Having No Fear

​Transfiguration – A                                                                                  LSB #’s 668, 666, 540:1-4
Text – Matthew 17:7
 
But Jesus came & touched them, saying, “Rise, & have no fear.”
 
HAVING NO FEAR
 
 
There is much we do in life that is driven by fear.  I’m afraid of heights so I strongly avoid them.  Being locked up underwater on a submarine never bothered me at all.   Others are claustrophobic so you dare not pull a blanket over their head.  People with agoraphobia may experience panic attacks in public settings.  Some are afraid of needles or just the sight of blood. 
At the transfiguration of Jesus, “…a bright cloud overshadowed [the disciples], & a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.’”  (Matthew 17:5 ESV)   Peter, James & John respond   in terror, falling face down on the ground.   It’s a totally normal response, for sinful creatures, to the holy majesty of almighty God. 
The transfiguration is such a supernatural event that it’s difficult for the average sinful creature to understand how it relates to our mundane ‘same old same old’ lives.  The odds are none of us have ever seen anything like it.  How does the transfiguration of Jesus strengthen & encourage you as you struggle through the challenges of your lives?  Let’s consider this:
The glory & identity of Jesus in His transfiguration are like a brilliant diamond.  It’s set off all the more dramatically by the events before & after it.    Before, is Jesus’ first prediction of His suffering, death & resurrection.  All who follow Him will have their own cross to carry, & any who would be first shall be last.   That instruction is darkness & confusion to His disciples. 
After His transfiguration, already on the way down the mountain, Jesus silences the disciples about this glorious event.  He grimly instructs them that as John the Baptist was killed so Jesus will be rejected & executed at the hands of evil men.   More darkness & confusion for His disciples.   In between is the glorious light of His transfiguration.  Yet, in spite of the lack of darkness, the event is still filled with confusion, as Peter clearly demonstrates: “Lord, it is good that we are here.  If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you & one for Moses & one for Elijah.”  (Matthew 17:4 ESV)    Before the brightness & glory, there was darkness & confusion.  After, there was darkness & confusion.   With the brightness & glory – confusion. 
Doesn’t that sound a lot like our struggles to get through the challenges that confront us?   Maybe the transfiguration isn’t so abnormal to our lives after all.  We just have to look at it from the perspective of Peter, James & John.  They were completely confused, at least until after Jesus rose from the dead & after the Holy Spirit descended upon them at Pentecost. 
 In the brokenness of our world, when confronted with challenges that seem to have no good answer, God is calling us to simply trust His wisdom & power.   Nowhere does the Bible tell us that will be easy, but the difficulty itself is often what God is using to shape & mold us for our good.  Listen to this word from the prophet Zechariah:
“In the whole land, declares the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off & perish, & one third shall be left alive.  And I will put this third into the fire, & refine them as one refines silver, & test them as gold is tested.   They will call upon my name, & I will answer them.  I will say, ‘They are my people’; & they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”  (13:8-9 ESV) 
Children go astray.  The economy changes & jobs are lost.  Mental illness weighs people down, even crushes them.  Relationships fracture.  Corruption & evil seem to flourish.  As we get older the realization sinks in of just how powerless we are to control the things that really matter in life.  Time slips away, & the good that we want to do we never get around to. 
All our personal challenges, experiences & trials are intimately known to Jesus.  It’s to those times in our lives that the Holy Spirit speaks in the transfiguration of Jesus.   While that is certainly a revelation of Jesus in all His godly glory, it is also about the transfiguration of everything else in creation.  It is our Creator’s promise to us in this revelation of Christ’s glory.  The Transfiguration is a glimpse of heaven that was given to sustain God’s children until that day when all of heaven & all of earth will be made new.   No more suffering, no more sorrow,   no more tears.   Heaven is one thing the transfiguration points to. 
You see, the world   is not merely a place you pass through, an unclaimed piece of real estate on which you can make your mark.  Rather, it is the holy place of God, inhabited by angels, awaiting an eternal re-creation where God will come & dwell again with you in the midst of all of His people.  The transfiguration of Jesus is a revelation of that realm of glory. 
