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Transfiguration Sunday – February 9^th, 2025 Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas Rev. Joshua Woelmer Text: Mark 9:2–9 “Seeing the Glory of God” Theme: We understand God better when we look “along the beam” of His work rather than directly at His glory. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. There have been two eclipses that have crossed our nation in the last eight years or so. I don’t know how many of you have traveled out to see them. I drove up to Nebraska on my day off to see the one in 2017. It was a marvelous sight, seeing the sun get covered by the moon and everything going dark around you. And, I’ve got to say—it felt strange looking straight at the sun through those special glasses. It’s also remarkable that in the last two eclipses, there are no reports of anyone—adult or child—losing their eyesight by looking at the sun before or after the eclipse without those special glasses. It’s probably the result of better education and a general information campaign that reminded people that you needed special glasses to look at the sun. The great thing about the sun is that we need it, but we use it to see everything else around us. Don’t look at it, but we look along its beams to see what those beams illuminate. Perhaps a flashlight would be a better image than the sun. It would not be wise to look straight at the flashlight when it’s on. But when it’s dark outside, and you shine it at the trees around you or down the path where you’re headed, you are looking along flashlight’s beam of light. It illuminates what you want to look at. When God says that He is the “Light of the World,” this is what he means. He shines bright like the sun or a flashlight in darkness. If we look at him like we’re looking at the sun or a flashlight, then it won’t be easy. I’m not saying you’ll go blind, but there are only so many words that we can use to describe God directly. He’s omniscient, omnipresent, all-good. The sun is bright, intense, blinding. But what if you look along the beam at what God illuminates. The sun shines on so many things around us. God shines on everything around us, and not just his creation, which he has formed with beauty and order. God shines on and through other humans too. He shines through history. God shines brightest through the Holy Scriptures. If you want the clearest beam of light, go there. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. If you want to know God, look down the beams of his light rather than directly at him. Let’s look at this idea in action with Jesus, who is God. Jesus took Peter and James and John with him up a high mountain. He was transfigured. The word here means changed utterly. What change was this? “His clothes became radiant, intensely white” (3). The image you should have is light shining from Jesus’ body through his clothes. Imagine taking a flashlight and covering it with a single layer of white cloth. It’s going to look like the cloth is shining too. The disciples are absolutely terrified. You would too, if you were there. They probably can’t stand looking at Jesus, but I imagine they may have been something like moths circling around a flame, not able to take their eyes off Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. They suggest a way to keep this wondrous scene with them: make tents for those three so anyone can see this divine glory. But they were gravely mistaken. God the Father comes, hidden in a cloud, and his voice booms, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (7). Then, when they look around, all they see is Jesus only, back to normal. This scene of the transfiguration is important to display Jesus’s divinity. But God the Father would have us look down the beam of light, so to speak. You can focus on Jesus’s divinity and almighty power—he certainly did a lot of miracles. But Jesus’s words are what matter more. God the Father points the disciples and us to Jesus’s words: “Listen to him.” What does Jesus say to those three as they head down the mountain? “And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead” (9). Jesus prophesied his own death and resurrection by his words. Jesus’s words open up to us the whole plan and purpose of God for you as well. The Bible shines like a lamp in a dark place. Peter had the opportunity to reflect on this moment later as he wrote his second epistle. He brings up the Transfiguration when he says, “For when he received honor 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” (17–18). But then he makes an awesome turn. You think he’s going to talk all about the glory and the whiteness and the brilliance, but no! He talks about the Scriptures, the Word of God! “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (19–21). Holy Scripture is more fully confirmed to you than what they saw on that mountain. Peter makes this clear: men spoke and wrote the prophecies of Scripture as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Put another way, you know God more when you look along the beams of his prophetic Word than you do by trying to look straight at Him. God’s Word is full of God Himself. You will do well to pay attention to the Bible as to a flashlight shining in a dark place. Peter brings up a lamp, probably referencing Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” The words of the Bible will illuminate your life. They will remind you of your sin. They will remind you of God’s grace and forgiveness and steadfast love. When you start reading the Bible, you will realize that it is not a normal book. It acts on your life, in your soul. Hebrews 4:12 tells us this: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” God will shine that flashlight or lamp of his Word into your heart, exposing the sin and idolatry in it, but also giving you warmth and love. In the end, that is God’s work for us. He shines his light out into the dark world for us to see his effects in it. He shines his light into our life to illumine it as well. We would be wise to not spend much time looking directly into the pure light of God like moths to a flame or like the disciples to the transfigured Lord. Seeking the purely bright God will not lead you to know anything about him. Your eyes will probably hurt if you try to think about God purely in his power and glory and brilliance. But turn your eyes from that, and look down the beam of his light, and walk in this dark world by that light, and you will never stumble. Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen. Return to Top \| Return to Sermons \| Home \| Email Church Office

