Luke 9:28-36
Today, on this last Sunday before Lent, we read of how Peter, James and John see the transfigured Jesus.
Today, on this last Sunday before Lent, we read of how Peter, James and John see the transfigured Jesus.
They have been taken up a mountain by Jesus – it is a real mountain, you can go there today – and he is changed. His appearance changes. Matthew tells us that his face shines like the sun, and his clothes shine with dazzling, brilliant whiteness.
And they see Moses and Elijah with him, both of them long long dead.
Moses was the one who God used to lead the Israelites, who were slaves in Egypt, out of Egypt, through the wilderness into the promised land. That is what we call the Exodus. He went up on a mountain and was given the law, what we know as the ten commandments. He is described as a prophet, and he met with God face to face.
Elijah was born about 1300 years later. He too was a prophet. He came at a time when the people of Israel had committed apostasy and walked away from God. He too met with God on a mountain. And Elijah is one of the two people who we are told in the Old Testament did not die. He was taken up in the chariot of fire. And there is a small prize for the first person, after the service, who can tell me the name of the other person!
Moses and Elijah appear in glory. It seems that it is a reflected glory. The light that comes from Jesus envelopes them. And they are talking together about the coming death of Jesus, the ‘departure’ – the Greek word used is ‘Exodus’ – that he will accomplish in Jerusalem.
This was an experience that blew the mind of Peter, James and John. They are, certainly until the resurrection of Jesus when it starts to make sense, unable to talk about it.
But we know that it had a huge impact on them because of what they subsequently wrote.
Peter writes in one of his letters, “we [were] eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.” (2 Peter 1:16ff)
John does not mention the transfiguration in his gospel. But then he doesn’t mention the baptism of Jesus or the last supper. He almost certainly knew the other gospels, and so knew that people were aware of what had happened, and in his gospel he is trying to work out what it all means. But he does write, ‘And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son’.
I’m suggesting that this experience of the transfiguration completely shapes the thinking of Peter and John and James (although he is one of the very first martyrs – and the book of James that we have is not from this James, but another James).
Three things: It shapes their understanding of who Jesus is, their focus on the Word of God and their understanding of Glory.
1. They see Jesus, literally, in a completely new light.
Up to now, Jesus has been for them a rabbi, an extraordinary rabbi, a teacher, someone who ministers with the power of God, someone in whom they could put their trust, who was so remarkable it was worth giving up everything for.
But in the transfiguration they see Jesus not only as ministering in the power of God, but someone who is God, who is the unique eternal Son of God.
There is a great story told about the late Queen, when she was taking a walk through Balmoral estate with a companion and met with some American tourists who didn’t recognise her. They asked her if she was local, and if she had ever met the Queen. She replied that she was local, had not met the Queen, but that the companion who was with her, had met the Queen and knew the Queen very well. Apparently she said afterward that she would love to know what the American tourists said when they discovered that it was the Queen they were talking to.
Well Peter, James and John have been with Jesus. They’ve talked with Jesus. But it is only today that they suddenly realise who it is that they have been speaking with. It is only today that they truly recognise him.
People quite often say that they get God, but they cannot get Jesus.
This, I would suggest, is when Peter, James and John begin to get Jesus. They suddenly realised, as I have said before, that it is all about Jesus.
It is similar to Thomas – who was not at the transfiguration – sees the risen Jesus for himself. He falls at his feet and says, ‘My Lord and my God’.
It is not just about following him, trusting him – but about worshiping him.
We worship him as the eternal Son of God.
We worship him as one who is bigger than time and death. Here he is speaking with Moses and Elijah.
We worship him as the one who is not just lit up, not just as one on whom the lights are shining, but the one who is the source of light.
How does John end up saying of Jesus, ‘He is the light of all people, the light that shines in the darkness and cannot be overcome by darkness, the true light which enlightens everyone’?
It is because John, at the transfiguration, has seen Jesus shining with a brilliance that no person can create. Out of him flooded all the colours of the spectrum.
That is why we are here today worshipping Jesus. In this service we will declare that he is the eternal Son of God. The creed – and by the way 2025 is the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene creed – is not a tick list of what you need to believe, but a declaration of praise and trust. When we say ‘We believe’, we recall that the original word ‘pisteuo’ means more than just ‘I believe with my head’ but ‘I trust in’.
It is why we will proclaim ‘Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit’.
