The Tipping Point (Matthew 17:1-9)

The Tipping Point (Matthew 17:1-9)

I fancy myself a student of business, I ought to be, I have 2 degrees in the subject, but in business, and in other subjects there is something called the tipping point. A tipping point is defined as “the point at which a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change.” When water is heated to 99 degrees Fahrenheit, you don’t see much going on with the water, but add one more degree, you see the water boil. That single degree of additional heat could be considered the tipping point. 

The Battle of Britain in World War II was a tipping point, it was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, Germany failed to destroy Britain’s air defenses in that battle and gave Germany their first major defeat, showed that they were vulnerable, and that the allied forces could win the war, the battle of Britain was a tipping point. There have been several television shows that aired on television, got cancelled, but so many people watched the syndicated reruns, that the shows would be brought back with new episodes. The reruns would generate enough interest, a tipping point to get them back into popularity. The story of the Transfiguration, in my humble opinion is a tipping point; it is an event that happens after many other events that gets us heading towards the cross, and the Passion of our Lord and savior. What happens on that mountain sets us toward events of things to come.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, often called the gospel of the church, because it is favorable to the church. Jesus only explicitly talks about the church twice and you find them in the Gospel according to Matthew. In this gospel the disciples “get it” they understand what Jesus is saying, they comprehend what he is talking about all the time. Matthew is where we find Jesus fulfilling a lot of the prophecies of the Messiah from the Hebrew Scriptures, and that is why we hear of this transfiguration of Jesus. This event happens in the three synoptic gospels Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke 9:28-36 and the transfiguration is referred to in 2^nd Peter 1:1-18. This is a tipping point, or turning point in the ministry of Jesus.

The text says that Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John, Jesus was a man of the people, sometimes he was with the multitude, sometimes he was with the twelve, but some other times he was with Peter, James, and John. Yes we ought to be Christians in community, but even Jesus had to get away with his inner circle from time to time. Furthermore sometimes-even Jesus would need to be alone with just him and the Father. Here Jesus is not with the multitude, or the 70, not with the twelve, it is just Jesus, Peter, James, and John. The Gospel according to Mark points out those four together often, but this is the first time we see it in Matthew. Who we keep close to us is very important. Many people believe that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with or the average of our five closest friends. Because of that I will be looking to spend some time with Bill Gates, Bob Johnson, Our nation’s President  (Barrack Obama), Michael Jordan, and Warren Buffet. Who we spend our time with is important, so is what we spend our time on.

That term transfigured literally means metamorphosed in the Greek, and we use metamorphosis often, we use it to describe a change. There are plenty of organisms that go through metamorphosis in their respective life cycles; tadpoles become frogs, some fish change from saltwater to freshwater, caterpillars become butterflies. The thing about metamorphosis that we may not understand is in our mind, that is the exact same organism, but biologically, parts, or almost the entire first animal had to die to go through the change and give you what you see in its changed state. The same thing is true about us in this walk with Christ, in order to get some real change, we have to do more than go to a conference, or listen to a song about change, some things in us have to die, we cannot be the same after experiencing Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NRSV)

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. ¹⁷ So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Jesus was changed when he was transfigured, the radiance and brightness that shined like the sun.

They show Jesus in the text with Moses and Elijah, that is important, Matthew thought about who was going to be reading and hearing this, the church, the more organized, those who were looking for Jesus to fulfill the prophecy, this is here to let you know, not only is Jesus in line with the prophets, but he is the fulfillment of the prophets. Just like the prophets Moses and Elijah, who were originally rejected by the people, then vindicated later by God, Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected and will become the chief cornerstone.

Then a voice came from the cloud and said, This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” Where have we heard that before? Matthew 3:17, Matthew is about tying up loose ends in my opinion. Mark got right to the point, Matthew wants to stay and tarry a little while, Matthew likes to unpack the story of Jesus a little more he was telling the story of Jesus to those who knew a little something about scripture and would be looking to see some things from Jesus that spoke to their soul. Not only that, but with Matthew the way you start is the way you finish. If you didn’t hear God the first time telling you about his son, let me tell you again. We look at this differently then they did, we already know Jesus is the Son of God, but during their time, the disciples, and the people of the scripture, they are still learning.

While they are still learning, they are caught up in the glory of God; they are overcome fear the text says. But even in being overcome by fear, this is why I love Jesus; the text says Jesus came to them. If Jesus can come to them, then I think it is ok to think that Jesus may come to me. Who am I that he is mindful of me, who am that He might touch me and speak to me, and that I can form a relationship with him. Who am I that Jesus would think that much of me, I don’t deserve it but yet he did it just for me. We serve a God, a risen savior that is willing to come to us.

After the transfiguration, they came down the mountain; Jesus told them “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” Jesus knew what was coming, he knew that he had to show his passion. He knew that he had to go through some pain

Isaiah 53:5-7 (NKJV)

⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

He knew he had to be whipped all night long, he had to be whipped with a cat of nine tails just for you and me, he had to pierced in his side, be given gall for food and vinegar for drink. They had to cast lots (gamble) for his clothes, had to wear a crown of thorns, and carry a cross to Golgotha, the place of the skull, or Calvary, he knew he had to get on that cross, but not just him, our sins had to get on that cross too, and he had to die. He had to die, so that we could avoid death, hell and the grave, he did all that for us. For you and for me, but most importantly he got up, three days later he got up with all power in his hand, so that whosoever believes in him will not have death but everlasting life. The transfiguration was the tipping point, the tipping point that took us towards victory on the cross.