THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD
February 14, 2010
Deuteronomy 34:1–12
1 Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the
LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, 2 and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the
land of Judah as far as the western sea, 3 and the Negev and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far
as Zoar. 4 Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it
to your descendants'; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there." 5 So Moses the servant of the
LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. 6 And He buried him in the valley in the land
of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day. 7 Although Moses was one hundred and
twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated. 8 So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the
plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end. 9 Now Joshua the son of Nun
was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as
the LORD had commanded Moses. 10 Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face
to face, 11 for all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his
servants, and all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of
all Israel.
Hebrews 3:1–6
Luke 9:28–36
Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to
pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And
behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he
was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they
became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter
said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for
Elijah”—not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were
afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to
him!” And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything
of what they had seen.
IN THE NAME OF JESUS.
Up on Mount Nebo (in our reading from Deuteronomy), there is a death.
Moses is up on Mt. Nebo, able to look out in every direction, seeing the expanse
of hundreds of miles of land, and he dies.
It seems kind of anti-climatic. We know the book of Exodus—Moses, up till
now, has been the hero of our story. The account of the burning bush, the
promise that through Moses the Lord would bring the Israelites out of Egyptian
slavery and into the promised land, the plagues brought upon Egypt, the great
delivery across the dry bed of the Red Sea, the account of the Golden Calf, that
forty year walk in the wilderness before coming to the promised land, it has
been a historical narrative of epic proportions, all to come down to this: On the
top of Mt. Nebo, Moses is alone with the Lord, he is looking out on the
DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12; LUKE 9:28-36
1
promised land prior to Israel going in to take possession of it, and he dies.
End of story. When your hero dies, it’s over.
But what does that mean, to die?
We think in biological terms: When the lungs stop breathing in and out, when
the heart stops pumping, when the brain waves can no longer be scanned, the
body has shut down—death.
It seems so biological, so scientific, like watching the sun go down, or like
turning off a circuit breaker and knowing that the TV will go black.
When the body shuts down, we call that death.
But then we get a glimpse at how our Lord treats the death of the body. In our
reading from Deuteronomy, the Lord has come down to Earth and he’s with
Moses on top of Mt. Nebo, he is conversing with Moses, talking with him about
the promised land, and Moses drops dead. Deuteronomy 34:6:
So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab,
according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley
in the land of Moab.
When the body shuts down, we call that death. But then what do we do with
what the Lord does with the body of Moses? If Moses, the person, is dead, if it
is over, why bury the corpse, why show any respect to the body? If there is no
Moses, then this body is no longer his, because there is no “him” to whom the
body could belong anyway, and the body is nothing more than inert material.
But the Lord buries the body. There is a respect here, a reverence; there is care
taken for the body, as if the body still means something, as if Moses is still a
person to whom care and respect are appropriate.
Moses lived about fifteen hundred BC. So some 1,500 years after Moses died
on top of Mt. Nebo, and after the Lord himself buried Moses’ body, the
Apostles Peter and John and James are on top of a different mountain, and their
eyes see this, Luke 9:30:
As [Jesus] was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and
his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were
talking with him, Moses and Elijah.
There’s that body again. From 1,500 years prior, there’s that body. Moses and
Elijah weren’t spirits, they weren’t ghosts, because that’s the point of spirits,
they’re spirits, they don’t have bodies, you can’t see them, because there’s
nothing material there to see.
DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12; LUKE 9:28-36
2
But Peter and John and James did see Moses and Elijah, because Moses and
Elijah had bodies, living bodies: Moses, though he had been dead hundreds of
years, was standing there with Jesus conversing with him. And to engage in a
conversation, it takes a body—you have to have bodily ears to hear and a throat
and tongue to form up words and speak them out.
Which means, Moses wasn’t dead.
And that body that the Lord put into the ground some 1,500 years ago, it now
stands.
Which means, we may think differently about what death is. Our world thinks
of death as a biological fact of recognizing when the body shuts down, and
certainly, to our eyes, that is death.
But with the Lord, there is life. Moses stands, in his body, speaking with Jesus.
In the Church’s liturgy, in the burial service, there are the prayers commending
the one who has died to the Lord. Before the body is put into the ground, the
pastor speaks this commendation invoking the Name of the Lord:
May God the Father, who created this body;
may God the Son, who by his blood redeemed this body;
may God the Holy Spirit, who by Holy Baptism sanctified this body to
be his temple, keep these remains to the day of the resurrection of all
flesh.
The body, created, and redeemed, and forgiven and sanctified, the body is then
buried. There is a care for the body here, a reverence; for the recognition is not
only that this body was created by God, and redeemed and sanctified by him,
but will be also resurrected by him.
Today we spoke the Nicene Creed, where, in the third Article, we said,
I believe in the resurrection of the dead.
When we were baptized, the Christians around us spoke the Apostles’ Creed,
where, in the third Article, the words are,
I believe in the resurrection of the body.
The dead are raised up, the body resurrected—with this Lord, with his cleansing
of Baptism, there is no death.
The Mt. of Transfiguration gives us a picture of life. In this world of death—
DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12; LUKE 9:28-36
and Moses knew death, for in his lifetime he saw many people die, including all
those Egyptians; and Elijah, too, knew death, for he, too, saw many people die,
some violently, some peacefully—in this world of death, where we, too, see the
ravages of death, there is life. That’s the Mt. of Transfiguration, where Jesus
stands with Moses and Elijah, two living men, brothers to you and me in the
faith, brothers in life.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus is on his way to the cross. He will
shortly be handed over to the chief priest and to Pilate, where he will willingly
give himself for the redemption of all sinners.
But on the way to the cross, he stands on the mountain with Moses and Elijah,
and with Peter and John and James.
It is a picture of life. Moses had died some 1,500 years before, but he was
always living before the face of God, whether in his life here on Earth, or, after
that, in Heaven. Peter, John, and James, it’s the same for them. They too will
die within the next few decades, but each are always living before the face of
God.
Moses and Elijah, Peter, John, and James, we are included in that company. The
body dies, but there is no death for the one who stands before the Lord, no death
for the one whose body has been created by the Father, redeemed by the Son,
and sanctified in Holy Baptism by the Holy Spirit.
Moses, his body was cared for by the Lord, given respectful burial. The Lord
loves our bodies, our lives, our whole persons. He loves what he has created us
to do in our bodies, to take care of the Earth, to enjoy the animals, to find
pleasure in eating food, in drinking wine, to serve our neighbor, to love one
another.
And when we have brought shame upon our bodies by our sin, our Lord
cleanses them, sanctifies our whole life, by speaking us forgiven and honoring
us with his Name, and even giving his Body and Blood into our bodies—so
deep is his love for us.
On Mt. Nebo, the Lord cared for Moses’ body, for he loved Moses and did not
despise his body.
Our Lord cares for our bodies, for he loves us, forgives us, and promises to
never depart us.
That is life.
Not just biological life of heart pumping and brain functioning, but true life, life
before the face of God, life eternal, along with Moses and Elijah, but always by
virtue of being created by God the Father, being redeemed by our Lord Jesus,
DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12; LUKE 9:28-36
and by being cleansed and sanctified the Holy Spirit for life before the face of
God.
IN THE NAME OF JESUS.
DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12; LUKE 9:28-36