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A sermon is a manner of oral communication and therefore words and sentence structure/order would be added, altered, or deleted at the moment of delivery. + In Nomine Jesu + The Rev. Evan Gaerther The suffering of Christ was beginning with the news of John the Baptist and the gathering crowds demanding more and more. Jesus was moving towards a conflict with Jerusalem and at the same time he was struggling with his disciples. Six days later, three of them saw Jesus in his glory. Jesus took Peter, James and John up a high mountain. His appearance changed before them and the glory of the Lord shined. They then realized that Moses and Elijah were there with them. Peter, still not understanding the true power of his words that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God, suggests they build three tabernacles there on the mountain. Then came the voice, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.” The disciples immediately understood the magnificence of the voice and bowed down. Jesus came over to them, touched them, and said, “Do not be afraid.” When they looked up only Jesus was with them. They came down the mountain and Jesus swore them to secrecy until the after the Son of Man was raised from the dead. The challenge with the transfiguration story is to see it in the timeline of Jesus journey to Jerusalem. It is not best to see this story on its own divorced of any relationship to the before and after. Jesus did not take the disciples up there high on the mountain just to give them a fireworks display of glory. It was to take them from where they were to where they were going to be as Jesus moved towards Jerusalem. Traveling around Galilee with Jesus was a time of fame. Where ever Jesus went the crowds gathered, he brought good news to the poor, the downtrodden. He healed the sick and brought hope to the hopeless. This was all good for the disciples. But when John the Baptist was beheaded the cost of following Jesus started to become evident. When Jesus withdrew from the crowds to a solitary place to pray, the disciples were left with the challenge of dealing with the crowds on their own. They were not prepared for this so they found Jesus and told him what he needed to do. Jesus fed the five thousand. But again he sought a private place for prayer. The disciples went in a boat to travel to the other side of the sea on their own and were frightened when Jesus passed by them in the night. They were not prepared to see Jesus in a way they had not expected nor looked for. But the conflict of who Jesus was and what they were looking for was not nearly so pushed by the disciples as it was provoked by the Pharisees and other teachers of the law. The Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem to interrogate him. Jesus was harsh in his answers saying, “Frauds! Isaiah's prophecy of you hit the bull's-eye: These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn't in it. They act like they're worshiping me, but they don't mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy." (MSG Matthew 15:7-9) Later Jesus disciples were a little worried and so told Jesus, “Did you know how upset the Pharisees were when they heard what you said?” Jesus shrugged it off but Peter pushed Jesus further to understand how Jesus could be so bold and confrontational with the institutional religious leaders. Jesus responds that we are dealing with peoples hearts and the Pharisees are only concerned about appearances. Jesus essentially tells Peter, “I am about making a difference in peoples lives and the Pharisees are only concerned in what people wear.” But Jesus would not back down. The Pharisees and Sadducees were again pressuring Jesus to prove himself. But Jesus would not become a carnival show of signs and miracles. His healing was not to prove to anyone, but to share with those around him a foretaste of the feast that was to come with the resurrection. On there way to the other side of the lake the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any bread. As they are figuring out who forgot what, Jesus said to them, “Keep a sharp eye out for Pharisee-Sadducee yeast.” They thought he was scolding them for forgetting the bread. But for Jesus it was not about the whispers of who forgot the bread. It was to get them to get worried about the bigger thing of the false teaching of the religious leaders. He saw how their fear and accusation around the forgotten bread was a result of figuring out who to blame, which was precisely the dangerous teaching of the Pharisees, “remain innocent and blame someone else.” Jesus sought to find where they were at in following him, but even though Peter knew the words, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God.” He did not know the path these words would take him. When Jesus told them that the Son of Man would go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and be raised alive on the third day, Peter took Jesus by the hand and said, “Impossible Master! That can never be.” Jesus would not back down and said, “Peter, Get out of my way. Satan, get lost. You have no idea how God works.” So six days later Jesus led his disciples up to the high mountain where they witnessed the glory of God. When they saw it in Jesus, with Moses and Elijah, Peter sought to build places of worship for all three. Peter did not get it. He was witnessing in the person and work of Jesus the glory of God. He did not get it while Jesus was preaching, teaching, healing, and serving the people in Galilee and he did not get it up on the mountain. He was not prepared to see in Jesus anything different from what he was expecting and looking for. The voice from heaven came, they all got that. They bowed down and were very afraid. But Jesus came over to touch them. The glory of God was revealed in Jesus, confirmed in the voice, and continued in the touch of Jesus. The glory of God coming to the people was not to be for fright but for comfort. Jesus said to the disciples, “Do not be afraid.” -Tis Good to be Here- In the classic fantasy book by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, the book that the Lord Of The Rings trilogy does not cover, Bilbo Baggins and his troop are traveling through a dark, dangerous forest infested with gigantic, poisonous spiders and all manner of dark critters and creepy-crawly things. Just being in that kind of place was a frightening experience. And each member of the group, especially Bilbo Baggins, wanted to get out of that dreadful forest of darkness. As they traveled on, hoping against hope that the edge of the dangerous forest was near and not having their hopes fulfilled, one of the leaders orders Bilbo Baggins to climb the tallest tree he can find in order to have a look around and see where the dark forest ended. Reluctantly, Bilbo climbs the tree, with limbs, branches and leaves scratching at him all the way. Several times he nearly falls. Having pushed his way through the forest canopy, he is nearly blinded by the sudden and intense sunlight. It took some time for his eyes to get used to the light, but once they had, Bilbo found that it was very wonderful and beautiful up there. The canopy above him was the most beautiful blue sky and around him was an ocean of green treetops. After being in the damp darkness below, he enjoyed the sunshine and was able to soak it into his weary, tired and aching bones. The fresh air blew softly in his face and invigorated his lungs and cleared his mind. What a wonderful place to be! And no doubt, if we could have asked Tolkien's fictional character, Bilbo Baggins, he would have said, "Yes, 'tis good to be here." Now, that story is fiction, but it reminds us of a time when three disciples were permitted a view that was extraordinary. What happened on the Day of Transfiguration was real. When Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him, He took them out of the dark valleys of this world and up to a high place, a mountaintop, where their eyes would squint at the bright light of the Son of God, who would be transformed before their wondering eyes. It was good that they were there to view this special revelation of God. (Staff, www.esermons, February 2005.) The disciples and Jesus would come down from the mountain and were met by a crowd of waiting people. One man approaches Jesus begging for mercy because the disciples were not able to bring any relief to his son. It was going to be Jesus only that would continue the whole way to the glory that was revealed in the cross. The glory of God was not just the voice the came with the cloud on the mountain. The glory of God was found in the preaching, teaching, healing, and serving of Jesus. When he reached down to those frightened disciples and said, “Get up and do not be afraid.” They looked up and all they saw was Jesus. I invite you to live in the glory of God: through the proclamation of God’s good news of salvation, the teaching of God’s Word, the healing of the forgiveness of sins, and serving the poor, downtrodden, and forgotten. Live in the glory of God, not waiting for the voice on the mountaintop, but confident that you have the glory when you have faith in Jesus. Soli Deo Gloria -->> Home |