Devotions...

The Glory of God, Found in Jesus Christ - The Transfiguration of Our Lord

Gospel Reading:  Mark 9:2-9  And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”  And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.  And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text is After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Is the glory of God to be found on the mountaintop, or is it to be found in the valley? And of course, the answer is Yes.  The glory of God is to be found in both places – both on the mountaintop and in the valley below – because it’s not the place that is glorious, but the One who there can be found who is glorious.

Anywhere Jesus can be found, there one will find the glory of God. The glory may be hidden; or it may be revealed so brilliantly, so radiantly and intensely that no brightness on earth can match it. But, hidden or revealed, it’s found only in Jesus.

It’s Jesus’ presence that brings the glory of God to man and therefore gives man reason to rejoice. When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman, he said, “You worship on the mountain, the Jews worship in the temple; the time is coming when neither of those places will know the worship of the Father.” Why? Because the true worship of God can only take place where Jesus can be found.

Jesus can be found in the preaching. Jesus can be found in baptism. Jesus can be found in the Supper. He promises to be found nowhere else. But, where you can find Jesus – where He has promised to be found – there you have the glory of heaven, even if veiled from sight, there you have the glory of heaven because you have the person of Jesus. There is Jesus shielding you as you confess sins that ought condemn you. There is Jesus comforting you as the Word is spoken over your loved one’s coffin. There is Jesus sustaining you as the Word is fed you in your hospital bed. Where Jesus is, so is his glory.

The world scoffs at this notion. It says that the Christian faith is no different than any other religion… that it looks much more glorious to see hundreds of thousands of Muslims bowing to their god in Mecca! That must be true glory.

Others say that the great temples of Mormonism show that they too know the glorious nature of God. Or maybe it’s the Vatican and the immense wealth and treasury and impressive worldwide governance of its religious body that leads others to think the glory of God can certainly be found in the Papacy. Maybe it’s the independence of our materialistic, sex-driven, money-loving culture. But is the person of Jesus found in such things? If not, then neither is glory.

And of course there’s the fanatics and enthusiasts, who are so enamored by the glorious nature of large crowds and stadium seating and believe that they can find Jesus and his glory in random spirit-filled ways, led by the deep glorious emotions of the heart. But there Christ has not promised to be found, and therefore there is no true glory.

True glory, God’s glory, is found wherever Jesus is found. And that brings us back to the most basic question of the entire Epiphany season. Even before asking “Where is Jesus?”, we must ask “Who is Jesus, that I may know whom I seek?”

That’s the question of Epiphany, isn’t it? If you want to characterize the entire Epiphany season in one way, it’s that Epiphany answers the question “Who is Jesus?”

Six days before the transfiguration, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answer rightly, “You are the Christ of God!” But he didn’t understand his own answer. For a mere week later, when the glory of God shone in Jesus – when the Christ of God radiated with the full glory of heaven – Peter was not focused on Jesus, but on capturing the glorious moment with tents. Peter focused on the place. But, the only tent that was needed was the flesh and person of Jesus, just as John’s gospel says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled/tented among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son from the Father.”

The only tent that is needed, the only tabernacle that is needed to locate the glory of God is the person of Jesus… not places, not events, but Jesus. (Even the Sacrament of the Altar benefits you not specifically because it’s a glorious event, but because it gives you the person of Jesus. Fundamental to everything you need learn and know and cherish is the answer to that simple question, “Who is Jesus?”

This is why Epiphany Sundays begin with the Baptism of Jesus and the voice from heaven, “This is My beloved Son.” It’s why Epiphany Sundays end with the Transfiguration of Jesus and the voice from heaven again thunders, “This is My beloved Son; listen to him.”

And that booming voice from heaven teaches you all you need to know.

One of the most beloved Lutheran theologians of this last century, a seminary professor by the name of Norman Nagel, once said quite bluntly, “How do we know who Jesus is? By heeding what the Father says… God has spoken; the men are silent. That is how it should be. When God speaks, you shut up,” Nagel said.

