It is a constant temptation that we make religion into something all about ourselves. We begin to measure and calculate religion as to “what I get out of it.” Does it make me feel good? Am I living a good enough life? Do I really love the Lord enough? Do I have enough faith? Can I prove to others that I am growing in holiness? Do I tell enough people about Jesus? Does God love me because I try hard to be a good person? Me, me, me! When we lose interest in church because we don't seem to get something out of it, because it doesn't strike an emotional chord, or because we just think it's boring, we have made religion and faith about us instead of what it really is about: Jesus. That is why we have the Transfiguration today. Today we see Jesus shining in all His glory to remind us that it's all about Him. Who He is. What He has done for us. Eyes off of ourselves and onto Jesus today. Ears turned from listening to our sinful nature to hearing Jesus' Word. Mouths turned from complaining and grumbling or talking about ourselves to confessing Christ and His Word!
When Jesus is transfigured, He talks with Moses and Elijah. Moses the giver of the Law and Elijah one of the great prophets. The Law and the Prophets. Moses and Elijah point to the Scriptures which pointed ahead to the coming Savior. To see Jesus with Moses and Elijah means that He is the One who fulfills the Word, who fulfills the Scriptures. And He will fulfill them by going all the way to the Jerusalem and the suffering and death of the cross. Here, on the mountain, Jesus is strengthened in His purpose to go and do the work of saving sinners. It's all in the balance. If Jesus doesn't go to Jerusalem, we're doomed. If He doesn't go to suffer and die, we have no hope. We can't hope in ourselves. Our hope and trust must be in the Son of God. If He doesn't fulfill what He came to do, there is nothing for us but to remain in our sins. But Jesus is strengthened for His mission. He is reminded once again by the Father's Voice that He has come to do the will of the Father. It will be hard. It will kill Him. He will suffer much. But He does it because He loves and obeys the Father. And He does it to rescue you from sin and death and a religion that is all about you.
When the Voice of the Father speaks it says, “Hear Him!” Peter, ever the example of the kind of religion we like to have wants to stay there with the bright and shiny Jesus and the prophets of old. “Lord, let us make some shelters, tabernacles, booths for you guys.” Peter wants to stay there. He wants to be where God's glory is shining and evident and easy to see. Peter doesn't want the dead God on a cross, He wants the bright and glorious one. So it is with so many Christians who worship by trying to have some feeling and somehow touch or experience God's “glory.” In many churches, worship is carefully crafted to bring about a deep and powerful emotional experience and response. And again, we see that in doing that, we've made religion about us. Peter has made this about Him. What he will do for Jesus. But the Father corrects all that with these words: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” Hear Him because our faith, our religion isn't about our emotions but about Jesus and His Word. His saving Word that gives us life.
And what does Jesus say? The Father says to listen to Him and the very next words out of Jesus' mouth are to the frightened disciples saying, “Do not be afraid!” You've just seen the glory of God Himself shining in Jesus Christ and glaring from the cloud. That's enough to scare poor, miserable sinners. So don't be afraid. When we make religion about ourselves, we're constantly trying to find a way to make ourselves feel good. But when faith is centered in Christ, His Word says, “Don't be afraid.” There is true comfort because it is the Lord who says it. He is the One who brings true peace to us by the forgiveness of sins that He accomplished for us on Calvary. This “don't be afraid” extends to the font where the Word and water rescue us from death and the devil. It is heard in the Absolution which tells us not to be afraid of our sins. It is spoken with the Words of Institution so that we don't fear death because Jesus' Body and Blood overcome death. That is our religion! That is our faith! What Christ has done and what He delivers to us by His comforting Word. Here it is no longer about what we can do and how we live and how we feel. It is about the promises of God Himself to be our God and defend us from all evil even unto eternal life. The big deal isn't that we can feel good about Jesus but that Jesus saves us from sin, death, devil, hell and all things that are against us!
Now, after they come down from the mountain, Jesus tells His disciples not to tell anyone what they've seen until after He's been raised from the dead. After that, Peter tells us that because He was an eyewitness of the glory of Christ, the Word He preaches is sure. To hear St. Peter preach is to hear Christ. To hear our called and ordained pastors preach is to hear Christ. The Transfiguration of Jesus means, now that He has been raised from the dead, that the Word that is preached has all of God Himself standing behind it to make it so. Peter's words in His epistle remind us that the Word we hear preached is not made up (like the world thinks!) But Jesus was seen by eyewitnesses and they have passed down His Word faithfully since, especially as it's confirmed and kept for us in the Bible. Those two things always go together. The preaching and the Scriptures. The preachers must always preach what is in the Scriptures and the Scriptures serve to show us whether what is preached is a religion about us—bad!--or the faith of Christ, which delivers His salvation faithfully. Hear Him means hear Jesus. And that's what the Bible is all about. And that's what the Word preached and taught in His church delivers to us.
When Jesus speaks to them, the disciples look up and see Jesus only. What a picture of our faith! Jesus only. The Transfiguration is written down for us to rescue us from a religion that is all about ourselves to to turn our hearts in faith to “see Jesus only.” Only in Him do we have the truest comfort and the voice of God Himself telling us not to be afraid. With such a Savior who is God and man, we have the unshakable promise that now, in Christ, we too are God's beloved sons. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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