A Sight to Behold

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  February 27, 2022

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Read Luke 9:28 – 36 (NIV)
 
If we were to take a look at the liturgical calendar, we would see that today, the last Sunday before Lent is Transfiguration Sunday… a time for us to reflect upon the revelation of Christ’s glory even as we begin to contemplate the passion of the Christ… that unimaginable series of events leading up to His death, His burial and ultimately His resurrection.
 
Looking at our text for the morning, we read about Jesus taking His inner circle of disciples, Peter, James and John with Him to the top of a mountain, to a place of solitude to pray.  And while they were there, something quite incredible occurred.
 
The scriptures tell us that the appearance of Jesus’ face changed and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightening… something that could easily be described as A SIGHT TO BEHOLD…
 
But if we look closely at the text, Peter, James and John almost missed it because apparently, they were nodding off in the middle of prayer time… all we need to do is look at the text which says that they were “were very sleepy” … and it wasn’t until “they became fully awake, [that] they saw [Jesus’] glory and the two men standing with him.”
 
That must have been a pretty mind-boggling experience for Jesus’ three companions to suddenly awaken and realize they were seeing Jesus talking to Elijah and Moses, who as the text says, appeared in “glorious splendor.” 
 
Now, one could imagine that as Peter, James and John had been going up to the top of that mountain with Jesus, they might have been feeling pretty special… once again being singled out by Jesus to accompany Him to a quiet place… far away from the crowds and the rest of the disciples.
 
And then to become witnesses to something that truly defied explanation… not only seeing Jesus physical appearance having changed into something so breathtaking and spectacular… but seeing Him standing there with Moses and Elijah.  Let’s just say that must have been A SIGHT TO BEHOLD.
 
But, on the off chance that doesn’t sound all that astounding to you, just think about the fact that Elijah lived about 900 years before Jesus did and that Moses lived around 600 years before that.
 
It’s hard to imagine just what the disciples could have been thinking when they saw them all standing there together. 
 
But leave it to Peter to simply blurt out the first thing that came to mind, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  In fact, the text even says that “He did not know what he was saying…”
 
Then before anyone could say or do anything else, the Scriptures tell us that, “a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.”  And who could blame them for being a bit fearful?
 
 But then they heard a voice within the cloud say to them, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen. Listen to him.”
 
Then just like that… once again it was just the three of them standing there alone with Jesus.  Talk about A SIGHT TO BEHOLD… now you see them, now you don’t…
 
And given the rather unbelievable nature of what they had just seen, is it any wonder that the last verse of the text says, “The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.”  After all, who would believe them if they told them what had happened?
 
In all likelihood, they did not truly understand themselves what they had just seen … and they would not understand it fully until after Jesus had risen from the dead.
 
According to Scripture, even as the disciples spent time in Jesus’ presence watching Him perform miracles, speaking to the masses and teaching in the synagogues… they were not able to come to terms with the fact that Jesus would be betrayed, killed and rise again after three days.
 
If we were to take a look at the Gospel of Mark, in chapter 8, we would read about what happened when Jesus began teaching the disciples about what was to come… that He would suffer and be rejected and killed, but after three days, He would rise again.
 
In true Peter fashion, rather than trying to get a full understanding of what Jesus was telling them, the Scriptures say he had the audacity to rebuke Jesus!  
 
Seriously, Peter?  YOU are going to rebuke JESUS??
 
Needless to say, that did not go over well… and in Mark 8:33 we read Jesus’ own words of rebuke when He told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!  You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
 
Can you say ouch?  It’s bad enough to be chastised by Jesus, but to be placed in a league with Satan?  I wouldn’t want to be in Peter’s shoes, that’s for sure.
 
And yet, even in the wake of Peter’s flagrant act of foolishness, Jesus did not cast him aside… He did not demote him from the rank of “disciple insider.” 
 
Instead, Jesus did what He always does… He extended grace and mercy to Peter… taking him up on that mountain that we read about in our text.
 
Just think about that for a moment…
 
Jesus started teaching the disciples a pretty disconcerting lesson about what was going to happen to Him.
 
Peter rebuked Jesus.
 
Jesus in turn rebuked Peter. 
 
But AFTER all of that, Jesus still took Peter with Him and allowed him to be a witness to the transfiguration and appearance of Moses and Elijah.
 
Talk about grace!
 
So, what is the message for us today?  What should we take away from this text?  I’m so glad you asked…
 
First, the Lord does not reveal His glory to us because we deserve it but because He loves us.
 
There is nothing that we can do to earn God’s grace and nothing we can do to deserve the privilege of seeing His glory revealed.  
 
It was not long after Jesus has rebuked Peter and even lumped him in to the same category as Satan that He allowed him to have a mountaintop experience.  In fact, Peter is the ultimate example of what it means to receive grace upon grace.
 
It is this same Peter who would eventually deny Jesus three times... and yet it is this same Peter who Jesus told, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah… I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:17 – 19).
 