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Transfiguration Sunday – February 9^th, 2025

Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas

Rev. Joshua Woelmer

Text: Mark 9:2–9

“Seeing the Glory of God”

Theme: We understand God better when we look “along the beam” of His work rather than directly at His glory.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

There have been two eclipses that have crossed our nation in the last eight years or so. I don’t know how many of you have traveled out to see them. I drove up to Nebraska on my day off to see the one in 2017. It was a marvelous sight, seeing the sun get covered by the moon and everything going dark around you. And, I’ve got to say—it felt strange looking straight at the sun through those special glasses. It’s also remarkable that in the last two eclipses, there are no reports of anyone—adult or child—losing their eyesight by looking at the sun before or after the eclipse without those special glasses. It’s probably the result of better education and a general information campaign that reminded people that you needed special glasses to look at the sun.

The great thing about the sun is that we need it, but we use it to see everything else around us. Don’t look at it, but we look along its beams to see what those beams illuminate. Perhaps a flashlight would be a better image than the sun. It would not be wise to look straight at the flashlight when it’s on. But when it’s dark outside, and you shine it at the trees around you or down the path where you’re headed, you are looking along flashlight’s beam of light. It illuminates what you want to look at.

When God says that He is the “Light of the World,” this is what he means. He shines bright like the sun or a flashlight in darkness. If we look at him like we’re looking at the sun or a flashlight, then it won’t be easy. I’m not saying you’ll go blind, but there are only so many words that we can use to describe God directly. He’s omniscient, omnipresent, all-good. The sun is bright, intense, blinding.

But what if you look along the beam at what God illuminates. The sun shines on so many things around us. God shines on everything around us, and not just his creation, which he has formed with beauty and order. God shines on and through other humans too. He shines through history. God shines brightest through the Holy Scriptures. If you want the clearest beam of light, go there. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. If you want to know God, look down the beams of his light rather than directly at him.

Let’s look at this idea in action with Jesus, who is God. Jesus took Peter and James and John with him up a high mountain. He was transfigured. The word here means changed utterly. What change was this? “His clothes became radiant, intensely white” (3). The image you should have is light shining from Jesus’ body through his clothes. Imagine taking a flashlight and covering it with a single layer of white cloth. It’s going to look like the cloth is shining too. The disciples are absolutely terrified. You would too, if you were there. They probably can’t stand looking at Jesus, but I imagine they may have been something like moths circling around a flame, not able to take their eyes off Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. They suggest a way to keep this wondrous scene with them: make tents for those three so anyone can see this divine glory.

But they were gravely mistaken. God the Father comes, hidden in a cloud, and his voice booms, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (7). Then, when they look around, all they see is Jesus only, back to normal. This scene of the transfiguration is important to display Jesus’s divinity. But God the Father would have us look down the beam of light, so to speak. You can focus on Jesus’s divinity and almighty power—he certainly did a lot of miracles. But Jesus’s words are what matter more. God the Father points the disciples and us to Jesus’s words: “Listen to him.” What does Jesus say to those three as they head down the mountain? “And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead” (9). Jesus prophesied his own death and resurrection by his words. Jesus’s words open up to us the whole plan and purpose of God for you as well.

The Bible shines like a lamp in a dark place. Peter had the opportunity to reflect on this moment later as he wrote his second epistle. He brings up the Transfiguration when he says, “For when he received honor 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” (17–18).

But then he makes an awesome turn. You think he’s going to talk all about the glory and the whiteness and the brilliance, but no! He talks about the Scriptures, the Word of God! “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (19–21).

Holy Scripture is more fully confirmed to you than what they saw on that mountain. Peter makes this clear: men spoke and wrote the prophecies of Scripture as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Put another way, you know God more when you look along the beams of his prophetic Word than you do by trying to look straight at Him. God’s Word is full of God Himself.

You will do well to pay attention to the Bible as to a flashlight shining in a dark place. Peter brings up a lamp, probably referencing Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” The words of the Bible will illuminate your life. They will remind you of your sin. They will remind you of God’s grace and forgiveness and steadfast love. When you start reading the Bible, you will realize that it is not a normal book. It acts on your life, in your soul. Hebrews 4:12 tells us this: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

God will shine that flashlight or lamp of his Word into your heart, exposing the sin and idolatry in it, but also giving you warmth and love. In the end, that is God’s work for us. He shines his light out into the dark world for us to see his effects in it. He shines his light into our life to illumine it as well. We would be wise to not spend much time looking directly into the pure light of God like moths to a flame or like the disciples to the transfigured Lord. Seeking the purely bright God will not lead you to know anything about him. Your eyes will probably hurt if you try to think about God purely in his power and glory and brilliance. But turn your eyes from that, and look down the beam of his light, and walk in this dark world by that light, and you will never stumble.

Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.

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