Matthew 17:1-9 (Transfiguration)
St. John, Galveston 2/15/26
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

    It’s good to be back with you today. I thank you for your prayers you offered on my behalf over the last few weeks as I was recovering from surgery. I’m also thankful, as I know you are, for Pastor Bogs, and his faithful preaching of God’s Word while I was gone.  

    You may or may not have noticed, but the altar colors have been changed for this morning. Through the season of Epiphany they were green, as they are during the long season of Pentecost. The green paraments signify a time of growth for us in the Christian faith. The white paraments, on the other hand, represent themes of purity, of holiness, joy, light and resurrection, and so, you’ll see them at Christmas time and throughout the Easter season.

    Today is Transfiguration Sunday, which serves as a bit of a bridge between the seasons of Epiphany and Lent, this coming Wednesday being Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season. The readings emphasize those themes of purity and holiness. For this morning’s message, we have before us Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration of Jesus.

    Of particular significance in this morning’s Gospel reading, at least as it relates to the sermon, is the disciples response to the Transfiguration of Jesus, and then, Jesus’ response to them. “(Jesus) was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light…a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.”

    There is, of course, an essential difference between God and man. That statement is so self-evident it hardly seems worth mentioning this morning. Still, it is the difference between God and men that caused Peter, James and John to react they way they did that day on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus appeared before them in glory, and “they fell on their faces in terror.”

    We know all about the characteristics of God that make Him so different from us. For instance, He is omnipotent. He is all powerful. He can move mountains. He sets the stars and the planets in their respective orbits, and by His shear power and benevolence, He holds them there in a mind boggling symphony of unity and purpose that we can hardly comprehend or even fathom. John Wesley, an English pastor and theologian, the brother of the prolific hymn writer, Charles Wesley, once said, “Bring me a worm that can comprehend man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend God.”

    The Scriptures give us several accounts of what happened when people came face to face with the greatness and the magnificence of God. One of the first of those incidences involved Moses, who stood before God atop Mt. Sinai, the place where God’s Commandments were given. God appeared to him in vailed manner, what we call a theophany, in this case, a burning bush. Even though the glory of God was vailed in that moment, He still commanded Moses to remove the sandals from his feet, for the place where he was standing was holy ground.

    God’s servant Job was also reminded of the essential difference between himself and God. Tempted, as Job was, to complain to God about his suffering, God reminded him of His control over all things and of His limitless power. He asked Job, “who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?” Job was reminded of his relative smallness in relation to God. 
    
    Finally, the prophet Isaiah came face to face with God. In this case, God appeared in a vision. The Lord was “sitting upon a throne (Isaiah said), high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”

    In that moment, Isaiah was keenly aware of his own sinfulness, particularly as it related to the purity and the holiness of God. “The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And (Isaiah) said: “Woe is me! For I am (undone); for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

    On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James and John, got a glimpse of the Divine Majesty and, much like Isaiah, they coward, as they fell on their faces before Him in fear. Given the situation, their’s was an appropriate response, even a necessary one. They were, after all, standing before the judge of heaven and earth, with nowhere to hide, with no plausible, or even possible way for them to give an account of themselves. The essential difference between themselves and God was amplified in that moment in their own sinfulness. As the Scriptures say, “God’s eyes are too pure to behold evil.” Therefore, “no man can see God and live.”  

    And so, there they lay on the ground, their faces covered in dust, their hearts trembling with fear. It’s a metaphor really of the plight of all of humanity, humanity, that is, without an intercessor, without a Savior. As the disciples lay face down on the ground before their glorified Lord, the critical moment arrived. What would their fate be, exposed as they were before the holy, majestic God?

    What happened next might have initially startled the disciples. Jesus reached out His hand touched them. It wasn’t, however, a touch of anger, or of wrath, or of judgment. Rather, it was a touch followed by the kindest of words.“Rise (Jesus said) and do not be afraid.”  The intercessor the disciples so desperately needed was there in their midst. He was none other than the Divine Majesty Himself, God in human flesh. The very hand that He reached out and touched the disciples with, He would later stretch out to be nailed to the cross of their redemption.  

    As we prepare to enter another Lenten season of our Lord, the ashes of contrition and sorrow will be placed upon our foreheads. We too are keenly aware of the essential difference between ourselves and God. Like the disciples, were we to be without an intercessor, we would necessarily tremble before the Divine Majesty. But just as this Transfiguration Sunday prepares us for the season of Lent, so Lent prepares us for Good Friday and for Easter Sunday.

    Once again, God touches your life today, not with anger, or wrath, or judgment. Rather, He touches your life with His grace and mercy. In Holy Baptism He touched you, as He reached down into time and space to say to you, “I have bought you with price. Behold, you are mine.” In the bread and wine of Holy Communion, once again, God touches your sin parched lips and He says to you, “this is My body, this is My blood, which have been given and shed FOR YOU.” “These have been given to you for the forgiveness of your sin.”

“O Father, with the eternal Son
And Holy Spirit ever one,
We pray Thee, bring us by Thy grace
To see Thy glory face to face.”
    
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +