Scripture reading: Psalm 50:1-6.

Sermon text: Mark 9:2-9.

Movies nowadays relish the unseen hero: the person who, against all odds, transforms into a great leader to overcome evil and injustice. Most of these heroes have no idea of the power they wield until the defining moment that witnesses the appearing of their abilities.

Israel’s story contained many of these accounts. We read of a slave becoming a prince of Egypt who led his people from slavery; of a shepherd boy who rose to become Israel’s greatest warrior and king. In the period between the Testaments, Jewish history recorded the story of an elderly priest who sparked a revolt against the tyrannical Greeks of Antiochus Epiphanes IV.

Israel needed a new hero in the time of the sermon text today. The Romans had oppressed Judea for the better part of a century. The Jewish authorities in Jerusalem did little to help the common people, choosing to preserve their authority by colluding with the Romans. The prophet Daniel, writing 6 centuries before, had foretold the coming of an “Anointed One” (“Messiah” in Hebrew) who would overcome Israel’s enemies and restore the Jews to authority over the nations.

In the sermon text today, Jesus had begun His journey to Jerusalem. The Gospels make clear He knew He would face His death by crucifixion at the end of the journey. Before His death, however, Jesus would reveal Himself to 3 of His disciples, Peter, James, and John, as the leader the Jews had sought for years. Jesus would reveal Himself as more than an unlikely leader of a ragtag group. Jesus would show Himself as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the true Ruler of all Creation.

If you go to Israel today, you can find a mountain where, tradition says, the events of the sermon text occurred. Tradition says Jesus’ Transfiguration occurred at Mount Tabor. However, Mark 8 tells us that Jesus and His disciples had gone to Caesarea Philippi, a city in the territory of Herod Philip II, Herod the Great’s son. Philip ruled an area northeast of the Sea of Galilee. The city of Caesarea Philippi sits close to Mt. Hermon, the highest mountain in the area. Many scholars today believe the Transfiguration actually occurred on Mt. Hermon.

Caesarea Philippi had also served as a site for worship for centuries. Pagan Canaanites had long thrown sacrifices into a cave from which flowed the headwaters of the Jordan River. This cave was known as the “Gates of Hell.” In Greek and Roman times, the people worshiped the god Pan as well as other gods in the Greek pantheon.

Jesus and His disciples would have passed by the temples of Pan, Zeus, and other Greco-Roman deities on their way up the mountain.

Once they arrived at the top of the mountain, Jesus “was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.” Peter, James, and John saw Jesus in His heavenly glory. They didn’t see an ordinary man from Nazareth, but they saw the divine Son of God.

Not only did the disciples see Jesus; they also “Elijah with Moses” talking with Jesus. Moses had died more than 15 centuries before, while Elijah had lived nearly 900 years before. Most likely, Jesus identified His visitors afterward, since Peter, James, and John would never have recognized them.

It shouldn’t surprise us to hear the disciples “were terrified.” Wouldn’t it terrify you to see your God, talking to 2 people who lived centuries before? In typical fashion, Peter blurted, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Peter hadn’t yet learned the wisdom of silence.

While Peter blurted something out of sheer terror, God the Father spoke to declare His Son’s authority. “And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to him.’” If anything could frighten the disciples more, a voice unlike anything they had heard before would certainly do it, especially one coming from a cloud!

When the disciples’ wits returned and they looked, “They no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.” Elijah and Moses had gone; Jesus appeared as normal to them. “And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.”

The location of this event, along with its timing, point to several major truths in our faith.

For one thing, I believe the location of Mt. Hermon makes a great deal of sense because of its affiliation with paganism. While the pagans worshiped myths, Israel worshiped a living God. Jesus’ transfiguration revealed Him as a living God, the One who ruled over heaven and earth. The Church continues to proclaim the lordship of Christ through our lives and our witness. We do not worship false gods, nor do we accept their rule in our lives. At our confession of faith in Jesus as Lord, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and directs our lives, helping us to overcome the sin that ruled us and helping us to live godly lives that show to everyone around us that Christ is Lord.

I believe Jesus’ revelation also informed the disciples of His eternal nature. Remember that Jesus had begun His trip to Jerusalem, where He would suffer and die for our salvation. In the bitter days after His death and resurrection, the disciples would remember both Jesus’ transfiguration and His saying that He would rise from the dead. The Gospels clearly state the disciples did not understand this saying, but they understood it following Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

We also see a truth we proclaim as a people with a living hope: The dead shall live again. It seems many people today see death as the end, leading to hopelessness and despair as death approaches. Christians can gather at the grave of loved ones who die in the faith and know that, in the midst of our sorrow at their passing, we will see them again and live with them for eternity in a new heaven and new earth, a new creation where death shall never intrude in our lives.

Jesus’ transfiguration reminds us that we, too, shall undergo a radical change one day. We will receive new bodies for the new creation. In that day, the new lives we began with our confession in Jesus will come into their full power; we shall be revealed for the children of God He has created in His image, living for all eternity. We shall rejoice that our Savior was not an unlikely hero in a story; He was, and is, the eternal Son of God.