Revealing The Divinity Of Christ
Commentary
Transfiguration is a celebration of God’s glory and how that glory is revealed in Christ when he was transfigured. The festival was observed as early as the sixth century in Eastern Christianity, but did not become a festival in the Catholic Church and its Protestant heirs until just 70 years prior to the Reformation. Sermons in line with this festival will aim to focus the flock on coming to appreciate a bigger, more majestic picture of God and Christ than what they brought to church. Assurance will be provided that this majestic God overcomes all evil. All the lessons considered collectively also link Christ and the gospel to the Law (the ten commandments).
Exodus 24:12-18
The first lesson is probably the product of the tenth/ninth century BC oral tradition termed J, due to its referring to God as Yahweh [Jahweh]. This text tells the story of a second tradition of Moses receiving the tablets of stone on which the decalogue was written (the first version appearing in vv. 3-8). The fact that in verse 9 Moses sets out with Joshua to go up the mountain indicates that our lesson is probably part of a strand independent of the one reported in the earlier verses of the chapter.
Moses being enveloped by the devouring fire (an image for God used in v. 17; 13:21; Isaiah 30:30) seems to prefigure Jesus’ transfiguration. But the text also and especially focuses our attention on the glory and importance of the decalogue. Reflection on the ten commandments is certainly relevant in our context, in which morality seems flagging. A 2013 Gallup poll found that 73% of Americans believe that moral values are in decline. Thus a sermon on the commandments and their importance can make a valuable contribution to our present (perceived) social condition. As Christians, though, we need to be sure that we use and teach the commandments properly. The text’s highlighting the glory of the Lord as a devouring fire, one in which Moses and so Christ share (vv. 17-18), suggests that we can never deal with the demands of the decalogue apart from the Lord’s glory in Christ. The commandments must be illuminated by this awesome light, in which case it becomes clear that we are not capable of keeping them. Besides being a basis of defining good citizenship, the main purpose of the commandments is to reveal how far we fall short, which is why we need a divine Christ to save us. Thus a sermon on this lesson, after condemning our sin with the decalogue, needs to close with an appeal to the gospel of God’s unconditional love, to the gospel lesson’s acknowledgment of Jesus as God’s beloved Son (Matthew 17:5).
2 Peter 1:16-21
The second lesson, though probably not written by Peter himself in the last two decades of the first century or early in the next century, is a circular letter purporting to be a summary of Peter’s teaching (1:1), making it accessible for the future hope of the gospel and its ethical demands accessible to those embedded in Hellenistic culture (1:3-11). The author refers to myths which were circulating among his audience (v. 16). Among the myths in our culture today is the belief that Jesus is merely human. A 2015 Barna Group poll found that 44% of Americans do not think Jesus was divine. (Neither did Benjamin Franklin [Works, p. 1179].)
The key to this pericope for our purposes is the author’s claim that he had seen Christ in his majesty and then report of events akin to the transfiguration narrative (vv. 16-18). This insight obviously challenges the myth which has plagued us since the Enlightenment that Christ is merely human. And we need that challenged. It is as simple as grasping that if Christ is not divine then God is not our Savior, a conclusion which challenges the testimonies of the Hebrew Bible. Knowing that Jesus shares God’s eternality entails that his saving work for us is eternal, that his love for us never changes, has always and will always be there for us, our ancestors, and our heirs.
Another myth we must encounter in society today (shaped as it has been by Hellenism) is revealed in a Pew Research survey a decade ago which found that nearly one in five (17%) American Christians do not believe in the Second Coming, and that sizable group entails that some of the remaining 80% may be struggling with this belief. Remarks in verse 19 suggest that the transfiguration, Christ’s glorification while on earth, is an emblem that he will come again. Laity struggling with this belief can use a testimony to the fact that God has already acted on earth in such a way as to make the consummation of history in Christ’s return plausible.
Of course, the divinity of Christ seems to be hard to accept logically. How can Jesus be both divine and human at the same time? Modern theologian Karl Barth has a good solution. Breaking with Greek philosophy and its static, rational thinking, he embraces Hebraic and African thinking to claim that it is obvious that Jesus is human, since he does all the things humans do. But then Barth argues that Jesus must be God, because Jesus does things only God can do: forgive sins, and in the transfiguration manifest divine glory (Church Dogmatics, Vol. IV/3, pp. 39ff). This is a Sunday for helping the flock better understand the mystery of the incarnation.
Matthew 17:1-9
Regarding the gospel, it is good to be reminded that it was probably written (perhaps in Antioch, since there is an ancient reference to it in the writings of Antioch’s Bishop Ignatius) for an audience of Jewish Christians no longer in full communion with Judaism. We see this both in the harsh polemic with Pharisees found in Matthew (28:21--23:39) and also in the efforts made by the author to establish Jesus’ Jewish identity (1:2-17). This story of the transfiguration of Jesus seems to be a fulfillment or repetition of the glorification of Moses in the first lesson when he came into Yahweh’s presence. And so Jesus may be seen as the new Moses. The Old and New Testaments, the commandments and the gospel, really belong together. In this regard and in other details of the account, Matthew’s version of the miracle closely parallels the version in the other synoptic gospels.
The fear of the disciples, and that they only see Jesus when he takes the initiative (vv. 6-8) are relevant points for our preaching. Perhaps the reason we struggle with his divinity is precisely because of our fear of this insight. The good news is that we do not need to overcome this fear, for Christ does it for us by grace, by his assurance. Jesus also had his disciples tell no one about this event until after the resurrection (v. 9). This entails that sermons should make a clear connection between Christ’s divinity and Easter.
