C, Transfiguration - Luke 9:28–43 & 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 "Cross-figuration"
Luke 9:28–43 (ESV) Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (ESV) Now the Lord
is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the
glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of
glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
From the mountain of Transfiguration to the mountain of
disfiguration, Golgotha, the place of
the skull, Calvary, Jesus walks for our reconfiguration!
When Jesus was transfigured, Peter wanted to build three shelters for
Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. He did not
know what he was saying. For if he did,
he would have known if this happened, the unveiled glory and perfection of the
Law, would kill him, James, and John.
However, Jesus was not to bask in this glory! His face was not to shine like Moses’ face
did! He would resolutely set his face
towards Jerusalem, and take the road to the city named “flowing peace”, where
his blood would flow from the cross of Calvary for true peace.
Rather, in his transfigured state, we see the curtain of Jesus’ flesh
pulled back, to see the holiness of his Spirit within. But only for a brief moment. Here he talks, with two great men of the
Law, about his exodus from Jerusalem.
This is the holy eternal exodus to which Moses and Elijah faithfully
looked forward with hope. This was
during the days when Moses and Elijah repeatedly led Israel out of sin, into
peace with God the Father.
Jesus must come down from the glory of Transfiguration into the
presence of the sinful crowd and disciples.
Jesus, who was glorifying the Law in his flesh, meets a father concerned
for his son. In the Spirit of his
Gospel walk he hears the father’s plea…
“Teacher, I beg you to look
at my son, for he is my only child. And
behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the
mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. And I begged your disciples to cast it out,
but they could not.” (Luke 9:38–40
ESV)
The disciples could not cast it out.
How could they have done so? They
were infant hearers and witnesses; only learners of Jesus and yet to receive
the forgiveness of sins at the cross and the sweet breath of the Holy Spirit,
who would reconfigure their hearts through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Still reeling from the transfiguration, Peter, James and John with the
other disciples continued to stumble, unable to help when confronted with the
unclean spirit’s disfiguration of the child.
They had not learnt from their helplessness to pray in humility like
Jesus. But that would come once the Holy
Spirit revealed the depth of their helplessness, so they would trust in their
resurrected Lord Jesus Christ like he trusted and prayed to his Father.
On the mountain God declared, “This is my Son, my Chosen One;
listen to him!” (Luke 9:35 ESV) Now
God’s Son, Jesus, answers the convulsing child’s father; and the disciples, and
crowd, listen and learn…
“O faithless and twisted
generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” While he was coming, the demon threw him to
the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus
rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his
father. And all were astonished at the
majesty of God. (Luke 9:41–43 ESV)
How faithless and twisted we are too, because of our flesh! How long is Jesus to be with us and bear us
by his Word?
Thanks be to God Jesus comes down.
He comes down from heaven, he comes down into flesh at the manger, he
comes down into the Jordan and is baptised into his ministry of death and
resurrection. Jesus does this and it
pleases our Heavenly Father, and down in the depths of human sin and death, he
bears us up from sin and death.
He cleanses the boy of uncleanness and gives him back to his father
clean. The Holy Son of God, transfigured
in glory, leaves the mountain, and descends into the darkness of our sin and
knowledge, to cleanse us and give us back to our Heavenly Father.
Even his chosen twelve did not know or understand. Having seen the healing, having been with
Jesus they still did not take hold of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Peter, James, and John saw the unveiled glory
of God in Jesus but the veil of darkness still covered them so they could not
understand.
After Jesus’ transfiguration and cleansing of the boy, he says to the
disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to
be delivered into the hands of men.” But
they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that
they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
(Luke 9:44–45 ESV)
Jesus comes from the mountain of transfigured glory, from the mountain
of Holiness and Law, but the listening and learning does not finish here for
the disciples, nor does it for us.
We must now walk with Jesus from the mountain of glory to the mountain
of disfiguration and goriness. But it’s
at gory Golgotha, the mountain of Calvary that we receive the Gospel of
glory.
It’s at the mountain of disfiguration, we learn of our faithlessness
and twistedness. It’s where Jesus bears
us up in glory under the weight of our gory sinful being and sinfulness.
It’s at the place of the Skull where our Head was hung. And we his body receive his Spirit of
freedom.
We hang our heads in sinful shame, we feel the sting of death, and
know we are a sinful and twisted generation.
Left to our own devices we throw ourselves down and convulse in our old
Adam.
But look and see that this Transfigured One, who came down from
heaven, down from the mountain and was lifted up disfigured on the cross, is
now refigured in eternal resurrection glory and is reconfiguring us in the good
news of his resurrection.
Today we walk from the celebration of Transfiguration Sunday and on
Wednesday we will remember, we are dust and to dust we shall return. We will be marked with an ash cross on the
forehead. We will begin the walk of
remembrance through Lent to the mountain of gory Golgotha, the mountain of
reconfiguration, the mountain of Gospel glory.
But as we walk the walk of remembrance, we also continue our walk to the cross of our earthly death. But as we do, we walk with the knowledge of Jesus Christ, raise from the dead. We continue to walk and learn from life, just what a sacrifice it was for Jesus to make his walk to the mountain of Cross-figuration, for our transformation, and our eternal transfiguration. Amen.
