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Good morning, church. If you don’t know me, my name’s Ryan. I’m one of the pastors here.
As I was driving in this morning and I saw that it was overcast, I got a little nervous about my sermon. The connection is this: I’m beginning with audience participation and I was a little worried that the overcast kind of settled everybody down, but that was solved when I heard you singing. You have plenty of energy and you’re ready to go, so I have great faith that you’re going to be able to participate with a little bit of energy and answer a couple of questions for me that aren’t that difficult.
As a matter of fact, I want you guys to tell me what the Mount Rushmore of church holidays is. The holidays that the church itself celebrates. I’m going to give you some clues and we’re going to name the top four holidays that we celebrate and what we remember on those days.
I’m going to begin with a soft pitch just to get us all going, so get ready to answer: What do we celebrate on December 25th? Christmas. You guys are there, nailing it. What do we remember on Christmas? The birth of Jesus, awesome. The incarnation.
This one is a little bit tricky. It can be, so listen carefully. In the spring, on a weekday—that’s key—on a week day, we celebrate what? Good Friday. You did better than first service. I’m not saying you’re better than they are, just on that one question. Yeah, Good Friday. What do we remember on Good Friday? The death of Jesus.
Two days later, we celebrate… Easter. What do remember on Easter? The death of Jesus. Awesome, you got three out of four.
Last one: On August 6th, we celebrate… Okay we were close. We almost nailed all four. You kind of left me hanging there on that one. You don’t know August 6th, huh? So we only got three out of four. Maybe we need to talk about that a little bit.
Don’t feel terrible about it. After all, Christmas and Easter rule the ratings when it comes to holidays for the church. So much so it culture and commerce, how important they are.
Easter and Christmas also have commonalities. We highlight them, we think about them in a certain way, if you think about it, all the way down to how we dress.
We dress differently for Easter and for Christmas. On Easter pastels rule and you will see men in suits that never wear suits. During Christmas, this place is going to be plastered with red and green and plaid, and the occasional person who’s brave enough to throw on an ugly sweater, a Santa hat, or a bell. We dress differently for those holidays.
We eat differently: Christmas dinner, Easter lunch. In a way, we gather differently. More of our families come together at those times of year than typically gather throughout the year.
We plan services a little bit differently here for our gathering. We will pull out all the stops for music on Easter Sunday. Good Friday is typically a more somber service, and most years we’ll do a small sermon series just for Christmas.
These holidays highlight key moments in the life of Jesus that have become deeply and rightfully meaningful to God’s people. But it is unfortunate that August 6th got lost, and there are reasons for it.
August 6th is when the church historically celebrated the transfiguration. As early as the fourth century, the feast of the transfiguration began as a commemoration of a basilica on Mount Tabor, which is the historic site of the Transfiguration. In 1457, the feast of the transfiguration was formalized to commemorate a victory over the Turks at Belgrade and it was decided it would be celebrated on August 6th.
So somehow the transfiguration got lost among basilicas and battles, and neither of those market very well to Hallmark, the namer and proclaimer of all great holidays. And so we lost August 6th, the celebration of the transfiguration.
As I studied this passage, I realized for me that—beyond even the holiday—the transfiguration didn’t make it into a top tier event of Jesus’s life for me. Now don’t mishear: I know it’s in the Bible, I know what happened, I know it’s important, but when I described the life of Jesus, the transfiguration never made my list of what I would communicate to people about Jesus.
I realized that when I would summarize the life of Jesus, the transfiguration never made the cut. When I would describe it (and the way I’ve heard a lot of people describe the life Jesus over the years) is the birth—is sometimes mentioned—but the birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection. That’s the story of Jesus. Those are the top tier events, and they all get a holiday. But I never mentioned the transfiguration. It doesn’t get a greeting card from Hallmark. It doesn’t get a federal holiday. But friends, it is a big deal.
So here’s today’s goal, and it’s an odd one for a sermon in a way: I want to convince you that the transfiguration is worth celebrating, that it deserves a holiday. It’s a big deal. The transfiguration is a beautiful picture of how much God loves Jesus and how Jesus is the divine son of God. The transfiguration is a beautiful of how God loves Jesus and how Jesus is the divine Son of God now.
There’s an important context for us to talk about the transfiguration, and it’s this: This wild event is sandwiched between two declarations by Jesus that he’s going to die. Matthew organizes his stories on purpose.
