Transfiguration Sunday
Exodus 24:12-18 Psalm 99 2 Peter 1:16-21 Matthew 17:1-9 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from the God of what was, what is and what can be. Amen I’m going to use a word in this sermon that many in church consider a bad word, a scary word, a word to be avoided. I warning you in advance because I don’t want you to be so shocked that you don’t hear the rest of what I say this morning. The word is change. Deep breath, it’s going to be okay The story of the transfiguration is a story about the necessity and difficulty of change and the moments of clarity that often mark the transition between what was and what is to come. The transfiguration comes at a point of transition in Matthew’s gospel, the point between Jesus’ ministry with the disciples and his journey to Jerusalem and the cross. Leading up to the transfiguration Jesus asks the disciples “who do you say that I am” to this Peter blurts out “you are the messiah the son of the living God” proclaiming for the first time Jesus’ true identity. Jesus then predicts his death and Peter who only sentences ago got the right answer takes Jesus aside and tries to exorcise him because clearly he is possessed Jesus rebukes him, this is the famous “get behind me satan,” then teaches the disciples about the cost of discipleship. “If any want to by my followers, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.” then Jesus takes Peter, James and John up the mountain. Jesus is shown in the radiance of God Moses and Elijah appear for a chat, and Peter the rock, says ‘this is amazing, let’s stay here forever’ Can you blame him? Peter is at that point where he knows change is inevitable he sees in front of him a glimpse of Jesus’ future glory and he knows that even if he doesn’t want to believe it what Jesus said about being crucified is true and yet he wants to hold on to what was for a little longer. “I’ll build some shacks, we can stay here, the future doesn’t have to happen” while he’s still speaking they are overshadowed by the presence of God and God repeats the words said at Jesus’ baptism, “This is my son the beloved; with him I am well pleased;” and then God adds one more phrase “listen to him” the disciples fall to the ground overcome by fear. An appropriate response to hearing the voice of God but also I think out of fear of the change that has just been confirmed. And Jesus reaches over, touches them and says “get up and do not be afraid” and they get up and go down the mountain, into the future. And while they go Jesus cautions them to tell no one about what they’d seen until after he’s been raised from the dead. This might seem an odd request but in making it Jesus gives Peter and James and John a clue for how to understand their experience. It will only fully make sense after the resurrection and it’s a memory that they will need as their ministry progresses, as they take up their own crosses. Perhaps you’ve experienced this in your own life, maybe not as dramatically as a voice from heaven but you’ve had a moment where something is revealed to you and you don’t fully understand it until later looking back on how life turned out after that event. Maybe this happened in a relationship or during a loved one’s last days. In my own life I think about when I was discerning my call to ministry, this started when I was in high school and so an already difficult thing was made even more complicated by hormones and teenage insecurity, at the end of senior year I was at the point where I pretty much knew that it was inevitable but I was still holding out, resisting giving into that change of perspective in my life. And then my mentor and pastor, Susan had her 25th anniversary of ordination, she’d been ordained as a young woman in 1980, which was only ten years after the first women were ordained. there was a big celebration including a jello-salad potluck and a service where many of her peers participated, a whole chancel full of women pastors, right in front of me. It took a little longer for me to accept that I was going to be a pastor but looking back, that service was a turning point in my discernment, it was as if God were parading my future in front of me, a future that was not always going to be easy but one where there would be moments of great joy, it was a parade of foremothers, a not so gentle nudge as if God was saying “see dummy if they can do it so can you and actually you’ll have an easier time of it because of them.” Moments of transition are terrifying, because they confirm what we already suspect and are resisting. And in those moments, Jesus comes, touches us on the shoulder and says “get up, and do not be afraid” then walks with us into our changed lives. Often, in the moment we don’t fully understand what is going on but Jesus gives us a clue, says ‘hold onto this, you’re going to need it later’ As a congregation we are on a threshold, we know that how communities and people “do church” is changing and we’re resisting the inevitable change because it is terrifying to us. It’s too soon to tell what our transfiguration moment will be but I hope that our new mission statement will help carry us through this time. Our statement is: Saved by God’s Grace. Rooted in Christ. Nurtured in Faith. Serving Christ and Community. It is simple enough to remember, yet this simple statement does several things, it proclaims who we are, the committee that wrote the statement used all the information gathered during the vision process and we think it’s an accurate description of our community. At the same time it describes is it also gives us a path to follow into the future, what is important to us and how we intend to live that out. It is important to us that we are gathered together by the grace of God in Christ Jesus in whom we are rooted. Everything we do is because of the grace of God through Christ, this is the rock we cling to as other things change around us, this will not change worship and the sacraments serve to nourish our faith, which we seek to nurture and grow through deepening our relationships with God and others, and this can happen in a variety of ways, through prayer and Bible study, through getting to know someone on a deeper level and when we do these relationships lead us into lives of service, out of thanksgiving and love for Christ and our neighbors near and far. Jesus knows that the path of discipleship is not always easy, so when we are paralyzed by fear, Jesus comforts us saying, get up and do not be afraid. And walks down the mountain with us into the future wherever it may lead. Amen
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AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
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