God speaks, and He says of Christ, ‘listen to Him.’ Notice that? Not “Look at him!” Not, “Behold him!”, but “Listen to him.” And, note “Listen to Him!” The Father directs us away from His own booming voice right to the simple, veiled glory of the words of Jesus. Where does God speak to you? Not in the whistling wind, not in a hiking trail’s breeze or singing birds, not in the quiet voice of your heart. God speaks to you in Christ Jesus and His Word recorded for and spoken to you. St. Peter says it this way,

We were eyewitness of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was borne to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we heard this voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic Word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.”

Notice, what Peter says, “You will do well to pay attention to this.” Not unlike a father disciplining his son, “You’d do well to do what I tell you,” so also the apostle knows the need to remind us sinners not to go looking for Christ and His glory elsewhere, but only in the prophetic Word… we ought only be disciples, we ought be content just sitting and listening to this Jesus, as Norman Nagel so bluntly put it: “That is how it should be. When God speaks, you shut up.”

And, we might add to that, “Where God speaks, there you go.” God speaks in the person of His Son. And the Son speaks not in the heavenly expanses, but in earthy means of Word and Sacrament meant to engage you in and sustain you through the pains and struggles and sorrows of earthly life.

Jesus doesn’t keep His glory on the mountaintop. Peter can’t trap it there. Rather, Jesus drags Peter and you and me down the mountain as if to say, “Stay by my side. If you want the glory of God, you must be willing to have a Savior who dwells in the valleys of life; indeed a Savior who dies. You cannot trap God’s glory on a mountaintop even momentarily, but I will display it forever through the instrument of death, and I will give it forever in My Word spoken from the pulpit and included in water and connected to bread and wine.”

If we sinners would just stop with all our excuses, all of our ‘better ways’ for God to care for us, all of our ‘bright ideas’ that will ‘really’ make God known to us… if we’d just be silent and listen to Christ speak in His Word, we’d hear him promise that He comes with us to the valleys of life, even the valley of the shadow of death.

The Christ of God does not save His glory for heavenly places, but He brings it to the difficulties of life. When you languish and lament, He bids you come and dwell with him in a holy hour that grants you a veiled sight, a veiled hearing, a veiled taste of His glory. When you are stricken and bed-ridden so that you cannot come as He bids, He comes to you with the same glorious Word and the same heavenly Sacrament. When you sin and wander and disbelieve, He still blesses you with His glorious Word, even if it strikes your proud head as a hammer drives home a spike, and He says, “When God speaks, you keep silent and listen. Repent and believe in the gospel. Believe in the gospel that the glory and wisdom of God is found in the foolishness and grace of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. For, Jesus glories in ransoming sinners. Jesus glories in forgiving the penitent. Jesus glories in serving His Church, for “the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to lay down his life as a ransom for many.” There’s the glory of Christ, who in his hour of death, prayed, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that your Son might glorify You.” There’s the glory of Christ, and therefore it’s what we glory in as well: “Far be it from me to boast,” Paul says, “ – to glory – except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Dear friends, there’s so much that can be said about the glorious scene at the mount of transfiguration. We could speak of Moses and Elijah and all the Law and Prophets confessing the divine answer to the question, “Who is this Jesus?” We could speak of how it foreshadows our adoption of grace and our own mortal bodies being transformed in the resurrection to immortal, glorious bodies. We could speak of the Mountaintop of the Transfiguration being the hinge between the Mount of Sinai and the Mount of Calvary, which points us beyond to the Mount of Zion.

These are all wonderful meditations upon this glorious sight. And we will have plenty opportunity to ponder them and consider them again, either here below or with the company of heaven above. But, for today, let us learn with Peter the simple lesson that we need not try to capture the glory of God. It is always here with us in the person of Jesus. Wherever Jesus is – whether on a mountaintop, in a valley, or on a cross, or in bread and wine – there is the glory of God.

