“Can’t the Glory Last?”
Mark 9:2-9
2/22/09
So, here we are again. It’s Sunday, and
many of you who are here today were here last Sunday, just seven days
ago. Six days have passed since then, and now you’re here
again. What brought you back? It was six days after
Jesus’ last discourse with His disciples when He took Peter,
James, and John with Him up to a high mountain by themselves where He
was transfigured before them and showed them His glory. The day
on which this occurred was the seventh day. In the O.T. the
seventh day was a day for laying aside regular work in order to give
oneself over to the hearing of the Word of God. It was the day of
worship, the Jewish Sabbath, our Sunday. It was a day for the
refreshing of the soul, a day for receiving God’s gifts of
forgiveness, life, and salvation and for responding to such gifts with
praise and thanksgiving.
And that’s where we are today. After six
days of work we have come to receive the rest that God gives us in
Christ, a rest that not only relieves us of physical labor temporarily,
but which permanently relieves us from the labor of having to work for
our salvation and from the burdens of sin and death. During the
last six days these burdens may have felt particularly heavy to
you. Perhaps you felt the weight of some sin and the guilt that
goes along with it bearing down especially hard upon you. Maybe
it was the burden of some physical ailment that has had you doubled
over in pain, robbing you not only of any bodily comfort, but also the
comfort and peace of mind that comes by faith in God’s
promises. Perhaps the burdens you bore in the last six days were
the burdens of worry, demonic oppression, doubt, disbelief, or
despair. You lost a job, a child got sick, damage was done to
your possessions, you lost income, a loved one is dying. But now
you’re here, after the six days, to be alone with Jesus, like
these disciples were, in order to worship Him, to behold Him in His
glory, to sit in His presence, receive His gifts, and hear His Word, in
order to be relieved of your burdens. With Peter we say,
“It is good to be here.”
But if it’s good to be here, why can’t
we stay? Why do we have to wait another six days to come here
again? Why do we have to leave this mountain and go back down
into the valley, where those same burdens that we bore in the last six
days are waiting to crush us again? Why can’t we just sit
here in the presence of the Lord, listen to His Word, and enjoy His
glory until He comes again?
We must go down because the Lord goes down, and He
tells us to follow Him. Jesus had to go down, in order to make it
so that we could one day abide in His glorious presence forever.
On the Mt. of Transfiguration Jesus gave these disciples a glimpse of
this glory before He had to head down the mountain to go to the
cross. The experience on the Mt. of Transfiguration was a
temporary one, and it had to be, because at the appearance of
Christ’s glory the disciples were terrified. And
that’s what God’s glory does to sinners - it terrifies
them. Although glory is what we all think we want from God, if
our sin isn’t dealt with, all that that glory will do is terrify
us. We can’t stand in the presence of God’s glory in
our sin. In order to make it so that we could stand in His
glorious presence, Jesus had to go to the cross to give His life as the
sacrifice for our sins. On Mt. Calvary Jesus’ glory was
revealed behind His suffering and death, as He shed His blood to atone
for our sins. With that blood having been applied to you in your
Baptism, you can now stand in God’s glorious presence without
fear. God’s glory is now no cause for you to be
terrified. God’s wrath will not touch us, because Jesus
took it all upon Himself at Calvary. But we must still now follow
Jesus down this mountain, where we behold His glory, into the valleys,
in order that we might die with Jesus to the sins and lusts that plague
us daily. Though Jesus’ cross alone atones for our sins, we
must bear our own crosses, so that our sinful flesh might be put to
death. We must go down from here into the valleys of life, into
the six days between Sundays, because that’s where the Lord is
working to conform us into His image through the sufferings of this
life, using the fiery trials that come upon us to remove the impurities
that still cling to us.
But when you leave this mountain today you
don’t go down into the valleys alone. Jesus doesn’t
stay here; He goes with you. Even though you walk through the
valley of the shadow of death you need not fear any evil, for His is
with you and His rod and His staff comfort you. And here in this
place He relieves your burdens and refreshes you with the forgiveness
of your sins, strengthening you with the heavenly food of His body and
blood, so that you might be able to bear the cross that you must carry
during the rest of the week. With the vision of the Lord’s
glory that you are given here in His Word and Sacraments you are able
to stand and not faint as you go from one Lord’s Day to the
next. Here you see Jesus as He comes to you in the radiant white
garments of His righteousness with which He clothes you. With
angels, archangels, Moses, Elijah, and all the company of heaven we
laud and magnify His glorious Name together. We hear Him speak to
us through His Word, telling us that our sins are forgiven, that we
have eternal life, that He is with us always, that nothing can separate
us from His love, that nothing can snatch us out of His hand, that even
though we die He will raise us up on the last day. This is the
glory that we are given to see in His service to us here today.
