Transfiguration Sunday
Transfiguration Sunday
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Reverend Michael J. Moffitt
February 15, 2025
While We Wait
Text: Matthew 17:1–9
Today is Transfiguration Sunday. This is the last Sunday in Epiphany which lasted six weeks this year. We finish with the story of the Transfiguration of Christ. Epiphany is meant to focus our hopes on a deeper understanding and identity of our Savior, and it comes to full expression in the Transfiguration of the Son.
Just as at the Baptism of Jesus there is a unique manifestation of the Spirit and the Father’s divine voice in Jesus’ transfiguration. Transfiguration is the revelation of the true nature of Christ that is unfolding in such a way as to reveal his true identity. Jesus wasn’t being transformed into a different person but was giving a deeper understanding of his divine nature if only for a moment.
Our attention this morning will be focused on the story from Matthew 17:1–9, but before we turn there I want to point out that all of our readings this morning have a common theme. They each focus our attention on the transforming impact of the Presence of God. Transfiguration is another way of saying “metamorphosis”. This happens whenever a person turns to the Lord Jesus, beginning a relationship that changes their nature and prepares them for the day when they meet him face-to-face!
Moses met with God on Mount Sinai in the cloud of glory, where God appeared as a consuming fire in full view of all Israel. The Lord Jesus, on another mountain, talked with his Father and was transfigured in front of his disciples. Since that time there is a common experience when Jesus’ disciples are transformed. It’s when we pay attention to God’s prophetic word in the scriptures and through the illumination of the Holy Spirit that we come to know Christ Jesus for who he really is and has always been.
Biblical scholar D.A. Carson explains,
The Greek verb metamorphoo (‘transfigure,’ ‘transform,’ ‘change in form’) suggests a change of the inmost nature so that it may be outwardly visible.
Throughout the scriptures we find many stories of men and women encountering God in some way that changes everything in their lives. Concerning the books found in the Bible, Job is considered by many theologians and scholars as the earliest written manuscript. It shares a common theme with many other books that tell the story of people encountering God in some way where they changed forever by the encounter. For Job this change was very painful and unexpected and seemed to last a long time before relief was given.
God wasn’t allowing all the trials and calamity because of Job’s sin but to deepen his trust in God alone when everything else was gone. One of the takeaways from the story is that God owes no explanation for what he chooses to do. He alone is the Lord of all creation and is Holy beyond compare.
Remember the story of Abraham who was promised that he would be given a son born through his wife Sarah who was barren. Abraham was made to wait 25 years before God came through with His promise. Of course a major part of the story is that when their son Issac was born Sarah was 90 years old and Abraham was 100.
Remember Joseph, Moses, David, Daniel and many, many more who were made to wait for many years for God’s promises to be fulfilled. However, when the fulfillment came there was a deeper understanding of God and what it means to follow Him and encounter Him in ways not previously even imagined.
In most every account it’s through God’s presence that they have a completely different sense of what is important. Why? Because their view and understanding of the glory, majesty, power, strength, mercy, and wisdom of God grows to the point that the Lord becomes their focus and the object of their trust, praise and affection.
The things of the world lose their luster and importance. I love reading Hebrews 11:1–40 which is the story of many of the saints who have gone before us. They each found that faith in God changed everything to the point that even death lost it’s ability to cause fear and dread.
How did this happen? They found that what God was offering was so much better. He was/is offering them a life lived with the triune God for eternity. I suspect that on this side of Heaven we’ll never really grasp what this entails but that it is worth it. However, it often came through testing, trials, and persecution where they found God faithful and worth it all.
Listen to Psalm 99:1–3;9 that we read this morning. It’s filled with the recognition of who God is and the proper response to him.
The Lord reigns;
let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim;
let the earth quake!
The Lord is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.
Let them praise your great and awesome name!
Holy is He
Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain; f|
or the Lord our God is holy!
Can you even imagine what it was like for the children of Israel to look upon the mountain seeing the fire, smoke, thunder and lightening knowing this was their God?
With that in mind let’s turn to Matthew 17:1–3.
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became light as white. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
You’ve probably noticed that Jesus picked the twelve disciples but often just took Peter, James, and John as his inner circle. The three had been with Jesus longer than the others but Jesus likely chose them for their strengths. Although Peter was impetuous he was also a natural leader. James and John were called the “Sons of Thunder” and they proved to be passionate in their faith.
The Bible doesn’t explain why the three were chosen but it’s clear that Jesus who knew the hearts of men and focused more keenly on the development of the three. Later events would see the three of them having a major role in the beginning of the early church. Peter would end up being the head of the church in Jerusalem. James and John, the Sons of Zebedee, would have very different roles. Acts 12:2 says that James was the first of the original disciples to be martyred but John was the last to die from a natural death. In his old age he wrote his gospel, the three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation.
Again there is the going up on the mountain and although this is not referring to Mount Sinai there is the trip up to the mountain to encounter God in a special way. In Exodus 34:29 Moses returns with the stone tablets back down Mount Sinai after spending 40 days and nights with God Almighty. He wasn’t aware that his face shone brightly and was radiant. Aaron and the children of Israel were afraid to come near him.
Now around 12 centuries later the three disciples go with Jesus up on the mountain where he is transfigured before them. Unlike Moses, Jesus’ face, and garments that he wore shone brightly. This scene is so powerful and evokes so many questions as to the importance and meaning of the story. This morning I’m going to deal with three most important questions that this story evoked in me.
