Sermon for 1/21/24: The Transfiguration of Our Lord

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“Listen to Him”

Matthew 17:1-9

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen

 

 

We are gathered together this morning with Peter, James, and John, for a what is, quite literally, a mountaintop experience. On the Mount we see Jesus surrounded by the Law and Prophets in the persons of Moses and Elijah. There we see Jesus, His appearance transformed, His face and clothing outshining the sun, and we realize that we are in the presence of God. This experience comes to us at God’s invitation. With the three disciples, we have become a part of Jesus’ inner circle. We stand on holy ground and hear the voice of the Father: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”

“Listen to Him,” the Father tells us, because what He has to say to you is as important to you as anything you have ever heard. His words are the words of eternal life, spoken by the One who is the Life and Light of men. His words create and destroy; they kill and make alive; they condemn and absolve; they cast down and raise up. Jesus sustains all of creation by His Word. By His Word He daily provides for all our needs of body and life. By His Word He cares for our souls.

“Listen to Him,” for Jesus is the only One to whom it is really worth listening. “Listen to Him,” because the gruesome death He would suffer was as a sacrifice. He died in your place. You cannot die an innocent death, can you? You are a sinner, and whatever punishment you might have received for your sins was less than deserve. Jesus died to redeem you, a lost and condemned sinner, to pay the blood price you could never pay, to drain the full cup of God’s righteous wrath, so that you might drink only from the cup of salvation.

Jesus has invited you this day to behold “His glory,” as St. John put it, “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” As Peter said, “It is good for us to be here.” It really is. But too often we end up like Peter, confusing the rush of the mountaintop experience with the ultimate experience. We prefer the high emotion of the mountaintop. But the problem with the emotion of the mountaintop is that such an experience is all about the emotion; it has very little, if anything at all, to do with Jesus. Such an experience is more likely to draw your eyes away from Jesus and His cross and place your attention on how you feel. Our sinful nature wants a “feel-good” religion because we don’t really like hearing about our sins. We don’t like being told that there is nothing that we can do for ourselves. We want to stay on the mountain because our Lord’s cross and suffering are offensive. Surely there has to be some other way.

We need to stop looking for peace and joy in all the wrong places. When we seek Jesus only on the mountain, we end up rebuked with Peter: “Get behind me Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Unless you recognize your sin, you will never see the need for Jesus and His love and sacrifice.

Jesus did not remain on that mountaintop because there was another mountain remaining for Him to climb: the mountain of the cross. He hung on the cross to spare you from having to make that climb. Jesus came down from the light of His glory to hang dead in the darkness of your sin. Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration because His true glory was not in that moment when He shone with heavenly light; His true glory was in being nailed to the throne of His cross, lifted up so that He might draw all mankind to himself. There was no bright light to shine on the cross, no voice from heaven, no disciples but one, because all the rest had run away. There was nothing but the brutalized body of the Son of God, scandalously hanging in darkness on the cross, bearing the weight of the sin of the world—and all of it so that this world might have life. This was His glory, for on the cross, Jesus defeated sin, Satan, and the grave; He brought you out of death to eternal life.

Do you want to see the glorified Jesus? Then behold the Jesus of the Gospels. Listen to Him. God the Father is made known in the preaching of His Son, and Jesus Himself is revealed in the preaching of the cross! Listen to Him, for in His preaching you are called to faith, called to the glory that will most certainly be yours. Listen to Him, and behold Him in the Sacraments, for He is there in His living flesh, crucified, dead, buried, raised, and glorified for you. Listen to Him in the name that He puts on you in Holy Baptism. Listen to Him when He says to you, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Listen to Him, for “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Listen to Jesus, because what He has to say to you is more important than anything else you have ever heard. His words are truth, and they are words of eternal life. What words are these? You have already heard Jesus speak them to you this day: “I forgive you all your sins.” In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.