Sermon Sunday February 3 2008
Transfiguration Sunday
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The story of the Transfiguration that we read about in today’s Gospel lesson is one of the most unusual stories that will come up over the course of the church year. I really don’t think that we can even begin to imagine what it must have felt like to be Peter, James or John witnessing all that was going on.
The passage begins with a reference to where they were time-wise with the phrase "six-days later." Well what’s that referring to?? Six days after what?? Well in the section from Matthew’s Gospel just preceding this Jesus tells His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief-priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Peter, of course famously misunderstands Jesus and tells Him that this must never happen. Jesus responds by saying "Get behind me Satan" and calls Peter a stumbling block and tells him that he has in mind the things of men and not the things of God.
And so, six days later is where today’s Gospel lesson begins. And so six days later we see Jesus with Peter, James, and John going up a mountain. But we can also see, because of the previous passage that Jesus is firmly focused on the road to the cross. He is firmly focused on what His Father has sent Him to do, and in spite of the disciple’s distraction with things of men and their inability to comprehend what exactly is going on, Jesus still brings Peter, James, and John with Him to the mountaintop.
He brings them with Him, but I am sure He figured that they were probably going to misunderstand the magnitude of what was about to take place before them. But He brings Peter, James, and John with Him and it says that He was transfigured before them and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became a dazzling white, and then suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him.
And so with Jesus standing right before them, transfigured as He was in dazzling white, with Moses and Elijah who seem to suddenly appear out of nowhere, with that, Peter, James, and John get a whole new insight into Jesus. They are finally beginning to understand who Jesus is.
And we can see this in how Peter reacts to all of this; not just in the fact that He calls Jesus Lord, but in what Peter suggests that they do. Peter says that it is good for them to be there and that if they wish, he could make three dwelling places; one for Moses, one for Elijah and one for Jesus.
With the transfiguration and the appearance of Moses and Elijah Peter seems to be understanding who Jesus is. I mean he is at least putting Jesus on the same par that he puts Moses and Elijah because he offers to make a dwelling place for Jesus as well as Moses and Elijah. And so we can see that Peter is at least beginning to understand who Jesus is but He is still a long ways away from understanding why Jesus came, what purpose He came to serve, what His coming and what His life, death and resurrection would come to mean for him and for everyone else.
Peter still had the same problem that he had in the previous passage when Jesus told him that He would have to suffer and die and be raised again. Peter had his mind on things of men and not on the things of God. The exact reasons why Peter wanted to make these dwelling places in uncertain. Maybe he simply wanted to show a sign of respect to Moses and Elijah. Maybe he wanted to have some sort of worship service with them. No matter what the reason, it appears that Peter wanted to stay up there on that mountain. And he wanted to because, like I said he was focused on things of men and not on things of God.
And Peter’s confusion is our confusion. We are also too focused on things men and not on things of God. It’s not the idea of who Jesus is that makes us uncomfortable, it’s the idea of what Jesus had to do for us. It’s the idea that our only hope of being able to stand in front of God is Jesus going where He is going in this passage; the cross. That is what Jesus is focused on. That is where He is ultimately headed. That is where He knew the road that He was on would take Him; the cross, where He took an all of your sin and death.
We don’t like confronting the reality that Jesus had to take that road to Calvary. We don’t like it because it shatters all of our illusions of ethical and moral progress. It forces us to confess the times when we love creation more than the creator, when we fail to proclaim His name when we have the opportunity. It brings us face to face with our desires for earthly wealth and prosperity even in light of all that our Lord gives us which we don’t deserve. It forces us to confront the reality that the sin that binds us is so much bigger than us and that we are powerless to it and the only hope that we have in light of sin, death, and the devil is faith in the One who took on all of that sin Himself and in the process defeated death and the devil for you.
Like Peter we cannot even hope for faith without divine revelation, without that faith being brought to us. And so in today’s Gospel lesson, we see that Peter’s self-focused plans to build three dwelling places that would enable him and James and John to stay up on the mountain with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah are interrupted. They are interrupted by the appearance of a bright cloud in which they hear God the Father say of Jesus "This is my Son, the Beloved; with Him I am well pleased; listen to Him!"
