Luke 9 Transfiguration - March 3, 2019

Rev. Dr. Niveen Sarras

Once upon a time, an Orthodox Romanian monk was trying to find God. But he could not find God. One day he realized “I must find myself!” He tried to find himself in prayers, in work, in books, but he could not. After a while, he said: “I must find my neighbor!” At that moment he found all three. He found God and himself by looking for his neighbor.

The three disciples Peter and John and James encountered Jesus as a divine person. They found God standing before them. They were able to glimpse his divinity. The transfiguration story concludes the epiphany season by revealing the divinity of Jesus Christ and calling us to listen to him. The three disciples saw Jesus’ glory. In the Old Testament, glory refers to the presence of God. The evangelist Luke employs the Greek term. δόξαν, doxan, “glory.” The Septuagint or the Greek translation of the Old Testament doxan is equivalent to יְהוָה כְּבוד kavod God. The apostle Peter in his second letter gives us a testimony about the divinity of Jesus.

16 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 had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honor 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.” 18 We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. (2 Peter 1:17-18)

 

Besides the glory of Jesus, the apostle Peter witnesses Jesus' honor and majesty. These three terms are ascribed to God in the Old Testament and to the kingly majesty of the Messiah. Honor and glory and majesty belong to Christ. His honor refers to his exalted status, and his glory and majesty refer to the splendor of his outward appearance.

Moses and Elijah also appeared in glorious splendor δόξῃ to talk with Jesus about his departure. But Jesus has a higher status than both of them. Luke reports a cloud appeared and covered the apostles. “A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him” (v. 35). In the book of Exodus, cloud refers to the presence of God. A cloud covered the Mt. Sinai when God came down to give Moses the 10 Commandments (Exodus 24). Elijah also encountered God on the same mountain (1 Kings 19:11-13). The evangelist Luke and the apostle Peter attribute to Jesus the same honor, glory, and majesty that belong to God the Father. Scholar Howard McPhee explains the purpose of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ.

The transfiguration pointed to the future glory of the incarnate Son in terms of his whole person, both his divinity and his humanity. Just as the Son’s taking the form of a servant veiled his deity, the glorification of his humanity unveils and displays his deity and majestic splendour, for his glorified humanity is designed for that purpose. The transfiguration glory is Jesus’ hope and proclaims hope for perishing sinners, for attached by faith to the exalted Jesus. “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Mt 13:43).[1]

Transfiguration was common events in antiquity. Greek and Roman gods transfigured. Myths about goddess Demeter and Athena and god Zeus’s transfiguration confirm their divinity. Usually, these gods disappeared after their transfiguration. But Jesus Christ’s transfiguration is not a myth as the apostle Peter emphasizes. After his transfiguration, Jesus Christ remained with his disciples and went down the mountain to heal a sick boy.

Jesus Christ, our Lord, is with us and is walking among us. You can find him not at the top of the mountains because he did not remain there. He came down to continue to take care of us. Jesus is glorified in each one of us, and he gives us the hope that we will be glorified just like him. We find and see Jesus every day even though we do not see him in the same way that Peter, John, and James did.

You can recognize the face of Christ in the face of your neighbors. Jesus gives you the opportunity to find and see him face to face when you take care of your neighbor. Jesus calls us to exhibit the grace of God, with which we have been blessed, to all of those around us. When you do so, you will find the glorious splendor of Jesus Christ in your life. You will be able to see your neighbor in the same way Jesus sees them. Take a moment to look at each other's faces. What do you see? I hope you see the face of Jesus Christ shining in your neighbor’s face.

 

[1]Howard McPhee, “The Transfiguration of Jesus Matthew 17:1-8 - Mark 9:1-8 - Luke 9:28-36 In Defense of Jesus’ Humanity,” (July 20, 2015), https://www.academia.edu/14259777/The_Transfiguration_of_Jesus