The first is: why the exact time frame of six days? It’s likely that there is a link back to the previous chapter in Caesarea Philippi where Peter makes the confession that he believes Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Many also believe that the mountain was Mt. Tabor, which is about six days journey from Caesarea Philippi. Since the disciples were beginning to recognize who Jesus really is, he was ready to head toward the climatic events that would take place in Jerusalem. The transfiguration was part of Jesus preparing his disciples for the coming crisis.
The second: why were Moses and Elijah there with Jesus? The symbolism in this narrative is so clear when seen in light of the stories of each one. This morning we read of Moses going up on Mount Sinai into the presence of God for 40 days and 40 nights and returning with the glory of God’s presence upon him.
Elijah one of the major prophets, whose name meant “the Lord is my God,” was known for speaking the word from God to the people of Israel and demonstrating the awesome power of God in many ways.
In 1 Kings 19:7–8 Elijah, fleeing to Mount Horeb (most scholars believe Sinai and Horeb are synonymous) stops to rest. An Angel of the Lord brought food for Elijah to eat for the journey ahead of him. God sends him to Mount Horeb where he will meet with him. The meal will sustain him as he ran for 40 days and nights. There God meets with Elijah giving him instructions for his final days. In 2 Kings 2:11 he is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind without facing death first.
Now in Matthew 17:3 we read of Moses the representative of the law of God given to him on Mount Sinai, and Elijah the greatest prophet who not only spoke the words of God to his people but demonstrated the power of God in miraculous ways. Both of these men’s lives and ministries pointed to the final fulfillment of the promises that they had declared so long ago. Moses told the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 18:15,
“The Lord your God will raise up a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.”
Essentially we have the representatives of the law and the prophets coming to honor the Christ that they pointed too in their time. Jesus was not a colleague but their creator the very one who gave them life and now they had given their lives to Him. But while the text may present Jesus as a new Moses (especially 17:5), it also presents him as something more. It portrays the disciples as witnesses of his glory on the mountain, just as Moses heard God on Mount Sinai and Elijah heard God on Mount Horeb. The presence of Moses and Elijah indicates that Jesus is incomparably greater than the prophets with whom some were comparing him.
That was the mistake that Peter made in Matthew 17:4–6,
And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.
However, it may seem for a moment that Peter was being impetuous but actually what he said made perfect sense. In Luke’s Gospel account he suggests that Peter didn’t know what he was saying. I have no doubt that the scene before him rattled him a bit, but I think the he was speaking from what he knew.
Peter is not wrong on the surface. Jesus shines before him. His face radiant. His clothes blazing white. Moses and Elijah stand there. They are two men who once climbed mountains and stood in the cloud of God’s presence. One whose face once reflected borrowed light from God’s glory. One who once stood in the presence of God’s glory.
Once again they stand in that same light. But this time it does not come to a servant. It comes from the Son. Though Jesus stands with the giver of the law (Moses) and the prophetic voice (Elijah), they are not equal to Jesus. They have come to worship and encourage Jesus to complete the purpose that the Father had sent Him to accomplish. To Peter it looks like the end of things. Like the kingdom has come so he reacts on what he knows. Let’s build dwellings.
It sounds impulsive at first, but Peter isn’t rambling. He is reaching towards hope. Toward the Feast of Booths, the great celebration when God would dwell fully with his people and joy would be complete. Peter sees the glory and likely thought, “this is it.”
In one sense, he’s right. The light on the mountain is not accidental. It is a glimpse of the kingdom breaking into the present. But he is early. Because just before this, Jesus has begun to speak about something else.
Rejection.
Suffering.
Death.
A cross.
Peter heard those words and pushed back. Now he sees glory and wants to stay. He is not wrong about where the story is going. He is wrong about how it gets there.
Before the Feast of Booths, there will be another feast.
Before dwelling comes Passover.
Before unveiled light comes a cross.
The voice of the Father within the cloud does not approve Peter’s plan, it redirects him. “Listen to him!”
Listen to the one who speaks of losing your life in order to find it. Listen to the one who insists that the path to glory runs straight through suffering.
After the Father speaks and the disciples are bowed down in terror the light fades, the cloud lifts. Then the hand of the Savior lovingly touches them and as they look up there is only Jesus. He says to them, “Rise, and have no fear.”
As they go back down the mountain Jesus instructed them to not tell anyone about this until he is raised from the dead. The walk back to join the other disciples must have brought about more questions than answers.
I suspect that when we read this story it raises a lot of questions for us as well. If I’m honest I have to admit that I want what Peter wanted. The end of the story without the middle. We want Easter without Good Friday. We want the kingdom without the cross. Of course it’s understandable to long for glory but not with the road that leads to it.
What Peter, James, and John saw on the mountain was not a mistake. It was a promise that Jesus was going to accomplish what the Father sent Him to do. A promise that the one who walks toward suffering is already crowned with light. The cross is not the contradiction of glory. It is the way to it. The disciples will still falter. They will still scatter. Peter will still deny the one he saw shining. The vision itself did not make them strong, and it did not keep them from fear or failure.
But it gave them something they could not unsee…a glimpse of who Jesus truly is. A light that would not disappear when the road grew dark.
So they go down the mountain, and so do we.
Not skipping ahead and not pretending the middle is the end. But walking the road he walks, trusting that glory waits on the other side.
So what is our take away from this as we prepare for the Season of Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday?
The transition from Epiphany to Lent emphasizes preparation and reflection as believers we prepare for the solemnity of Lent that will lead to the cross but then to the resurrection. This is not just a recognition of events that happened 2,000 years ago but a reminder that if we will follow Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord our story will lead us to the path of obedience to God’s way and surrender to our own.
Let’s pray.
©2026 The Rev. Michael J. Moffitt
