Bible Passage: Luke 9:28-36
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: March 2, 2025

Bulletin – March 2, 2025

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Today is all about glory.  It is about the glory of the LORD.  The term “glory of the Lord” is first used in the book of Exodus.  The Lord God tells the Israelites who have just come out of Egypt that the next morning they were going to see a special manifestation of his presence with them.  They were going to see “the glory of the Lord.”  And they did.  Many times after that, the “glory of the Lord” would appear to them.  The “glory of the Lord” filled the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle.

God is inherently glorious.  It is part of who he is by nature.  It simply belongs to him.  So great is his glory that when once Moses said to the LORD, Show me your glory, (Exodus 33:18) the LORD answered, You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. (Exodus 33:20)  Paul expands on this thought when he wrote to Timothy that God lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. (1 Timothy 6:16)

That is what makes the event we commemorate today so special.  Jesus once allowed three of his disciples to get a glimpse of his divine glory.  Jesus “revealed” a measure of his glory!  But that is not the whole story today.  There is more to cause us to wonder today.  For on that mountain, Jesus will also hide his glory again.  The glory of his Transfiguration was not the goal of his ministry.  Mt. Calvary was.  And so today, this day that is all about glory, we marvel to see both The Revealed, and the Re-Veiled, Glory of Jesus.

Let us first look at the revealed glory.  Jesus has taken Peter, James, and John with him up onto a mountain. There Jesus prays.  While Jesus is talking to his Father in prayer, something happens.  Jesus’ face and clothes change.  The word St. Luke uses to describe the change is a word that is used to describe the brightness of a flash of lightning!  Except Jesus’ face and clothes didn’t just flash once – on and off.  They continued to shine with this brightness!  It is heavenly, divine glory!

Friends, this is what Jesus Christ should have looked like all the time!  The non-shiny, non-glorious Jesus, that was the unusual thing!  It was Paul writing to the Philippians who tells us really what was going on with the person of Christ Jesus.  He wrote about Christ Jesus:  …who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:6-7)  Jesus is in very nature God!  That the Son of God should shine in glory is the most natural thing of all!  That God in flesh should appear as nothing – that is the cosmic headline!

Just then, two men, Moses and Elijah, were talking with him. They appeared in glory and were talking about his departure, which he was going to bring to fulfillment in Jerusalem (v. 30-31)  Moses and Elijah were there!  These men are giants, titans in the Old Testament!  But isn’t it interesting?  As these three appear there, Moses is not telling Elijah and Jesus thrilling stories of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt or leading them in the wilderness – and Moses could tell some great stories!  Nor is Elijah doing the talking, telling the story of his showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.  And that’s a great story!  No!  These titans were the lesser lights.  This conversation was about Jesus.  They talked about him.  They talked about his upcoming suffering and death.  THAT was the story!

Peter, James, and John had been sleeping.  But now they were waking up.  They see the revealed glory of Jesus!  Then they see Moses and Elijah begin to take their leave.  Did they begin to ascend upward?  Don’t know.  But Peter sees this, and he blurts out, Master, it is good for us to be here.  Let’s make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. (He did not realize what he was saying.)  (v. 33)  He didn’t realize what a bad idea that was!  He was suggesting that Jesus’ road end then and there!  He didn’t realize that the centerpiece of Christianity would be a hill with a cross, not a hill with a tent.  He didn’t realize that Christians will come to treasure a risen Jesus coming out of a tomb, not a shiny Jesus stepping out of a tent every morning.  He didn’t realize that the emblem of our faith, the emblem we would trace over our babies at baptism, and trace in the air when the absolution and benediction are spoken, and wear on our necks on gold chains, would be a cross, not a tent!  Peter didn’t realize the transfiguration had to end.

After Peter had shared his bad idea, the Father declares, This is my Son, whom I love.  Listen to him! (v. 35)   There are times in life to talk, and times just to be quiet and listen.  Jesus Christ was standing there talking about his death and resurrection!  Maybe that’s a time, Peter, to zip your lip and listen.  There is nothing to do when Jesus talks except close our mouths and open our ears!    

And so Christ Jesus once again shows that divine glory was not something to be grasped.  He makes himself nothing; he “re-veils” his glory.  He cannot go to Jerusalem shining in glory.  They’d never kill him if he did!  He must look like nothing.  He must become nothing.  He must look like a pushover.  His enemies must believe they can take him.  And they do.  With his glory veiled, looking nothing like God, the Son of God goes to Jerusalem for his departure (v. 31).  His death.  His death for sin.  His death for sinners.  His death for you and me.  A death he dies so that one day you and I can see his glory.  Not just a sliver of it, not just 50% or 70%, or however much Peter, James and John got to see that day.  But he dies and rises that we might be saved and glorified at the resurrection!  He dies and rises that we might see him in all his unveiled glory!  And there, in glory,  we can talk to the risen and glorious Jesus, like Moses and Elijah. The unapproachable light made approachable through his death and resurrection!  We, too, can talk to the glorious Jesus about his departure, and thank him for doing it all, for us.

Amen.