Prepare for Departure

The Transfiguration of Our Lord

Luke 9:28-36

March 2, 2025

 “Prepare for Departure”

You know how it works: you plan your trip, check in 24 hours in advance, get yourself to the airport, go through security, find your gate and wait to board your flight. And then it comes time to get on the plane and find your seat. The flight attendants are there to help everyone get settled in and stow carry-on luggage. After a while, the voice of the captain comes over the PA system, introducing themselves and the cabin crew, telling the type of aircraft you’re on, flight number, and route. After running through the checklist to ensure proper functioning of systems and components, then you hear those welcome words: “Prepare for departure,” verifying that the runway is clear and ready. This is followed by “Clear for takeoff,” which is confirmation from air traffic control that the runway is clear. And off you go on your flight! It’s those words from the pilot, “Prepare for departure,” that serve as the basis today’s sermon. The words from today’s Gospel lesson concerning Jesus’ Transfiguration are the connecting point: “And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:30-31). May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Today, we are preparing for our departure from the Epiphany season. Epiphany is all about Jesus, the Light of the world (John 8:12), revealing himself to the world as he first did with those mysterious visitors from the East, the wise men. For two months now, we have been basking in the light of Jesus and rejoicing how that light and love of Jesus are going out into the world, touching more and more lives. We’re now getting ready to enter into the 40-day season of Lent, which begins this week on Ash Wednesday. Transfiguration is a hinge Sunday between these two seasons. In heart and mind, we travel up the mountain with Peter, James and John, and we see Jesus’ transformation there on the mountain top. It’s all weird stuff, though: Jesus’ physical change, his conversation with the long-dead Moses and Elijah, how did the disciples even know that it was Moses and Elijah?, Peter’s response about making three booths, and the cloud that enveloped them. All pretty weird stuff, right? But the weirdness gives way to clarity with the Father’s voice that came from that cloud: “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” (Luke 9:35). As at Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan (Luke 3:21-22), so again now at his transfiguration on the mountain top: the Father confirms that this is his chosen and beloved Son. Above all the noise and confusion of this world, above all the other voices crying out for our attention, the Father calls us to listen to Jesus.

Luke’s account of Jesus’ transfiguration is unique in several ways. Luke writes that at pivotal points in his earthly life and ministry, Jesus is praying: at his baptism by John (Luke 3:21), before calling the twelve disciples (Luke 6:12), here at his transfiguration (Luke 9:28), and in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his betrayal (Luke 22:41ff.). Luke alone records the words about Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus about his departure that he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. The original word here for departure is ἔξοδος, where we get our own word “exodus.” Jesus’ departure, his exodus, would soon take place at Jerusalem where, after his betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, he would willingly offer his life on the tree of the cross, all for our salvation. Through this sacrifice of love, we have received the full forgiveness of all our sins. This was not some freak accident or terrible miscarriage of justice. No, this was all according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23). Flanked by Moses and Elijah, those towering figures from the Old Testament representing the Law and the Prophets, Jesus’ transfiguration sets the stage for what is to come.

As much as Peter wanted this amazing experience to last up there on the mountain, it was soon over. The heavenly light and glory vanished, as did Moses and Elijah, and they were alone with Jesus. Sometimes that’s how it is with us in our own mountaintop experiences. They are wonderful and exhilarating, but they do not last. Like Peter, James and John, we have to come down the mountain and back into the reality of ordinary, everyday life. Like those first disciples, we are left alone with Jesus. Whether we are on the mountain top of joy or deep in the valley of pain and discouragement, we are with Jesus, or rather, he is with us. When the time comes that we must prepare for our own departure from this world, even then we are not alone. Even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil, for our Good Shepherd is with us (Psalm 23:4). This same transfigured Lord Jesus Christ, who loves us and has given his life for us, who is risen from the dead, who lives and reigns to all eternity, does not depart from us. And so we prepare for our departure with confident faith and joyful trust in Jesus.  

In the final verse of today’s Gospel lesson, we are told that Peter, James and John “kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen” (Luke 9:36b). Why keep all of this a secret? Why didn’t they tell it to others? Jesus didn’t command them to keep it to themselves, but they did. Such an overwhelming experience might be very hard to explain to others. Maybe they thought no one would believe them. Whatever the reason was, we are not to keep silent about what we have seen and heard about Jesus. Though we are not, like those first disciples, eye witnesses of all that Jesus said and did, we are all witnesses to Jesus through our Baptism into his death and resurrection. We are to carry the good news of Jesus into all the world. Wherever God has placed us in this life, that is our mission field. Week by week, we come together to receive strength, encouragement and power for living through Word and Sacrament here in the fellowship of believers. Having received these gifts, we don’t stay here within these walls, but instead we prepare for departure to carry Christ into the world through our words and actions, pointing everyone to him. Amen.