1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word as we observe Transfiguration Sunday is taken from Mark 9:2-9. It’s entitled, “Lord Help Us to See Jesus Clearly,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. It is hard to see clearly these days. While we have never been able to see as much as we would like, today we are more aware of our inability to perceive things as they really are. It took me a while to keep straight the German word for the Transfiguration. The main reason is that it has a lexical similarity to other words. The German word for Transfiguration is Verklärung. It is a combination of the prefix ver and the root klärung. The root means clarification. Like many German words, change the prefix and the meaning changes. Aufklärung, for example, refers to the Enlightenment. Erklärung means explanation, or declaration. As a native English speaker, it’s hard to keep track of the differences. You had to listen carefully to see if we were talking about: clarification, explanation, the Enlightenment, or the Transfiguration.
3. Why the German vocab lesson you might ask? The relationship between these words in German might help us to consider the impact of this unique event of our Lord’s Transfiguration on the disciples. Mark 9:2 says, “And after six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them.” The Greek (μετεμορφώθη) draws attention to what happened to Jesus. He was changed, transformed, metamorphized. But, Martin Luther’s translation of the German invites reflection on how the disciples perceived it. Jesus was verklärt or glorified before them. Words like clarification, explanation, and enlightenment come to mind.
4. The disciples saw something. Jesus gave them a glimpse of His divine nature, a peek beyond His humanity, not only through the radiance of His intensely white clothes, but also through the appearance of Moses and Elijah. Peter recognized the two prophets. He saw something important was happening and he wanted it to last. But then, as quickly as they appeared, they vanished. The glimpse was over. The sneak peek was ended. And all they saw was Jesus only.
5. It’s hard to see clearly these days. While we have never been able to see as much as we would like, today we are more aware of our inability to perceive things as they really are. It’s hard to see, for example, which reports, which posts, or which headlines paint the most realistic picture of the important news of our day, particularly pertaining to the pandemic. Photoshop is only part of the problem. Add to it the rapid spread of misinformation, the constant potential for hearing false reports, and the inescapable biases which color every commentary. There’s also our desire, at times, to avoid looking at the truth. And that is just the present. Try looking to the future and you will be even less certain of what you see.
6. So, how exactly might we clearly see what Jesus did on the Mount of Transfiguration? Here, Jesus gives us a clear picture of His divinity. This vision clarifies for us who Jesus is, what He has done for us, and how He helps us see everything else more clearly.
7. So, what does Jesus allow us to see? For one thing we see Jesus’ relationship to Moses and Elijah. Jesus is the Prophet who stands head and shoulders even over these two prophets. He fulfilled their words and proclaimed an even more expansive vision of divine grace and mercy than they foresaw.
8. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the light of Jesus’ transfiguration drew the disciples’ attention to him in a new way. There on the mountain, the Father showed Jesus in a different light than the disciples had ever seen him before. Their friend wasn’t just a carpenter, not just a teacher, not just a rabbi. He was much, much more. “Look here!” the light emanating from Jesus demanded. The Father’s voice proclaimed, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Today in worship, God uses the light that shone from Jesus once again. In this light that shines from the Word, the Father once again draws our attention to Jesus to enlighten us. “He’s more than you’ve imagined!” the light exclaims. “Listen to him!” the Father decrees.
9. We also see more clearly Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and the way in which it sheds light on everything else. The light of Easter morning is ultimately the only light in which we see Jesus clearly. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:14–20, “14And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” The risen Lord helps us see His victory over all our enemies. He gives us a vision for new life in service to others. He opens our eyes to the eternal life that is ours by grace. And importantly, the risen Lord helps us see we do not need to see everything perfectly here and now. As long as we see Jesus—crucified, risen, returning—we can get by, for the time being, seeing everything else dimly. St Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
10. We know that there on the Mount of Transfiguration the disciples were treated to a glimpse of what was to come. By peeling back a corner of the plain brown wrapper of Jesus’ human nature to give just a glimpse of the glory that would be his forever after his cross and resurrection, the Father showed the three disciples who it was whom they were called to follow.
11. One could simply say that we need this story because it happened in a real time and place within human history. That just because it happened should be reason enough for it to be included in the Gospels. And yet that isn’t quite satisfying. That the transfiguration is remembered as a pivotal event in Jesus’ ministry should be enough to clue us in that something important is being proclaimed here.
12. We need this story because it is one of those flashing lights that catch our attention. It’s a very brief story, yet like the flash of a distant light on a dark night it demands that we look here and see. And when we look—even if we’ve looked here before—Jesus, briefly robed in brilliant light, calls us to consider again more fully who he really is. The danger, even for us who put our faith in Christ, is that we become so accustomed to hearing about Jesus and hearing his Word that it all becomes routine. Familiarity then breeds indifference to his Word and disobedience to his will. And when faith in Jesus becomes routine, we miss the transformation that God intends for us. So again today we see Jesus transfigured—the eternal Son of the eternal Father, the brightness of his glory beyond our imagination.
13. We also need this story because we need to hear again the Father’s words, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” We need to hear the Father’s admonition to hear and believe that the crucified Messiah is our only hope—that in his death and resurrection is our life. We need to hear that only in following Jesus is there ever real life. We need to hear from him that to pursue any way other than the way of the cross is to lose forever the hope of life. This is important for us as we approach the season of Lent and remember his great suffering and death on the cross for us and for our salvation.
14. For us, people who too easily grow indifferent to Jesus and his Word, the story of Jesus’ transfiguration is a flash of light that draws our attention again to the truth of who he is. This is an account of God’s Word that helps us to see Jesus more clearly. He is the light of God’s mercy, the glorified Son, the one to whom we must listen and in whom we must follow. Amen. Now The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
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