Transfiguration Meal

One way to think of the Transfiguration of Jesus is as a preview, the trailer for the full length feature. In this case, Jesus was transfigured before He went to Jerusalem, before He was betrayed, before He was condemned, before He was spat on, before He was beaten, before He was nailed to the cross on Golgotha, before the darkness covered the earth in the middle of the day, and before He died. At any point, along the way you might have been justified in thinking that the preview was all wrong. The preview was God’s announcement that this was His Son; the preview was full of light and glory but what follows is darkness and demons and death. And yet, you know what came three days later. On the third day, an angel rolled the stone away and Jesus gasped in a full breath of air and woke up, more alive than ever, with an indestructible, glorious life that could never be lost. In other words, the transfiguration was true. It was a true preview of what was coming. In many ways, this meal is a transfiguration meal. We can only see the glory by faith, by believing God’s Word, but God says that here we are gathered around a heavenly banquet. Here, the angels ascend and descend, and here we are gathered with the spirits of just men made perfect, Moses and Elijah are here along with the Apostle Paul and Athanasius and Gregory the Great and Jonathan Edwards and Gran Fran Atwood and many others that you know by name. And here, the Lord Jesus Himself is at the head of the table, the Master of the Feast, and He looks into your eyes and knows you. He knows you completely, exhaustively, and He smiles and says please be seated. You are welcome here. You are my sons and daughters. And this is the great preview of the future of all those who love God. There will be hard things; there will be darkness. But glory awaits. And we know that glory awaits because we have seen His glory on the mountain. We have heard His voice on the mountain. And we can never forget.