It’s a realm we normally cannot see because our lives are first about the cross.  Once we are raised from the dead, then the lives of God’s children will be about perfect glory.  Yet, there are moments in our lives when God is so unmistakably present that the circumstances cannot possibly be mere coincidence.  Still, we are often left wondering what to do with them. 
Therefore, the transfiguration of Jesus also, obviously points to Jesus because it is through Him that heaven has been won for you & for me.  Jesus came, not just to suffer, die & rise from the dead.   During all those moments in life that we failed to do the good works our Lord had prepared in advance for us to do, God’s Son came to take our place. 
The transfiguration points to & highlights Jesus because God wants us to listen to Him.  That command is not a general exhortation to hear the words of Jesus.  Rather it is specific to the lesson of the transfiguration – take to heart the order of life that God ordains.  First comes humble service & cross in a world horrifically broken by sin.  Only after will glory emerge. 
Trying to reverse that order is to follow another master & leave God’s plan for salvation.  That other master tempted Jesus to reverse the order & he tempts all of us to do the same.   Our Creator’s glory is certain for us, but only according to God’s timing.  As Matthew’s hearers & readers travel with Jesus, they will be encouraged to walk the path of the cross, following after the Savior.  He is God the Son & He will perform the saving deeds His Father has given Him to do.  Messiah can & He will sustain His followers as we deny ourselves, take our cross & follow Him.   As you well know, living out that Christian life is not easy here on this earth. 
The glory & brilliance of heaven’s light will be ours one day.  That hope, that promise, that reality is already ours though for now, much of life suffers from darkness & confusion.  The cross comes first & the glory comes last, but the cross is temporary.  The glory is eternal. 
During the transfiguration, “…a bright cloud overshadowed them, & a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.’”  (Matthew 17:5 ESV)   The disciples respond in terror, falling face down on the ground.  After this mind-blowing event, “Jesus came & touched them, saying, ‘Rise, & have no fear.’”  (17:8 ESV) 
Jesus could have snapped His fingers, clapped His hands, or stomped His feet, but instead, God’s Son takes the time to touch them.  He brings them back into the present moment with remarkable grace.  Almighty Father did not send His Son into the world to overwhelm us with majesty.  Instead, Jesus touches them & speaks a word of restoration, “have no fear.” 
The next time those words are recorded in Matthew, it will be an angel & then the risen Jesus who speaks them to the women.  (28:5, 10 ESV)   Christ came  not to overwhelm us with majesty but to touch all of our suffering,  to take all of our sin,  that you & I might become children of God, reconciled to our Father,  & able to live in love with one another. 
Jesus came to take upon Himself our punishment.  He arrived to bear the eternal separation from His Father that we deserved, so He might open for us an eternal fellowship with His Father that we do not deserve.  This fellowship comes by grace, leading us, even empowering us to rise & follow Jesus without fear.   We follow a Savior who has come to touch us & awaken us to life through His light.  The season of Epiphany is about light, illumination, revelation.  Transfiguration Sunday draws the season to a close & then leans unmistakably into Lent.  Jesus comes down from the mountain marching toward the death He speaks of during that very descent from the mountain. 
The words “listen to Him,” taken as addressed to you & me, orient us to listen & watch the Lord of Glory  approach His destiny in Jerusalem.  He dies at Golgotha for our sin.   As we more fully comprehend God’s purposes & work in Jesus, His perfect love is able to cast out our fears.  Any time we are afraid of anything   God’s Spirit calls us to remember that. 
A lot of things will be changing at St. Matthew in the next 12 months, yet as Jesus touches our lives, He says to each of us, “Rise, & have no fear.”  (17:8 ESV)   Whatever is bringing fear into your life this morning, know that God is using that to provide you with an opportunity to learn that your Savior can be trusted in all circumstances – good & bad. 
Many of us have had some type of mountain top experience & can testify to their impact in our lives.  All of us have also spent time in the valleys of life where the going is tough.  At both places, & all those in between, Jesus is there, reaching out to raise us to life again & again.  While doing that, He’s also calling us to have no fear, because Jesus is God with us.  Amen.
 
 
 
O little flock, fear not the foe who madly seeks your overthrow; dread not his rage & power.   And though your courage sometimes faints, his seeming triumph over God’s saints lasts but a little hour.     Amen, Lord Jesus, grant our prayer; great Captain, now Thine arm make bare, fight for us once again!   So shall Thy saints & martyrs raise a mighty chorus to Thy praise forevermore.  Amen.  LSB 666:1, 4.