The Transfiguration of Our Lord
February 19, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline
Exodus 34:29-35 2
Corinthians 3:12-18; 4:1-6 Mark 9:2-9
Grace, Mercy and
Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text today comes from the Gospel lesson, especially these words, “And
Jesus was transfigured before them.”
Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ. God hides himself. He does it for our benefit. He does it to protect us sinners from his
holiness, his almightiness, he righteous justice. God hides himself from us, for He is righteously
angry at our terrible sin and disregard for the many gifts that He gives to
us. For sinners cannot stand before
God. God will not tolerate the sinner
being in his presence with his sin unfurled for all to see. He will not stand for those who brazenly
declare “yes I have sinned, and will do it again, and who are you God to stop
me?”
But God does love
you, and God does desire you to be saved.
So God hides himself from your sin, so that he can continue to proclaim
his word to you.
In the very
beginning when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit they were not to eat, immediately
they were afraid of a holy and righteous God – so they hid in the bushes. God upon finding them, gives them a more
suitable hiding place – animal skins. To
hide sinful man, blood had to be shed, animals had to die. Only then could mankind be hidden from God’s
wrath because of sin. Only then could
our world go on.
Nine generations
later, Noah was hidden away on the ark, hidden from the just judgment of God on
a sinful world. Safe in the ark, God was
hidden from Noah as the world of sin was washed away outside of the ark. Through water, Noah was safely brought
through the terrible alien wrath of God’s judgment of sin.
God hides himself
away over and over throughout the pages of scripture. He is hidden from Moses behind a burning
bush. He is hidden from the people of
Israel in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The people of Israel however want to see God,
they want to know who he is. So God
comes down, hidden in cloud and thunder, and the people again are afraid. Before God reveals himself, they change their
mind, knowing their sin is too great to see God for who he really is – a Good
and Loving God, who is angry over sin.
So instead, they
send Moses, who is the only man to look upon God face to face. In our Old Testament lesson today, we see the
result. “Aaron and all the people of
Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were
afraid to come near him.” God’s glory
shone from Moses’ face, and was again graciously hidden from the fearful
Israelites by a veil.
God continues to
hide throughout the pages of the Old Testament.
He is hidden on the Ark of the Covenant between the Wings of the
Cherubim. He hides in the Tabernacle in
the Holy of Holies, where again the priest had to pour blood out to hide man’s
sin before God. God hides in the Temple
of Solomon, and God hides himself from Elijah, only allowing him to see the
back of his cloak as he heard the very word of God.
God hates
sin. God hides sin from his presence,
and thus he hides himself away from sinful people. He hides away to protect them, to keep them
away from his just judgment on sin – that the sinner should die. That the sinner does not deserve to be in the
presence of God. That the sinner is
guilty, and God the great and powerful judge delivers the judgment. God hides, to keep you safe.
You can imagine
then John, James and Peter’s reaction on the mount of Transfiguration
then. They get to see God revealed. They get to see God as we all will one day
see him when he returns again. They see
hidden God revealed. For God has hidden
himself from them as well, hidden in our own human flesh. The man that Peter James and John had been
following was really God hidden amongst them.
The God who spoke to Moses hidden in the burning bush spoke to Peter,
James and John hidden in the body of a man.
The God who hid himself away from sinners now is hidden in their very
midst.
And now only that,
in our text today, God reveals himself for who he really is. Jesus was transfigured before them, revealing
his glory, glowing white. Elijah and
Moses appeared and spoke with Jesus – with God no longer hidden in a man, but
revealed – about why God had come.
You see God doesn’t
want to hide from you forever. He doesn’t
always want to be separated from you. He
doesn’t want to have to hide to keep you safe from his holiness. Instead he wants you to be holy like the very
Lord your God is holy. And there is only
one way for that to happen. God hid
himself in Jesus, in a man, to reveal himself to all – not through a burning
bush. Not through a pillar of cloud and
fire, not through the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant, but revealed for who
he truly is – love – hanging on a cross dying for your sin, dying for your
guilt, paying the price you owe.
That’s why Jesus
is revealed on transfiguration to show who he is – God. And being revealed he will reveal himself
again on a Friday we call Good, on an old rugged cross, with his own blood, not
the blood of animals hiding your sin away forever. Now, in him you have life. Now in him you have forgiveness. Now, in him you belong to God.
Friends, Jesus
comes to you today as well, again hidden.
For while we are forgiven, we still are in this world of sin, so God
still hides, he hides in bread and wine, for forgiveness life and
salvation. He hides in water and word
where he washes away your sin, and takes them upon himself. He hides in preaching to create and sustain
faith in your lives. He hides here
today, so that he can one day reveal himself to you as he did to Peter, James
and John. Not as a God angry at sin, but
a holy God who forgives. A holy God who
loves. A holy God, who through the death
and resurrection of Jesus can be himself again, no longer hiding away.
It is all through
Jesus. It is all through his grace, and through his mercy. For in him God is hidden, and in him, God
will reveal himself to the world, outstretched upon a cross – all because he
loves you. Amen.
