The Transfiguration of Our Lord         “The Backstory to The Cross”

March 2, 2025                                                Luke 9:28-36                                         (cpr25)

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Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Backstory.   What is a ‘backstory’?   Just as it sounds,  it’s the story that comes first,  before the story you’re talking about.  If you’re going to enjoy the movie ‘Back to the future part 2’ you really need to first watch ‘Back to the Future’ == the first one.

The backstory to Christmas is the prophesy made by Isaiah to king Ahaz when he declared:  ‘the Lord himself will give you a sign:  the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,     and shall call his name Immanuel.’   The backstory to Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the wilderness is when that same crafty-serpent tempted the first Adam in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3.  The backstory to Jesus hanging on the cross that Good Friday is our reading today in Luke 9,  and His glorious Transfiguration.   Yes,  the Transfiguration is the backstory to the cross;   and we’ll speak to that in a few minutes.

So,  what is the backstory to the Transfiguration?  We need to know,  because without it, this brief display of divine glory & majesty will be misunderstood = like Peter did.  In Bible things,  having the backstory is a key thing;  it provides the needed context so we will keep straight what God is proclaiming to us.  Without the context we won’t know the truth;     without the truth,  we won’t know Christ;  and without Christ, …we cannot be saved.

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The first words of today’s Gospel are:  “Now about eight days after these sayings…”(v.28)  What ‘sayings’ happened 8-days earlier?   Luke is referring to the backstory  that we must keep in mind.  Fortunately,  it’s just a few verses back in this same chapter,  Luke 9.  Jesus asked His disciples:  ‘who do people say that I am?’   The disciples answered:  some say you’re John the Baptist back from the dead;  others say Elijah or another prophet.

Then Jesus says,  ‘But who do you say that I am.’  Peter answered:  ‘you are the Christ.’  And then Jesus said,  ‘the Son of Man must suffer many things,  be rejected…and be killed,  and on the third day, rise.’    Then he added,  ‘If anyone would come after me,  let him deny himself and take up his cross daily,  and follow me.’

About 8 days after these sayings,  Jesus takes three of them up a mountain,  and He is ‘metamorphosed’  before them in divine glory.

To understand that glorious sight,  they needed the truth that Jesus is the promised Messiah;   and to understand the coming cross of suffering & death,  they needed the truth that Jesus is Immanuel = God-in-the-flesh.

Jesus also needed this brief moment of divine glory;  He needed this vital reminder,  because He will take up the sins of the whole world,  and He must be able to endure it for our redemption.  That the Transfiguration is witnessed is vital  because the disciples will be taking up their own crosses after Him,  & they’ll need to know that it’s worth it.   The fact that you & I witness the Transfiguration every time we read in Luke 9,  (or in Mark 9, or Matthew 17) is vital for us,  because we also have the cross-of-faith to bear.

The Transfiguration is an important backstory for our lives of hope when we suffer.  Before we enter another 40 days of Lent,  before we remember how Jesus takes up the cross for us,  before we are renewed in taking up our crosses daily as we follow him,  the Transfiguration teaches us two basic things: #1) who Jesus is,  and #2)  that  =thru our suffering= we can count on Him to bring us into that heavenly glory,  & into such company as Moses & Elijah.

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So, FIRST,  the Transfiguration shows who Jesus IS  before He takes up the cross for us.  Those Roman soldiers there that day at Golgotha were charged with overseeing His crucifixion;  and they were looking at the same thing mother Mary & John were looking at:  Jesus nailed to the cross.  But the soldiers didn’t know the backstory;  they did not know the truth.  The soldier looking at Jesus thinks,  ‘That’s just another criminal paying the price for his crimes.’   False!

The Transfiguration changes that viewpoint to this:  ‘There is the Son of God  paying the price for my crimes against God.’   True!  That’s why context matters.  The difference between ‘false’ and ‘true’  is death or life,  damnation or salvation.

In His life,  in His birth & childhood,  in His hunger & thirst,  in His tiredness & emotions,  it’s made obvious for us that Jesus is just as human as we are.   The fact that He could be beaten bloody & die  means that He is truly a man.    But the Transfiguration makes it clear that Jesus  is also more than human.  And that means more for us.  We also behold His body glowing with glory that could only belong to God.   This was an ‘epiphany’,  a revelation, that Jesus is God ~begotten of God;  and Light ~begotten of Light;  the Divine nature united with the human nature.

The Father wants to make sure that Peter, James, John, (& us)  all know  that the One who will soon hang on a cross  was anointed & worthy to pay the full price for our sins.

Maybe we won’t fault Peter for wanting to make some shelters & make the moment last. Tempting.  Even Jesus could’ve been tempted;  I mean,  to feel again that Divine Glory that was His from eternity;  to go back with Moses & Elijah;  He could’ve skipped the cross altogether.

But that wasn’t the Father’s will;  because then we would have no forgiveness, no resurrection, no heaven, no hope == we would just have this life with its pain & trouble,  followed by death, & ending in hell.   How glad we are that Jesus did not give in to that temptation.

