Transfiguration C, 2025

Text: Luke 9:27-36

Title: Glory Days

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Your graduation.  Your wedding day.  Winning the spelling bee.  Starring in the big performance.

What has been the most glorious day in your life? A day that you will never forget? A day when everything was good and right?  A day that you would relive over and over again if you could?

Today, Transfiguration Day, is the most glorious day in Jesus’ life thus far.  It’s so glorious that Peter and the disciples don’t want to leave, they don’t want it to end.

Sure, Jesus has done some glorious things thus far, like turning water into wine, casting out demons, healing the sick, and feeding the multitudes.

But through it all, Jesus has looked just like any other ordinary human being.  There was nothing remarkable about His appearance. 

Some people thought Jesus was a prophet, or perhaps John the Baptist back from the dead.  Some even thought that He was in league with Satan to be able to do what He did.

Most people are not to the point of believing and confessing that Jesus is the very Son of God.

For Peter, John, and James, though, it could not have been more clear who Jesus truly was.

His face and clothing are radiant white. Supernaturally white.

He’s in the company of Moses and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets. Moses, who had seen God face-to-face, whose own face had glowed when He came down from Mt. Sinai.  Elijah, who had not died, but gone to heaven in the fiery chariot in the whirlwind.

They are enveloped by the cloud of glory, that same cloud that had led the people through the Red Sea, through the wilderness to the promised land, that same cloud that had filled the tabernacle and the temple, that physical manifestation of the glory of God was there on earth surrounding them.

And if they needed any further verification of Jesus’ identity, they have the voice from the cloud proclaiming, “This is my beloved Son.”

This was a glorious day for Jesus.

It was glorious in a different way than any of your glory days.

It’s not that Jesus had accomplished something great, or that He was celebrating a win or a major life event.

Jesus was glorious in His very person.  His glory is no longer hidden, but clear to see. There can be no doubt that Jesus is God Himself.

And yet, that glory did not last long, at least in a way that the disciples could experience.

As quickly as Jesus had changed, He was back to normal, and they were headed back down the mountain. 

That’s the way things go for you, too, isn’t it. 

Those days of glory are few and far between. We remember them, they stand out so much to us, because they are so rare.  Most days are more mundane, more common and routine.  Who wouldn’t long for more joy, more excitement when most days are spent behind a desk at school or at work, cooking, cleaning, doing the endless chores of everyday life.

When Jesus comes down from the mountain, He’s not just facing another Monday at work, another day to live out the drudgery of everyday life.

Jesus comes down from the mountain to make His way to Jerusalem.

He’s about to leave this world.  That’s what He was speaking of with Moses and Elijah. His departure.  His exodus. 

Jesus knows what’s coming.  He could have stayed up there on that glorious mountain.

But He chose to come down and to walk that road for you.

That way leads through Jerusalem, and we will travel there with Jesus again this Lenten season. We will walk with Jesus in the forty days to come until we reach Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

That will be another glorious day, with crowds singing and shouting “Hosanna!” as Jesus rides into town on a donkey.

We will walk with Jesus to the Upper Room, Maundy Thursday, where He will wash His disciples’ feet, feed them with His body and blood, and pray for them.

We will walk with Jesus to the Mount of Olives, to the Garden of Gethsemane.  There He will once more take Peter, John, and James aside.  But here they will fall asleep.  Here they will not want to stay but will run away in fear.

Ultimately, we will walk with Jesus to Calvary, to the cross on Good Friday.

There it will seem like the glory is gone.

Jesus will not be in shining clothes, but stripped naked.

His face will be covered in blood, bruises and spit.

He will not be with Moses and Elijah, but two criminals.

Instead of light, there will be darkness.

Instead of a voice from the Father, there will be silence, as Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus will go through all of that for you, because of your sinfulness.

Over and over again you have turned your back on God and His glory, preferring the ways of evil and darkness.

You deserve to be banished from God and His glory forever.

But Jesus’ death for you, as inglorious as it may seem, was actually a good and glorious day for you.

On the mount of Transfiguration, what did God the Father say?

“This my Son, my chosen one, listen to Him.”

The most important thing to take from the mount of Transfiguration is not the vision of Jesus in His glory.

It’s the words of Jesus.  “Listen to Him.”  Not “Look at Him,” but “Listen to Him.”

The words and promises of Jesus are what will sustain you in your everyday life, in those mundane moments that fill day after day.

And in those times of suffering as well, those moments when it seems like God is distant and His glory is gone, Jesus’ words are there to comfort and strengthen you.

Every day is a glory day if you are listening to Jesus. 

Every day is a glory day if you are listening to Jesus.  Jesus is not just there with you in the big and bright days of your life, but in the dark days, too.  He is still the Son of God as He is hanging on the cross.  You are still a child of God as you struggle, as you suffer, and as you die.

And on the third day, the glory of God returned in a new way in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

And then forty days later, Jesus ascended back to the glorious presence of God, with Moses and Elijah and all the saints as well.

And that’s where you are headed, too.  To that place of glory and beauty and light. That place that is truly good.  That place where you will never have to leave.

That Transfiguration experience gave Peter, John, and James a taste of heaven.  It showed them where they were going. 

Even though they still faced suffering and death, both for Jesus and themselves, there would be glory at the end.

And that will be the case for you, too.

So go with Jesus today, from the manifest glory on the mountain, back into the hidden glory of everyday life, until Jesus brings you back to Him, to the glory that will never end.

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