This morning we heard in the Gospel how the glories of heaven were brought to earth for a little while in the person of Jesus Christ on the mountain of Transfiguration. It was the last and greatest earthly manifestation of God’s glory in Jesus Christ until His death and resurrection. It was that event which Peter in His second epistle would refer to when he said, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses 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 ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.”
Mountains are pretty, but the problem with mountains is that they are always surrounded by valleys. In fact, in this world there are more valleys and low places of elevation than mountains. In this life, there are also emotional and spiritual mountaintops and valleys. Throughout a person’s life there are usually moments of emotional highs and lows. The highs are those moments when things seem to going well. You feel secure, happy, hopeful, maybe some pride mixed in at how you got yourself there. Maybe that mountain high was caused by an accomplishment in school or work; good grades earned, a project completed, or even a promotion forthcoming. Perhaps the cause of this emotional high is a life event like graduation, your wedding day, or the birth of a child. During those times a person seems to momentarily forget about any negative realities that may still be present in one’s life, such as debts, bills, or illness. Looking back on these high moments, we may wish that they would never end and the feelings would last forever. Sadly, emotions, which are not bad in and of themselves, act as a drug or as a spiritual measurement for some people. Many may not feel like they can cope with the reality of coming down from those emotional mountain tops to live down in the everyday. If they are not feeling high, they are feeling low. Some end up chasing the artificial means of giving them positive feelings, experimenting with alcohol, sex, drugs or overdosing on internet stimulation or some other thing.
The problem is once you get that emotional or even that drug induced high, it is that much more difficult to attain the same levels again, and so the cycle of self-abuse begins and accelerates, often spiraling out of control.
Emotions and feelings can be very tricky and unstable. Any person could be misled by their feelings which may or may not be based on reality. Satan can use human emotion to fight against humans’ spiritually. He takes what should be a gift from God and twists it to an evil end. We see this even in religion and the Church. We would never say that emotions are evil in themselves, but many people confuse their emotions and their faith. They see emotion and faith as one and the same. In other words, they test their own faith and the reality of Scripture based on their emotional reactions. “So if they ain’t feeling it, it ain’t real” to them. This is bad. What will a person do then when they aren’t feeling warm and fuzzy all over, when they aren’t feeling high on the Holy Spirit, when trial, tribulation, or persecution occurs? Satan will come a calling and take that person who has been trained to trust their emotion rather than God and His objective realities and twist that person and try to steal them away. He will whisper in their ear using friends, false teachers, or their minds. He will drive them to rage in anger one moment, to joyous rapture the next, and dive deep to the depths of woe in a heartbeat. Then he whispers “are you feeling down? Well, maybe you never had faith, maybe you aren’t really saved? Maybe salvation in Jesus isn’t really true? Maybe you aren’t worthy.” Satan, that liar, needs to be rebuked in the name of Jesus Christ, and silenced at the mention of God’s Word, but a person trapped in their emotion is just like anyone of us trapped in our sin: Dead, powerless, helpless.
This is why Jesus came to earth, to stop the mouth of Satan and His lies, to bring to completion the promises of God the Father who promised a Savior from the woes of our sin, the enslavement to our fallen flesh, and the punishment which we have deserved: to save people lost in the valley of death and unbelief. He descended to our valley, joined Himself to our flesh, suffered and took on the humility of our sin. To then offer Himself on high as the perfect sacrifice for sin to His father on the mountain of death. Golgotha, the place of the skull. Raised upon the cursed tree of the cross. All so that we might have life and hope as we live by faith even in our spiritual and emotional valleys. So that we can look to the promise of the resurrection of this flesh by the reality of Christ’s resurrection.
So that we would not have to trust in our fickle emotions, He gave us the assurance of His mighty Word along with the physical waters of Holy Baptism to wash us in His blood and confirm us as His children. Here He first gave us faith with His Word and Spirit working forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation. Now we have the name to rebuke Satan, the name with which we have been anointed: Jesus Christ along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus has died for you and Satan cannot handle that word of truth.
This was the point of today’s text, this is why Jesus was transfigured and glorified before Peter, James, and John on that mountain. It was to encourage them for the valleys and trials about to come. He showed them that He really was the Son of God, that He was the fulfillment of the Law which Moses represented, He was the fulfillment of prophecies which Elijah represented. Peter, James, and John would soon bear witness to what Jesus was to accomplish in Jerusalem and it would be shocking to them. The disciples did not understand that in order to redeem the world, Jesus would have to submit Himself to abuse, rejection, humiliation, and death. The disciples had seen His glorious miracles, heard His preaching, seen some rejection but nothing compared to what was to come. Jesus descended this mountain of glory to walk into the valley of the shadow of death and ascend the mountain of Golgotha.
Peter wanted to stay on that mountain of Transfiguration because it was so glorious, but then again who wouldn’t want to stay on the mountain and bask in the glory of God? That place where you feel secure; that place where the world can’t seem to touch you, where there is no fear, no one to persecute you for what you believe or for whom you follow. Who wouldn’t want to stay?
Yet Jesus had to leave. If He hadn’t left, who would have gone and redeemed Adam and His descendants? He had to descend so that the rock that the builders rejected could become the rock upon which the Church would be built.
Therefore, the voice of the Father spoke saying “this is My Son, My chosen One, listen to Him.” Yet the disciples continued to misunderstand Him; continued to get it wrong; they denied Him during the trial, they deserted Him at the cross, and they hid out of fear during and after the crucifixion.
Even so, they saw what had taken place; they heard what was said; and eventually they would remember and understand what they had seen and take courage from it.
The very act that they witnessed on the mountain is nothing short of a Gospel proclamation in its plainest form: what they saw was for them. It wasn’t a miracle that they would ever be able to do, but rather a witnessing of what they themselves, by virtue of Jesus’ death, would become.
This is our hope and reality too. The glories of heaven were brought to earth for a little while in the person of Jesus Christ on the mountain of Transfiguration, but the glories of heaven are brought to us for a little while in the miracles of Holy Baptism, Absolution, Preaching of His Word, and Christ’s reappearing in the Sacrament of the Altar under the bread and wine and all the saints and host of heaven gather near. Such wonderful Good News, that despite our failings, our sin, our changing emotions, God still redeems us here through Jesus Christ. He still calls us through His Word and restores us through His Absolution and Holy Supper so that we may know objectively and truthfully that the realities of the cross, His forgiveness, and life eternal are ours through faith in Him by His Grace and mercy and be transfigured by the Holy Spirit into believers, justified and cleansed of our sins. To shine forth the glories of God through Jesus Christ.
As we leave this glorious place of God’s special presence and revelation today, we may experience events and emotions in our lives which would distract us from the glory and joy which is ours and is yet to come. Let us then all the more look to the cross and the empty tomb for ongoing joy and comfort. Christ has gone before us, He has already faced the worst for us, and He will not leave our side. He has prepared for us the place where we shall forever remain joyously in His presence, in His glory, free from fear, sin, and sadness. Now, you are forgiven for Christ’s sake through faith regardless of what your emotions tell you. This promise will keep you strong during and throughout your life as you continue to listen to Him, who calls us out the darkness of our valleys into the redemption and hope of His glorious heavenly light, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Pr. Aaron Kangas