Going Up and Going Down, They Saw Jesus Only

Transfiguration of our Lord

January 17, 2016

Matthew 17:8

Going Up and Going Down, They Saw Jesus Only

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Sin makes you blind. In John 8 Jesus healed a blind man. He did this healing on a Saturday. The Jewish pastors, the Pharisees, taught that certain activity on Saturday was forbidden. And they ridiculed Jesus for helping a blind man on a Saturday. Their sin made them blind.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

"Who is He, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in Him."

Jesus said, "You have now seen Him; in fact, He is the one speaking with you."

Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped Him.

Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

Some Pharisees who were with Him heard Him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"

Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains." (John 8:35-41)

Jesus' concluding statement to these Jewish pastors riddles our minds. But the key to unlocking this mystery is that it is a warning to these Pharisees. They were guilty because they trusted in the wrong object. They could see themselves being good and following their own set of ten commandments (actually over 600 rules!) and they felt that they could look at themselves and see good people. They saw themselves as their own personal Jesus.

For three years Peter, James, and his brother John had seen the real Jesus. They had seen Him walk on water, heal all kinds of diseases, and drive out demons. They had heard His powerful authoritative preaching to large crowds.

But they had also seen Him sleep and eat. They had seen Him when He was tired and hungry. They had seen Him when He was rightly sad and correctly angry over the stubborn sinful hearts of those around Him, including their own.

They had seen Jesus for years and had seen that He was true God; they had seen Jesus for years and had seen that He was true Man.

They had seen who He truly is.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

"But what about you?" He asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven." (Matthew 16:13-17)

And so one week after Peter made his great confession, and before He was going to complete His mission to rescue Peter, James, John, and the whole world from our blindingly sin, Jesus took them up a high mountain.

I wonder what these men must have thought as they made their way up that mountain. Was Jesus taking them to another miracle of healing? Was a leper living up there? Was He taking them to witness an exorcism? Was there a demoniac roaming around up there?

Whatever their expectations, they were completely stunned by what they saw.

There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. (Matthew 17:2-3)

How they knew that these men were Moses and Elijah, we aren't told. But there they were talking with Jesus. Luke's account adds that Moses and Elijah were talking to Jesus about His departure, which meant His suffering, death, and resurrection.

Peter was speechless, but like most people who say they are speechless, he started talking a lot. Peter tries to be helpful and give advice to Jesus. But then they were really knocked out by what happened next.

While [Peter] was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. (Matthew 17:5-6)

The Father's voice speaks. He identified His Son. He loved Him. He was well pleased with Him. And then He gives some advice to Peter: “Listen to Jesus.”

And then they looked up and there was Jesus only. And He speaks, “Get up. Don't be afraid.” And they go down the mountain the same way they went up―with Jesus only.

What can we take to heart from Jesus' transfiguration? That God's glory doesn't save us. God's glory only terrifies, even those who believe. We don't need glory. Instead, we need Jesus and Jesus only to save us from our sin that makes us blind. And Jesus opens our eyes by speaking into our ears, just as He comforted Peter, James, and John: “Get up. Don't be afraid.” We might add the words: “You aren't going to die because I am going to die for you.”

Soon our many weeks of walking to the cross will begin. We will see and hear many things. But through all of it, we see Jesus only. Our life is often like their climbing the mountain. Many days we wonder what's going to happen next; where is Jesus leading us? And then other times, we're left to ponder what has just happened to us, what we have just seen and heard. Through our lives that sometimes go up and sometimes down, we are wise to listen to Jesus.

From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (Matthew 16:21)

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21