Sermon for St Edwards’s Sun 3 August 2025.
Readings: Luke 9:28-36, Daniel 7:9-10 and 13-14; 2 Peter 1:16-19
The transfiguration. Quite an amazing story of Jesus taking a couple of the disciples off for a nice walk up a mountain, to pray, and it then turns into one of the frankly, trippiest, stories in the bible. Into the midst of this nice walk, Jesus suddenly turns into something approaching a light bulb, 2 famous dead guys appear, and God speaks out of a cloud. And then afterwards they just head back down the mountain like ‘what happens on the mountain stays on the mountain’, like it’s no big deal.
So what on earth is going on here?
Well I’ve preached on this event a number of times over the years as you might imagine, and the theme I come back to is that God’s presence brings revelation, and revelation brings transformation.
I think, perhaps one the main purposes of the Bible is to help us to know who God is, in all the divine fullnessof God. All of God. But perhaps another important purpose of scripture is to help us see who we are. Who God has made us to be, in the fullness of who we are made to be.
I think we see that particularly through the gospels – that through the recounting of Jesus’ time here on earth ,we see who he is revealed – fully human and fully divine. And we see that played out in the lives of the disciples as they go on this journey of discovery with Jesus, as more and more is revealed to them, and as they gain a fuller understanding of who Jesus is, of who God is.
God is revealed through Jesus Christ. God’s presence brings revelation.
Prior to this mountain top experience the disciples were called by Jesus, chose to follow him, and have listened to his teaching, seen him do amazing miracles. In the previous few verses of this passage he has foretold his death and resurrection. He says also:
Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Luke 9:26
or in Matthews account: Matt 16:27
For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father…
And immediately after this 3 of the disciples see that glory of God on the mountain.
This is what we see here, Jesus shining with the glory of God the Father. It’s another step forward in the revelation of who he is. It’s a foretaste, but also a ‘look I really am the son of God’ moment. As Jesus shines before them they get to see Jesus in divine glory. They’ve talked about him being the son of God, now they see him as such.
And it’s interesting that this revelation comes into the context of prayer. v 28:
Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray
Luke 9:28
They were praying, and it was while he was praying his appearance changed. As we talked about last week prayer is vital to all we do.
We know that Jesus has often taken himself or the disciples off to a quiet place, he has withdrawn to pray, to speak to his Father. And this whole encounter starts out that same way, he takes the disciples apart by themselves, to a quieter place, where they were alone.
I think most often, it is when we set aside time for God, to pray, to seek the Lord, that’s when we discover more of who God is. That’s when God reveals things to us.
That’s why it’s important to set aside time to pray, read our bibles, to worship, to just be with God.
Transformation…
So God’s presence brings revelation, but also revelation brings transformation.
The disciples learn more about who they are, who God has made them to be with Jesus. We see them in the gospels going through a journey of discovering who Jesus is, who God is and who they are. It’s a journey of transformation. They don’t immediately become well rounded people of faith the moment Jesus calls them. I mean just look at Peter here – poor old Peter always the one getting things wrong. So enthusiastic, super keen but right here he just doesn’t get it – Elijah and Moses, long dead prophets appear and Jesus is shining like LED headlights on full beam, and Peter’s like, this is great, let’s put up a shelter – let’s stay, rest a while… missing the point entirely!
What would you do? Imagine you get to meet 3 of your idols in one place, and you end up saying something ridiculous because you don’t know what else to say – that’s what he’s doing.
This is a moment of wonder and awe. At the start of this year I talked about us seeking the wonder of knowing God. The being so overwhelmed by the mystery and not needing to know or have all the answers just wondering at who God is.
I wonder if they looked back on this experience later and recognise it for what it was? We know that Peter references it in 2 Peter and that as he says they saw the majesty of Christ.
So the disciples grew and developed as they spend time in Jesus’ presence.
I think it takes a lifetime to really know who we are in Christ. When I preached on the transfiguration a few years ago my kids were doing exams at school and the dreaded spanish language practical where they had to describe themselves in their best Spanish.
So for example, if I was describing myself in Spanish I might say and some of you will understand this I know!)
Yo, soy peliroja (I have red hair),
tengo los ojos marones y verdes (I have brown and green eyes),
Soy clerigo. Me gusta leyendo, subir cerros o senderismo, y remo de pie (I am clergy. I like reading, hiking, paddleboarding).
It’s quite a basic description because I am limited to the words I know at any given time. It’s not a complete picture. But if I went on learning Spanish (very rusty) my description would grow over time, it would be filled out, with more detail. But even if I described myself in english I think my description would still be limited, so how I described myself at 17 for example, would be very different to how I’d describe myself now, or how I will in 20 years time. And other people describing me would do it completely differently as well.
Descriptions of ourselves are a partial view of who we are. Just as our lives of faith are partial. Like the disciples the more time we spend in God’s presence, the more we learn about God and about ourselves.and about where we are in the story of God.
The disciples were part of that story. The same story that is retold today. The story that has the same purpose – throughout God’s word to help us to understand fully who Jesus is, and prepares us to live that out.
So, Jesus helps to place the disciples in the story of God. It’s not random that we see Elijah and Moses on the mountain
If you know your OT you will know that both Elijah and Moses had mountain top experiences with God. Moses particularly is relevant here, having been in God’s presence his face shone so much that people were afraid, and he had to cover it. And God’s words are an echo here of what God said to Moses in Deut 15 – God will raise up a prophet, you are to listen to. And here is that prophet – Jesus of whom he says:
This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him! v35
So they represent what has gone before – the law and the prophets. Moses as the one to whom God gave the law, Elijah one of the most well-known prophets of the OT.
Not only that but, these two became known as the ‘deathless ones’ because of their end – Elijah went up to heaven on a chariot of fire, Moses mysteriously died on a mountain (ie they disappeared from view rather than dying in the usual way!)
They also signify the rescuing of God’s people from slavery to freedom (through Moses) and the call to faithfulness (Elijah).
Then they are covered by a cloud, which if we remember the wandering in the desert was how God appeared during the day – so the cloud is an obvious sign to them of God’s presence.
Just before this in vs 18-20 when Jesus asks the disciples, who do people say I am ?
They answered, ‘John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah of God.’
Luke 9: 19-20
He reiterates he is not either of them, and appearing on the mountain shows he is not Elijah because he is with him. Jesus is the son of God and he shows that side of himself as he is transfigured.
These are carefully chosen signs not some random encounter.
All of those things are placing the disciples now in that same story…
But also continuing to reveal who God is.
Jesus is helping the disciples see both his place and their place in the story.
That realisation begins to really break in, that Jesus IS the son of God – the living God that Jews have worshipped for thousands of years, that they the disciples have worshipped, they knew the stories they’d have heard in the synagogue, or recited to them in family contexts,
and now here they were with the person who was bringing about the next chapter of the story, they were living it.
And we are too. Living the story of God. We do not know when Jesus will return, the Bible says we won’t know the time or the season, but we are living in the story of God as people of faith.
in 2 Peter he says:
So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
2 Peter 1:19
We are called to shine too, attentive to the gospel message, until the day we meet Christ in eternity. We need to take our places in that story, seeking ongoing revelation in prayer and worship. Wondering at who God is and as we do so we will be transformed.
Amen
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