Intro
People talk about being “relevant,” even in the church. Being relevant is not bad; in truth, being relevant is most important. But what do we mean by “relevant”? That’s the big question.
To some, being relevant in the church means that worship is exciting, not boring. We want to do something exhilarating, not the ‘same-old, same-old.’ Everything must be an experience, an event. We want to be like Jesus’ disciples and live on the thrilling mountaintop, not go trudging down into the shadowed valley.
Main Body
Today, we remember Christ’s Transfiguration, when Jesus revealed part of His divine glory before His disciples. But as exciting as that was, God had something even more important than the dazzle of brilliance and the flash of light. Amid the awe-inspiring visual effects, the stirring spectacle of it all, God directed Peter, James, and John to something that seemed irrelevant: words. He told them, “Listen to Him!” Listen to Jesus!
God told the three disciples not to remember what they saw. It was what they heard that was important. “Listen to Him!” For it’s ears, not eyes.
On the mountain, they saw a flashing, partial unveiling of Jesus’ glory: a blaze of God’s glory gleaming for a moment as Jesus pulled aside the veil of His human nature. It’s the glory Jesus always had, the glory of God from eternity, which He didn’t lose when He became human. But He put away most of His power as He lived among us, being our Savior, working to buy us back from sin, death, and the devil.
On that day, Jesus peeled back a layer of His human nature, and for a moment, He was ablaze in glory. Jesus was “transfigured”; His appearance was transformed and changed. He beamed as brilliant light. Moses and Elijah appeared there with Him. It was a mini-glimpse of heaven here on earth.
But what do the disciples want to do? They want to stay and build tents on the Mount of Transfiguration. They want nothing to do with what Jesus will do when He trudges down the mountaintop, to Calvary, where God will pour out His blood and be the Scapegoat who will carry our sins to death. They don’t want the cross-and-death talk that Jesus spoke of before they climbed to the mountaintop.
Are we so different from the disciples? Are you tired of hearing Christ and Him crucified? Like the disciples, you want something that you think is relevant, something exciting. That’s what our sinful natures crave. We want a Mount-of-Transfiguration experience and forget about the cross of Mount Calvary.
We’re no strangers to the disciples’ wish to stay high on the mountain. Our wish to revel in the climax of the mountain drives us to seek soaring emotional highs, and our ideas of relevance. It seeks music that stirs the heart, even if it starves the soul. The disciples, like us, want anything and everything but suffering, death, and blood. For to us, to our sinful natures, that isn’t relevant.
Jesus’ disciples saw and experienced the flash of light, and they thought that was the point! But they were wrong. The disciples missed what was most important--and it wasn’t what they saw. It was what they heard. God told them, “This My Son, the Chosen One. Listen to Him!”
Seeing Jesus in His glory doesn’t tell the whole story. Before they climbed the mountain, Jesus had spoken of the cross (Luke 9:21-22). If the disciples had been listening, that’s what they would’ve heard in the heavenly conversation of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. They were talking about His “departure,” His exodus, His cross. Moses and Elijah couldn’t stay, for Jesus had work to do: bloody, hard work--His work of cross and death.
And so the moment of blazing glory ends. The disciples look up and see only Jesus. Moses and Elijah are gone. For Jesus is all they need. They go down from the mountain and Jesus “stiffened His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). Jesus is going to His death. He knows what will happen in Jerusalem; He knows full well. That’s why He’s resolute and unswerving. That’s why He’s set for nothing to stop Him--not Satan, not even His well-intentioned, but ill-informed, disciples.
And oh, how much more Jesus has for them to hear! Jesus will pray and teach them to pray. He will give them more of the Word and teach with authority. He will correct and reprimand; He will encourage and forgive. He will speak the words of His Supper. He will ordain them as Apostles, giving them His Spirit and the power of the keys, the power to retain and forgive sins. He will give His baptism. He will speak His words from the cross. He will speak of His resurrection.
Are you listening? After all, you’ve been hearing Him for years, right? So then, why do you want what dazzles the eye instead of what Christ wants to give you? We must learn to say, “Because I always sin, I always need [God’s] medicine” (Ambrose).
Sit at Jesus’ feet and feed on His Words. Hear the gracious promises of the Gospel as if your life depends on it. Because it does! Your life does depend on His Word!
On the mountain, when Peter, James, and John lifted their eyes, they saw only Jesus. They then walked down the mountain to another holy hill. Jesus went from the Mount of Transfiguration to Mount Calvary, Golgotha, the “place of the skull.” There, He displayed Himself more glorious than He had ever shown Himself before.
To glorify is to lift up. And the Roman centurions will unknowingly glorify Jesus on the day He destroys death. That’s why the disciples kept silent about the transfiguration. For God doesn’t want the Mount of Transfiguration to replace the Mount of Calvary. For the glory of Jesus is metal, bone, and whip ripping through the skin and muscle of His back. The glory of Jesus is the hammering of nails through His flesh and vein. The glory of Jesus is the sharp thorn piercing His innocent brow.
God in the flesh must go to Jerusalem and face the full force of man’s hatred and brutality. He must endure the lies of the Sanhedrin and the pragmatism of Pilate--after all, they just wanted to be relevant. Jesus had taken on human flesh for one purpose: to be the Sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world. And so the Messiah must pay with His life.
That’s how God loved the world. That’s where Jesus shows the Father’s love to us, where He shows what mercy is. The crucifixion is where Jesus defeats the devil, where He excises the poison of sin. It’s where life is won for us fallen creatures.
As God on the cross takes into Himself all our sin, the heavens will darken and the moon will fail to give its light. But there, the glory of the Lord shines forth from the bloodied cross. There, you see Jesus’ true glory. For Jesus’ true glory is the forgiveness of your sin--not the blaze of light that fascinates the sinful eye. Jesus will not have us see His Transfiguration unless we see it through the lens of cross.
On the cross, Jesus is transfigured; there in His death, He shows His true glory. For it is from the cross that all forgiveness and life flow. And even from the cross, we are to hear His words. Listen to Him! Jesus tells you: “It is finished!” He has won the victory and conquered death so you may live forever.
His blood heals you. His body gives you life. Kneeling before Him, we will feel the touch of His body on our tongues. We will feel His blood flow down our throats. He will touch us, forgive our sins, and we will tremble no more. All this, Jesus, the Word made flesh, does through His Word. Listen to Him!
Conclusion
As Holy Lent approaches this week, don’t embrace the world’s idea of what Jesus should say and do. The world is wrong; the world wants whatever it thinks it relevant, which changes by the day! Jesus wants to give you real life through His cross and death. Listen to Him!
Embrace Jesus’ Words of life alone. Hear Him! Hear His Words of forgiveness this day and always. Hear His Words that show bread and wine to be the true Body and Blood of Christ. Hear His Words that absolve your sin. Rest your weary heart and soul in Jesus. For He is the God who forgives. And because He forgives, you, this day, are forgiven. And, in the end, what’s more relevant than that?
Live in His peace, for you are forgiven. Amen.
