The Transfiguration of Our Lord – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Genesis 41:37-43

In Christ Jesus, who through our light momentary afflictions is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2Co. 4:17), dear fellow redeemed:

What happened?!? If you heard last week’s sermon about Joseph being sold as a slave in Egypt, and then you heard today’s reading about Pharaoh making Joseph his right hand man, you have to wonder how one led to the other. Here’s how it happened. When Joseph was brought to Egypt as a seventeen-year-old, he was purchased by a man named Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. For a while, everything went well. In fact, it went very well. The LORD blessed whatever Joseph did, and Potiphar noticed. So he made Joseph the manager of all he had and “had no concern about anything but the food he ate” (Gen. 39:6).

If we had to guess what came next, we might imagine one of Pharaoh’s people seeing the good job Joseph did for Potiphar and recommending him to Pharaoh. That could explain how Joseph made his way to Pharaoh’s house. But his path to honor and glory was not as direct as that. First, Joseph had to go to prison. He had to go to prison because Potiphar’s wife accused him of trying to rape her. The truth was that she tried to seduce Joseph. And as easy as it might have been for him to carry on a secret affair as a slave in a foreign land, he rejected her temptations. He told her, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (v. 9).

Seeing that Joseph would not give her what she wanted, she resolved to destroy him. She told the lie, and her husband Potiphar threw him in prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. So now Joseph was in worse shape! But the LORD blessed him there too, and in time, the keeper of the prison set Joseph over all the other prisoners. “And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed” (v. 23).

Some time later, Pharaoh became angry with his chief cupbearer and his chief baker and sent them to the same prison as Joseph. After they had been there a while, both of these former officials had strange dreams one night. By the power of God, Joseph was able to interpret their dreams—a good outcome for the chief cupbearer who in three days was restored to his position, but a bad outcome for the chief baker who three days later was beheaded. Before the chief cupbearer left, Joseph asked him to remember him and mention him to Pharaoh.

Imagine Joseph waiting for a special representative of the court to come to the prison and let him out. His friend the chief cupbearer would not forget. A week passed. Then another week. Then a month. Then a year. Then two years. Joseph must have thought he would never get out. But God had not forgotten him.

The LORD now put two dreams in Pharaoh’s head. First Pharaoh dreamed of seven healthy cows emerging from the Nile River, but these were followed by seven ugly and thin cows that ate up the healthy cows! Then he dreamed of seven healthy ears growing on one stalk. Seven thin ears sprouted after them and swallowed up the healthy ears. Pharaoh assembled all his magicians and wise men, but none of them could interpret his dreams.

Now two years after leaving him, the cupbearer remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh about him. Pharaoh had him brought from prison, and he asked Joseph if he could interpret his dreams. Joseph replied that God would reveal the interpretation. The seven healthy cows and seven healthy ears represented seven years of plenty. The seven ugly cows and thin ears after them represented seven years of famine. Joseph advised that Pharaoh “select a discerning and wise man” (Gen. 41:33), who would store up grain from the seven good years, so there was enough for the seven bad years. And Pharaoh said, “How about you?”

No one could have guessed it. No one sees as God does. No one could imagine that Jacob’s favoritism, the brothers’ hatred, the selling of Joseph, and his trials in Egypt would lead to his position as Pharaoh’s next-in-command. And this isn’t just a rags to riches story. This was part of God’s deeper and longer plan to bring salvation to the world. Joseph had to be installed in Egypt, so he could store up grain, so there would be food for his father and brothers when the famine hit, so they would travel to Egypt and the line of Messiah would be preserved.

While the LORD was doing all these marvelous things, Jacob was back home mourning the death of his son, his other sons were afflicted by guilty consciences for their hatred, greed, and lies, and Joseph thought he would never get out of prison. This should encourage us that no matter how bad our situation seems to be or how hopeless we may feel about the future, that God is working in ways we are not aware of.

This is His promise, to work all things together for good for those who love Him (Rom. 8:28). No matter what evils came upon Joseph, God was there turning each situation into blessing and strengthening him through the trials for a much brighter future. He does the same for you. No matter what hardships you have gone through, God was there hiding His blessings. You maybe couldn’t see them at the time and not for a long time after. But now you see them. You know that He carried you through and worked so much for good.

In your times of suffering, you often can’t see the good. If you only went by your experience, you might conclude that God has abandoned you. He doesn’t care. He is opposed to you, angry with you. But that is not what He tells you in His Word. He promises His love, His care, and His help. That’s what He wants you to focus on—not your experience and how things appear to be—but on His promise and what He tells you is so. The last stanza in our hymn of the month says, “I cling to what my Savior taught / And trust it, whether felt or not” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #226, v. 10).

God is most certainly for you. In fact, Joseph’s story is in part your story because the promise of a Savior that was preserved through Joseph’s efforts in Egypt is why you have a Savior today. God sent His Son to become Man through Jacob’s line, so that He would make payment for the sins of the whole world. For most of His life, Jesus hardly looked like the conquering King He was. Even His disciples who followed Him around for three years were at times unclear about His identity.

This is one reason why Jesus revealed His glory to Peter, James, and John on the mountain and was transfigured before them (Mat. 17:1-9). He wanted them to have a glimpse of His glory, so they would be assured that He was God in the flesh. A short time after this, their confidence would be tested, as Jesus went to Jerusalem and was arrested, beaten, and crucified. How could that be the mighty Son of God if He took such a beating, was crowned with thorns, and was nailed to a cross?

But this is how God operates. He hides His glory in suffering, His healing in pain, and His life in death. His crucifixion was not a defeat; it was a victory. It was not a day for His enemies, but for His friends. It was not His end; it was your beginning with Him. He was on the cross paying for your sins, and then He rose to win you new life. Through your Baptism, you were joined to Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul writes that through that washing of regeneration and renewal you were buried and raised with Him. You walk in newness of life with Him (Ti. 3:5, Rom. 6:4).

In another place, Paul writes, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:3-4). So even in your sorrows and pains and hardships, your life is hidden with Christ. Your life is so tied up in His that He can’t help but know your troubles. You are a member of His body. How could He not care about your well-being?

You cannot see Him now, but He is present to help you. You see His presence in Joseph’s life when He made everything Joseph did successful through his thirteen years as a slave and a prisoner in Egypt. You see His presence in your life, too, when you remember how He comforted you through His Word, how He forgave your many sins, how He continued to invite you to eat His own body and drink His own blood. His power, His life, and His salvation are hidden in His Word and Sacraments.

These gifts are hidden from your physical sight, but your faith finds them there. They are not hidden from faith. By faith, you trust that Jesus is with you. No matter how deep the pit is, Jesus is there. No matter how severe the pain, Jesus knows. No matter how hopeless the situation, Jesus carries you through. Soon His presence will be revealed. Soon you will see how everything you had to endure in this life had its purpose in the larger plan of God.

Who could imagine Joseph’s glory as they looked at him in prison? Who can imagine your glory when they see you afflicted and troubled today? But the glory is coming. “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” On the day of His return, Christ’s glory will become your glory. On that day, He will clothe you in fine linens and put a golden crown on your head.

And then you will be exalted even higher than Joseph in Egypt, for you will join the Lord at the right hand of God where He fills all things. And no one will ask “what happened?” because all will know we are there by the grace of our Savior who loved us and gave Himself up for us (Eph. 5:2).

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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(picture from painting by Carl Bloch, c. 1865)