Good morning. My name is John Fast and I am here today to talk to you about Jesus’ transfiguration, which is found in Luke 9:28-36.
The last time I spoke to you, you favoured me by writing on a piece of paper a little bit about the biggest storm in your life. Arlene and I have prayed through this list and now feel a little bit connected with your lives. One of the storms that was mentioned several times concerned knowing the will of God. What does God want from my life? What does he want me to do. I want you to know right now that the answer to this question starts with each of us. With a journey in fact. Call it a walk down a narrow but pleasant road. This journey isn’t taken alone. We take it accompanied by Jesus.
The last time I spoke to you on February 26, that was the time you wrote your “storm” notes to me, we ended up with Jesus on the shore of the sea of Galilee, after a very stormy night on the lake. As Jesus and his disciples had travelled across the lake a terrific storm came up and threatened to swamp their boat. While this was going on Jesus was fast asleep in the bottom of the boat. In terror, his disciples woke him up. They were afraid that he would sink with them, and never know what had happened. When they called to him Jesus woke up, sat up, stood up, and spoke to the storm. After he rebuke the wind, it stopped. When he spoke to the waves, they flattened. Jesus’ disciples came out of that storm and the subsequent miracle thoroughly frightened. Some of their fear arose when the storm was gone. This happened because they suddenly saw Jesus in a totally new light. Now, as faithful Jews they had known that only God in heaven controlled the wind and waves. And here was Jesus, their friend, who controlled the wind and stopped the waves. He must be God!
After that incident, Jesus walked with his disciples back-and-forth across the Galilee region. He even crossed the sea several more times. He performed many miracles, and taught the people about the kingdom of God. More and more people were interested in what he had to say. And so when he went north to a town called Bethsaida to get away for a while these people followed him.
Again, he healed them, cast out demons and ministered to their needs without thought or concern for himself. By evening time, his disciples were worried that the people would be hungry and weak and would not have the strength to get home. They told Jesus to dismiss the crowds before it got too dark. But he answered them with, “You feed them.” They replied, “We only have five loaves and two fish.” He countered with, “Divide the people into groups and feed them.” They did this and found that there was enough food for everybody. In fact, there were 12 baskets of leftovers. The crowds marvel at all of this.
Just afterwards when Jesus was alone with his disciples, he turned to them and asked, “Who do these people say that I am?” They said, “Well some of them think you are Elijah the prophet. Others have it in their heads that you are John the Baptist! And then there are those who think you are one of the many prophets of the Old Testament come back to life.” Jesus asked them directly, “And what about you, who do you say that I am?” Peter raised his hand and spoke up. He said, “You are God's Messiah!”When he heard this, Jesus put his finger to his lips as tho saying, “Shhhhh, don’t tell anybody about this.” Then he went on to explain why he was saying this. He said, “I, the Son of Man have to suffer many things. The religious leaders are going to reject me and then they're going to kill me. But after they do that I am going to rise from the dead. Now if anyone wants to be my disciple, my follower, this person must deny himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. Anyone who wants to save his life, will lose it, and anyone who is ready to lose his life will find it.”
When it was time to leave Bethsaida Jesus gathered up his disciples and started out on the long journey south. Their first major stop was about a week later when they got to a small mountain called Mount Tabor. Upon their arrival, Jesus chose three of his disciples Peter, James, and John to go with him to the top of the mountain. When they reached the top they didn't stop to take in the fantastic view. From the top of this mountain, they could see the sea of Galilee and Nazareth, where Jesus had been raised. They could look south to the hills of Samaria. But no, when they got to the top Jesus began to pray. His disciples were tired from the steep climb and soon fell into a deep sleep.
During his prayer, a strange thing happened to Jesus. His face was changed and shone like the sun, very brilliant. And his clothes reminded one of lightning flashes in a big storm. They radiate out from one cloud to another in brilliant beams.
Sometimes their beams descend down to the Earth. The light pulsates. It's scary but also very very beautiful. That's what Jesus clothes looked like. Like throbbing lights.
Today we call Jesus appearance a transfiguration. Today if you go to Mount tabor you’ll find a small chapel built there by the Greeks, centuries ago. Above the door of this chapel is the word “metamorphosis”. We use the word metamorphosis to talk about the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. From something ordinary to something really beautiful and extraordinary. That's what happened to Jesus on the mountain.
Let me explain a little bit about what I think was happening during Jesus transfiguration. Go back to the time Jesus stilled the storm. Jesus was fast asleep, but after he woke up he began speaking to the storm. That was not something human beings normally do. But Jesus did this, and in fact he was was effective. The wind stopped, the waves stilled. As good Jews, the disciples knew that only God could manage a storm in that way. And so their conclusion was arrived at, Jesus, whom they knew as an ordinary man, was God.
Now if we take this understanding back to the mount of transfiguration, we can come up with some conclusions. Normally, Jesus looked like any ordinary human being. Like you, like me. But on the mountain, his divine glory, his fantastic beauty broke through his flesh and was visible to Peter James and John. But then something else happened. During his transformation two visitors came from heaven to join Jesus in a conversation. They were Moses and Elijah. They appeared in glorious splendour as heavenly creatures. Now Moses would've been excited. As you may know one of his dreams had been to step onto the promised land, to put his feet onto the soil that today we know as Israel or Palestine. But he had never done this. Something he did in the wilderness that sullied the reputation of God meant that he could not enter the promised land. Until now that is. When he finished the journey from heaven to the top of Mount Tabor, he came into the promised land for the very first time.
But both Moses and Elijah had had another dream. They had wanted to see God. And although they lived centuries apart, each of them had gone to the top of Mount Sinai, and while there had tried to negotiate a sighting. A sighting of God. But God said, “No, this is not possible. You can see my back, you can see a passing form, but you can't see me.” Now, finally on top of Mount Tabor they saw the face of God. Their dream had been realized.
So in this situation, what do you talk about. What is your conversation going to be about?
We are told by Luke that they talked about a departure that Jesus was going to make from the city of Jerusalem.
Now the word “departure” that Luke used was the same word that was used in the Old Testament at the time when the people of Israel departed from Egypt and went to the promised land. Moses had been their leader in this departure from slavery to freedom.
But the word they used there in Exodus was the word exodus and that word is used here as well. Elijah, Moses and Jesus talked about Jesus exodus from Jerusalem. No, they were not in Jerusalem at this time. They were quite a distance north of that place. They would travel there in the days ahead.
This was just the time for Peter, James and John to wake up. Can you imagine what went through their minds when they saw the scene on the mountain? There was light everywhere. Jesus was brilliant in appearance and Moses and Elijah only slightly less so. Peter being Peter had something to say. He said to the Lord, “Master, Rabbi why don't we build tents for you and Moses and Elijah to stay in?” We come back to Peter’s question later, but it should be enough for us to know right now that Peter didn't say anything else. A cloud came by and covered him and everyone else. You could say the cloud interrupted Peter in the middle of his little speech. Surprisingly, there was someone in the cloud. In our text, this person was called a Voice. I think we can safely say that this Voice was the voice of God. God obviously had something to say. And he did. What he said was, referring to Jesus, “This is my son. My beloved son. Listen to him.”