Matthew 17-18

Can you think of a time when you may have been discouraged?  Is that time now?  We’ve read recently in Matthew 16 that Jesus said something to His disciples that would have been very hard to receive.  He told them in vv. 24 - 25 that if they really wanted to follow Him, they would have to deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow Him. If they wanted to save their lives, they would lose them. That could have been very disturbing news.

Then Jesus said some things that would encourage His followers.  He often gives words of comfort and hope when most needed.     

He told them in 16:28 – “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”  I believe this was a reference to Peter, James, and John and an exciting event they would experience before a week had gone by.

I am referring to the dazzling, glorious Transfiguration of Jesus recorded at the beginning of chapter 17, our reading for today.  The importance of the Transfiguration is often overlooked, but it cannot be overstated.

Think about what this did for the disciples.  They got a chance to see Jesus in a different way than usual – a way that showed His great power.  How great to be on the winning side.

One writer describes the importance of the Transfiguration of Jesus in these words: “This glorious transformation of the appearance of Christ is the most significant event between his birth and passion.”

It certainly had an impact on Peter.  Here is what he would say about it some years later.

2 Peter 1:16-18  - For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” ¹⁸we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

Pastor/writer Kent Hughes puts it this way: “For a brief moment the veil of his humanity was lifted, and his true essence was allowed to shine through.  The glory that was always in the depths of his being rose to the surface that one time in his earthly life.  This was both a glance back into his pre-human glory and a look forward into his future glory.”

Can you imagine how thrilling this must have been for Peter, James, and John?  They witnessed this incomparable event.  There is more.

His face shone like the sun.  Luke says the appearance of his face was altered.  His clothes became as white as light.  One translation calls it as bright as a flash of lightning. Mark says the clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.  Luke says the clothes became dazzling white.

Think about all the comparison commercials you’ve ever seen with the detergent companies and bleach products and realize that nothing in the world could make clothes whiter than Jesus did.

Then to almost top it off were some surprise visitors.  The visitors were unusual to say the least.  They were extraterrestrials.  Moses had been dead for over 1400 years, and Elijah had been gone for about 900 years.  God brought them back.

But to really top it off were more surprises – a bright cloud indicating the presence of God and a Voice declaring that Jesus was His beloved Son, with whom He was well pleased.   

Think about Jesus’ transfiguration the next time you may be discouraged.  It was a life-altering event for His disciples then and now.  

~Paul Thompson