We heard last week, when Jesus says, “I’m going to suffer and die,” Peter corrects him. In our story today, he’s going to reassert that he’s going to die, and right in the middle of that is this story of the transfiguration. As Jesus faces and proclaims his death, the transfiguration occurs. Beauty in the midst of death, light in the mist of darkness.
So that I can argue you into celebrating the transfiguration, I want you to have as many details about it as possible. So for our scripture reading, I’ve combined the accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke into one scripture reading including the unique details from each story. I’m going to read that story of the transfiguration for us, including all three biographers. On the screen, you’re going to see it marked in different colors when it’s Luke or Mark’s text. So here is the full story of the transfiguration of Jesus.
“And after six days, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.” -Matthew 17:1
“…to pray. And as he was praying,” -Luke 9:28-29
“[Jesus] was transfigured before them,” -Matthew 17:2a
“…the appearance of his face was altered,” -Luke 9:29
“…and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.” -Matthew 17:2b
“…radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.” -Mark 9:3
“And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.” -Matthew 17:3
“…and [they] spoke of [Jesus’s] departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with [Jesus] were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.” -Luke 9:31-32
“And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one Elijah.” -Matthew 17:4
“…not knowing what he said.” -Luke 9:33c
“For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.” -Mark 9:6
“He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved son,’” -Matthew 17:5
“‘My Chosen One’” -Luke 9:35
“‘…with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’ When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, ‘Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” -Matthew 17:5b-9
“So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.” -Mark 9:10
“And the disciples asked him, ‘Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?’ He answered, ‘Elijah does come, and he will restore all things.’” -Matthew 17:10
“‘And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?’” -Mark 9:12
“‘But I tell you Elijah already has come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.” -Matthew 17:12-13
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
For us to celebrate the transfiguration, I want us to look at all of the details. Think of this as viewing the story in slow motion. Or, we’re going to look at the story with a magnifying glass (rather than trying to step back and take in the whole story). We want to get into the details.
The best way I figured out for us to do that is to keep asking this question: Who is doing what? The whole way through the story, we’re going to keep asking each other, “who is doing what?” We’re going to look at the details and then summarize at the end.
So, who is doing what?
Jesus takes three friends on a prayer retreat.
Jesus pulls together his boys to join him in a prayer time. Prayer time is a regular portion of Jesus’s life. It’s a specific rhythm of his: After a day of healing in Capernaum, after feeding the 5,000, before choosing the 12 disciples…
One biographer of Jesus says, as Jesus’s fame spread and the crowds pursuing him grew, he frequently withdrew to lonely places to pray (Luke 5:16). On the night of his arrest, he’s going to go to the Mount of Olives and ask these three same guys to go with him and pray with him. Unfortunately, they’re going to fall asleep again, when Jesus asks them to pray.
Jesus’s pattern of withdrawing and praying can’t be overemphasized, especially for this text, because the text begins relationally. The whole story is relational. Jesus wants to be with God. Jesus invites his friends to be with him so that they can be with God. It is a relational story.
Often, people describe Jesus’s prayer with terms like “it was a practice” or a habit. That’s fine, but we can’t make a practice or habit a thing. The goal of it is to be relational. Jesus’s behavior was relational investment. Jesus wanted to be with and talk with the Father. Jesus’s relationship with his Father is marked by frequent purposeful time away, time together, time with words, and time with talking. Jesus invites his followers into that relationship.
Who does what?
God transfigures Jesus.
The miracle of the transfiguration happened to Jesus; it was not performed by Jesus.
The verb is passive. Jesus was transfigured. The action happened to Jesus. God acts in this moment on behalf of his son. Whatever the transfiguration is, it is most immediately a relational interaction between God the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ. Before it is a theological point, before it’s an answer to a Bible quiz, it is a relational moment between God the Father and Jesus.
So what actually happened to Jesus in the transfiguration? “Transfigured,” the Greek word there is where we get our word metamorphosis. This might be a helpful way to think about it: Jesus was changed by God to at least a degree like that of a caterpillar being turned into a butterfly. This wasn’t just a little thing that happened. This was a massive change in who Jesus was and how he was displayed.
Luke says his face was altered. All the writers agree that Jesus’s face was insanely bright, like looking into the sun. Jesus’s clothes were changed. They became white, non-earthly white. No bleach could make them that white. You can think of it this way: the disciples got to see a new color of white for the first time ever.
Shining faces, light, and white clothes… Is this just theatrical? Is it God being cool? Is that worth celebrating? I think it’s way more. I’m going to describe it this way:
The transfiguration is the intersection between past and future images of deity.
