Vanilla or Chocolate?  Jerk or Curry?  Argos or Tiger Cats?  Leafs or Senators?  Conservatives or Liberals?  Flu shot or not?  You’ve seen the advertisements for the Globe and Mail, haven’t you?  People have different perspectives on everything!  Especially in the diverse community we live in!  Will you listen to others’ opinions?  Are you willing to look at other peoples’ perspectives?  Though we might wish for a world filled with people who shared our opinions on absolutely everything, we’ll never have that. People have different perspectives.

The truth is that there really is no harm in having different perspectives on many matters of life in this world.  For example, you are free to think that hockey is a more exciting sport than soccer.  Some would feel sorry for your unenlightened ignorance, but there really is no harm in thinking that.  However, when it comes to Jesus, there is great harm in having the wrong perspective!  By nature, our spiritual perspective is all wrong! That’s why the Lord has given us his holy Word. Through that word, the Holy Spirit alters our perspective on Jesus. The portion of God’s holy Word before us this morning is one through which the Holy Spirit will change our hearts, because Transfiguration is a Perspective-Altering Event!
Jesus is not to be pitied, but praised
The disciples certainly had a unique perspective on Jesus. By this time they had spent two-and-a-half years with Jesus. They observed Him doing amazing things. When they added it all together – his powerful teaching and preaching, his kindness and his miraculous power, they came to this conclusion (rightly): Jesus was the Christ, the one that God had promised.  That was the confession of the disciples just eight days before this account. When Jesus asked them, “Who do you say I am?” the disciples, through their spokesman Peter, said, “The Christ of God”(Lk.9:20)

While that was definitely an accurate assessment, there was still some misunderstanding amongst the disciples as to what that meant. You see, they had been taught in their youth to believe that when the Christ came, he would unite the people of Israel, and, as a great warrior, destroy all their enemies. His rule would be marked not only by peace, but also great prosperity.

Wanting to make sure that the disciples understood that He had not come to establish an earthly kingdom, Jesus explained what the Christ would do. He told them, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Luke 9:22). The Christ was going to give up his life for a world of sinners, to rescue them from the punishment that they deserved. Jesus also told them that they would be called upon to suffer, too. “If anyone would come after me,” Jesus said, “he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

Imagine how those words must have rocked the disciples’ world! There must have been some sadness as they realized that Jesus might be right, that the leaders of the Jews were so jealous of Him that they would put him to death. Don’t you suppose they might have felt sorry for Jesus?  He didn’t deserve rejection; He certainly didn’t deserve to be put to death!

Jesus knew his disciples were feeling sorry for Him. Jesus had to alter the disciples’ perspective, lest they see Him simply as a tragic figure who suffered and died only because He couldn’t change the perspective of the leaders of the Jews. So, Jesus took Peter, James and John up on a mountain to alter their perspective. “As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.” The message is unmistakable. This Jesus is not just a man. He is God. He has all power. If he has the power to alter the appearance of his face and the brightness of his clothing, He has the power to avoid suffering and death and destroy his enemies. His suffering and death, then, would not be the result of his weakness or the strong will of the Jewish leaders, but his willingness to die for the world!

So intent was Jesus on altering the disciples’ perspective that He even brought some special guests on the scene. “Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.” If he had the authority to summon Moses and Elijah from heaven to come and speak with Him, then He certainly had the power to avoid arrest. If He suffered and died, it would not be because he couldn’t avoid it, but because he wanted to do so.  What’s more, Moses and Elijah talked about Jesus’ departure, his exodus from this world. That was clear testimony to Peter, James and John that his suffering and death was not contrary to the will of God, but completely in accord with it!  Jesus was not to be pitied, but praised!

The disciples were falling asleep while Jesus was talking about suffering and dying for them, but they woke up real quick when they saw Moses and Elijah standing with Jesus in his glory! Their first thought must have been, “This is more like it!  Finally He has chosen to use his power! This is the life we were anticipating when we dropped our nets, left everything and followed him!” But then, Moses and Elijah began to leave. So Peter threw out in desperation: “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Peter didn’t know what he was saying.  Moses and Elijah didn’t need a tent. First, they had no need of sleep or protection from the elements. Second, they were not going to stay because Jesus wasn’t going to stay! He was going to Jerusalem to die – not because He wasn’t strong enough to resist death, but because He was focused on the world’s redemption!

The transfiguration was to be, for the disciples, a perspective-altering event. They thought Jesus should be pitied, because those horrible Leaders were going to put him to death and there was no way for Jesus to avoid it. The Transfiguration tells a different story. Jesus would not die because his inability to stop the Jewish leaders, but because he wanted to die. Jesus is not to be pitied, but praised!

