Sermons 2025

Video 

Text: Luke 9:28-36 

Theme: Transfigured for us 

Outline 
1.    Jesus as the Son of Man goes to the Mountain, is transfigured why? 
2.    For us, that the Son of Man goes to the cross, fully God and fully man for our salvation. 

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke, chapter nine verses twenty-eight through thirty-six. 

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Have you ever not wanted someone to leave? Maybe mom or dad are going on a trip and they will be gone for a while. The day comes when they leave and you simply do not want them to leave. Or maybe night is falling, darkness is coming and you want mom or dad to stay by your bed all night, rubbing your back, just being a presence, and not leave to keep the darkness away.  That’s similar to what Saint Peter says in our text for today. Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus shining brightly. They are discussing Jesus’ departure, everything that Jesus is going to do in Jerusalem. They are about to leave when Peter makes the suggestion that they stay. The disciples can even build three shelters for them. Moses and Elijah leave, leaving Jesus alone. Why does Jesus change? How does He still stay with us today? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you. 

1.    Jesus as the Son of Man goes to the Mountain, is transfigured why? 

In our text for today, we see a marvelous event. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with him upon a mountain. While Jesus is praying, He is transfigured. He is changed before their very eyes. Changed not in terms of His essence but Jesus is letting His full divinity shine forth through His humanity. If that is not shocking enough, Moses and Elijah appear alongside Jesus. In the brilliance of all His glory, why are Moses and Elijah, these grand figures of Jewish History, why are they here?  

Scholars debate the significance of Moses’ and Elijah’s presence. One view is that they represent the Law and the Prophets. It makes sense but does not do justice to the rich associations each name has in Jewish thought. Moses had a mountaintop experience at Sinai; his face shone (Exod 34:30; 2 Cor 3:7); he was not only a lawgiver but also a prophet—indeed the prototype of Jesus (Deut 18:18). Elijah was not only a prophet but was also related to the law of Moses as symbolizing the one who would one day turn people’s hearts back to the covenant (Mal 4:4–6). In Jewish thought, Elijah was an eschatological figure, that is, one associated with the end times.  
So one may say that in the transfiguration scene Moses is a typological figure who reminds us of the past (the Exodus), 

Moses being a predecessor of the Messiah, while Elijah is an eschatological figure pointing to the future as a precursor of the Messiah. Each man was among the most highly respected OT figures; both had one distinctive thing in common—their strange departure from this world. Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11), and Moses was buried by the Lord (Deut 34:6). (The disposition of Moses’ body was a matter of speculation in ancient Judaism, cf. Jude 9.) In summary, it seems that the presence of Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration draws attention, first, to the place of Jesus in continuing the redemptive work of God from the Exodus to the future eschatological consummation; second, to the appropriateness of Jesus’ association with heavenly figures; and, third, to the superiority of Jesus over even these great and divinely favored heroes of Israel’s past.

With these great figures, Jesus holds converse high. What could they possibly be talking about?  

1.    For us, that the Son of Man goes to the cross, fully God and fully man for our salvation. 

Luke records that Moses and Elijah discuss with Jesus His departure. The Greek word is Exodus.  They discuss what Jesus will ultimately do. Just as Moses led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, so our Lord does similar yet greater. He frees, not from mere physical slavery, but from spiritual and eternal slavery.  

Moses and Elijah discuss everything that Jesus is going undergo in Jerusalem. Everything that will be done to Him. At His transfiguration, with Jesus shining in bright array, Moses and Elijah discuss Jesus’ greatest glory.  They discuss how Jesus will be betrayed into the hands of sinful men. How He will be scorned, mocked, ridiculed, and beaten, eventually facing death upon a cross, as well as everything that He will accomplish and complete. Jesus as God in the flesh for us, who knew no sin, would become sin for us. Jesus would bear our sins in His holy flesh, suffer, bleed, and die upon the cross.  He would shed His innocent and precious blood for us so that you can have the forgiveness of every single one of your sins. As the beloved Son, Jesus bears the full wrath of God in our stead, so that you can be God’s dear and beloved child.  The glory of the transfiguration is seen most clearly through the suffering on Calvary. On the cross, the glory of God and the love of God are revealed most transparently. Jesus, Moses, and Elijah all saw this coming (v 31) and understood there was no contradiction between this moment of glory and the cross awaiting in Jerusalem. 

Because of the glory of Jesus’ transfiguration and glory upon the cross of Calvary, you share in His glory. Like Peter, we desire that Jesus would stay with us in His glory, that we would have an eternal Good Friday and an eternal Easter. Jesus does not stay upon the mountaintop but goes to Jerusalem and the cross that He might stay with us forever as our Crucified, Risen, and Glorified Lord and Savior. As He promises at His ascension, Lo I am with you always to the very end of the age. The same Lord who is transfigured and crucified for you is with you in all of the struggles of this life. The crosses we bear now define the Christian life. We have plain pains of being human. We suffer our sinful nature that is constantly in league with sin and Satan. We endure our own crosses when we endure for the sake of the Gospel. In the midst of our sufferings, the glory and love of God shine quite brightly as we look to Him for comfort and support in these times of suffering. Because we share, however small, in the sufferings of the crucified Christ. So too we share in the glory of the transfigured Christ. 

After the cross comes the culmination of glory. The Mount of Transfiguration points to the Mount of Ascension. The three tents could point to the mansions prepared for us in heaven. Through faith, we share in that glorious culmination beginning at the resurrection. 

Conclusion: In the transfiguration, we see a glorious Jesus. In the transfiguration, we see a prefiguring of our suffering Jesus. In the culmination of glory, we see our risen and ascended Jesus, sitting at the right hand of his Father in heaven. Thus, the transfiguration serves as a springboard into Lent. We begin our journey with Christ to the cross. It’s a time to focus on the suffering of our Lord, a time to share in his humility. It’s also a time to see beyond the cross an empty grave and an open heaven. And it’s a time to rejoice that we, too, shall rise and live forever in the glory of heaven. 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.