Transfiguration Sunday: Show and (Don’t) Tell « The Painted Prayerbook.

On the last Sunday after the Epiphany, the Gospel appointed for Transfiguration shows us a glimpse of Christ’s reality, a reality seldom seen on this side of eternity. The God-Man Jesus, who in complete submission to the Father left the glory of heaven and humbled himself to be born in the flesh, blood, and bone of man; the Christ of God who, through his life, teaching, and miracles gives glory to the Father, stands before the disciples—and us—fully displayed in his own divine glory and majesty. And with him are the icons of the Law and the Prophets: Moses who was secretly buried by God at his death, and Elijah who did not die, but was taken by God into heaven. And Jesus is having a conversation with them.

It is exactly the fact that Jesus, Moses, and Elijah were having this conversation that has led to the liturgical placement of the Transfiguration as the final Gospel of Epiphany. Epiphany as a feast and as a season is about the revelation of God in Christ. First in the story of the magi from the east—signifying the revelation of the Messiah beyond the tribes and people of Israel. Then his baptism is celebrated not only marking the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, but also revealing him as the Son of God anointed for his work and blessed by the Father. The Gospels for the Sundays that follow present the revelation of God through the preaching, teaching, miracles, healing, and the announcement of the forgiveness of sins, that Jesus performed during his three-year ministry. On the mountain of the Transfiguration, not only is the full divine glory of Jesus revealed, but there is this holy conversation about Jesus’ exodus, his departure, in other words his coming suffering and death, which is the ultimate revelation of God.

This mountain-top conversation must be the continuation of the conversation of heaven: the plan of God for the salvation of man and the means by which Jesus would work out that merciful plan. The heavenly hosts—the angels and the whole community of saints—waited in eager expectation for the working-out of the timeless plan of the Father in time, but that does not mean they necessarily waited in silence. The heavenly conversation, now glimpsed at on the mountain of Transfiguration was about Jesus’ departure, the conversation was about the Passion to come, the conversation was about the awesome reality that holy justice required the ultimate payment, the conversation was most certainly about the Son of God paying the price for sin: the death of the Son as the all-sufficient sacrifice.

As much as the disciples wanted to, they could not remain on the mountain. Too soon Moses and Elijah were gone, the glory of the almighty Son was again hidden, and the glimpse of the Lord’s reality—a reality that confirmed the promise of God for a life after death—was gone. None record it, but the descent down the mountain was probably fraught with emotion, and the memory of what the disciples had seen likely sparked contemplation and conversation, and prepared them for the hard days soon to come.

We too cannot stay on the mountain of Christmas, Epiphany, and Transfiguration. Certainly the most ancient and most joyous season of the Church Year is yet to come, but between these two great liturgical mountains is the hard wilderness, the penitential valley of Lent. The Sundays of Gesimatide provide a deliberate descent during which we can contemplate both the mountaintop experience above and the coming wilderness journey below. It is an opportunity to gradually adjust to the change in altitude and the change in attitude. Septuagesima (70-some days before Easter), Sexagesima (60-some days before Easter), Quinquagesima (50-some days before Easter) are the angel-like hands of the Church Year that would keep us from dashing our feet against the stony pavement of Lent.

Septuagesima

O Lord, graciously hear the prayers of Your people that we who justly suffer the consequence of our sin may be mercifully delivered by Your goodness to the glory of Your name; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L18)

Exodus 17:1–7
Psalm 95:1–9 (v. 6)
1 Corinthians 9:24—10:5
Matthew 20:1–16

Sexagesima

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in You, mercifully grant that by Your power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L19)

Isaiah 55:10–13
Psalm 84 (v. 4)
2 Corinthians 11:19—12:9
Luke 8:4–15

Quinquagesima

O Lord, mercifully hear our prayers and having set us free from the bonds of our sins deliver us from every evil; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L20)

1 Samuel 16:1–13
Psalm 89:18–29 (v. 20)
1 Corinthians 13:1–13
Luke 18:31–43

Matthew 17:1-9

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Ame

It’s usually easy to create a picture of the Transfiguration in our minds. Jesus takes three of His disciples up on a mountain. It’s just the four of them – by themselves. Then, all of a sudden, Jesus’ likeness is changed. His face shines like the sun. The color of His clothing becomes as white as light. In other words, there is a brightness and splendor here that makes Jesus virtually impossible to look at.

