Do to the chart, the format might not turn out too good here.
I can send a .pdf if needed.
ER
The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Exodus of Jesus
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen! In today’s Gospel, while Jesus’ body beamed eternal light, “two men were
talking with Him, Moses and Elijah.” They were not talking about the weather.
They “spoke of His departure, which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.”
“His departure”: these Words do not speak about Christ Jesus going away from
us! The Words “His departure” describe our Lord’s great sacrificial act of
death on the cross, whereby He brought us out from the house of sin and the
bondage of death.
Dear Christian friends,
What comes to mind when you hear the word EXODUS? For many Christians, the word
EXODUS takes us back to God’s greatest act of salvation in His Old Testament,
when He delivered His ancient people out of bondage and slavery of the
Egyptians. EXODUS brings to memory
• the plagues and the violence God visited upon the Egyptians, in order
to tear His people Israel from their grasp (Exodus 7-11);
• the sacrificial blood of the lamb, wiped upon the doorpost and lintel
in the house of Israel—blood that protected God’s people from the avenging
angel of death (Exodus 12:21-28);
• the Red Sea miraculously torn in two (Exodus 14:15-18), water springing
forth from a rock (17:1-7)and manna raining down from heaven (Exodus 16);
• the delightful land of Canaan, just over the horizon (Exodus 6:6-8);
• and the steadfast presence of God in the wilderness (Exodus 13:11-22),
never leaving or forsaking His people.
What did God say concerning Himself during those sandy days outside the
precincts of Egypt? He said,
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of slavery (Exodus 20:2).
Whose EXODUS was this? It was God’s EXODUS. His EXODUS!
Who benefited from God’s EXODUS? God’s people did, for “with a strong hand
and an outstretched arm He brought them out” (Psalm 136:12).
God wants His first EXODUS to be on your mind as you hear His Words in today’s
Gospel. In today’s Gospel, God speaks about His second EXODUS for us and for
our salvation:
As [Jesus] was praying, the appearance of His face was altered, and His
clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with Him,
Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His departure—literally,
they spoke of His EXODUS—which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
When God says, “they spoke of Jesus’ departure,” the Word God used for
“departure” in this Gospel is EXODUS. “Moses and Elijah… appeared in glory and
spoke of Jesus’ EXODUS.”
God carefully and deliberately used this Word EXODUS to describe “what Jesus
was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.” God chose this Word because He does not
want anyone to feel confused about what Jesus accomplished in Jerusalem.
1. Jesus did not go to Jerusalem in order to depart, or to leave us. Jesus our
God has absolutely no intention of leaving us! Yes, we confess in the creeds
that Jesus “ascended into heaven,” but that was not a departure or an escape!
The Scriptures teach us that Jesus “ascended higher than all heavens, in order
to fill the whole universe” (Ephesians 4:10, NIV) and to fill “everything in
every way” (Ephesians 1:23, NIV). So Jesus’ ascent into heaven is not a going
away from us, but actually a drawing closer to us—“For in Him we live and move
and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
If God wanted to speak in today’s Gospel about Jesus’ going away from us, there
are plenty of other Words He could have used! (Luke 5:8, for example) But it
was not Jesus’ departure, as in His going away from us, which Jesus brought
about in Jerusalem. Yes, the bulletin edition of today’s Gospel states that
“Moses and Elijah… spoke of Jesus’ departure,” but the Word God uses there for
“departure” is EXODUS—and EXODUS brings to mind God’s greatest act of salvation
in Old Testament history.
2. When God uses the word EXODUS in today’s Gospel, He wants us make a
comparison. God wants us to compare His first EXODUS in the Old Testament with
the EXODUS “Jesus was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.”
God’s first EXODUS brings to mind…
God’s second EXODUS in Jerusalem…
… the plagues and the violence God visited upon the Egyptians, in order to tear
His people Israel from their grasp.
… visits plague and violence upon our sin, in order to tear us free
from the grasp of everything that would enslave and destroy us.
… the sacrificial blood of the lamb, wiped upon the doorpost and lintel in the
house of Israel—blood that protected God’s people from the avenging angel of
death.
… spreads the sacrificial blood of our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians
5:6), the crucified Christ whose blood that now protects us from the final
vengeance of eternal death.
… the Red Sea miraculously torn in two, water springing forth from a rock and
manna raining down from heaven.
… brings us through the Red Sea of Baptism to the heavenly manna of our
Holy Communion.
… the delightful land of Canaan, just over the horizon.
… assures us of our own eternal home, built for us by our Christ.
… the steadfast presence of God in the wilderness, never leaving or forsaking
His people. … gives us hope for our journey and comfort in our travail,
knowing that Jesus has not departed and never will.
As [Jesus] was praying, the appearance of His face was altered, and His
clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with Him,
Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His departure—literally,
they spoke of His EXODUS—which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
What does the word EXODUS teach us to think concerning Jesus here in
today’s Gospel? The word EXODUS teaches us to think that Jesus is “the LORD our
God, who brought us out of the land of Egypt [so to speak], out of the house of
slavery (Exodus 20:2).
Whose EXODUS was spoken about, here in today’s mountaintop Gospel? It was
God’s EXODUS. His EXODUS!
Who benefits from God’s EXODUS “which He was about to accomplish in
Jerusalem”? You and I do, for “with a strong hand and an outstretched arm He
brought them out” (Psalm 136:12):
• the strong hand of your God, laying weakly and passively, bleeding and
nail-pierced;
• “an outstretched arm” in cruciform, the shape of the cross.
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