Transfiguration of Our Lord

Pastor Kenneth W. Wieting
Text: Deut. 34; Luke 9 – Selected Verses

YOU SHALL NOT GO OVER THERE

From the heights of Mount Nebo the Lord showed Moses the Promised Land, which God swore to give to the offspring of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And the Lord said to him, “…I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord…”

Dear hearers of the Word: A senior citizen watches with delight the maturation of her grandchild. Excelling all the way through the university, now at the top of his medical class, he has prepared to pursue a career in cancer research. He readily shares with grandma conversations about new drugs and new equipment and new methods that are being studied. She wonders if he may help find better treatments and looks forward to following his work. But then an aggressive cancer strikes her. Surgery is not possible. Within weeks of diagnosis, just days before his graduation, her earthly life comes to its end. What she had fondly anticipated, what would have seemed to hold promise also for her, was not to be.

A young lady finishes school. After several years of paying back loans and working less than ideal jobs, everything has come together. She has been offered a good package doing something she would enjoy and excel at. But there is another possibility. A young man she has been dating for the past year has proposed. She has always desired a husband and children should God grant that and she has grown to love this young man. She chooses marriage and the date is set. Then it happens. An oncoming car skids on the ice crossing the center line. No seat belt, no air bag could absorb the impact. What she had anticipated, the promise of life unfolding is snuffed out in a second.

Dear Christians, there is always an end here. For each one of us comes that final scene of earthly life beyond which we will not pass. In this dying world there will always be disappointed hopes and unfulfilled promises. You know of such, in your family, in your circle of friends.

Sometimes it comes for children or teenagers just beginning, sometimes for young parents with little ones dependent on them, sometimes for soldiers in uniform, sometimes in working years before retirement can be enjoyed, sometimes after 80, 90 or 100 years, but there is always an end here. An accident occurs, a roadside bomb explodes, a disease cannot be treated, complications multiply, a heart stops beating. As with Moses, God will say to each of us, “you shall not go over there”.

Consider Moses. God knew him face to face. He was God’s instrument in bringing the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt. He received God’s commandments in person on Mount Sinai. He had survived 40 years of wilderness wandering with its grumbling and scattered graves. He had persevered through adversity and criticism and attempted rebellions. Even at the age of 120 his eye was undimmed and his vigor unabated. Since Moses, no prophet did such signs and wonders and great deeds. Now, after a vigorous climb to a mountain peak, with his strong clear vision, he could see a whole new land, the Promised Land. Finally, after all those decades and all that disappointment there it is. Yet the Lord said to him, “I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab.

There is always an end here on this earth. For Moses it was by death on the mountain. But not for Elijah! And that takes us to the other mountain in today’s readings, the mount of Transfiguration. Behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Moses is the major model of the Law. He wrote the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Law of Moses. Elijah is the major model of the Prophets. He was the prophet God promised would return to prepare the way for the Messiah. Elijah was the prophet in whose spirit and power John the Baptizer then came. Moses and Elijah correspond to the Law and the Prophets. Their conversation with Jesus as His Transfiguration, in part testifies that the Law and the Prophets show forth Jesus. More pointedly, the entire Old Testament testifies to the subject of their conversation. It all points to Jesus’ cross and resurrection.

Moses had died. Elijah was taken to heaven alive. Now they both appear with Jesus in glory. You see Jesus has complete and total power over both the living and the dead. No one is out of the reach of His authority. The presence of these two who were taken from earthly life in different ways echoes exactly what the Father said. “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” Neither death nor life is closed off from Jesus. He has power over both.

They were talking with Him about His Exodus that He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. The word for “talking” means that serious discussion was taking place, spoken out loud. Of all the subjects we might imagine for consideration when heaven meets earth, the one subject that is not imagined is Jesus sacrificial death for us sinners. That’s how the beauty of this event becomes ours. You see, this holy mystery, this glorious event has everything to do with you! The glory of Jesus is the glory God gives to you His children. Moses and Elijah were unique servants of God to be sure, but they were also sinners, just like us. Both grew frustrated and disheartened. Elijah became so depressed he wanted to die. Yet by God’s grace and mercy they now appear with the same glory that Jesus has. That is also the glory you now have in Christ. The very same!

You are God’s adopted sons. As we prayed in the collect, “O God, in the glorious Transfiguration of Your beloved Son You ….wonderfully foreshowed our adoption by grace…” St. Paul wrote to the Galatians (3:26, 27) “…in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ”. Jesus is God’s Son by nature. You are His sons by adoption.

That means you share in the glory of The Son even as you go to school or work or rest at home. In Catechism instruction we have emphasized what it means to put on Christ in Holy Baptism. When God looks at you He sees Christ, not you. When we look at ourselves and one another we see something quite different with our struggles and suffering and sin. But that doesn’t change what God gives to you in His Son. The glory you possess in Him is hidden now, just as Jesus’ glory was hidden until the day of His Transfiguration. But the glory you possess in Him is just as real as His.

We understand Peter’s desire to contain Jesus and the glory of heaven here on earth. “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” – not knowing what he said. We also want it to be right here. We want to cross over to the next thing and the next thing and not to miss out. We want our hopes to be completely fulfilled like heaven on earth. Why return to a valley of suffering from a mountain of glory?

But the glory Jesus shares with us comes at a price. That price was the subject of conversation as heaven met earth on this Holy Mountain. No tents were to be built because God had already made His tent among us sinners in the flesh of Christ. That tent, that tabernacle was not to be set up but rather torn down as He set His face toward Jerusalem. He was about to undergo the penalty for our sin. The transfigured face of Jesus, shining like the sun, will soon be covered with blood and spit and tears. See who it is Who bleeds for you! See who it is Who is mocked for you! God in the flesh dies for you to give you His eternal glory. As we enter the season of Lent God give strength to our repentance and steady our hope in His sacrificial love.

Dear friends in Christ there is always an end here. There will be a Lenten season that is our last. God wants us to know that, to number our days. Sickness and injury remind us that life here could end at any moment. We will not always be insulated from the accidents and acts of terror and obituaries in the daily news. There will always be unfulfilled hopes in this life, also for us. There will come a time when God will say to each of us, “You will not cross over there”. Here is your earthly end.

He wants you to know this but He does not want you to get used to it! Never! Death is a curse. No matter how much society or secular caregivers describe death as something to accept, a natural part of life that is a lie from the father of lies. God does not want you ever to get used to this truth! Rather He wants you to get past it. That’s why the Son of God left His eternal glory and came down in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. That’s why the God/Man came down from this holy mountain with His face set toward Jerusalem. That’s what we fix our eyes on this Lenten season.

So often in obituaries we read that a person is born to eternal life on the day of their death. But that is not exactly true. You were born to eternal life when God gave you faith in His beloved Son, clothing you with Christ. You have already crossed over from death to life (John 5:24). You are co-heirs of Christ and already possess His glory as adopted sons. It is hidden, but it is as real as the presence of Christ in your midst to serve you this morning. On the day that God says to you on earth, “you will not cross over there” He will also say to you in heaven, “you have already crossed over here with My Son.” Moses didn’t miss out when God called him home and neither will you.

In the Name of Jesus, Amen.