For a brief moment the Lord Jesus shines in all the brightness of the glory and al the fullness of the majesty that He enjoyed in heaven with the through the human frame of Jesus the son of Mary. All the things He had been saying and doing were giving glory to God, but now His face and clothes were shining with His own glory. It is not His Divine nature that is transfigured, but His human. Now we see the splendor that surrounds God in heaven, which Jesus set aside to come to us (John 17:5). There are not two persons, but one. Apart from the Flesh of Jesus there is no Son of God, no Second Person of the Holy Trinity. He, who placed the stars, cast Satan out of heaven, formed the mountains, and crafts each snowflake, is forever joined to the stuff of Mary’s womb, made one of us for us. Jesus, the Son of God, incarnate—made one of us to be the sacrifice, the guilt offering, the atoning death in our place.

HEAVENLY CONVERSATION

And that is the conversation of heaven. Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets, the council of God’s ambassadors of Grace, are gathered together to talk about this. To talk about the only thing that matters, the only thing that counts, the only thing that endures: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. St. Luke tells us that they are speaking on that mountain about Jesus’ coming exodus, about His leading us out of this vale of tears, death, and sin, and into heaven! There is not one method of salvation in the Old Testament and another we can derive from the New Testament, there is not one salvation founded in keeping the Law and another salvation based in belief in Jesus. No. Jesus is the timeless Savior that all the faithful prophets of the Old Testament looked forward to.

And this conversation does not make these prophets sad, or guilty, or afraid. In perfect bliss these men of God are delighted and pleased to talk about the death of Jesus Christ. For they see the Day the Lord has made, they see the coming Day of Atonement. They see that Day when the sun would refuse to shine, the earth would shake, the graves would opened, the day that would bring angels to tears. They see a pagan Centurion plunge His spear in dead Jesus’ side, and then, led by the Holy Spirit boldly confessed, “Surely this Man was the Son of God!” They see that Day from on high. That is the day of which they prophesied. And it is of that day, the Day of Salvation, which these two heroes of the faith appear to talk of with their Lord.

SEEING REALITY

Peter, James, and John, brought to the mountain by their master, see Jesus as He is, and there too see Moses and Elijah. In that moment, the three saw things as they actually are. They saw Jesus in his glory, a reality otherwise hidden in this fallen world. And they were overwhelmed. They saw the saints of old, not dead but living, profoundly and vibrantly filled with the gift of perfect, eternal life. They saw the end and result of faith-life with God in glory.

If only you and I would have been on the mountain that day to see the glory of God. If only you and I would be given a “mountaintop experience” of our own which could reassure us by the presence of God’s saints appearing from heaven. You and I do not yet see things as they truly are. We only see this aging and dying flesh, the corruption of our inborn sin clinging still. We see a life betrayed by sin and marked by death. We see only our needs and shortcomings, and do not imagine how it could be otherwise. But in the Transfiguration we see our destiny, our future, our reality in Christ; we see that we shall be like Moses and Elijah there on the mountaintop; and we shall be like Jesus.

(…WE SHALL BE LIKE JESUS…) HOW CAN THIS BE?

“Alien Righteousness”
Alien-outside of ourselves
Righteousness-‘right standing before God’
Eschatological understanding-JUDGEMENT DAY TALK

Christ’s work credited to us.
-holy life
-death of sin
-resurrection

Just as the Father says of Jesus “This is my Son whom I have chosen, he says of us because of our alien righteousness.

The proof of all of this is in the appearing on the mountain of Moses and Elijah. Our God after all, is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And Moses and Elijah are very much alive, along with all those who have gone before in the Faith. Their reality is a fuller, realer reality than what we might now see. Now we see things dimly, but on the mount of the transfiguration Peter and James and John saw things as they are. We see things only in terms of sky and earth, fire and water, flesh and bone. Even so, our Lord comes to us, as the prophets of old promised, as a common looking man who was only for a moment transfigured before the apostles.

Even now our Lord comes to you,as He Himself promises through the holy apostles—He comes in water, Word, bread, and wine. But if we cannot yet see Him directly and as He truly is, have no doubt that His promise is sure, sealed by the blood shed on the Cross, and proven by His rising from the tom

Come, and eat what Peter, James and John, saw on the Mountain. The Mount of the Transfiguration only lasted a little while, but his promise is sure that He is here for us in His Means of Grace. Be strengthened by that eating by which you are joined to the Flesh of Mary’s womb united to divine majesty. Be consoled and comforted by the God who has gone before you to bring you to him. And rejoice in the company of Moses, Elijah, the Apostles, and the whole cloud of witnesses already at rest. For there on the mountain the Apostles saw their future-and yours.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen

Epiphany is one of the oldest seasons in the Christian Church Year, second only to the Easter season. This season of lights emphasizes Jesus’ manifestation (or epiphany, from the Greek epiphaneia) as God and man. The earliest Christians called the feast of the Epiphany the Theophany (“revelation of God”). When the Gentile Magi come to worship Jesus, they show that everyone now has access to God. Now all people, Jew and Gentile, can come to God’s temple to worship, because Jesus is the new temple: God in the flesh.