In Peter’s confusion God sends a Word. He says to Peter, James, and John that Jesus is His Son and then commands them to listen to Him. This command to listen to Jesus would have referred to everything that Jesus had said previously such as when Jesus told Peter, James and John that it was necessary for Him to suffer and die and be raised again. It would have referred to His moral and ethical teaching as well as anything else He said.
And so it is with us. In the midst of our self-centeredness and confusion our Lord sends a Word. In spite of all the mistakes and ineptitude Jesus never gave up on Peter, James, and John, He continues to come to them. And after hearing the voice of God the Father from the cloud proclaim Jesus to be the Son of God, Peter, James, and John are overcome by fear. But Jesus comes to them and simply says to them "Get up and do not be afraid." And they got up and followed Him and they would continue to misunderstand and get things wrong, and the truth is they really wouldn’t begin to listen to Jesus until the resurrection. It wasn’t really until sin, death, and the devil had been defeated that Peter had fully cast aside all of the cleverly devised myths that he refers to in the second lesson for today.
But the Word made flesh Christ Jesus refused to leave Peter in his delusions and He does the same for you. And today He comes to you in a Word. It is a Word first heard for most of us in the waters of baptism where we are declared to be a child of God, claimed by Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit. But just as it didn’t end for Peter, James and John on the mountain, it doesn’t end for you at the font.
The Word will continue to come to you through men and women moved by the Holy Spirit; through preachers and parents and sponsors and teachers and neighbors. The Word comes to you in the tangibility of the Lord’s Supper in the bread and the wine. It is a Word that comes to you and on one hand does the same thing that the Word that confronted Peter, James and John did; it points to Christ. On the other hand it is different than the Word that spoke so boldly on that mountaintop. That Word testified of Jesus and what He was about to do, the Word that comes to you brings you a Word of promise and assurance of what Christ Jesus your redeemer and Savior has already done for you. Why would anyone not want to listen to a Word like that?
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The story of the Transfiguration that we read about in today’s Gospel lesson is one of the most unusual stories that will come up over the course of the church year. I really don’t think that we can even begin to imagine what it must have felt like to be Peter, James or John witnessing all that was going on.
The passage begins with a reference to where they were time-wise with the phrase "six-days later." Well what’s that referring to?? Six days after what?? Well in the section from Matthew’s Gospel just preceding this Jesus tells His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief-priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Peter, of course famously misunderstands Jesus and tells Him that this must never happen. Jesus responds by saying "Get behind me Satan" and calls Peter a stumbling block and tells him that he has in mind the things of men and not the things of God.
And so, six days later is where today’s Gospel lesson begins. And so six days later we see Jesus with Peter, James, and John going up a mountain. But we can also see, because of the previous passage that Jesus is firmly focused on the road to the cross. He is firmly focused on what His Father has sent Him to do, and in spite of the disciple’s distraction with things of men and their inability to comprehend what exactly is going on, Jesus still brings Peter, James, and John with Him to the mountaintop.
He brings them with Him, but I am sure He figured that they were probably going to misunderstand the magnitude of what was about to take place before them. But He brings Peter, James, and John with Him and it says that He was transfigured before them and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became a dazzling white, and then suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him.
And so with Jesus standing right before them, transfigured as He was in dazzling white, with Moses and Elijah who seem to suddenly appear out of nowhere, with that, Peter, James, and John get a whole new insight into Jesus. They are finally beginning to understand who Jesus is.
And we can see this in how Peter reacts to all of this; not just in the fact that He calls Jesus Lord, but in what Peter suggests that they do. Peter says that it is good for them to be there and that if they wish, he could make three dwelling places; one for Moses, one for Elijah and one for Jesus.
With the transfiguration and the appearance of Moses and Elijah Peter seems to be understanding who Jesus is. I mean he is at least putting Jesus on the same par that he puts Moses and Elijah because he offers to make a dwelling place for Jesus as well as Moses and Elijah. And so we can see that Peter is at least beginning to understand who Jesus is but He is still a long ways away from understanding why Jesus came, what purpose He came to serve, what His coming and what His life, death and resurrection would come to mean for him and for everyone else.
