February 19, 2023
Matthew 17:1-9

The transfiguration of Jesus Christ, God's shining glory and splendidness, was not a one-off event. Every time the Word of God is proclaimed, every time water is blessed and falls over a person’s head, every time we gather around Christ’s table of grace, and every time we act wither mercy and compassion, we experience what John Wesley called means of grace, and we are transfigured.

Many voices, too many to list off, tell us we need to transform ourselves.“Make yourself better,” they say.“Improve this so that you can...”As Jesus was glorified at the Transfiguration and set his sights on Jerusalem, we know the heavy lifting has been done. Making his way to the cross, Jesus carried the weight of our sin and guilt, as well as the glory that can only belong to the second person of the Trinity.

As he exited the tomb, the weight of the guilt of our sin was left behind so that his righteousness would be ours. And it is the righteousness of God, revealed in Christ – born, transfigured, crucified, and resurrected – that transforms us, transfigures us, from the inside out.

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For us, for you, on a hard wooden pew or sitting in a church basement… As we prepare to enter the season of Lent, as we trade the bright light of epiphany and journey toward the cross, we are blessed because we get to experience this journey in light of the transfiguration, as we journey toward the light of the resurrection. The way the means of Grace work, is they reveal to us the person and work of Jesus for us. Beholding his glory on the mountain, and then on the cross, and then in the empty tomb, that all of this is done for us, that is what ultimately changes us as the hymn says, “from glory into glory.”