This lesson can be used to help us address the myths about who Jesus is (described above in the commentary on the second lesson). This is also an occasion to remind the flock of our Jewish roots. Sermons on this lesson can address both of these agendas, as we stress Jesus’ divinity, that in his glorification he is an heir of Moses.
Transfiguration reminds us that in Jesus we see the glory of God. And we also observe how his love and forgiveness never quits.
Exodus 24:12-18
The first lesson is probably the product of the tenth/ninth century BC oral tradition termed J, due to its referring to God as Yahweh [Jahweh]. This text tells the story of a second tradition of Moses receiving the tablets of stone on which the decalogue was written (the first version appearing in vv. 3-8). The fact that in verse 9 Moses sets out with Joshua to go up the mountain indicates that our lesson is probably part of a strand independent of the one reported in the earlier verses of the chapter.
Moses being enveloped by the devouring fire (an image for God used in v. 17; 13:21; Isaiah 30:30) seems to prefigure Jesus’ transfiguration. But the text also and especially focuses our attention on the glory and importance of the decalogue. Reflection on the ten commandments is certainly relevant in our context, in which morality seems flagging. A 2013 Gallup poll found that 73% of Americans believe that moral values are in decline. Thus a sermon on the commandments and their importance can make a valuable contribution to our present (perceived) social condition. As Christians, though, we need to be sure that we use and teach the commandments properly. The text’s highlighting the glory of the Lord as a devouring fire, one in which Moses and so Christ share (vv. 17-18), suggests that we can never deal with the demands of the decalogue apart from the Lord’s glory in Christ. The commandments must be illuminated by this awesome light, in which case it becomes clear that we are not capable of keeping them. Besides being a basis of defining good citizenship, the main purpose of the commandments is to reveal how far we fall short, which is why we need a divine Christ to save us. Thus a sermon on this lesson, after condemning our sin with the decalogue, needs to close with an appeal to the gospel of God’s unconditional love, to the gospel lesson’s acknowledgment of Jesus as God’s beloved Son (Matthew 17:5).
2 Peter 1:16-21
The second lesson, though probably not written by Peter himself in the last two decades of the first century or early in the next century, is a circular letter purporting to be a summary of Peter’s teaching (1:1), making it accessible for the future hope of the gospel and its ethical demands accessible to those embedded in Hellenistic culture (1:3-11). The author refers to myths which were circulating among his audience (v. 16). Among the myths in our culture today is the belief that Jesus is merely human. A 2015 Barna Group poll found that 44% of Americans do not think Jesus was divine. (Neither did Benjamin Franklin [Works, p. 1179].)
The key to this pericope for our purposes is the author’s claim that he had seen Christ in his majesty and then report of events akin to the transfiguration narrative (vv. 16-18). This insight obviously challenges the myth which has plagued us since the Enlightenment that Christ is merely human. And we need that challenged. It is as simple as grasping that if Christ is not divine then God is not our Savior, a conclusion which challenges the testimonies of the Hebrew Bible. Knowing that Jesus shares God’s eternality entails that his saving work for us is eternal, that his love for us never changes, has always and will always be there for us, our ancestors, and our heirs.
Another myth we must encounter in society today (shaped as it has been by Hellenism) is revealed in a Pew Research survey a decade ago which found that nearly one in five (17%) American Christians do not believe in the Second Coming, and that sizable group entails that some of the remaining 80% may be struggling with this belief. Remarks in verse 19 suggest that the transfiguration, Christ’s glorification while on earth, is an emblem that he will come again. Laity struggling with this belief can use a testimony to the fact that God has already acted on earth in such a way as to make the consummation of history in Christ’s return plausible.
Of course, the divinity of Christ seems to be hard to accept logically. How can Jesus be both divine and human at the same time? Modern theologian Karl Barth has a good solution. Breaking with Greek philosophy and its static, rational thinking, he embraces Hebraic and African thinking to claim that it is obvious that Jesus is human, since he does all the things humans do. But then Barth argues that Jesus must be God, because Jesus does things only God can do: forgive sins, and in the transfiguration manifest divine glory (Church Dogmatics, Vol. IV/3, pp. 39ff). This is a Sunday for helping the flock better understand the mystery of the incarnation.
Matthew 17:1-9
Regarding the gospel, it is good to be reminded that it was probably written (perhaps in Antioch, since there is an ancient reference to it in the writings of Antioch’s Bishop Ignatius) for an audience of Jewish Christians no longer in full communion with Judaism. We see this both in the harsh polemic with Pharisees found in Matthew (28:21--23:39) and also in the efforts made by the author to establish Jesus’ Jewish identity (1:2-17). This story of the transfiguration of Jesus seems to be a fulfillment or repetition of the glorification of Moses in the first lesson when he came into Yahweh’s presence. And so Jesus may be seen as the new Moses. The Old and New Testaments, the commandments and the gospel, really belong together. In this regard and in other details of the account, Matthew’s version of the miracle closely parallels the version in the other synoptic gospels.
The fear of the disciples, and that they only see Jesus when he takes the initiative (vv. 6-8) are relevant points for our preaching. Perhaps the reason we struggle with his divinity is precisely because of our fear of this insight. The good news is that we do not need to overcome this fear, for Christ does it for us by grace, by his assurance. Jesus also had his disciples tell no one about this event until after the resurrection (v. 9). This entails that sermons should make a clear connection between Christ’s divinity and Easter.
This lesson can be used to help us address the myths about who Jesus is (described above in the commentary on the second lesson). This is also an occasion to remind the flock of our Jewish roots. Sermons on this lesson can address both of these agendas, as we stress Jesus’ divinity, that in his glorification he is an heir of Moses.
Transfiguration reminds us that in Jesus we see the glory of God. And we also observe how his love and forgiveness never quits.