It is why we declare in the Glory: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God’.
The transfiguration goes some of the way to explaining why Christians worship Jesus as the eternal Son of God. It is not just the resurrection. It was also the transfiguration. And Peter, James and John saw it.
2. The transfiguration explains why we put so much emphasis on the Word of God.
Jesus is speaking with Moses and Elijah. Moses, the giver of the law. Elijah, the great prophet who declared the word of God.
If we should listen to anybody, we should listen to them.
Peter, when he realises that Moses and Elijah are about to leave, does the Peter thing. He opens his mouth before he puts his brain in gear. ‘Master, this is awesome. What should we do? Would you like us to make three booths (he is talking about special tents that were used at religious festivals) for Moses, Elijah and yourself?’
But the voice comes from heaven: ‘This is my Son, my chosen’. Those were the same words that were heard when Jesus was baptised. But something new is added, and this is mentioned in all three accounts of the transfiguration. And this is the voice that tells them and us how we should respond to the glorified Jesus. The voice speaks, ‘Listen to Him’.
That is the key to this whole experience. The key takeaway is that Jesus is the Son of God and the most important thing that we can do is to take the time to listen to him.
Do that this Lent. The first thing to do is not to give something up, or take on something. The first thing to do is to try and discipline ourselves: to pick up the Bible and to read a small passage every day, to reflect on what is being said and to pray it in. Or go to youtube and listen to the Bible being read. Or take the service sheet home and use it to meditate on one of the passages.
It doesn’t really matter how we do it. There are many different models. The really important thing is that we do do it – that we listen to him.
3. The transfiguration tells us about glory
The transfiguration is a vision of what it is that we are to become.
Moses and Elijah appear in glory. They are transfigured, they shine with the reflected radiance of Jesus and they are standing there with Jesus, talking with him as friends of God, talking about his plans.
Our hope is that one day we will be transfigured. It is the hope that one day this feeble, failing, aching body will be transformed by the light of Jesus. It is the hope that one day we who are mortal will be flooded with immortality, that one day we who daily battle with self-centredness and pride and fear and lack of love will be filled by the one who is absolute love. And it is the hope that one day we will stand, bathed in his glory, talking with him.
Paul begins to understand this when he reflects on the glory that was on the face of Moses when he met with God. “And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit”. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
And John, who was there on the mountain with Jesus, who saw Moses and Elijah transformed and radiant and speaking with Jesus, writes “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2-3)
And they see Moses and Elijah with him, both of them long long dead.
Moses was the one who God used to lead the Israelites, who were slaves in Egypt, out of Egypt, through the wilderness into the promised land. That is what we call the Exodus. He went up on a mountain and was given the law, what we know as the ten commandments. He is described as a prophet, and he met with God face to face.
Elijah was born about 1300 years later. He too was a prophet. He came at a time when the people of Israel had committed apostasy and walked away from God. He too met with God on a mountain. And Elijah is one of the two people who we are told in the Old Testament did not die. He was taken up in the chariot of fire. And there is a small prize for the first person, after the service, who can tell me the name of the other person!
Moses and Elijah appear in glory. It seems that it is a reflected glory. The light that comes from Jesus envelopes them. And they are talking together about the coming death of Jesus, the ‘departure’ – the Greek word used is ‘Exodus’ – that he will accomplish in Jerusalem.
This was an experience that blew the mind of Peter, James and John. They are, certainly until the resurrection of Jesus when it starts to make sense, unable to talk about it.
But we know that it had a huge impact on them because of what they subsequently wrote.
Peter writes in one of his letters, “we [were] eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.” (2 Peter 1:16ff)
John does not mention the transfiguration in his gospel. But then he doesn’t mention the baptism of Jesus or the last supper. He almost certainly knew the other gospels, and so knew that people were aware of what had happened, and in his gospel he is trying to work out what it all means. But he does write, ‘And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son’.
I’m suggesting that this experience of the transfiguration completely shapes the thinking of Peter and John and James (although he is one of the very first martyrs – and the book of James that we have is not from this James, but another James).
Three things: It shapes their understanding of who Jesus is, their focus on the Word of God and their understanding of Glory.
1. They see Jesus, literally, in a completely new light.
Up to now, Jesus has been for them a rabbi, an extraordinary rabbi, a teacher, someone who ministers with the power of God, someone in whom they could put their trust, who was so remarkable it was worth giving up everything for.
