Luke 9:28–36

Last Sunday after the Epiphany: Transfiguration

³⁵And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!"

“In many and various ways God spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” Jesus Christ is the Word of God; the Word that was with God in the beginning and was God. That Word “by whom all things were made and without him was not any thing made that was made.” It is by this Word that God makes himself known to man. It is this Word that God gave in the Old Testament Scriptures by means of Moses and the Prophets.

Now we see that Word of God, Jesus Christ, standing on the Holy Mountain of God speaking with Moses and the Prophet Elijah. These two men talking with Jesus remind us, as Luther says, that the entire Old Testament contains nothing but Christ as he is preached in the Gospel. These two men are his witnesses; they were signs pointing to him.

This was not the first time Moses and Elijah had stood on the Holy Mountain of God speaking with our Lord. For it was the Lord Christ who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush on the Holy Mountain. It was the Lord Christ who gave Moses the Ten Commandments on the Holy Mountain. It was the Lord Christ who spoke with Elijah out of a gentle wind blowing on a mountain.

Here again, on a Holy Mountain, Moses, Elijah and Jesus met face to face. They were discussing Jesus’ Exodus. Moses had led the Israelites in their Exodus from Egypt. It was the great deliverance; the salvation of the Lord. Now they were discussing the Exodus of Jesus. This too was a great deliverance of God, but it was much greater than Moses’ Exodus. For the Exodus of Moses was the salvation of Israel, but the Exodus of Christ is the salvation of all mankind.

As Jesus stood there on that Holy Mountain, his face shone like the sun with the glory of the Lord. His clothes were a brilliant white shining with his purity and righteousness. And a voice came from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, my Chosen One; listen to him.”

Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is the image of God. Jesus is God’s revelation to mankind. Jesus is God’s word of love to mankind. “For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son.” The Son of God is his message of love, and God insists that we hear and believe his message. What is the message God wants us to hear? It is the message of his love; it is the message that God counts us righteousness on account of the righteous life, the suffering and death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His message to the world is a message of reconciliation; the message that He has restored our relationship with him by the obedience, the suffering, and the exaltation of Jesus.

The human problem is that we are living in opposition to God. We are not right with God. Our hearts and lives are messed up! And we continue to mess up our relationship with God. Daily we rebel against him; daily we sin. But Jesus Christ is God’s message of forgiveness. Jesus restores of our relationship and makes us right with God. Jesus came to seek the lost. He came to bind up the broken. Therefore God commands: Listen to Him.

But far too many do not listen to his Word. And far too many when they do hear, refuse to believe. Jesus laments, “I wanted to gather you like a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not.”

The price for not hearing him is eternal death and condemnation. God’s wrath rages against sin and rebellion. God is furious at those who turn their backs on him and disobey him. Mankind has rejected God and set themselves up as his enemies. Yet, in spite of our rebellion, because of his love for us, he sent his Son to die in our place. His Son is his word of love to lost man; his word of forgiveness; his word of reconciliation; and his word of peace between God and man. A peace which God himself unilaterally makes.

His word is his invitation to receive his gift of love and forgiveness. It is his invitation to be restored to a relationship with him. Not listening and believing his word is refusal of His love and reconciliation. Refusing to believe his Word of love is to remain God’s enemy and to continue under God’s wrath and condemnation.

Therefore, listen to him. Listen to his Word of love and forgiveness. Listen to his Word of restoration of our relationship with him. First, we hear his Word in his perfect obedience. Second, we hear his word in his sufferings. Third, we hear his word in his exaltation.

First, let us listen to Jesus’ obedience: Out of love God gave his Only Begotten Son that whoever hears and believes in him may have everlasting life. Jesus obeyed his Father. He came into the world as a man and did exactly what his Father had sent him to do. “I do nothing on my own initiative,” said Jesus, “but I speak these things as the Father taught me.” He also said, “as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.”