Instead,  in this glory,  Moses & Elijah are there to plead with Him to delay His glory & face the ‘gory.’   While Peter is babbling about tents,  Moses & Elijah encourage the Christ to face His world-saving ‘exodus’,  His departure from life when He’s crucified.  Even tho Peter doesn’t know what he’s saying,  Jesus knows what He’s doing.  He didn’t come to be dazzling & sovereign over sinners;  He came to be dying & gracious to save sinners.  His true glory is displayed in the gory.

Because the Triune God has an undying love for you,  so Jesus was sent with a dying love for you.  God’s holy justice could be satisfied to condemn you & me  -& the whole world- eternally;   but then God’s merciful love would be unsatisfied.   But God is more than Law,  God is Love.  Therefore,  ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…..’

The Transfiguration shows us who Jesus is:   Merciful God in the flesh.

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And SECOND,  the Transfiguration shows us the glory that will be ours – after we have followed Jesus, bearing our cross in faith.    Some think it strange that,  since Jesus took up the cross for us,  that we still have to bear a cross in this life.  This wrong view thinks that since Jesus suffered  so we don’t have to;  Jesus was poor – so we can be rich.   There are those who preach that message of earthly glory to unsuspecting believers;  people like Joel Osteen &  Joyce Meyer.   But how can a person ignore all those Scriptures  that teach us to not set our hearts on earthly things,  like:  riches, health, or acceptance.  We’re told to set-aside earthly glory  for the better glory to come.

What else can Jesus mean when he says,  “If anyone wants to come after me,  let him  take up his cross.”  On this earth,  we are still in the backstory,  not yet in the finale.

On earth,  Moses & Elijah endured their crosses before sharing in Jesus’ glory.  Peter was crucified in Rome;  James was executed by King Herod Agrippa;  & John suffered two years in exile on an island.  Before they could share in Jesus’ divine glory,  they would share in His ridicule & mockery,  in His rejection & abuse by the world that fights against God.  We live in the same world.

When you say you’re a Christian,  people may laugh  because it means you actually believe things the Bible says,  & they don’t want to.   It’s even worse when you tell them   you’re Lutheran,  because it means you believe everything the Bible says.  Your friends resent you when you don’t join them in some sin,  & they start un-friending you.  When you speak up against abortion or euthanasia,  family members stop including you in things.  When you say God created two genders & one kind of marriage,  your social-media is canceled,  and your governor threatens you with laws against discrimination & hate speech.

When you & I follow,  obey,  & speak like our Lord Jesus,  it is like a cross in this life,   just as He said it would be.   These things are nowhere near the kinds of suffering those early Christians faced under the Roman Emperors by being imprisoned, beheaded, burned at the stake or crucified.   [altho that suffering is happening in our world.  Such as in central Africa, the Republic of Congo,  in the village of Kasanga, 70 Christians, men/women/children,  were forced from their homes on Feb.13,  taken to the church & beheaded by Islamic miltants.   But no matter what the suffering our Lord allows,  He expects us to endure it;  and remembering the Transfiguration gives us the courage.  Jesus reveals himself as the Lord  of glory,  who by His word & work  is overcoming this fallen world for us.

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So,  why can’t we skip the suffering  and go straight to glory with Jesus?   For the same reason Jesus couldn’t skip the cross.   Mankind needed His saving work to be done on calvary,  not on this dazzling mountain.  Mankind still needs His saving work to be proclaimed by His Church,  and a faith seen thru His suffering people,   until that day He returns in His glory.

Peter would live about 35 years after the Transfiguration;  being rejected, beaten, imprisoned.  But nothing could take away the hope he saw on that mountaintop.   I don’t know what you’ll be asked to suffer & endure because you belong to Jesus;  but nothing in this world can take away the promise God gave you  when He baptized you into the death,  the resurrection,  and even the transfiguration of His Son.  Because we belong to Jesus,  He has promised to share with us His future glory.

To secure you in that promise & hope,   so you can remain faithful until death,  your Lord is always present here to speak His Spirit into you by His Word.  And at this altar,  He puts into you  the same body that Peter, James, & John saw transfigured that day,  the same blood that dripped from on the cross,  & the same risen body they touched after Easter morning.

That day,  the Father spoke for us to hear:  “This is my Son,  my Chosen One;  listen to him.”   Listen to Him when He says  you must take up your cross to follow Him.  Listen to Him when He says, ‘In this world you will have trouble;  but take heart,  I have overcome the world.’

Listen to Him when He says,  ‘I have come that you may have life,  and have it to the full.’    Listen to Him when He says,  ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’

When it gets difficult to carry your cross,  and live as His disciple   =and it will be difficult=  recall the Transfiguration.   The Transfiguration is the backstory,  reminding you to be patient in your faith.   It proves that your hope is well-founded,  and the best is yet to come.

Amen