This same Peter who would go on to do great things for God, preaching the Gospel bringing thousands to a saving knowledge of Jesus the Christ.
 
It is this same Peter who serves as an example that in spite of our failures and shortcomings – God loves us and wants to use us for His glory.
 
The second thing we can take from the text is that: The glory of the Lord can be revealed in unexpected places and unimaginable ways.
 
Peter, James and John were accustomed to traveling with Jesus.  They were His trusted inner circle so to speak and had seen Him perform miracle after miracle.  But as they went up to the top of the mountain, to a seemingly deserted place presumably just to pray, there would have likely been no indication of what was to come.
 
And yet, it is often in those secluded spaces… when God has our undivided attention… that is when we can bear witness to His glory… that which is truly A SIGHT TO BEHOLD. 
 
Several years ago, Ron and I took the trip of a lifetime to Hawaii, where we saw the most incredible, majestic sights that only God could have created. 
 
And when you stop to consider that all of the beauty that characterizes the Hawaiian Islands actually came about as the result of volcanic eruptions… you get just a glimpse of what Isaiah was referring to to when he said that the Lord will “provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes…” (Isaiah 61:3).
 
Even out of extreme devastation, God can bring splendor that truly reflects His glory.  And when that glory is revealed in unexpected places and unimaginable ways… it is definitely A SIGHT TO BEHOLD.
 
The next thing we can take from this text is that: The Lord has a purpose for revealing His glory.
 
Peter, James and John were no doubt amazed when they aroused from their sleepiness and saw that Jesus had been transfigured and was standing there talking with Moses and Elijah. 
 
And it was not a mere coincidence that it was these two figures who appeared with Jesus.  Moses represented the Law and Elijah represented the prophets… their appearance signaled that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament Law and the prophetic promises.
 
It is as Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
 
The purpose for the disciples being allowed to see Jesus in all of His glory alongside Moses and Elijah was to dispel any question that He was indeed the Son of God. 
 
Earlier in Luke 9 (18 – 20), when Jesus had asked Peter who people were saying He was, Peter said that some people thought He was John the Baptist, while others thought He was Elijah or one of the other prophets of old who had come back to life.
 
But when Jesus pressed Him further and said, “But what about you?  Who do you say I am?”  Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.” Or as it reads in Matthew’s version of the story, Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16, RSV).
 
And lest there be even an inkling of doubt that still remained… as the disciples stood up on that mountain, they heard the voice coming from the midst of the cloud saying, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.”
 
The Lord clearly had a purpose for revealing His glory to them.
 
And that brings us to the last thing I want to suggest we can take from the text which is: There is a purpose for the glory of the Lord to be revealed, and there will be an appointed time for the revelation to be shared.
 
The glory of the Lord is revealed to us, not simply so we can go around boasting and bragging about what we have seen.  On the contrary, His glory is revealed to us in preparation for what He is calling us to do.
 
After witnessing Jesus’ transfiguration and the appearance of Moses and Elijah, the text says that the disciples, “kept [it] to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.”
 
But why not shout it to the rooftops?  Well… would people have believed them? Or would they think that Peter, James, and John had a little too much communion wine on that mountaintop?  Or that they had concocted the story to make themselves look like they were some kind of superstars?
 
Or is it more likely that they did not understand what had happened and therefore did not feel they should say anything, just in case someone asked them questions that they did not have answers for?
 
It can be like that for us as well. 
 
How often have we hesitated to share the Good News about Jesus with someone because we did not think we had the right words to explain what it all means?  Or stopped short of talking about the Trinity because it is way too complicated to explain how God can be three persons in one…
 
So, we remain silent… falling back on the old axiom, “Better to keep quiet and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”  But we will not be able to stay silent forever…
 
Jesus revealed His glory to the disciples so that when the time came… when He had been betrayed and crucified… they could trust that His promise that He would rise again was true because they had already seen His glory revealed and been shown that He was indeed the Son of God. 
 
And that is when they would be prepared to explain to the others what they had witnessed up on that mountaintop.
 
And when we have seen and experienced the glory of the Lord for ourselves, we can find the confidence to explain it to someone else.
 
It is after we have come to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior that we can tell others about who He is.
 
It is after we have watched the Lord at work in our own lives and realized just how much we need Him that we can share with others the promise that He will be with us always even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).
 
As we find ourselves going through challenging times, it can be difficult to believe that the Lord is with us.  It can feel like we have been left all alone… left swinging in the wind. 
 
But even in the midst of the storms of life, we have the assurance that Jesus will be right there with us, just as He was with the disciples who were so amazed that even the winds and the waves obeyed Jesus’ command (see Matthew 8:23 – 27; Mark 4:35 – 41; Luke 8:22 – 25).
 
Thinking about Jesus’ being with us during those challenging times in life reminds me of the poem, “Footprints in the Sand”One night I dreamed a dream.