Christ Alone: A Meditation on Luke 9 for Transfiguration Sunday

And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him:

and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?

They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias;

 and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again.

He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

Peter answering said, The Christ of God.

And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing;

 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things,

and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes,

and be slain, and be raised the third day.

 

 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me,

let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it:

but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world,

and lose himself, or be cast away?

 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words,

of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory,

and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here,

which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.

 

And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings,

he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.

 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered,

and his raiment was white and glistering.

 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:

Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease

which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep:

and when they were awake, they saw his glory,

and the two men that stood with him.

 And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus,

Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles;

one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.

While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them:

and they feared as they entered into the cloud.

And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying,

This is my beloved Son: hear him.

 And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone.

And they kept it close, and told no man in those days

 any of those things which they had seen.

 

Transfiguration Sunday is a pinnacle of the Epiphany season, where the Church has historically meditated on what it means for the full divinity of God Almighty to be revealed in Jesus Christ.  While Jesus’ preaching, healing, and miracles are testimonies to Jesus’ full divinity and indivisible unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the vision provided to Peter, James, and John on that mountain was a foretaste of the beatific vision that awaits all who trust in Him.  Cleared from any earthly ambiguity, Jesus stood in the radiance, holiness, and power of God as Elijah and Moses conferred with Him about what was shortly to come at Jerusalem, and the Vicarious Atonement Jesus would accomplish for the salvation of the world.  Stunned by the vision, Peter misinterpreted it to mean that the glory of Moses and Elijah should be worshiped alongside Jesus, and the Father made it clear that Jesus alone was the beloved Son to whom we should give our full attention.  As the writer to the Hebrews would note, Moses was a faithful servant in the house and Kingdom of God, but Jesus Christ alone was the builder and master of that house.  While creatures have a relationship with their Creator, there is no parity between the saved and the Savior; created man is never God, though God became man in Jesus Christ.

 

In our age, it is important to remember that Jesus really is fully God, even as He is fully man.  At some times in history, emphasis of the one nature over the other has led to problems in understanding Jesus, but in our time which is dominated by Materialism, Secular Humanism, and a pervasive unbelief in the Word of God, the stronger temptation is to think of Jesus as little more than a man.  Perhaps some will think Him wise and moral, others might think Him a beacon of love and compassion, all of which are true.  But the reality of Jesus is that He is not just a good, wise, moral, and compassionate man:  He is the very Son of God, almighty in power, and the Word through which the whole cosmos was made.  His indivisible divine essence is shared with the Father and the Holy Spirit, sharing also in their divine attributes of omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence (all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present), just as He is one with them in perfect goodness, perfect love, and perfect righteousness.  The real Jesus who condescends to meet us in our humanity, who for a short while in His humiliation was made subject to earthly powers even unto betrayal and death on a Roman cross, is humiliated no more.  He has risen from the grave, conquered death, hell, and the devil’s demonic horde, and given the grace of forgiveness and life to all who will trust in Him.  The real Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father, intercedes for the saints on our behalf as both our High Priest and also our perfect sacrifice, and shall come again in glory for the final Judgement of the living and the dead.  The real Jesus is really God.

 

Knowing our human weakness and tendencies to worship everything other than the true God, this is a good meditation for us as we prepare to enter Lent, and walk with our Lord on His path to Calvary.  Jesus is not what pop-culture often portrays Him as, nor as many ostensibly Christian authors have tried to present Him as.  He is not a self-help scheme, nor is He some mystical goodie machine in the sky which can be activated by using just the right words, thoughts, or deeds.  He is never manipulated, deceived, or coerced, as if we could cut him a good deal on how we might live our lives, or broker some half-way position in how we follow Him.  He is not weak in mind, or heart, or body, as if we could out-think, out-love, outrun or overpower Him.  He is not our boyfriend or our drinking buddy, not a partner in crime nor in blasphemy.  He is the Lord God Almighty, King of the Universe, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. 

 

Seeing this as clearly as the Apostles did by trusting in their witness helps us clear our heads of many misconceptions about Jesus, so that we might walk with Him in Spirit and Truth.  This is what gives hope to our faith, and wisdom to our knowledge, that our Savior is also fully God.  He has become one of us that He might die in our place, knowing all the struggles of fallen man, but He Himself has never fallen, nor ever will fall.  Our Savior is stronger than every temptation known to mankind, from the dawn of time to the end.  Our Savior is more powerful than any wickedness of man, from the lowliest thief to the most malicious dictator.  Our Savior is more powerful than the turning of the seasons, the rising and falling of empires, of epochs long forgotten and those yet to come.  Our Savior is more powerful than time, than space, than all the forces and bodies of the celestial heavens, spinning through a vastness we have only begun to glimpse.  Our Savior’s Kingdom transcends heaven and earth, without beginning and without end, and He is the Captain of the Heavenly Host who has defeated, trampled, and condemned all the forces of evil to an everlasting prison of fire.  Our Savior is not only one who desires to save us, but has shown forth His power to save all who will trust in Him.

 

As we move through this transition of seasons from Epiphany to Lent on our way to blessed Easter, may the saints remember by the witness of God’s Word and Spirit, that the Eternal Word has come to seek and to save the lost.  And not only that He has come to seek and to save, but that Jesus Christ is mighty to accomplish all that He has come to do, for God Himself has come down to be the Savior of the world which He created.  Our Saving God is not one among many, nor has He any peer of any philosopher, politician, theologian, scientist, or academic.  Our God alone is King of the Universe, and our God alone has come to save us with a Gospel that rings throughout eternity.  For only the Lord God Almighty could become our Savior, that we might live in Him by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.  Let all other visions and deceptions flee before the Word and power of the Lord our God, who speaks through the cloud, from the tops of the mountains, across the plains and the seas, into the jungles and the forests and the deserts:  This is My Beloved Son—hear Him!

 

Amen.