The Transfiguration demonstrates, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus is God. Jesus had the power to resist arrest. He chose not to use that power. So don’t pity Him. If all we do is pity Him, and feel sorry for Him that He had to endure such horrible things, we are actually insulting Jesus! Then we are seeing Him as nothing more than a mere human being. But He’s not just a human being. He is also the all-powerful God. He chose to put aside the full use of his power as God because He wanted to die for the sins of all people of all time, for your sins and mine. Because He’s God, his suffering and death count for all people of all time. There’s absolutely no reason to pity Jesus. There’s every reason to praise Jesus!

If you have seen the movie “The Passion of the Christ,” I’m sure you’ll agree that it powerfully portrays the suffering and death of Jesus. But if all the movie does is lead us to feel sorry that such a thing had to happen to an innocent man, then it has worked at cross purposes with Scripture!  While the Bible make it clear that our sin caused his suffering and death, the emphasis of the Scriptures is the willingness with which Jesus suffered!  Jesus didn’t die to make us feel bad!  He died to make us glad!  He died to forgive our sins and to give us eternal life!
Jesus is not to be dismissed, but heard
Have you ever talked with someone whose picture belonged next to the word “pessimist” in the dictionary? Talk to a true pessimist and everything in the world is horrible and rotten. Don’t their words go in one ear and out the other?  We simply dismiss their ranting and raving.

That’s probably what the disciples thought about Jesus’ repeated predictions of his death. “Here he goes again,” they might have said, rolling their eyes, “talking about how He’s going to die.” They dismissed what He had to say because it went against their view of things. They just couldn’t see how such a good man could be put to death. Though the leaders of the Jews didn’t like Jesus, that didn’t automatically mean that they would resort to violence. Add to that the fact that the people seemed to appreciate Jesus, so Jesus’ predictions of his death were best dismissed as pessimism from a man frustrated by the reception He was getting from the leaders of the Jews.

After seeing his glory, Peter, James, and John had even more reason to dismiss Jesus’ words as “pessimistic.” That’s why God the Father stepped in. He wanted to alter their perspective.  It began with a cloud. “While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.” A cloud was a symbol of God’s presence. When the people of Israel were leaving Egypt, the Lord led them with a pillar of cloud. When God gave the Law to his people on Mt. Sinai, a cloud covered it. This cloud was meant to send a message to the disciples: “God has something to say about what is in your heart.”

And here is what the Lord had to say: “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” God Himself weighed in on the matter. They were not to dismiss what Jesus had said, but to listen to Him. Why?  First: “He is my Son.” “He is God.” Turning a deaf ear to Jesus is turning a deaf ear to God!  It is breaking the first commandment.  Idolatry.  The person who dismisses what Jesus says makes himself his God.  Second: “This is the One I have chosen.”  “He is the Christ. He is the Prophet greater than Moses I promised I would send.”  Since He is the Christ, and therefore the Prophet, all ears should be tuned to everything He says!

Transfiguration was meant to be a perspective-altering event for Peter, James, and John. Jesus is not to be dismissed, but heardand believed. He is to be trusted. So, when Jesus tells us that we will face suffering because of our connection with Him, let’s not dismiss that as unfair! Yet, how often haven’t we grumbled about our trials in life, thinking Jesus should give us better. When Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God, to make his Word a priority, we cannot dismiss that.  He is to be trusted. Too often, though, haven’t we dismissed the study of his Word as unnecessary, since we know what we need to know and don’t really need to know anymore?

Because we have dismissed the Lord Jesus and his Word, we deserve to be dismissed ourselves!  Had Jesus thought about how we would respond to his Word and determined on that basis whether or not to go to the cross, there would never have been a crucifixion!  Had Jesus considered our thankfulness and our obedience in deciding whether or not to offer his life into death, there would have been no passion of Christ.  But Jesus thought only of our redemption, of our forgiveness.  That’s why He allowed himself to be punished. That’s why He gave up his life – to take away our sin and cover us in righteousness before his Father!

When we know the Saviour’s love for us and his gracious forgiveness of all our sin, we want to listen to Him.  Transfiguration alters our perspective on Jesus. We do not want to dismiss anything of what He says in his word, even if it is hard to understand, even if it disagrees with our experience. We hear what He says and we believe it. That is the key to the Christian life: listening to Jesus instead of dismissing Him. When He says that our sins have been forgiven, that we need not carry around guilt, we listen and we believe. When He says that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us, we listen and we believe.  When He promises to be with us in good and bad, we listen and we believe!

We’re ready now.  We’re ready for the forty days of Lent.  We’re ready to watch the Lord Jesus suffer and die.  Let Transfiguration alter your perspective!  Transfiguration assures us that Jesus suffered out of love for our souls.  He suffered and died, not because He was weak and powerless, but because He was strong!  Amen.