The Transfiguration of Our Lord - a Hinge between Epiphany and Lent

Today is the Last Sunday in the season of Epiphany. Every year we read about the Transfiguration of Our Lord as we come to the end of Epiphany. Since we are in the first year of the three year series, it is Matthew’s turn to tell us about the transfiguration.

The season of Epiphany is all about revealing Jesus. We portray the revelation of Jesus using our experience with dark and light. Just as physical darkness causes us to stumble and get lost, so also we are in eternal darkness if we do not have the revelation of Jesus. Just as light reveals the world around us, so also the revelation of Jesus reveals our eternal salvation to us.

The season of Epiphany begins with a literal light, the star that led the magi to worship Jesus. Today’s Gospel tells us of a different kind of light … the heavenly light of Jesus. This appearance of Jesus was in stark contrast to His everyday appearance to the people of that time.

The Gospel accounts tell us that Jesus regularly went into the mountains to pray. Sometimes, He was alone. Other times, as in today’s reading, He took disciples with Him. I suspect that Peter, James, and John were expecting another time of prayer on the mountain with Jesus. What actually happened was radically different from what they expected.

The Greek word for what happened after this foursome arrived on the mountain is metamorphosis. It pretty much means the same thing in Greek that it does in English. Jesus changed His appearance. He shone like the sun and even His clothes glowed.

Then Jesus showed that the Kingdom of Heaven is not really that far away. Moses and Elijah showed up and held a conversation with Jesus. Moses is the great law-giver. Elijah is not only a prophet, but he went up by a whirlwind into heaven (2 Kings 2:11). He did not experience death before he entered eternity. The law-giver and the prophet were right there on the mountain chatting with Jesus.

To top it all off, God the Father joins the scene in the form of a bright cloud, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Once again, we hear those words that we heard when John baptized Jesus in the Jordan. This is one of those very rare times when God the Father spoke directly to His people.

Naturally, when the disciples saw what was happening, it blew them away. At first, Peter was all set to build a worship center right there on the mountain. He wanted to build a shelter for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Then when God the Father revealed His presence, all the disciples could do was cower in fear.

When we read this account, it is a good thing that the revealed heavenly glory impresses us. It is good for us to remember that Jesus really is the eternal Son of the Father. This is all good stuff.

However, we should also notice that this is not the normal way that Jesus presented Himself to the disciples and the other people who came to hear and see Him. The Bible makes it very clear that if you had to judge Jesus by His physical appearance alone, you would say that Jesus just looks like any other man.

Many pious artists and movie producers have given us an image of Jesus that is just a little too good to be true. One movie shows us a blue-eyed Jesus who never blinked. Many portraits portray Jesus with a neatly combed beard, every hair in place, and chiseled good looks. Then there are all the portraits that show Jesus with a halo or some kind of an eerie glow. Such portrayals are fine if they help us think about Jesus and what He did to save us from sin, but we should not think of them as accurate.

If you went back to the first few decades of First Century Israel, you would not be able to pick Jesus out of a crowd. He blended in with His disciples so well that the guards needed Judas to identify Jesus with a kiss. He was condemned with common criminals. He died by crucifixion, a common method of execution. Everything about Jesus was common, ordinary … the prophet Isaiah said, [Isaiah 53:2] “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.”

Never the less, this homely, traveling Jewish rabbi was and is the Lord … the Almighty Son of God. Everything that is God resides in this seemingly ordinary man.

Why is it so important that we understand that Jesus is the true Son of God who has taken on humanity in this most humble way? Why is it so important to understand that Jesus is and forever will be the most ordinary human and the only true God in one person?

Jesus took on ordinary humanity in order to save ordinary humans. Jesus came to save sinners. If you are a sinner … if you struggle with life … if you wonder how in the world a holy, righteous God could be interested in you, then Jesus came to save you.

If, on the other hand, you think you are in pretty good shape … if you think that you have done a pretty good job of getting your life in order … if you think that, for the most part, you are a pretty good person, then Jesus is not for you. Jesus came for ordinary human beings and that means that Jesus came to save sinners. Jesus Himself said, [Mark 2:17] “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Although Jesus never sinned, He became a sinner. He did this by lifting your sin away from you and carrying it Himself. He did this for all people and so He became the greatest sinner of them all as the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write, [2 Corinthians 5:21]“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus carried your sin to a cross outside the city of Jerusalem. There He endured the full punishment for your sin. His suffering began in Gethsemane where He sweat drops of blood for you. It continued in the unfair trial, the unjust beatings and floggings, and execution by crucifixion. It especially continued in the moment of forsakenness on the cross. It continued until Jesus issued that cry of triumph, “It is finished!” With that cry, He signaled that your entire sin-debt is paid in full. You are adopted into His family. You are righteous in God’s sight.

Jesus showed us who He truly is with His transfiguration. His ordinary appearance showed that He is true man. His transfigured appearance showed that He is true God. This will help the disciples survive the events of Jesus’ Passion. This will remind all Christians that their sins are truly paid in full.

The Transfiguration of Our Lord also serves to remind us that there is one more transfiguration in our future. Although Jesus died on the cross, the grave was unable to hold Him. His resurrection is the promise that the day will come when Jesus will return and all people will see Him in all His eternal glory.

On that day, Jesus will raise all the dead. He will transfigure all who believe in Him. We who believe will no longer be mortal, but we shall be clothed in immortality. The corruption of this sinful world will pass away and we shall be citizens of a new creation where we shall see our savior face-to-face. Then we shall fully know the inheritance that already belongs to us as the adopted sons of God.

The Sunday of the Transfiguration of Our Lord is the hinge between Epiphany and Lent. This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. We begin our annual pilgrimage in memory of Jesus carrying our sin on the road to the cross. As we make this annual trek, we repent and we look forward in faith to the final transfiguration … our transfiguration … our final resurrection into eternal life. Amen

Related Media

Related Sermons