“This is My Son, My Chosen One"

Luke 9:28-50 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹ And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming. ³⁰ And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, ³¹ who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ³² Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him. ³³ And as these were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not realizing what he was saying. ³⁴ While he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” ³⁶ And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen…

⁴⁶ An argument started among them as to which of them might be the greatest. ⁴⁷ But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side, ⁴⁸ and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”

 And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming. ³⁰ And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah,      That’s the power of prayer, the power to bring heaven and earth together. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is at hand. When we pray as Jesus taught us to pray, we can, like Jesus bring the realities of the kingdom of heaven here to earth. When that happens things appear different, they are as they are in the heavenly realm. Jesus appearance was white and gleaming. This passage of scripture is called the transformation, but the reality is, what really happened is that the eyes of Peter, John and James were opened to see things as God sees them, to see into the heavenly realm.

When we are in the heavenly realm, not only do we see as God sees, but we are also able to hear God’s voice. The text says:    a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!”     When Jesus was baptized the same voice was heard, Matthew 3:16-17 says: After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, ¹⁷ and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”      It is only in and through Christ that we too can enter into the heavenly realm. Hebrews 4:14-16 says:   Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.   Because of Christ, because of the finished work of the cross we can come boldly to the throne of grace, boldly into the presence of God the Father and Jesus.

There too, in the throne room, God sees us, through the finished work of the cross, as we are, transformed as Jesus was, God sees us as holy and righteous in Christ and God says of us, as He said of Jesus, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”  Jesus gave us a critical instruction when He commissioned the disciples and us in Matthew 28, He says:   “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you     Disciples, followers of Christ are to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The baptism of believers, while it may in part be symbolic, is something Jesus commanded because in that baptism a believer is joined to Christ. Jesus was crucified for our sins. We join Him in His crucifixion, dying to sin when we profess that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and we are baptized. We also receive, as Jesus did when He was baptized, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables us to walk in the realities of the kingdom of heaven. Romans 8:11 says: But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

In verses 46-47, the end of today’s text, we see  the mistake we, like the disciples, often make. We, like they, concern ourselves with rank and position, asking or debating, as they did, which of them (us) might be the greatest. Jesus said of John the Baptist:    Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Matthew 11:11) In today’s text Jesus used the example of a child saying:   “the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”  We should not concern ourselves with the rank and position of men, rather as children of God, we should seek only the opinion of our Father, our Father who says:  “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”  What opinion of man can affect us when we hear and know the opinion of the Father, how He sees us in Christ.  We are His beloved, in Christ He sees us here on earth as we are in heaven, redeemed, reconciled and restored. He is pleased with us.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior; precious Holy Spirit thank You that through the cross I am redeemed, reconciled and restored. Thank You that through the cross I can enter boldly to the throne of grace, I can hear the voice of my Father and I can see as You see. Thank You that through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit I can walk in the fullness of the realities of heaven here on earth. I can walk in all that You have provided for me as Your child, Your beloved.    Amen.