But in the transfiguration they see Jesus not only as ministering in the power of God, but someone who is God, who is the unique eternal Son of God.
There is a great story told about the late Queen, when she was taking a walk through Balmoral estate with a companion and met with some American tourists who didn’t recognise her. They asked her if she was local, and if she had ever met the Queen. She replied that she was local, had not met the Queen, but that the companion who was with her, had met the Queen and knew the Queen very well. Apparently she said afterward that she would love to know what the American tourists said when they discovered that it was the Queen they were talking to.
Well Peter, James and John have been with Jesus. They’ve talked with Jesus. But it is only today that they suddenly realise who it is that they have been speaking with. It is only today that they truly recognise him.
People quite often say that they get God, but they cannot get Jesus.
This, I would suggest, is when Peter, James and John begin to get Jesus. They suddenly realised, as I have said before, that it is all about Jesus.
It is similar to Thomas – who was not at the transfiguration – sees the risen Jesus for himself. He falls at his feet and says, ‘My Lord and my God’.
It is not just about following him, trusting him – but about worshiping him.
We worship him as the eternal Son of God.
We worship him as one who is bigger than time and death. Here he is speaking with Moses and Elijah.
We worship him as the one who is not just lit up, not just as one on whom the lights are shining, but the one who is the source of light.
How does John end up saying of Jesus, ‘He is the light of all people, the light that shines in the darkness and cannot be overcome by darkness, the true light which enlightens everyone’?
It is because John, at the transfiguration, has seen Jesus shining with a brilliance that no person can create. Out of him flooded all the colours of the spectrum.
That is why we are here today worshipping Jesus. In this service we will declare that he is the eternal Son of God. The creed – and by the way 2025 is the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene creed – is not a tick list of what you need to believe, but a declaration of praise and trust. When we say ‘We believe’, we recall that the original word ‘pisteuo’ means more than just ‘I believe with my head’ but ‘I trust in’.
It is why we will proclaim ‘Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit’.
It is why we declare in the Glory: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God’.
The transfiguration goes some of the way to explaining why Christians worship Jesus as the eternal Son of God. It is not just the resurrection. It was also the transfiguration. And Peter, James and John saw it.
2. The transfiguration explains why we put so much emphasis on the Word of God.
Jesus is speaking with Moses and Elijah. Moses, the giver of the law. Elijah, the great prophet who declared the word of God.
If we should listen to anybody, we should listen to them.
Peter, when he realises that Moses and Elijah are about to leave, does the Peter thing. He opens his mouth before he puts his brain in gear. ‘Master, this is awesome. What should we do? Would you like us to make three booths (he is talking about special tents that were used at religious festivals) for Moses, Elijah and yourself?’
But the voice comes from heaven: ‘This is my Son, my chosen’. Those were the same words that were heard when Jesus was baptised. But something new is added, and this is mentioned in all three accounts of the transfiguration. And this is the voice that tells them and us how we should respond to the glorified Jesus. The voice speaks, ‘Listen to Him’.
That is the key to this whole experience. The key takeaway is that Jesus is the Son of God and the most important thing that we can do is to take the time to listen to him.
Do that this Lent. The first thing to do is not to give something up, or take on something. The first thing to do is to try and discipline ourselves: to pick up the Bible and to read a small passage every day, to reflect on what is being said and to pray it in. Or go to youtube and listen to the Bible being read. Or take the service sheet home and use it to meditate on one of the passages.
It doesn’t really matter how we do it. There are many different models. The really important thing is that we do do it – that we listen to him.
3. The transfiguration tells us about glory
The transfiguration is a vision of what it is that we are to become.
Moses and Elijah appear in glory. They are transfigured, they shine with the reflected radiance of Jesus and they are standing there with Jesus, talking with him as friends of God, talking about his plans.
Our hope is that one day we will be transfigured. It is the hope that one day this feeble, failing, aching body will be transformed by the light of Jesus. It is the hope that one day we who are mortal will be flooded with immortality, that one day we who daily battle with self-centredness and pride and fear and lack of love will be filled by the one who is absolute love. And it is the hope that one day we will stand, bathed in his glory, talking with him.
Paul begins to understand this when he reflects on the glory that was on the face of Moses when he met with God. “And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit”. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
And John, who was there on the mountain with Jesus, who saw Moses and Elijah transformed and radiant and speaking with Jesus, writes “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2-3)
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