Peter and the Transfiguration of Jesus (Luke 9:27-36)

Sometimes we may think a person is great and then discover that he is far greater than we could have imagined. I suppose someone has lived beside an athlete and realised that he was better than most. But then he saw the athlete at the Olympics and discovered that he was the best in the world by a long way. But the neighbour had to see the athlete in a superior situation to appreciate his greatness. Or we might think that a military officer seems competent, but then in a war we see his real greatness. Of course, such places also reveal whether or not a person is truly great.

Peter had seen Jesus do great miracles and had concluded that he was the promised Messiah and the Son of the living God. So he knew that Jesus was great. Yet he still thought there were places where it would not be possible for Jesus to show his greatness, and one of them was Jerusalem because Jesus had indicated that he would be put to death there.

In verse 26, Jesus speaks about the possibility of being ashamed of him and his words. Obviously, Peter was ashamed of what Jesus had been saying about the cross. We know that Jesus did not want Peter and the other apostles to be ashamed of what was going to happen in Jerusalem. Therefore, they had to be shown how it would not be a disgrace when it happened. So Jesus would arrange for them to be taught in a variety of ways. We know from later chapters in the Gospels that the apostles found it impossible to understand the cross of Jesus until he had risen from the dead. Yet they were still told about it and one reason was that they would yet be the main messengers of the cross.

Instruction of the apostles was not the only reason for the Transfiguration. Another reason would be the provision of comfort and fellowship for Jesus himself as he made his way to the cross. A third reason could be to show how close heaven is to earth. After all, how long did it take Moses and Elijah to travel to the mountain?

This incident had a great influence on Peter because he refers to it in one of his letters, probably written nearly thirty years later, shortly before he was going to die. ‘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. For when he received honour 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,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain’ (2 Pet. 1:16-18).

Peter was privileged

In verse 27, Jesus had revealed that some of the disciples would see the kingdom of God in a special way. Maybe he revealed this to them so that they would make enquiries as to what he meant. Perhaps he mentioned it to remind them that they needed to know a lot more about what the kingdom involves. After all, the nine apostles who did not ascend the mountain were unable to help the individuals who asked for it (vv. 37ff.).

Peter was one of the three selected by Jesus to discover more about the kingdom of God. It is useless to speculate why Peter was chosen. As his reference in 2 Peter reveals, he was very grateful for the privilege. He certainly was not given the privilege because he was the most advanced of the apostles. None of them could be described as such. All we can say is that on this occasion he was given this privilege, as he was also when he witnessed Jesus raising the daughter of Jairus from the dead and when he witnessed Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter was shown great grace here especially after what he had said earlier about him not wanting Jesus to go to the cross.

Power of prayer

No doubt, Peter learned amazing truths about Jesus at this time. Yet one of them must have been the emphasis that Jesus placed on prayer. Jesus knew that this experience was coming, yet he still prayed about it. It is not possible to say what he was praying about. Maybe he was praying for the three disciples, that they would understand what they would see and hear. Perhaps he was engaged in his regular time of prayer. Surely the example of Jesus on this occasion is to tell us that we should do everything in a prayerful spirit. And when we do so, who knows what we will see.

The glory of Jesus

There are two ways in which glory could be experienced. One is exemplified in Moses when he went into the presence of God and as a consequence his face shone brightly for a period of time. In Moses’ case, the source of the glory was external to him. Peter would have been aware of the account of what had happened to Moses, and surely he would have thought about it when he saw Moses here.

The experience that Jesus had was not like that of Moses because, with Jesus, the source of the glory was from within him. Here was proof that he was divine. As David McIntyre put it, ‘the indwelling Deity was irradiating the garment of flesh, which till now had veiled its splendour. It was the first open manifestation of the Christ as he truly is and eternally shall be.’

Another Gospel writer says that on this occasion the face of Jesus shone like the sun. That gospel writer had not seen the change, so he must have been told about it by one of the three. The transfiguring of Jesus probably took place in the evening because the disciples had gone to sleep. Yet in the time associated with darkness Jesus made that space on the mountain shine like as if it was day. I suppose we could ask, ‘Peter, what do you think of the greatness of Jesus now?’

The heavenly visitors

The kingdom of God clearly includes the residents of heaven. Two of them came from there to speak with Jesus. One of them, Elijah, had gone there without dying, whereas the other, Moses, had died, which means that he had been resurrected later at some stage. They did not come to meet Jesus and give him news from heaven, as it were. Instead they came to speak about what heaven was speaking about, which was the approaching death of Jesus.

Peter discovered that heaven was fully occupied with the death of Jesus, the death that Peter did not want. But he also heard that heaven did not view the death as a tragedy. Instead they regarded it as an activity, something that Jesus was going to do. For everyone else, death happens for them. None of them control it. In contrast, Jesus was in charge and he was going to use death as a means of triumph. We know that his death was an atonement for sin, we know that it was when he defeated the powers of darkness, and we know that his death became the basis for sinners getting to heaven.

The response of Peter

It is obvious that Peter had been enthralled about what he saw, although it is not obvious that he had appreciated what he had heard. He wanted the experience to continue. When we think about what he said, we see that his comments were not appropriate. He wanted Jesus to stay on the mountain and not continue on his journey to Jerusalem. He wanted Moses and Elijah to stay on the mountain and not return to heaven. And he wanted the three apostles to stay on the mountain and not return back to their work.

Moreover, he seems to have regarded Jesus as on the same pedestal as Moses and Elijah. After all, he had never seen Jesus glorified before, and now he observes three glorified persons. But sometimes, seeing can be deceiving. Peter looked at a scene of glory and misunderstood it. He may have grasped that Jesus was great, but he had still to appreciate that Jesus was unique, and that not even the most prominent characters from the history of Israel could compare with him. 

So we can see from what Peter said how easy it is for us to miss the point while we are enjoying the presence of God. This experience should have been an encouragement to Peter regarding what Jesus had been teaching about his death. Heavenly visitors had spoken with Jesus about his future, and Peter does not seem to have appreciated the focus on the death of Jesus as he should have done. He is a reminder here that we can be selective in how we respond to biblical information.  

The rebuke from heaven

Luke tells us that a cloud enveloped them. The cloud was a sign of the presence of God. It is often referred to as the Shekinah, and no doubt it was a very solemn moment for the disciples when they found themselves in it. What was God going to say to them? The voice of God stressed the uniqueness of Jesus and does so in at least three ways. First, there is his eternal relationship with the Father (my Son); second, there is the role that he was selected to do when he was called by the Father to engage in the work of salvation; third, there was the responsibility of Peter and the apostles to listen to Jesus, and we can deduce from the context that they were to listen to what he had to say about his death.

So Peter, among others and for other reasons too, received special insight into the person and work of Jesus. In this experience, he was discovering again how big Jesus is. He also discovered how wrong it is to express disagreement with the purpose of Jesus to go to the cross. It does not look as if at that time Peter or his two friends really understood what had happened and what they had heard.  This may have been why Jesus instructed them to tell no one about it. Yet they did afterwards when the Holy Spirit came and took the things of Christ into remembrance.

Preached on 21st August, 2016