C, The Transfiguration of our Lord - Luke 9:28-45 "A Flash of Holy Glory"

Luke 9:43–44 (ESV) And all were astonished at the majesty of God. But while they were all marvelling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”

A cataclysmic flash in the sky is followed by the sound of an explosion of kilotonic proportions.  The sound is accompanied by a pressure wave that stuns and shocks to the core of a person’s being.

Possibly you’ve seen the footage of the British Government testing nuclear bombs at Maralinga in South Australia, or at other places where countries test these weapons of destruction.   Vision of people with their backs turned to the initial blast, quickly turn around to see the ugly mushroom cloud of another atomic test.

Or, perhaps you remember seeing the destruction of the Beirut Port explosion in 2020.  There was fire, and substantial explosions, before the mega-blast that was heard up to 240 kms away in the countries surrounding Lebanon.  It measured a magnitude of 3.3 on the seismic scale and is considered the largest non-nuclear explosion on record.

The fire where the 2750 tons of ammonia nitrate was stored was huge.  A billowing tower of smoke meant many were watching and recording it on phones, not expecting the main event was still to come.   So, many angles of the blast were captured by Beirut locals, along with their reactions as the blast wave rippled out through the city. 

What happened in a second, left its ugly mark on the city and those who lived in it.  We watch, mesmerised by the magnitude of these types of detonation — the flash, the blast wave, and the earth-shattering destruction.  However, those who survive these mega-explosions live dumfounded and numb, dealing with the fallout from a cataclysmic moment in time, long after the fact.

The impact of the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain with Moses and Elijah, dumfounded  Peter, James and John.   It was good for Peter and the others to be there, but they didn’t know why. 

Unlike a nuclear explosion or the Beirut blast, this cataclysmic event was beautiful, as God’s holiness and glory flashed only for a moment.  But like the blast wave of a nuclear event or the fallout after Beirut, the three apostles were shocked and shaken by the holy glory, that altered Jesus’ face and made his clothes dazzling white with holy brilliance.    

We’re told Peter, James, and John were praying with Jesus, and they were heavy with sleep.  We’re not told whether they were falling asleep because they were struggling to pray, or that God had allowed them to enter a trancelike state.  Nor do we know if God’s glory woke them up or if they woke to discover his glory.

But what we do know is once awake, the event had a lasting impact on the three.  Jesus appeared with two others, Moses and Elijah, speaking of a “new” exodus.  Like those dumbfounded and shocked by an explosion and its sound wave, Peter deliriously seeks to halt their exodus and wants to build three shelters.  He knows it is good to be there, but he doesn’t yet know why it’s better to leave.

Now came the holy blast wave, as it were, as a cloud overshadowed them.  “And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!’” (Luke 9:35 ESV)

Eight days earlier Jesus said to the twelve, “But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:27 ESV) Now on the eighth day they heard their holy God and saw a flash of God’s glory and his kingdom.  Albeit, for just a moment.

Like a cataclysmic earth-shattering explosion that ripples out from its epicentre, Jesus and the disciples leave the mountain and are confronted by the reality of what might be considered anything but glorious and holy. 

They encounter by a man whose son is possessed by a spirit, that seizes him and convulses him.  In Matthew’s Gospel, we hear it grips him so much it throws him into fires and water.

To see the flash of God’s holy glory, then to see this convulsing boy, would’ve been chalk and cheese events.  But like Peter’s inability to act on the mountain, the other disciples who didn’t go up the mountain are dumbstruck and cannot cast out the spirit.  So, the father of the child begs Jesus to cast it out.

After Jesus confronts the convulsing spirit, rebukes it, and heals the boy, and gives him back to his father, all who witness the event, “were astonished at the majesty of God.” (Luke 9:43 ESV)

Three of the disciples saw the majesty of God on the mountain and heard, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him.”  The three saw and heard God’s majesty, but only after the resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, would they have fully understood this Chosen One, this Son, was God the Son.

The glorious holy flash of Transfiguration, seen also in the healing of the boy, was rippling from God’s holy glory towards the human ugliness of the cross.  This was the exodus, the way out, about which Jesus was speaking to Moses and Elijah.  Now having seen God’s holy glory and hearing the declaration from God that, Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, is his Son, Jesus adds to their astonishment.

We hear, “But while they were all marvelling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.’” (Luke 9:43b-44 ESV)

Jesus reveals that not only is he the Son of Mary, and the Son of God, but he sinks  into them  that he’s the Son of Man who was about to be delivered into death as the Anointed One, the Christ.

The three-part picture is complete, this human, the second member of the Trinity, makes a turn, a very good turn, a Good Friday exodus turn.  Better than Peter’s idea to build three shelters and stay on the mountain, Jesus has another mountain in view.  This is the mountain of Calvery, gory Golgotha, the place of the skull, the mountain of death.  At Calvary, Jesus became the Christ.  The Son of God and the Son of Man, serves God and serves humanity.

Not only did the holy glorious flash of Transfiguration mesmerise the disciples, but it also revealed Jesus as the only one who could atone for all the failures humanity has inflicted upon creation.  Everything we do to break from our brokenness reveals so many more layers of unrepairable brokenness.  Like a pandoras box of despair, the flash of God’s glory shows we have no human exodus from the goriness of our flesh into God’s glory.

As we stand here in memory on the Mountain of Transfiguration, let us stand with Jesus on the cusp of our Lenten season of reflection as we learn why it's good to see Jesus in transfigured glory, but is better that he walked the way of the cross.

As Jesus resolutely set his face towards Jerusalem see what was before him.  As you resolutely walk with him, know from what you’ve been delivered, and into what his death delivers!  See at the cross on the mountain of Calvary, his hidden glory exchanged for the hidden gore of your nuclear explosive nucleus, that ripples out of your humanity in cataclysmic proportions.

But see further to Jesus on the mountain of ascension and your resurrection ascension with him.  See that the end is in sight, the night is nearly over, and what awaits you.  Be mesmerised by the explosion of God’s glory welling up in eternal streams of life, won by Jesus, who is returning to finish your eternal healing, and accompany you into the majesty of our Father’s presence.  Amen.