In life’s trying, troublesome days (and in life’s good, comfortable days), let us be silent and hear the Word of God, for in it we hear the glory of our salvation, the glory of a gracious and merciful God who gave His only begotten Son to death for our eternal benefit, the glory of a beloved Son who willingly laid down His life as a ransom for many, and the glory of that Lamb once slain again standing… standing in resurrection triumph and faithfully abiding in the veiled glory of His Word and Sacrament, to be cherished by His Church adorned in radiant baptismal robes, accompanied in glorious festal gathering with Moses and Elijah, Peter, James, and John, with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.

Prayers for this week:

Lord of mercy, You are the great Morning Star who has dawned from on high and arisen among us to give us Your light of salvation. On the Mount of Transfiguration, You revealed Yourself in glory before Peter, James, and John, confirming in Your flesh the ancient prophecies. Graciously reveal Yourself to us in Your holy Word and in the Sacrament of Your Holy Supper, that we may believe and confess You rightly, and faithfully serve You and Your people in word and deed.  Lord, in Your mercy,  hear our prayer for my brothers and sisters in Christ.  

Faithful God — You have given us the light of Your glory in the face of Jesus Christ — into Your

gracious hands we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in the mercy You have revealed to us

in Him; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy

Spirit, one God, both now and to all eternity.  Amen.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake.”  2 Corinthians 4:5

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Prayer based on the Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer:  “But, deliver us from evil.”

 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 O Lord, even when our last hour comes, You are still the only true God and the deliverer of Your people. To that end, lend your fatherly ear to my petitions:

* For the ill, suffering, injured: O Lord, You alone can deliver us from the Evil One. Hear my prayer for those who are ill, suffering, or injured, especially Wally Bartels*, Connie Block*, Laverne Anderson*, Debbie Taylor, Sue Ail.  Also bless Catherine Stange, Tom Johnson, brother of Ron, and Linda Hill, Lila's friend - as they all undergo and recover from medial procedures: ; protect  them in the one true Faith, and reassure Wally, Connie, Laverne, Debbie, Sue, Catherine, Tom, and Linda  that You will deliver them from their physical affliction, either through renewed health or through entrance into eternal rest.

* For the anxious, lonely: O God, even when trials and tribulations await us, You promise to deliver us. Hear my prayer on behalf of Anne, Alexa, Vickie, and Dan Ripsom, my nephew Joe, my niece Roxanne , My sonds Mark, Kevin, Ryan, and Paul; bring to them FAITH in You and remembrance of Your Word: “In this world, you will have tribulation; but – be of good cheer! – I have overcome the world.”

* For those who mourn: O Lord, when it appears that the Evil One has defeated us, Your promise to deliver us remains. Hear my prayer on behalf of the friends and family of Norm Bunge and Velda Miller,  as they mourn the death of their loved ones this week.  Give them faith in You and keep them mindful of the redeeming work of Christ Crucified, that – because of Him – all who die in the faith are guaranteed a blessed end and will live with You forever.

* For the rejoicing: O Lord, as You have delivered us from the snares of the devil, You give us reasons –even in this life – to rejoice. Hear my prayer of thanksgiving on behalf of my brother Don who just retired and for Ava as she recovers from her hospital stay, and on behalf of the Hill's expected grandchild. and Brittany Hibb's engagement . Grant us all grateful hearts  that thank you for such temporal blessings and confidently looks forward to the blessed end You have prepared for us all.

* Please bless our Calvary shut-ins  Fern Weddle, Dorothy Bratton, Norm Bunge, Bruce Morecraft, and Alice Breneman.    Likewise please bless the Widows and Widowers of Calvary.

Hear my petitions, O Heavenly Father, for the sake of Your Son, who -through His death- has eternally delivered us from every evil and has given us every certainty to pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven…”