It’s the crossroads. It’s the intersection between past and future image of deity. We get to see Jesus through the eyes of the disciples as who he really is.
Past images like this in Daniel 7:9. Daniel says in a vision,
“As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days [God] took his seat; his clothing was white as snow” (Daniel 7:9).
“Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself [clothing yourself] with light as with a garment” (Psalm 104:1-2).
In the Old Testament, God’s clothing, his appearance, and how he would be displayed is described as white and light. Jesus, in the transfiguration, is described as white and light. What about future images of Jesus?
“…and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire…and his face was like the sun shining in full strength” (Revelation 1:13-16).
God transfigures Jesus into the expression, into the visible manifestation of deity. The transfiguration moment is a reminder: Jesus is God. You want to know who Jesus really is? He looks exactly like God in the Old Testament and exactly like the future divine rescuer in Revelation. Jesus is God. Jesus, in the transfiguration, re-experiences his divine glory. So Jesus, 100% man and 100% God, but in that mystery of how that works together, Jesus refuses to experience all the rights of that deity, all that he could be, the way he is, white and light.
He refuses to experience all that he is while he’s on earth. Paul puts it this way, Philippians 2:5-7,
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped—”
He didn’t have to hold on to the display of his deity with tight fists. Instead, he
“…emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5-7).
He lived on this earth, refusing to experience all the rights that he possessed as deity, except for the transfiguration.
The transfiguration is a momentary experience for Jesus and a momentary glimpse for Peter, James, and John of Jesus in his divinity. Because of the context of this happening when Jesus is declaring that he’s going to die, I believe this is perhaps the best gift from a father to a son in the history of the world. Jesus, the one who set aside his divine glory in the incarnation, re-experiences his divine glory as a gift from his Father, right in the middle of declaring that he’s going to suffer and die. God transfigures Jesus.
Who does what?
God sends Old Testament friends to talk with Jesus.
Moses and Elijah, the Old Testament OGs, the big guys— they show up. They’re there to talk with Jesus, and Luke gives us an interesting detail: Moses and Elijah talk with Jesus about his departure that he would accomplish in Jerusalem.
Jesus isn’t in Jerusalem, so Moses and Elijah are there to talk to Jesus about Jesus’s future. That word “departure” in Luke is really interesting. It’s the word “exodus.” What “exodus,” what departure will Jesus accomplish in Jerusalem? His death, resurrection, and ascension.
Commentators have a lot to say on why Moses and Elijah visit Jesus. I want to offer reasons based on the fact that the transfiguration is most immediately a relational interaction between God and Jesus. It’s not just a theological point. We get to see God and Jesus interact. God sends these people to Jesus relationally. Why? Why these two? What do they have to do with Jesus? Why are they the ones to talk to Jesus about his departure?
I would say this: Moses and Elijah have an understanding of what Jesus is about to face. They can talk to Jesus about what’s coming up. Why? First, let’s talk about Moses.
Moses has some experience with an exodus.
He led one. Exodus is the event in the Old Testament that freed God’s people from slavery, and it’s recorded in a book called Exodus. The exodus, moving forward in the history of God’s people, became a symbol of salvation, a symbol of God’s supernatural rescue of slaves from a master they can’t defeat on their own.
An exodus, in the story of God’s people, is a symbol of God’s supernatural rescue, freeing slaves from a master they can’t defeat on their own. Moses is going to talk to Jesus about his exodus, a supernatural rescue freeing slaves from a master they can’t defeat on their own. Psalm 106:7-10 says this, describing the exodus:
“Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet God saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power. [God] rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry, and he led them through the deep as through a desert. So [God] saved them from the hand of the foe and [God] redeemed them from the power of the enemy” (Psalm 106:7-10).
In our story, Moses finds himself face-to-face with Jesus, the ultimate exodus leader. Moses’s exodus was very real for the people of Israel, but Moses’s exodus didn’t save everybody throughout all of history. Jesus in Jerusalem is going to lead an exodus that is going to deliver everybody who is a slave to sin from a master they can’t defeat on their own.
Jesus is going to lead an exodus that takes captives to more than a geographical and political freedom, like Israel did out of Egypt. He’s going to lead them to ultimate freedom and a reconciled relationship with God Almighty, where we live with God like sons and daughters for all of eternity. Moses and Jesus are going to have a chat about an exodus.
