From Vicar Linneman

July Newsletter
Vicar Tyler Linneman

Mount of Transfiguration

The Transfiguration is one of a handful of events in Scripture that is included in all three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  When that happens, we should be even more diligent in studying what happens, since three of the four gospels agree that it is worth our while to know and remember.

 Having said this, we don’t get the kind of detail that we might expect for such an important event.  For instance, we are not told where the transfiguration takes place, only that it takes place on a high mountain.  Several sites have been proposed, with the two most convincing being Mt. Tabor, which was about 10 miles south of the Sea of Galilee, and Mt. Hermon, about 12 miles northeast of Caesarea Philippi.  Neither one can be decisively supported one way or another.

But this confusion points to the significance of the text all the more.  While it might seem that this mountaintop experience would be Jesus’ true exultation, we learn that it isn’t.  Jesus’ true exultation would indeed have a definite place, namely a small hill outside Jerusalem named Calvary.  Whether Tabor or Hermon, both mountains would seem like perfect places for the Messiah to inaugurate his new kingdom and reign over all the earth like he promised.  Calvary, however, couldn’t be farther from that.

 And yet, it is Calvary that Christ settles on for his glorification.  What happens on the Mount of Transfiguration to the untrained eye looked like the culmination of the messianic reign.  In fact Peter seems to think it is when he says “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  You and I are looking for this kind of glory, one where Christ displays his awesome might for all the world to see, where he rides triumphantly into the holy city to reclaim his kingdom and people for himself.  But this is not what happens.  Not only does Christ claim a meaningless hill as his throne, he is stretched out upon a cross on that hill, lifted up for all the travelers to see, mock, and deride. Hardly the glorification we’d expect.

 But had Christ glorified himself upon the Mount of Transfiguration, he would never have taken our place.  Calvary was not Christ’s place, it was ours.  We warranted the death and grave he suffered.  But it was he who suffered, so that according to his wondrous love, we might take his place on the Mount of Transfiguration and shine with the glory of God in heaven with him.  The Mount of Transfiguration was but a picture of the coming glory, glory that would culminate in Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.  And it would be glory that Peter, James, John, and all the faithful would not simply be observers of, but partakers in, now and forever.  It is glory that we live in even now, as we receive the promises of the Word of God, and receive the Body and Blood of the glorified Christ in the marriage feast that has no end.  But even still, it is glory which we look forward to, when the same Lord Jesus Christ returns again to bring us finally, and fully, into the glory of life everlasting.