Peter still had the same problem that he had in the previous passage when Jesus told him that He would have to suffer and die and be raised again. Peter had his mind on things of men and not on the things of God. The exact reasons why Peter wanted to make these dwelling places in uncertain. Maybe he simply wanted to show a sign of respect to Moses and Elijah. Maybe he wanted to have some sort of worship service with them. No matter what the reason, it appears that Peter wanted to stay up there on that mountain. And he wanted to because, like I said he was focused on things of men and not on things of God.
And Peter’s confusion is our confusion. We are also too focused on things men and not on things of God. It’s not the idea of who Jesus is that makes us uncomfortable, it’s the idea of what Jesus had to do for us. It’s the idea that our only hope of being able to stand in front of God is Jesus going where He is going in this passage; the cross. That is what Jesus is focused on. That is where He is ultimately headed. That is where He knew the road that He was on would take Him; the cross, where He took an all of your sin and death.
We don’t like confronting the reality that Jesus had to take that road to Calvary. We don’t like it because it shatters all of our illusions of ethical and moral progress. It forces us to confess the times when we love creation more than the creator, when we fail to proclaim His name when we have the opportunity. It brings us face to face with our desires for earthly wealth and prosperity even in light of all that our Lord gives us which we don’t deserve. It forces us to confront the reality that the sin that binds us is so much bigger than us and that we are powerless to it and the only hope that we have in light of sin, death, and the devil is faith in the One who took on all of that sin Himself and in the process defeated death and the devil for you.
Like Peter we cannot even hope for faith without divine revelation, without that faith being brought to us. And so in today’s Gospel lesson, we see that Peter’s self-focused plans to build three dwelling places that would enable him and James and John to stay up on the mountain with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah are interrupted. They are interrupted by the appearance of a bright cloud in which they hear God the Father say of Jesus "This is my Son, the Beloved; with Him I am well pleased; listen to Him!"
In Peter’s confusion God sends a Word. He says to Peter, James, and John that Jesus is His Son and then commands them to listen to Him. This command to listen to Jesus would have referred to everything that Jesus had said previously such as when Jesus told Peter, James and John that it was necessary for Him to suffer and die and be raised again. It would have referred to His moral and ethical teaching as well as anything else He said.
And so it is with us. In the midst of our self-centeredness and confusion our Lord sends a Word. In spite of all the mistakes and ineptitude Jesus never gave up on Peter, James, and John, He continues to come to them. And after hearing the voice of God the Father from the cloud proclaim Jesus to be the Son of God, Peter, James, and John are overcome by fear. But Jesus comes to them and simply says to them "Get up and do not be afraid." And they got up and followed Him and they would continue to misunderstand and get things wrong, and the truth is they really wouldn’t begin to listen to Jesus until the resurrection. It wasn’t really until sin, death, and the devil had been defeated that Peter had fully cast aside all of the cleverly devised myths that he refers to in the second lesson for today.
But the Word made flesh Christ Jesus refused to leave Peter in his delusions and He does the same for you. And today He comes to you in a Word. It is a Word first heard for most of us in the waters of baptism where we are declared to be a child of God, claimed by Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit. But just as it didn’t end for Peter, James and John on the mountain, it doesn’t end for you at the font.
The Word will continue to come to you through men and women moved by the Holy Spirit; through preachers and parents and sponsors and teachers and neighbors. The Word comes to you in the tangibility of the Lord’s Supper in the bread and the wine. It is a Word that comes to you and on one hand does the same thing that the Word that confronted Peter, James and John did; it points to Christ. On the other hand it is different than the Word that spoke so boldly on that mountaintop. That Word testified of Jesus and what He was about to do, the Word that comes to you brings you a Word of promise and assurance of what Christ Jesus your redeemer and Savior has already done for you. Why would anyone not want to listen to a Word like that?
Amen
posted by Steve at 10:50 PM
1 Comments:
This one just seemed to be a little disconnected-like you didn't know where to go and take it (and that is why you called me that day, right)? There are several good points in it, but it was just a generic sermon that really didn't do anything, I feel.
If you had taken a couple of those points and ran with them, it would have made it stronger. But, sometimes, as you expressed that day, it just doesn't come together
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