Sermon: Transfiguration – 2023

29 January 2023

Text: Matt 17:1-9

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The traditional prayer at Matins includes this line: “You have safely brought us to the beginning of this day.  Defend us in the same with your mighty power.”

Mighty power.  It’s easy to think of God’s mighty power.  He created the universe in the blink of an eye with only His Word.  He caused a worldwide flood that wiped out all but eight people on the planet.  He delivered the children of Israel through the Red Sea.  He topples empires and overthrows kingdoms. 

When God takes flesh, He stoops to our level.  He walks, eats, talks in a normal human voice, gets hungry, gets thirsty, weeps, sleeps, and preaches in the temple, the synagogue, on a mount, and even in a boat.  His mighty power is wielded among us, from a body like ours, in normal spaces.  His mighty power includes changing water into wine, calming a storm, feeding thousands with a few scraps of bread, walking on water, healing the sick, recreating crippled limbs, restoring sight and hearing, casting out demons, and even raising the dead. 

But this mighty power of God comes by means of the hands and the voice of a man.  Today, we hear about how Jesus took three of the twelve: Peter, James, and John, “up a high mountain by themselves.  And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light.”

On that day, in that place, Jesus gave them a glimpse of His mighty power unleashed, uncovered, and unchecked.  His form appeared different, as bright light radiated from His face and clothing.  A pure, divine burst of energy came from the man Jesus, as the veil was figuratively lifted.  The three men saw Jesus in His full glory, not merely within the glorious works that He performed among men.  It is clear that Jesus is not merely a miracle-working prophet, but rather bears the mighty power that only God has.

The vision includes further confirmation of our Lord’s eternal nature (as one of those three, St. John, would later write of Jesus, “In the beginning was the Word”).  For “behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.”  Jesus is holding conversation in a way that bends space and time.  The Law and the Prophets confirm Him as the Christ. 

And here we see the mighty power of the Holy Trinity, for God the Father’s voice blasts from a cloud: “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”  This calls to mind Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, when the voice of the Father said the same thing, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a dove.  Only now, on this mountain, God the Father adds, “Listen to Him,” as specific instructions for the apostles.  The voice of God says to listen to the voice of God.  The mighty power of God confirms the mighty power of God.  God of God, Light of Light.

At this point, Peter, James, and John are stunningly aware of the mighty power that surrounds them.  They fall on their faces.  Like other examples in the Scriptures of men in the presence of God’s mighty power, they are terrified.  And they are right to fear.  For we are indeed to “fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”  We fear God in a way that is even more intense than the fear of a hurricane, or high voltage wires, or the sound of a person or animal rushing toward us to do us harm.  We fear God because of His mighty power, and the fact that we, by our sins, have made Him our fearful enemy.  We have rebelled against Him.  We sin and sin and sin again.  God’s wrath should indeed rightfully fall upon us.  And so the apostles cower.

But the mighty power of Jesus is not used to condemn, but rather to save.  He did not come to destroy, but to redeem.  He is not on a mission of revenge against us, but rather of vengeance for us.

As the three were on their faces in fear of the mighty power of God in His full glory, “Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’”  For this is truly the mighty power of God at work, according to His will, dear friends.  His glory is in His mercy.  He has not come to destroy Peter, James, and John, but rather to obliterate their sin and crush the head of their old evil foe. “And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only,” their friend, their Master, their Savior, their Lord and their God, the one who wields the mighty power of God to rescue them.  His wrath is not aimed at them, but rather at Satan.  He loves them.  He defends them.  He forgives them. He heals them.  He will raise them from the dead.

Dear friends, this same mighty power is at work in us, and for us, today.  Jesus has put the veil back on.  We don’t see the blast of pure radiant light as He puts His mighty power to work for us.  But it is the same mighty power.  For Peter, James, and John came down from the mountain with Jesus.  They would see Jesus crucified, and raised again.  Jesus would breathe on them and delegate mighty power to them to carry out His work in the world – mighty power still used by the church today.  For Peter, James, and John were told to forgive sins on behalf of Jesus, wielding His divine mighty power by means of their own ordinary bodies: removing guilt, pardoning iniquity, and giving the righteousness of Jesus as a free gift.  This authority was given by the apostles to other ministers of the church, and so on down to this day.  We come to this holy house week in and week out because the mighty power of God is put upon you, dear friends, so that you will be forgiven and given new life.  That is happening to you right now.

The apostles were commissioned to proclaim the good news to every nation, baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, to use Christ’s Word and authority to empower water to wash away sin and save both young and old from death and hell.  This is God’s mighty power hidden in the ordinary, just as Jesus turned water into wine, and performed miracles with a command and a touch.  That authority and that mighty power to save continues today, in your Holy Baptism, God’s mighty power is applied to you, here and now, as we remember our baptism, and confess its mighty power.

The apostles were also commanded to officiate at the Eucharist, “This do in remembrance of Me.”  The mighty power of Jesus is, as always, in His Word, fitly spoken by His men under authority over ordinary things.  “This is My body…. This cup is the New Testament in My blood.”  The mighty power of His words make these elements His holy body and blood.  The mighty power of His body and blood sacrificed for us on the cross saves us.  The mighty power of this miracle is indeed happening among us, and to us, today.

This is His mighty power, dear friends.  He is here for you!  He gives Himself to you!  His power is veiled under bread and wine, just as the mighty power of Jesus was not seen by the other disciples.  But it is there, and it is for you.

The ministers of the church are also to preach!  We must speak with the mighty power of the Word of God.  For though these words are spoken by ordinary men, these words bear the mighty power to transform a sinner into a saint even as God created the universe by the mighty power of His Word.

This is why Jesus had mercy on the fearful disciples.  He invites them to no longer be afraid of the mighty power, but to rejoice in it.  “For the Word of the Lord endures forever,” even as the grass withers and the flower fades.  The Word of the Lord that declares you righteous, endures forever, though you will lie in dust and ashes – at least for a while, until the mighty power of the Lord’s resurrection awakes you, and Jesus bids you to “rise and have no fear.”

That, dear friends, is the ultimate mighty power of Jesus: to raise the dead on the Last Day, welcoming us, body and soul into eternity.  That is why we are here at this time and place.

It is meet, right, and salutary that we pray for God to come to us in His mighty power, though we don’t see it with our own eyes, at least not yet.  But we see by faith.  We confess and receive the mighty power of Jesus Christ by faith, and we pray in faith:

“O Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, You have safely brought us to the beginning of this day.  Defend us in the same with Your mighty power and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger, but that all our doings, being ordered by Your governance, may be righteous in Your sight; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.”  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.