When Peter saw the Lord’s glory, he got a
little carried away. Not only did he want this experience to
last, but in his excitement he made the mistake of putting Jesus on the
same level as Moses and Elijah. Not that he did this
intentionally, but that’s often what the longing for glory does
to us. It’s like a drug that helps us escape from the cross
of everyday life and its burdens, and the devil takes advantage of the
situation and tries to lure us away from Christ by offering us things
that look glorious, but in reality steer us away from listening to
Jesus to listening to angels, visions, dreams, or even our
emotions. God doesn’t want us to be carried away by visions
of glory. Instead, He wants us to keep our eyes and ears tuned
into Jesus, whether we’re experiencing glory or the cross.
Jesus gave His disciples a look at His glory, so that when they went
down the mountain with Him to the cross, they wouldn’t be
deceived by false glories and false christs that would present
themselves. The devil would have you believe that when
you’re suffering, the glory has departed; Jesus isn’t
around. Better look elsewhere for glory. But this is not
true. Just because things look bad for you and all you can see is
pain, sorrow, sin, and death, the same glory you see here in this place
goes with you, hidden behind the crosses of life to be sure, but
present with you nonetheless. You have the Lord’s Word on
it. He will never leave you or forsake you, and He causes all
things to work together for your good. And so the Father speaks
from heaven and says, “This is my beloved Son; listen to
Him.” When you can no longer see or experience glory,
continue to listen to Jesus. His Word will never fail.
The Christian life is for the most part not a very
attractive kind of life. We’re kidding ourselves if we
think that we’ll avoid tribulation in this life by becoming a
Christian. Jesus even promises us tribulation in this world, but
He also promises that He has overcome the world. There may be
other things in this world that look more exciting, more glorious than
going to church. The devil and the world have all kinds of
alternatives to the glory of God, but none of them lead to
Christ. The only thing that will sustain you as you go through
the next six days is the Word of Jesus. Listen to Him. Take
the Word you hear today with you as you descend from here to the
cross. Remember that the disciples would see the Lord’s
glory again after His resurrection from the dead. You, too, will
see that glory when you yourself are glorified at your own resurrection
and taken to the eternal glory of heaven to live in the Lord’s
presence forever.
In the meantime, you’re not limited to
listening to Jesus only on Sundays. Everyday is a Sabbath rest
for the one who is in Christ. Luther remarks that every day that
a Christian occupies himself with God’s Word and carries it in
his heart and on his lips is a holy day, a holiday, a day of rest, even
while the burdens of this life threaten to take you down.
It’s in God’s Word that you’ll see the glory of
Christ and be refreshed and sustained until the next time you come to
this place to worship Him with the rest of His people, being forgiven
by Him with His words of absolution and fed by Him at His Table.
Today in God’s Word we are given a glimpse of
the Lord’s glory again as we see Him transfigured before Peter,
James, and John. We celebrate the Transfiguration of our Lord on
the last day of the Epiphany season, because now we are entering into
the season of Lent. This season is a valley experience (if you
will) in the life of the Church, because during this time we make our
way with Jesus as we follow Him to the cross. It is a season for
repentant reflection on the part of the Church, as we humble ourselves
and consider what our sins cost our Lord. The Transfiguration
reminds us that we, like Peter, James, and John, deserve to be
terrified before the Lord on account of our sins and that we have every
reason to fear His wrath. But the Transfiguration also reminds us
that Jesus is God Himself in the flesh and that He came in order to
remove our sin and guilt far from us, so that we could stand in His
glorious presence now and forever without fear. Finally, the
Transfiguration reminds us that our glorious Lord has conquered all
that would seek to separate us from Him. It shows us that because
sin, death, and the devil could not overcome Him, they cannot overcome
you. The glory that you see Him with here in His Word you will
see with your own eyes, when you yourself are glorified on the last day
and enter into that glory. There you with Moses, Elijah, and all
the saints will enjoy an eternal 7th Day rest, an eternal divine
service, receiving the Lord and His gifts with thanks and praise
forever. Have a blessed rest in the Lord! Amen.