“This Is My Beloved Son”
Matthew 17:1-9

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
The Transfiguration of Our Lord—March 2, 2014

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Our text is today’s Gospel Reading, the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration.  In Matthew’s account of this event, it says: “A bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!’”

This is a set of matching bookends from my office.  The Transfiguration of Our Lord is like a bookend at the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  At the beginning of his earthly ministry, three years earlier, there had been the other bookend, the beginning bookend, at his Baptism: “The heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”

In the three amazing years that followed, so many wondrous things in Jesus’ ministry affirmed he really is the Son of God.  At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew reports, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching.”  When Jesus calmed the storm his disciples asked in awe, “Who is this?  Even the wind and waves obey him!”  And Matthew summarizes his fantastic healing ministry, “Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.  The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing.”

At the beginning of his earthly ministry, God declared “This is my beloved Son,” and over the next three years so many wondrous happenings in his ministry affirmed that declaration, over and over again.  But, now comes the end of his earthly ministry.  Just before the Transfiguration, Matthew says, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

The glory days of Jesus’ earthly ministry are coming to an end.  He will suffer horribly; be rejected by his own people; be scorned and ridiculed and whipped and spat upon; even be put to death, and in the most shameful way, reserved by the Romans for executing only the lowest criminals: crucified, death on a cross.

What does this mean?  Does this suffering mean that God has rejected Jesus as the Messiah?  Does this suffering mean that Jesus has failed in his mission?  Does this suffering mean that Jesus is no longer God’s beloved Son, with whom he is well pleased?

That’s what Jesus’ own disciples were tempted to think.  You see, they expected the Messiah to establish a glorious earthly kingdom, not to be rejected, suffer, and be crucified!  And so Matthew reports that when, as he had predicted, Jesus was rejected, and suffered, and crucified, “All the disciples deserted him and fled.”  Jesus’ his crucifixion created a CRISIS of faith for his disciples: For how could he still be God’s beloved Son, if he suffered so?

That is a question we often ask when we face suffering in our own lives: Am I still God’s child, if I am suffering so?  In your Baptism, God declared of YOU, “This is my beloved son.”  Jesus said, “You must be born again . . . of water and the Spirit,” and in Titus, Paul describes Christian Baptism as, “The washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”  So through Holy Baptism, God the Father makes you spiritually “born again” as his own child.  As Paul says in Galatians, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

Some modern translations change “sons of God” in that verse to “children of God.”  But, the phrase “sons of God” is essential to understand the significance of what Paul means when he says, “You are all SONS of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” 

In the British mini-series “Downtown Abbey,” Lady Mary originally could not inherit the family estate because of the British custom of primogeniture, which gives all the inheritance to the eldest son.  That British custom actually does NOT come from the Bible, or the Christian heritage of England, but it was a tribal custom taken from the Vikings and other pagans who once inhabited the British Isles.

Although the Bible itself does NOT at all disparage women, the pagan culture and secular law of that day did.  Like Lady Mary, women in the Greek-Roman world were very much second-class citizens.  They basically had no rights or legal standing, they could not own property, and they could not inherit.  Even though the Bible does NOT in any way support or endorse this attitude, such disparagement was the reality women faced in the prevailing culture of that day—just as there are many aspects of OUR secular society today that are not in line with the Bible.

So, it is very significant when Paul says, “You are all SONS of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” 

Paul is not in these verses throwing out all differentiation in this world between men and women.  For instance, Paul’s statement that in Christ “there is neither . . . male nor female” is sometimes grossly misquoted to claim that the Bible supports modern perversions of what constitutes marriage.  But, on the contrary, whatever our modern society may say, it is clear from the Bible that God’s plan for marriage is and always will be only a union between a husband and a wife, a man and a woman.  No matter what the opinion of any human judge, or politician, or even a majority of voters, that fundamental distinction between men and women remains God’s plan for humanity and can never be changed.

So, if Paul is not throwing out all differentiation between men and women, what does he mean when he says in Galatians, “You are all SONS of God through faith in Christ Jesus”?   Paul’s means that although in this world we do still distinguish in some ways between men and women, as far as eternal life in the next world is concerned, God gives equally to ALL his children the right which in their culture was granted only to sons, the right of inheritance.  As Paul says in Galatians, “God sent his Son . . . that we might receive the full rights of sons. . .  and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”  Jesus says that at the final judgment, “The King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’”

You remember the Parable of the Prodigal Son, when he returns home, “the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.  For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

In your Baptism, God welcomed you just like that into his family, made you born again as his beloved son, with all the rights and privileges of a SON, especially the right to inherit-the most precious inheritance of all: eternal life!

The Pilgrims who came to this country in 1620 were of a denomination, now out of existence, called the Puritans.  The Puritans taught that you should base assurance of salvation, whether or not you are a true son of God, on your lot in this world.  Do you have many earthly blessings: a good income, a nice house, a loving family?  And do you have a lack of earthly troubles: no sickness or other suffering?  If so, you must be a true son of God.  But, the Puritans taught, do you have troubles and suffering and want in your life?  Then, be warned, for God must be showing you his wrath and you must be not a true son of God.

We fall into that same trap as the Puritans, and as Jesus’ own disciples.  It was easy for them to accept that Jesus is God’s beloved Son when he was working miracles and wowing the crowds with his teaching.  And it’s easy to accept that you are God’s beloved son when things go good in your life.  But, what about when Jesus—and you—come down from the mountaintop experience into the valley of shadow of death?

“A bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!’”  That bookend at the end of Jesus’ ministry is meant to strengthen him, and the disciples, and you.  For Jesus, the reaffirmation “This is my beloved Son” at the end of his ministry is a reassurance that the suffering he will endure is not a sign that his mission on earth has failed, but his suffering and death is actually the very means by which his mission on earth will succeed and God will fulfill his plan for our salvation. 

For the disciples, the reaffirmation “This is my beloved Son” at the end of Jesus’ ministry is a reassurance that the man from Galilee they have followed for three years really is the Messiah, even though things won’t turn out like they expected.

And for us, the reaffirmation “This is my beloved Son” at the end of Jesus’ ministry is a reassurance that just as his sufferings do not mean that he was a failure, or that the Father had rejected him, in the same way the sufferings you endure in your lives are not a sign that you are a failure, or that God has rejected you.

At the beginning of your spiritual life in Christ, at your own Baptism, God declared of you, “This is my beloved son.”  That declaration stands sure and firm, forever—despite whatever this world may throw at you.  And at the end of your life in this world, the Father will welcome you into your inheritance in heaven, and he will declare of YOU: “This is my beloved son.”