(Sermon by Pastor Michael D. Schultz 02/18/07)

INTRODUCTION:

The transfiguration has a great deal to do with Jesus’ death. 

The first words of our gospel lesson are these: “About eight days after Jesus said this…”   What he had said eight days earlier was that “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”   This was the first of three times that Jesus would predict his death.

That meant the time was getting closer.  And indeed it was – only about six more months and it would be time for the Lamb of God to be slain.   A short time after the transfiguration, Jesus would lead his disciples out of the north country of Galilee, head south through Samaria and make his way to Judah and to the city of Jerusalem where he would offer up his life.  At the time of his transfiguration, it was all too well known to Jesus that the day of his death was drawing near.

No surprise, then, that the topic of conversation between Jesus and Moses and Elijah was… his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.  Strength and resolve to physically head south for Jerusalem may well have been among the things Jesus was seeking as he made a night time climb up this mountain to pray.

The transfiguration has a great deal to do with Jesus’ death.

Over the next couple of months as we go through the season of Lent, right up until Good Friday on April 6th, we’ll be surrounded with sermons, hymns and scripture lessons about Jesus’ death.  How are we to understand his death?  What does the death of Jesus Christ mean for you and for me?  Prior to Pentecost, it’s almost as if the disciples hardly understood it at all.  We don’t ever want that to hold true of us.  To that end, we observe today the festival of Jesus’ Transfiguration.  The transfiguration goes a long way in answering the question:   

How Shall We View The Death Of Jesus?

There’s a phrase in our hymnal’s service of Private Confession that reads like this:  I am distressed by the sins that trouble me.  What sins are those for you?  What are the sins that distress and trouble you - alcohol, bickering, coveting, disrespect, envy, fighting, greed, hatred, immorality, judging, lying, materialism, negativism,  obscenity, pride?

The dozen men whom Jesus called to follow him had their distressing, troubling sins.  How do you think Peter, James and John felt when they remembered that they fell asleep the night Jesus chose to show them his glory?   They did the same thing the night Jesus needed them most – when he was betrayed and arrested.  All eleven had deserted the Savior of the world when they felt their lives to be at risk in Gethsemane.  Peter denied and disowned the Son of God.  That was forgiven and forgotten by God, but do you think Peter ever forgot that he did that?

These followers of Jesus had their difficult days.  Peter was executed during the Roman persecution of Christians.  James was beheaded by King Herod.  John was exiled to an island.  You think they didn’t have their struggles with doubt?  You think they were never bothered by how weak they felt their faith to be and how frequently they saw their sinful nature getting the best of them?

What would Jesus’ death mean for them?  What kind of benefit would they receive from knowing that this good friend of theirs died on a cross?  Take your most memorable sins and your most crushing hardships and superimpose the cross of Jesus right over the top of them.  How does Jesus’ death benefit you?

Think of a dimmer switch with a slide that goes up and down.  Today, that will remind us of Jesus’ glory.  Prior to the Son of God being born as a baby in Bethlehem, his glory was turned up all the way.  That had been true from eternity.  2000 years ago he turned it off and was born in weakness and poverty.  During his three year ministry, the glory was briefly, partially turned up on occasion – healing the sick, walking on water, raising the dead.  But once, just once, about six months before the crucifixion, when Jesus had been talking a great deal about dying, God the Father put his hand on the switch and slid it all the way up.  It wasn’t for a long, long time, but the glory was turned all the way up, and Jesus’ face and clothing were shining with all the blinding brightness that you’d sense if you were to stare into the sun.  Shortly thereafter, the glory was turned all the way down again. 

For Peter, James and John, and for you and me, that says a great deal about Jesus’ death.  How shall we view the death of Jesus?  What about the memorable sins, the repeating sins, the sins that trouble and distress you?  What about the wondering, the worrying, the weakness of faith you see when you evaluate yourself?  How will Jesus’ death on the cross benefit weak, sinful, guilty you?  

Bear in mind the clear truth of the transfiguration and ask yourself this: Who is that man on the cross?  That’s the essence of the transfiguration.  Who is that man on the cross?  The switch controlling his glory stayed in the off position during the betrayal and that joke of a trial.  It stayed off when Romans soldiers beat him and he became to weak to carry the cross.  It stayed off as the nails went through his hands, it stayed off when the Father forsook him and it stayed off as he drew his last breath.  But the transfiguration, when it was turned all the way up for a little bit—the transfiguration reminds you who it really was that died on the cross.  It wasn’t just a man who died there.  It was the God-man, Jesus the eternal, glorious Son of God, who died on the cross.

What does that tell you about your memorable sins?  Forget them.  The Lord of glory died to pay them off.  They’ve been sent away.  What does that tell you about the distressing sins that trouble you?  The Lord of glory humbled himself, even to the point of death on a cross, and your sins are yours no more.   With his transfiguration in the background, how shall we view the death of Jesus?  It was a death that paid for every sin.  The all-glorious, bright as lightning Son of God shut his glory down and died for you.  Does that benefit you?  You better believe it does.  The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purifies you from all sin.  You’re God’s and heaven’s yours.

The glory that Peter, James and John saw was always Christ’s.  Even though he wasn’t using it at the time, it was his even in the darkest, most hellish moments of Good Friday.  But to prove to you that he did pay for all your sins and that you most certainly do belong to God, one more thing had to happen.  As Jesus had been telling his disciples, and as he told three of them again on their way back down the mount of Transfiguration, it happened Easter Sunday morning.  Acts 3: The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.  (God moved the dimmer switch up to bright again.)  You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.  You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.  You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.   

How shall we view the death of Jesus?  By virtue of his resurrection from the dead, his was a death that was declared a victory.  And so his glory was turned up, all the way up, never to be decreased or diminished or set aside ever again.

The first song of Isaiah in Isaiah 12 does not read:  “Surely some great man saved me.”  It does not say, “Surely, some extraordinary man rescued me.”  The Song of Isaiah says, “Surely God is my salvation.  I will trust and not be afraid.”  The person who died on the cross and rose from the grave is my Lord and my God.  His death has cleansed me.  He lives to bless me.  To the voice of the angels we add our own: Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

(Top Of Page)

(Back To Archive)

(Current Worship Page)