed the Christ, the Son of God and that He came into the world to save sinners with His suffering, and death, and then rise from the dead on the third day. The way to eternal glory is through the cross. If the disciples were to learn this, then they must listen to Jesus.
It is no surprise that the Disciples (Matthew 17:6) “fell on their faces and were terrified”. The Children of Israel encountered God in His glory. (Exodus 20:18–19) “When all the people saw the flashes of lightning and heard thunder and the sound of the trumpet and saw the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” The Children of Israel saw God from a distance … the base of the mountain and they were afraid. Peter, James, and John encountered the bright cloud and voice of God … right there on the mountain. I can’t even imagine how terrified they were.
There is only one person who removes that kind of fear. Jesus came and touched them, saying, (Matthew 17:7–8) “Rise, and have no fear.” 8And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only”. Jesus touched them. He spoke the word. He removed the fear. They looked up and only Jesus was there. Jesus was there with His mercy and comfort. Jesus is still the true Son of God, filled with splendour and glory, but that glory was hidden in His humanity. Jesus is the one and only saviour and comfort from the terror of sin.
In this time far removed from the Old Testament times, we talk about, even write children’s stories about the times when God showed His glory in the Bible. God spoke to Moses from the burning bush. God smoking away at the top of Mount Sinai. God thunders from the cloud and tells us that Jesus is His Son. We are drawn to a God who is large and in charge. We like that kind of power and majesty.
We like an awesome God who has thunder in His footsteps and lightning in His fists. Some more fundamental type denominations preach about a God of thunder and lightning. Kind of like a Marvel Movie with Thor, the Hulk, Wonder Woman and Spider Man and the rest of the gang. We like our sovereign God, He is our Champion.
But before we get too excited about our relationship with God in all His glory, we should take time to read about the people who actually DID encounter the glory of God. Adam and Eve tried to run away and hide. Other people who encountered the glory of God fell on their faces. Others became as dead men. Others trembled and were not able to stand. Isaiah cried out, (Isaiah 6:5) “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” The common element in all these encounters with God is fear. Even angels who only reflect the glory of God must say, “Fear not,” before they can deliver their messages.
It is easy to forget the words that God said to Moses, (Exodus 33:20) “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” You see, in order to stand before God without fear, we must be just as perfect … just as holy as He is. We must be blameless … innocent … sinless. Our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. We must be perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. In order to stand before God in His glory, we too must be glorious.
For some, like the Pharisees, it is easy to think that we can be glorious when we stand before the false god of our own making. But the truth of God’s law reveals that we are anything but glorious. Instead of being sinless, we are sinful. Instead of being innocent, we are guilty. Instead of being holy, we are profane. Before God, we, like the disciples, can only lay prostrate in terror.
We need the Jesus who came to the disciples and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” We need the Jesus who led these three disciples down from the Mount of Transfiguration. We need the Jesus who made His way to another mountain … Golgotha, the place of the skull. On that mountain, Jesus will express the inner most being of God in sweat and blood, pain and suffering, and, ultimately death and burial. It is through that suffering and death on the cross that Jesus earned our justification. It is through that suffering and death on the cross that Jesus took away our sin and replaced it with His righteousness. It is Jesus working through the cross who offers us forgiveness, life, and salvation. It is Jesus who takes away the burden of our sin and makes it possible for us to stand in the presence of God. It is the glory of Christ on the cross that gives the glory of eternal life to us.
Through the cross, Jesus became the death of death and the life of life. As the life of life, He rose from the dead. It was not until after that resurrection that the disciples finally understood the true mission of the Christ. Then Peter, James, and John could properly tell about their experience on the mountain where Jesus revealed the glory of heaven. Then it was that they could proclaim that they had seen the divine glory of Jesus Christ. They could point to the glory of His Transfiguration that terrified them and then they could point to the even greater glory of His death on the cross. In this way, they could proclaim the magnitude of His salvation.
God the Father proclaimed Jesus as His Son and commanded us to listen to Him. The great fear of the apostles was calmed by Jesus touch. At the Baptismal Font Jesus touches us through the Holy Spirit; When we gather at the alter rail in Holy Communion, Jesus physically touches us in His body and blood. In the water of Baptism and the holy feast Jesus says to us “get up and do not be afraid”. Free from fear, we hear the proclamation of Jesus’ words, and the Holy Spirit produces and sustains the true faith in us … the faith that receives Christ’s great salvation. That great salvation will carry us through not only the mountain top experiences, but also through the valleys in between until our last hour comes and our Father in heaven gives us a blessed end and carries us from this valley of sorrows to Himself in heaven. Amen
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