What about Elijah? Why could he be there relationally as a gift from God to Jesus? Well, if Moses knows about exoduses, Elijah knows about resurrection and ascension. This is a resurrection story involving Elijah from 1 Kings 17. He had a friend, a woman, who let him live in her home. This is a story about her and her family, and Elijah.
“After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, ‘What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!’ And [Elijah] said to her, ‘Give me your son.’ And he took her from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing your son?’ Then he stretched upon himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived [he arose]. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, ‘See, your son lives.’ And the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth” (1 Kings 17:17-24).
So why is Elijah talking to Jesus about his departure? Because Elijah knew that God could resurrect sons.
Ascending to heaven. What did Elijah know about that? Well, there’s a story about that in 2 Kings 2.
“And as they [Elijah and his protege Elisha] still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, ‘My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ And [Elisha] saw him no more” (2 Kings 2:11–12).
Elijah has some experience with being physically ascended up into heaven, so Elijah can sit there and talk with Jesus about resurrection and ascension.
Friends, if the transfiguration is most immediately a relational interaction between Jesus and God, God sends two representatives who can authoritatively converse with Jesus about what he’s going to go through. God sends Jesus community. God sends Jesus friends. Moses and Elijah are God’s gift of encouraging community to his Son.
Who does what? Well, next, Jesus’s friends wake up from their prayer nap, terrified, and Peter fear-blurts. If you get sleepy during group prayer, you’re in good company. These disciples do it more than once.
My wife and I led a life group for a lot of years. We have a very fond memory of a group prayer time where we had a guy literally fall asleep and start snoring. I mean, “gronking.” He was just letting her rip. Sometimes you just need a little prayer snooze, I guess, to recover.
These guys fall asleep on the job. And they wake up and see Jesus insanely white with two other guys that weren’t there before, and they’re terrified. I don’t think we can blame them for that reaction. And then classic Peter.
I’ve said this before in preaching, I identify with Peter so much. Maybe not quite knowing how to process my emotions in the moment, my first response is, “Well, I should probably say something. People need to hear me talk at this point.” That’s Peter.
“Jesus, it’s great that we’re here. Let me build a couple of temporary lean-tos for you and Moses and Elijah, and we can just hang out here, the three of us, and keep having this amazing experience.”
Who is doing what?
Peter ignorantly speaks out of fear. I’m not sure he made that big of a mistake.
God sends a bright cloud. Who does what? God sends the bright cloud, which is fascinating because God and clouds and mountains and Moses have a history. This isn’t the first time these things have all come together. This is another echo back to the Exodus story, Exodus 24:15-18.
“Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day [God] called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights” (Exodus 24:15-18).
The cloud of God’s presence, a devouring fire, light.
Who does what?
God lovingly speaks about his Son.
“This is my beloved Son, my Chosen One with whom my soul takes pleasure; listen to him.”
Not everybody has memories of a good dad, but a father speaking loving, caring words over a child has immense power. You don’t even have to be a child, young, for that to be powerful.
I was in my 40s (I think I was about 42), went on a motorcycle ride with my friends, made a rookie mistake in a parking lot, and dumped my motorcycle. I didn’t get hurt. I banged up my motorcycle. I was angry at myself for the rest of the ride because now I’m going to have to spend money fixing something that was just a dumb mistake. I was just so angry about it.
I got home. My mom and dad were visiting. Dad, at that time, had Parkinson’s and could barely talk. I came in, and I was ranting to him about dropping my motorcycle and having to fix it and all this. And my dad looked at me and just went, “Buddy, if you ride motorcycles, at some point you’re going to drop it.” My dad had ridden motorcycles all his life, and I’ll just tell you what, as soon as my dad said that, everything was good. I was just like, “Oh, okay.”
God shows up and speaks about his boy. I don’t use “boy” to minimize Jesus. I use it to try to highlight that this is a relational passage. Matthew repeatedly reminds us as readers of Jesus’s full identity.
He is human and divine. He is God’s Son. God’s chosen divine rescuer for his people, and he is there forever and ever King.
Whatever you miss in this passage, don’t miss how God feels about Jesus.
God takes pleasure in his Son. Jesus is not a chess piece in God’s theological program. It’s his son, and he loves him. He publicly loves him.
God highlights the authority of Jesus. He tells the disciples “listen to him.” Whatever my beloved Son, my Chosen One, says, you listen. Listen to him. And “listen” is more than just letting the words come in your ears. Whatever he says, you take in and you do. He has authority, listen to him.