The Epiphany season may include as many as nine Sundays, depending on the date of Easter. The season is marked at its beginning and at its end by two important feasts of Christ. On the First Sunday after the Epiphany, the Church celebrates the Baptism of Our Lord. The Father had sent Jesus to bear the sins of the world. So Jesus steps down into baptismal waters so that He can soak up the sins of the world: He is baptized into our sins, so that our Baptism might be into His death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins.

The Feast of the Transfiguration is a significant and uniquely Lutheran contribution to the Christian calendar. This festival commemorates the moment on the Mount of Transfiguration when three of Jesus’ disciples glimpsed their Lord in divine splendor, seeing Him as the center of the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah). Jesus proclaimed to His disciples, then and now, that He was the long-awaited one who had come to die for the sins of the world and be raised again in glory.

The Epiphany season closes with the three-Sunday long Gesimatide, sometimes called Pre-Lent. See “Gesima Sundays–The Descent into Lent” for more on Gesimatide.

The liturgical color for the Epiphany of Our Lord is white; for the Sundays after the Epiphany it is green.

Propers for Epiphany
and the Sundays After Epiphany

The Epiphany of Our Lord

O God, by the leading of a star You made known Your only-begotten Son to the Gentiles. Lead us, who know You by faith, to enjoy in heaven the fullness of Your divine presence; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L11)

Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 24:1-10 (v. 7)
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12

The Baptism of Our Lord

Father in heaven, at the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River You proclaimed Him Your beloved Son and anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. Make all who are baptized in His name faithful in their calling as Your children and inheritors with Him of everlasting life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L12)

Joshua 3:1-3, 7-8, 13-17 or Isaiah 42:1-7
Psalm 85:1-13 (v. 9)
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Matthew 3:13-17

First Sunday after the Epiphany

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of Your people who call upon You and grant that they both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L13)

1 Kings 8:6-13
Psalm 50:1-15 (v. 15)
Romans 12:1-5
Luke 2:41-52

Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Almighty and everlasting God, who governs all things in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the prayers of Your people and grant us Your peace through all our days; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L14)

Exodus 33:12-23 or Amos 9:11-15
Psalm 67:1-7 (v. 1) or Psalm 111:1-10 (v. 9)
Ephesians 5:22-33 or Romans 12:6-16
John 2:1-11

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities and stretch forth the hand of Your majesty to heal and defend us; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L15)

2 Kings 5:1-15a
Psalm 110:1-4 (v. 2a)
Romans 1:8-17 or Romans 12:16-21
Matthew 8:1-13

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Almighty God, You know we live in the midst of so many dangers that in our frailty we cannot stand upright. Grant strength and protection to support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L16)

Jonah 1:1-17
Psalm 96:1-13 (v. 2)
Romans 8:18-23 or Romans 13:8-10
Matthew 8:23-27

Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

O Lord, keep Your family the Church continually in the true faith that, relying on the hope of Your heavenly grace, we may ever be defended by Your mighty power; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L17)

Genesis 18:20-33
Psalm 80:1-7 (v. 7)
Colossians 3:12-17
Matthew 13:24-30 (36-43)

The Transfiguration of Our Lord

O God, in the glorious transfiguration of Your beloved Son You confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of Moses and Elijah. In the voice that came from the bright cloud You wonderfully foreshowed our adoption by grace. Mercifully make us co-heirs with the King in His glory and bring us to the fullness of our inheritance in heaven; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L21)

Exodus 34:29-35 or Exodus 3:1-14
Psalm 2:1-12 (v. 7)
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9

Septuagesima

O Lord, graciously hear the prayers of Your people that we who justly suffer the consequence of our sin may be mercifully delivered by Your goodness to the glory of Your name; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L18)

Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 95:1-9 (v. 6)
1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5
Matthew 20:1-1

Sexagesima

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in You, mercifully grant that by Your power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L19)

Isaiah 55:10-13
Psalm 84:1-12 (v. 4)
2 Corinthians 1:18-22 2 or Hebrews 4:9-13
Luke 8:4-15

Quinquagesima

O Lord, mercifully hear our prayers and having set us free from the bonds of our sins deliver us from every evil; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (L20)

1 Samuel 16:1-13 or Isaiah 35:3-7
Psalm 89:18-29 (v. 20)
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Luke 18:31-4