2 Peter 1:16-21
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ Transfiguration Inspires Hopeful Endurance
Transfiguration Sunday feels like a very Lutheran Sunday to me.
For one, the timing of Transfiguration Sunday is a uniquely Lutheran contribution to Christendom. It’s not strictly chronological, as if as soon as Jesus got down off that mountain he went straight to Jerusalem (did not pass Go, did not collect $200) and hopped on his cross. There was actually a fair space of time between Jesus’ Transfiguration and his Passion, i.e. his suffering and death in Jerusalem.
The reason Lutherans set Transfiguration Sunday on the doorstep of Lent is because of Luke. In Chapter 9, Luke tells the story of the Transfiguration, and then shortly afterward he says: As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.[1] Again, Jesus didn’t go straight to Jerusalem; he set his focus there. And all the stops along the way were layovers on his way to the cross.
What do you think that must have been like for Jesus – knowing that every stop, every interaction, every night of sleep was just taking him one step closer to his inevitable and painful demise? Do you think he felt a sense of existential dread? Do you think it wore down on him more and more as the days drew closer and closer to his crucifixion? Do you think the devil’s temptations came quicker and harder every step of the way? It must have been excruciating for Jesus to be present and mindful – to try to live his life, to enjoy the little things, to cherish his friendships – knowing what was waiting for him.
I don’t want to dwell too much on Jesus’ passion today. That’s what the next 50 days are for. I bring this up because I think it’s a fitting parallel to the life that we lead every day, just in a complete opposite way. Jesus had to live every day knowing that at the end of his life, he would have to suffer and die, to carry the weight of the world’s sin on his shoulders and suffer the collective punishment for crimes he didn’t commit. It’s like every step he took was part of his descent into our grave. Whereas we live every day climbing out of our graves, knowing that at the end of our lives we get to go to his home in heaven. The destinations couldn’t be more different. The journeys, though, are remarkably similar, because both call for the same thing: patient, hopeful endurance.
That’s where Peter’s second letter comes in. In Chapter 1, Peter writes this: We did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.[2]
Evidently, after Peter sent his first letter to “God’s elect,” as he calls them, “exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,”[3] there were other voices that came to those same people – voices that were telling them very different things, the most egregious of which sounded like this: Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”[4]
Have you heard that before? Have you wondered that before? I wouldn’t blame you! It’s been 2,000 years since Jesus ascended into heaven. He hasn’t come back. Things certainly haven’t gotten better. You might even wonder if they’ve gotten worse, and if there’s worse yet to come. How long have you been a Christian? How long have you taken your faith seriously? Has your life gotten better in that time? Or has it gotten harder? Does it feel like it keeps getting harder with every passing year?
There’s truth in what the scoffers say. Not much has changed. “Everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” You might begin to wonder if it’s all too good to be true, i.e. if these promises we cling to are nothing more than fairy dust and fantasy. And if they are, then what’s the point? Are we making ourselves feel bad about arbitrary behaviours? Are we holding ourselves to some fictional standard of right and wrong? Is Jesus actually going to come back? Does he really have power to do anything in my life?
Even if he does have power and even if he is going to come back, can I hold on that long? The temptations we face every day are so hard and so real. We have so little control – of the things around us, but also of the things inside us, e.g. our emotions, our impulses. Even if I know that Jesus will come again, sometimes I’m tempted to believe that it won’t be for a long time yet, and so I think I have this time to mess around if I want to, because I’ll always have time to get my life in order later.
Those are the kinds of whispers the false prophets were filling people’s ears with back in Peter’s day. But Peter had an answer: We did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.[5]
Jesus is no fairy tale. He wasn’t spinning yarns to ensnare the gullible. He really was who he said he was, who Peter said he was. And Peter should know! Peter was there. Peter saw Jesus in all his transcendent transfiguration glory.
To be fair, Isaiah tells us that He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.[6] In other words, 99% of the time Jesus was just an ordinary, otherwise unimpressive guy. To look at him, you wouldn’t immediately think, “This must be God in the flesh!” He hid his glory for the vast majority of his life. But there was this one moment where he let it shine through, where his face shone like the sun, where his clothes blazed like a flash of lightning, and no one who witnessed that sight could think anything less than what the Father voiced, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”[7]
There were so many things about Jesus that seemed unimpressive, including all the things that we’re going to spend the next 50 days considering – his suffering, his humility, his shame, his death. But those were exactly the things that earned his Father’s praise, because it was by those things that God kept his millennia-long promises of salvation. It was by that hidden glory that Jesus secured your eternal glory. And revealing the truth of his identity to Peter and the sons of Zebedee was this gracious deposit for humble humans who may know the truth but so often forget it; for people like you and me who live this life and feel beat down by it.
It’s the Transfiguration that opens our eyes to the truth that Jesus is exactly who he says he is – he is glorious and majestic and powerful and prophetic and trustworthy and true. He did what he came to do, and he will come again to take us out of this sin-darkened world of doubt and dread to a place where our eyes will be filled with a glory that will not fade.
Peter saw it for a moment, because Peter was there, which enabled Peter to assure his listeners that Jesus really is glorious even when life seems less than. That’s good news, even for us so many millennia later. God does not call for a completely blind faith. He graciously gives us something to put our faith in, even the corroboration of eyewitness testimony.
But for those of you who feel like saying what I sometimes do, “That’s great Peter. I’m so happy for you, but what about me?” God has something to say to you too, and it’s the second reason Transfiguration Sunday feels so Lutheran to me: We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.[8]
We may not have been there. We may not have seen him with our own eyes. But we’re here and we can still hear his voice through the completely reliable prophetic message of God’s Word. This book isn’t the compilation of the fanatical ravings of drunken shepherds mistranslated from missing texts 2,000 years (or more) ago. It’s God’s own Word, divinely inspired, carried along by the Holy Spirit.
We don’t carelessly interpret it to make it say whatever we want it to. We listen to the bad along with the good. We accept it when God calls us out for our impatience and impropriety, our doubt and our dread, our spiritual exhaustion and calloused hearts. But then we rejoice to see the glory of God’s own Son, hidden within his human frame, hung on the cross for our sin and shame, so that we can have our eyes opened to the eternal glory that awaits us in his name.
This precious book is like a light shining in a dark place that will uplift your hearts and minds and guide your life and limbs until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. It will not always be as hard as it is today. The night is almost over. The day is almost here, when you will see with your own eyes what Peter, James, and John did – the face of Jesus, your Saviour, shining like the sun in all his glory.
Until that day, God keep you from cleverly devised stories that lead you away from him, and God keep you close through the completely reliable prophetic message of his holy Word, and the gospel of his glorious Son, whom he loves and who loves us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
[1] Luke 9:51
[2] 2 Peter 1:16
[3] 1 Peter 1:1
[4] 2 Peter 3:3,4
[5] 2 Peter 1:16-18
[6] Isaiah 53:2
[7] Matthew 17:5; 2 Peter 1:17
[8] 2 Peter 1:19