Who does what?
Well, the disciples return to terror and collapse.
The best image I have for them— Have you guys ever seen a video of fainting goats? They’re a goat whose only defense is to pretend like they’re fainting, and they just fall over. That’s them, the disciples, fainting goats. They’re just once more terrified. This voice and this cloud.
What happens next? Who does what?
Jesus moves near and comforts. Classic Jesus. It’s just who he is in the middle of this fantastic moment. Jesus begins with compassion for the disciples, and as always, Jesus’s compassion has shoes on. It walks, it moves, it does something. It’s not just a feeling, it’s a feeling with action.
The text tells us Jesus touched them. Now remember, these guys fell and collapsed, so the image is that Jesus is getting them up off the ground. He’s doing the underneath an elbow and pulling them to their feet, maybe brushing their clothes off, of the dust. He looks at them and says, “Hey, don’t be afraid.”
Who has the power to tell someone not to be afraid of a cloud that shows up and talks to them from heaven? Jesus Christ. He comforts them. His presence is enough to ward off fear.
Who does what?
Jesus declares his destiny and a communication timeline.
The group starts their hike back to town, and Jesus gives a startling command. “Don’t tell anybody what happened here. Not right now. Don’t tell anybody what happened here.” Now think about that: You’re one of these three disciples who saw this amazing experience.
We’ve got some history with the disciples. They’re often trying to figure out who’s in first place among the disciples. So you have this story in your pocket, and I’ll just be honest, if it’s me, I’m running to be the first to share the story because that immediately puts me in first place among all the other disciples. I get that story out, I win.
Jesus looks at the three and goes, “Zip it. We’re not telling the story right now. My story is more important after I rise from the dead.” This story is important. It’s not that you’re never going to share it, but its impact isn’t as powerful as it can be until later.
Who does what?
The disciples missed the point…twice. Mark gives us this detail first. They did honor Jesus’s command. They kept the story to themselves, but they were “questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.” They just had it explained to them by Jesus, and they miss it again.
“What’s he talking about? This whole ‘rising from the dead’ thing. Why does he keep saying that?” These guys couldn’t make the connection between their Jewish history of lambs, sacrifices, Passover, exodus, the law, the promised Messiah, and their Rabbi right in front of them who repeatedly says, “I’m the Messiah and I’m going to die.” They keep missing the point.
Secondly, the second time, they try to understand the implications of Jesus’s dying, but they do so by asking an odd question that seems to come out of nowhere for us as readers:
“And the disciples asked him, ‘Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?’” (Matthew 17:10)
What in the world?
I would put it this way: I think the disciples are trying to process Jesus’s words through the lens of what they’ve been taught by the scribes. The scribes have said things about the Messiah and the timing of it. They know that in their brains. Jesus is saying he’s going to die. So they’re trying to figure out, “How does this work together?”
The disciples and the scribes are referencing an Old Testament text, Malachi 4:5. God says,
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.”
So this Elijah serves a preparatory role prior to the great and awesome day of the Lord. And if that great day of the Lord is the Messiah’s death, how can it happen if no one has seen Elijah yet? He hasn’t done anything. The disciples want some theological and chronological clarity. What does this mean? When’s it going to happen? We’ve got to figure this out.
Who does what?
Jesus clarifies prophecy and restates his destiny.
“He answered, ‘Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they [the scribes] did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands” (Matthew 17:11-12).
So Jesus helps Peter, James, and John see what they get and what they miss. Yeah, Elijah is coming. He’s got a role. He’s going to prep for the Messiah to be here. But the problem is, you’ve missed the timing. He’s already come. The stage is already prepared for the Messiah. And the pros, the scribes, they didn’t even get it. Actually, instead of being thankful for Elijah as the minister of the preparatory role, they actually do the very opposite. They’re not thankful. They are hurtful. They did whatever they wanted to him, and it wasn’t good. And Jesus says, “That treatment they did to Elijah, they’re going to do to me.” And one more time, Jesus says, “I’m going to die.” Something happens here.
Who does what?
The disciples understand prophecy. Something about Jesus’s description, the way he talks, triggered an understanding in the disciples.
We’ve all had these moments. Have you ever been like, “Oh! That’s what that means. Now I get it.” They finally catch up.
“Then the disciples understood that [Jesus] was speaking to them of John the Baptist” (Matthew 17:13).
Elijah equals John the Baptist.