The white robes of Jesus and the shining glory in his face reflected his perfect obedience and holiness. Jesus fulfilled all of God’s commands and he did it for us so that his obedience is counted to us. His perfect obedience goes onto our record. So when God asks us, those who have heard and believed in Jesus, if we have kept his commandments, the answer is “Yes.” It is “yes” because Jesus kept them for us and to our credit. Listen to his obedience and righteousness. The message of his righteousness is that we are counted righteous.

This righteousness which Christ gives us is what drives our lives as born again believers. Since we are counted righteous, let us live in righteousness and obedience. Put away the things of the flesh, the desires, the lusts, the greed and the selfishness. Put on the deeds of righteousness. Stop being instruments of evil and start being instruments of goodness and love. Jesus is the model of righteousness. Follow his example. Love your neighbor as Jesus loved you. Forgive those who offend you as he forgave those who crucified him. Trust in God completely without wavering as Jesus trusted. Be obedient to God as Jesus was obedient in all things.

Second, we listen to Jesus’ sufferings. His suffering began when he was made man. He was despised and hated. We esteemed him not and shunned him. He was smitten for us; bruised for our iniquities, and afflicted for our sins. He was hung on a cross and executed as a criminal. He was forsaken by his Father and suffered the torments of hell. Though he was innocent and never sinned, he bore the guilt of our sin and suffered our punishment.

Listen to his sufferings and death. They proclaim that our sin is paid for. They proclaim that our debt is forgiven. They proclaim that the Chosen Son of God atoned for our sin and reconciled us to God. We have been put right with God. He has restored peace between man and God. He has fixed our broken relationship with God by his suffering and death. All is paid for, and God’s wrath is turned away from us. This is the message of his suffering.

We see that before Jesus was glorified he had to suffer. There is a lesson for us here as well. “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter into his glory?” says Jesus. He was made for a little while lower than the angels and because of his suffering and death he was later crowned with glory and honor. Christ first had to suffer and then his glory followed.

So also it is with us. First we must suffer for a little while in this world in order for the glories of heaven to follow. As St. Paul says, “The sufferings of this present world are nothing compared to the glory of the world to come.” When we are afflicted and in pain, take comfort. For first we must suffer but then we shall be glorified. St. Peter tells us that today we share in the suffering of Christ so that tomorrow we can rejoice with his exaltation. That after we have suffered for a little while, God will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish us.

So thirdly, we listen to Christ’s glory. First he suffered but then he was exalted. First he died on the ignoble cross but then he was raised on the third day, ascended into heaven and now sits on the throne of heaven to reign forever. All things have been placed under his dominion and power. He governs all things for the good of his people. He today has received the glory and honor and praise and worship of all the heavenly hosts and the crown has been placed on his head.

Listen to his exaltation. For as he is exalted, so He exalts his church who is in him. When we are baptized into Christ we are in Christ, in the wisdom of faith, in the life and in the glory of Christ. We are adorned with his glory so that no evil and no spot of ugliness is visible in us. In the sight of God he sees no wrinkles in us. He sees nothing besides his own Son in whom we are clothed, from whom is our salvation, life and glory. If sin is present, the devil sees it and we feel it in our conscience, but God does not. For on account of His Son, Christ, with whom we are clothed, we are altogether beautiful, without spot and wrinkle, because Christ is altogether beautiful and without spot. Listen to Christ’s glory for in it we see that our sins are covered and our stains made white.

And the glory of Christ is what drives our lives as Christians. We who are declared righteous and heirs of eternal life through Christ and whom he has adorned with his glory, do good, not with the purpose of attaining eternal life, but with the purpose of being pleasing and obedient to the divine voice, so that the glory of God is promoted among men. We declare and proclaim the Word of God in all the world so that the glory of God would be increased on earth among men, as the Psalm declares, “How glorious is thy name in all the lands!” God has highly exalted Christ and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We live in obedience and proclaim his word in order to give glory to God.

We not only listen to Jesus’ words we proclaim them and we live them. We proclaim His words of love and forgiveness; of healing and restoration. Our lives of obedience proclaim Christ’s obedience, in our suffering we share in Christ’s suffering, and by faith we see and magnify his glory.

Amen.