Text: Matt 17:1-9 (Ex 34:29-35, 2 Pet 1:16-21)
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
After the Fall in the Garden of Eden, Adam hid himself from God. He and his wife tried to cover their shame with leaves. People typically (though not always) commit shameful acts when nobody is looking. Criminals typically cloak themselves with the cover of darkness. And until recently, walking into a bank with a mask on was a sure sign that a person was up to no good.
God also hides himself. When Moses wanted to directly see God’s glory, all that God would allow Moses to see was his back – and even then, only when Moses was pressed in the cleft of a rock to withstand the blast of energy that resulted.
God also hides Himself because of sin: our sin. For because of our impurity, we cannot stand to be in God’s presence. Scripture often points out that seeing God’s face is deadly to us. And in Scripture, we see examples of what happens when God lifts the veil even just a little bit. Just before God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, the lay people fussed at Moses that it wasn’t fair that only he got to go to the mountain to talk to God. So Moses “brought the people out of the camp to meet God.” It was such an intense, sensually overloading experience that they begged Moses to never do that again.
And even as we heard together this morning, the glory of God that reflected off of Moses’s face in the form of a glowing light was so disturbing to the people, that he had to wear a veil over his face after returning from God’s presence on the mountain.
And so, when God hides himself from us poor miserable sinners, dear friends, He is showing us mercy. For looking at His face without some kind of veil would be like looking directly at the sun – only much, much brighter and louder and more deadly.
In the fullness of time, God the Son took human flesh in order to rescue us from the very sin that separates us from God’s glory. The almighty and eternal God veiled himself in a human body, even an infant, whose divinity, though there, was hidden. Our Lord grew in stature, obeyed His mother and stepfather, and developed into an adult man. He veiled His divinity behind his humanity.
Sometimes Jesus lifted the veil just a bit, performing miracles, forgiving sins, and casting out demons. Sometimes this caused great fear, as when St. Peter begged Jesus to “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” With their eyes, the disciples as well as the enemies of Jesus, saw only a man. But with the eyes of faith, those who confessed His name, saw His divinity. And this confession of Jesus as God was by divine revelation, as Jesus told Peter: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.”
Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration, in which the church calls to mind a deliberate lifting of the veil and a bombastic encounter with our Lord’s divinity on the part of Peter, James, and John.
“His face shone like the sun,” as St. Matthew relates the narrative to us, “and His clothes became white as light.” And amid this blast of pure, raw unbridled energy, time and space were ruptured, as Moses and Elijah appeared to the three disciples, and they held a conversation with Jesus, the Son of God.
And as Peter was babbling in his stupor, “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.’”
This is almost the same shocking revelation that happened when Jesus was baptized. For a few terrifying seconds, Peter, James, and John heard the voice of the Father and saw the brilliance of the Son blazing in glory. And unlike the light that shone from the face of Moses, this light is the original source.
The three disciples “fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise and have no fear.’ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”
Jesus told them to keep this revelation secret until after the resurrection. For at that time, eleven of the twelve will see Jesus in His glory after walking out of His own tomb.
Jesus did not transfigure Himself as a prank, or just for something to do, dear friends. He is teaching us about Himself. For we can get so used to the humanity of Jesus that we forget that He is God. We can become so used to sin that we forget that God does not abide sin. We can get so used to the feeling that we are in charge, that we forget that God still upholds all things by His will – which is unknowable for us.
God continues to hide because of sin: our sin. He does this because He is merciful. And so He comes to us in a very real way, but a way that is veiled, hidden in His word, veiled under the forms of bread and wine. Our eyes see only the material reality, but the eyes of faith know that there is more, there is the divinity of Christ, who comes to us poor miserable sinners to save us. And we can stand in His presence because He has forgiven us, cleansed us, and made us worthy to stand before the Father’s throne – whether here on this side of the veil in the Divine Service, or in eternity when we join with “angels and archangels and all the company of heaven” in the eternal heavenly liturgy – even as we worship together, one church, separated only by the thinnest of veils, protecting us from God’s full glory until He wills that we are ready.
St. Peter, who was there at the Mountain of Transfiguration, says: “We ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain.” But that said, St. Peter doesn’t direct us to his experience or even to a vision, but to “something more sure” that “we have.” And that is “the prophetic Word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” He tells us to look to Scripture, for this is not “someone’s own interpretation” nor “cleverly devised myths.” Rather the Scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit. And this, dear friends, is where God hides Himself – in plain sight, to those with ears to hear.
Let us ascend to the holy altar to receive Him in His veiled forms of bread and wine, knowing that He is truly there, His glory held in check in mercy for us, but with nothing of His forgiveness held in check. Jesus is here for us in ways that we can hear and eat and drink, in ways that we are not overwhelmed by His presence, but in ways that He comes to us just as powerfully and just as truly as He did on the mountain that day when Moses and Elijah spoke with Him.
For Moses and the Prophets, continue to speak to us in the Word, and their words confess and reveal Jesus to be God in the flesh.
Dear brothers and sisters, don’t fall into the bad habit of hearing words that you think don’t matter, a narrative that you think has no effect on your life. If this is you, Jesus, our transfigured Lord, the crucified Savior who rose from the dead and appears to you week after week – calls you to repent for your own sake. Don’t think that what you are eating and drinking is a mere wafer and a sip of wine. For this Holy Supper is truly His body and blood. It isn’t symbolic. It isn’t a representation. It’s not a pious little harmless ritual. The same Jesus whose radiant face and garments were accompanied by the voice of the Father comes to you now. Yes, in mercy, He veils His glory. But the glory is just as surely there even as the sun is still blazing in bright light even when we are in the shadow of the earth that we call “night.”
And after you have communed with Him in this sacred mystery, when you rise from your knees, allow our Lord to speak to you the very words He had for Peter, James, and John: “Rise, and have no fear.”
And when you lift up your eyes, dear friends, may you see “Jesus only.” For only Jesus saves you, makes you worthy to stand before the Father, and gives you the free gift of eternal life by His blood. Jesus only.
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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