If you haven’t been with us for our entire study of Matthew, the mention of John the Baptist might seem odd, but it’s been used over and over in Matthew. John is Jesus’s cousin. John the Baptist and Jesus have been linked since birth, and their stories overlap all over the place from birth to death.
John announces, baptizes, and proclaims Jesus as the Messiah. So John the Baptist is this predicted Elijah from Malachi. And he met with a terrible end. For speaking the truth about God’s law, he was illegally arrested, imprisoned, and beheaded as entertainment for a birthday party. Just as John died for speaking the truth, Jesus will die to free slaves.
So God, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James, and John— they’re all doing a lot of things in a relatively short story. So what about this makes the transfiguration worth celebrating? Why do I want you to leave here and want another holiday to celebrate the transfiguration? A couple of things.
We get to watch the Father love the Son.
We kind of get to see behind the divine curtain. How do God and Jesus interact together? Not just in some theological thing or a point, but as persons, how do they get to interact? It’s like we get to look into the living room of heaven, and God and Jesus are interacting in front of us, and we get to watch. What’s that relationship like?
I think this may be the most clear event in the life of Jesus where we see the Godhead interact relationally. I would encourage you to make this a go-to passage when you want to know how God is going to treat you. Transfiguration. Because God does this to Jesus.
God transforms Jesus to re-experience his divine glory. God identifies Jesus as his own Son and Chosen One. God publicly takes pleasure in Jesus and expresses it to other people. God gifts Jesus with community help. In the middle of two declarations of death, where Jesus is speaking about his end, God moves towards Jesus and gifts him transfiguration.
In that glimpse, we watch how the Father will love us. If we believe Jesus is the divine chosen, beloved one, Son of God, and we listen to him, and if we believe in his birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, we believe in the reality of who Jesus is— then not only is our relationship with God restored, we’re actually adopted as sons.
If God treats Jesus the way he did in the transfiguration, then we’re allowed to consider that’s how God’s going to treat us. God will transform this body of mine one day into a new, glorious one, similar to Jesus. God identifies me as one of his sons and one of his daughters. God loves me. God takes pleasure in me. God wants a relationship with me. God gifts me with community help in my brothers and sisters and gives me the gift of the Holy Spirit to live within me.
God will treat me like he treated Jesus in the transfiguration. That’s worth celebrating. That’s unbelievable. That’s what our life’s going to be like, this God who intervenes and comes right in in the darkest moments of our life. “I love you. I’m for you.”
2. Why is it worth celebrating?
We get to see Jesus as truly divine. Truly divine. Remember how Jesus said, “Hey guys, don’t talk about this right now. It’s going to be a little bit more important later after I’m raised from the dead. Then you can tell the story. But hold on to it till then.” Well, the disciples do that until Peter writes a letter, 2 Peter 1:16-18. See if you can see the link, why he brings this story up. Why does he now talk about transfiguration?
So he’s writing to these people, and he says,
“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 born to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him [where?] on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:16-18).
What’s Peter’s point? Believability, reliability, credibility. “Hey, when I told you that Jesus is the Christ, the promised divine rescuer and forever King of God’s people, I wasn’t making up a fairy tale. I didn’t just dream this out of my head.”
The audience of Peter’s letter could look at him and go, “Well, give me some proof. How do you know that what you’re saying about Jesus is true?”
Peter’s answer in one word is transfiguration. “I was there. I was terrified. I spoke like an idiot because I was scared to death. It was insane. It was crazy. The transfiguration. I’m not making up a story. I saw it and so did James and John.” How do we know Jesus is who he says he is? The transfiguration, mic drop, full stop. I was there.
The Transfiguration is a celebration of God’s love for Jesus and Jesus’s divinity. We get to see it and watch it in real time as the writers give us this story, and I think it’s worthy of celebration. I think the transfiguration deserves a holiday.
We’re going to now sing together of God’s love, God’s glory. It’s going to be our response. The prayer team is going to be down here. I invite you— Often we talk about the prayer team in terms of coming down and praying about something that’s going on in your life. You are more than welcome to do that. But we could also crowd this front with people who are just praying and praising God for how he loves Jesus and how he’s going to love us, and celebrating how beautiful the transfiguration is. We’re going to sing together and we’re going to pray together.
Brothers and sisters, I hope in your minds and hearts, you will right now, on your phone, pull out your calendar app, mark down August 6th, 2026, and let’s see if we can infect the church with bringing back the holiday for the transfiguration.
