The disciples now knew that Jesus was the Messiah. He had confirmed Peter’s words when Peter had said ‘you are the Christ, the son of the living God.’ But they were still struggling with what sort of Messiah Jesus was going to be. The popular idea of the Messiah was that he would make Israel a great nation once again, freeing her from foreign domination; prophecies stated that he would be of royal descent, a son of David. The disciples in particular were hoping as his closest followers to have privileges and special positions of influence within his kingdom. Now they were sure that Jesus was the Messiah.

But to their dismay, they had no sooner got this clear than Jesus begins to say very clearly, that he is going to Jerusalem, where he will be killed by the religious authorities.
The question of what sort of Messiah Jesus was going to be was not open to public debate. It was not a matter of letting the people choose what sort of Messiah they wanted. Now the disciples knew that Jesus was the Messiah, he had strictly instructed the disciples for the time being to keep this information a secret. God in his wisdom knew what sort of Messiah mankind needed and in his wisdom he had sent his son into the world to fulfil his plan of salvation for men and women.

Not only had Jesus refused to become the king that the crowds wanted the Messiah to be, but also when Peter had tried to persuade Jesus that he must not be crucified, Jesus had severely rebuked Peter with the words ‘get behind me, Satan’. God’s ways are higher than our ways. God’s wisdom is greater than our wisdom. The disciples, and remember, the word disciple means learner, still had a lot to learn about Jesus.

So at this point Jesus takes three of the disciples, the inner circle of Peter, James and John up the mountain with him to witness his transfiguration. When the sceptical religious leaders had asked for a sign, Jesus refused to give them one, but now he allows his closest followers to see his glory.

It was an experience those three never forgot. Recalling the incident many years later Peter affirms that he was an eyewitness to Jesus’ glory on the mountain. (2 Peter 1 v 16-18). When writing his gospel, John testifies right at the start of his gospel, ‘we have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only who came from the father.’ The transfiguration made a profound impression on those disciples. They learned a lesson they never forgot.

Although it was an event exclusive to those three disciples at the time, they were there to witness it on behalf of us all. Let’s remind our selves then, of what Matthew tells us of the transfiguration.

Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a high mountain away from everyone. He is transfigured before them on the mountain. I suppose words cannot fully describe what they saw. Matthew tells us that Jesus’ face shone like the sun. His clothes became as white as the light. What they had witnessed was something that was just out of this world. Two great men of God from the past appear, and talk with Jesus, Moses and Elijah.
That mountain top experience gave those three disciples a glimpse of the fact that Jesus was the Son of God in a very special way. The title ‘Son of God’ was one that had been used before in the Old Testament. It was used in the main of the kings of Israel, the descendants of King David. It went back to God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7. God promises David that his descendants will succeed him as king. In particular God promises David that his son will become king, and will build the temple. God promises ‘I will be his father and he shall be my son.’

The people of Israel from then on would on occasions use the term son of God to describe the kings who were David’s descendants. When Peter said to Jesus, ‘you are the Son of the living God’; it was most likely to some extent to do with his Old Testament understanding that the Messiah was a descendant of David, so he could rightly be called Son of God in the way that the kings that succeeded David had often been.

In the transfiguration, he and James and John were to learn that Jesus was Son of God in a unique and different way. John learned and passes on for us that Jesus is God’s only begotten son. Jesus is unique. In the transfiguration they witness the reality that Jesus is divine. On the mountaintop they glimpse the reality that in some mysterious way Jesus is the one with direct access to God and heaven. Jesus is different to the kings of old Israel. He has unique access to God, he is divine, and he is very God himself. In this experience John learned something of the reality that he later stated in his gospel, ‘Jesus had come from God, and was going to God.’

The disciples were beginning to grasp that Jesus was not a Messiah who was primarily concerned with political or military power, he had not come to further the cause of Jewish nationalism or any other nationalism or ism. Jesus had come to deal primarily with the issue of the mankind’s relationship with God. All the worlds problems stem from the one issue that mankind is alienated from God.

Here on the mountaintop the three disciples get to glimpse something of the glory of heaven. Peter is elated; he wants to build something. Once again he has got it wrong. A bright cloud envelops them; God’s voice speaks to them. The disciples are terrified. You see all through the history of God’s people, it has been a frightening thing to encounter the living God.

When the people encountered God at mount Sinai, the experience was so terrifying that they begged for it to never happen again. There could be terrible consequences when people acted of spoke out of turn in the awesome presence of God. When the Ark of the Covenant that represented God’s presence was being brought to Jerusalem, a man named Uzzah reached out and touched it, he was struck dead.

Peter and his companions did well to be frightened in God’s presence. But nothing ill befalls them. Jesus reaches out and touches them. ‘Don’t be afraid he says.’ Jesus is the one who can enable sinful, sometimes foolish people to encounter the living God, in fact that is why Jesus has come.

But then we have still got the problem of foolish people, the problem of mankind. As Jesus goes down the mountain with his disciples, they question him further regarding the Messiah and what the scriptures teach about him. One specific question that they ask is regarding the belief that Elijah would come before God sent the Messiah. It is virtually the last thing written in the Old Testament.

Jesus tells them that the promised Elijah has already come. But he has been rejected. They realise that Jesus is talking about John the Baptist. The authorities had rejected John. Herod had executed him. We live in a sinful world were there are some people who reject God’s love. They choose the way of evil

There are other people who get side tracked into distractions. Peter for example, ‘I’ll erect some shelters’ he says. He wanted to do something unnecessary. Christians today get sidetracked into unnecessary and pointless action. Sometimes people think that God wants them to erect buildings. You find that buildings are not God’s priority if you look at the scriptures. When David wanted to erect a temple, God said no to him. When the word Church is mentioned perhaps the majority of people still think in terms of a building.

God speaks to Peter and the others to bring him back to the right priority. ‘This is my son… listen to him.’ These three men were responsible for leading the church that was about to be born. The rest of the New Testament does not tell of one single building that Jesus followers erected. Yes they used building to preach the gospel; they used the temple, a building destined for destruction.

But the focus for the church was not buildings, it was Jesus, it was God’s Son and the good news about him. God says to us this morning, ‘do not be distracted. This is my beloved son; listen to him. Christ wants us to know his fellowship. He says to us ‘do not be afraid. He wants us to know that he is with us.

But then there are other foolish people in our passage this morning. There are the other disciples; they are unable to help a boy who is troubled with demon possession. But Jesus comes on the scene. He brings help and healing. We do not come up against demon possession very often but something that troubles me greatly at times is that as a church we sometimes seem unable to do much in the face of all those who seem helpless, and in need of God’s touch.

I’m sure that at times Jesus would say to his church, ‘O unbelieving and perverse generation.’ But there is a reason why we are not always what we should be. We do not have the faith we should. Maybe we should pray what the father of that boy prayed more often, ‘Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.’ If we make it our priority to be people of faith, I believe God will honour that desire. As we open our eyes to see that God is at work in our world, our level of faith will rise.

Through his church, people will come to encounter the risen Jesus. They will come to know the reality of his love and forgiveness.
There will always be those who reject God and his love for us in Jesus and choose the way of evil instead.
There are also always those who get distracted from God’s purposes.
There are still times when God’s people have too little faith to be the channels of God’s blessing to others.
But yet, as we are willing to seek Christ, as we are willing to listen to him, as we desire to be built up in the faith, then we can know the reality of God’s blessing, and be those able to bring God’s blessing to others.
 

Amen.

Return to top of page