What is your response to God’s blessing and promise? - Sermon Lent 2B

Listen to the gospel and sermon here.

Genesis 17:1-16

17When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. ²And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” ³Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,

⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.

⁷I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. ⁸And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.” ⁹God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹²Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. ¹³Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

Mark 8:31-38

³¹Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

What is your response to God’s blessing and promise?   As a disciple of Christ...as a member of the body of Christ...as a child of God blessed by God….what is our response?

Let me be clear, God has blessed us, in the waters God promises to rename us as a child of God, grafting us into the eternal promise of prosperity, and everlasting life through Jesus Christ.  God blesses us with unconditional love, promises grace upon grace, blesses us with forgiveness and mercy, promises life to all who believe.  So I was just curious, what is our response to God’s blessing and promise.

Perhaps it is more occasionally appropriate to ask, How is your relationship with God this Lenten season?  Have you found yourself at all challenged?  And as a result growing?  Has Lent challenged you to confront uncomfortable sins or temptations in your life?  Reevaluate the priorities of this world?  Or has Lent compelled you to confess that you’d rather not have your faith challenged during Lent?  Regardless, Lent is an appropriate season not only for introspection and self-examination, but more so for dwelling how God is or isn’t present in your life.   Lent is a good time to ask not only how is your relationship with God, but in what ways are you responding to the blessings and promises God has bestowed on us through Jesus Christ?  

I don’t mean to be so heavy this morning, but our texts are rich with responses to God’s blessing and promise.  And all of these questions and pressure points simmer down to our Spirit-empowered response to God’s blessing and promise.  Make no mistake...God has promised.  God has blessed and continues to bless. Therefore every aspect of our lives is a response to this promise and blessing.  

Enter Abram and Sarai in our story from Genesis this morning.   Abram and Sarai met God several chapters ago when God told Abram to “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”  And with his wife, nephew, and servants, Abram went.  At seventy five-years old he went.  Destination unknown, but off they went because in that convestation God promises to bless Abram.  His initial response to God’s promised blessing was a faithful and fully God-dependent response.

This morning’s story happens almost 25 years later.  Abram and Sarai have wandered and waited, not so patiently, but they’ve waited.  Throughout their waiting they’ve had their struggles.  They often question God or force matters into their own hands.    

And so in today’s text Abram is all but convinced that he will die of old age before God’s promise is fulfilled.  His only son is illegitimate through his servant Hagar and at 90 and 99 years old, he and Sarai have no descendants.  So this morning God speaks a covenant to Abram and Sarai.  The covenant is one of land and descendants...an exceedingly fruitful and numeran nations.  From which a king shall come.  An everlasting covenant to be God to him and to his descendants after him.  In this covenant, as a sign of God’s promise, God gives Abram a new name.  Abraham, meaning “father of many.”  and to Sarai, Sarah, meaning princess.  Of course they go on to laugh at God and welcome their son Isaac a year later.  Isaac becomes the father of Jacob, and Jacob is later named Israel, the father of the 12 tribes.  The covenant fulfilled.

This is the blessing and promise given to Abraham and Sarah.  Despite their old age, faithful struggles, flawed choices in their wandering, God remains faithful to God’s promise.   Their response is admirable.  

In the gospel of Mark today Jesus begins to teach that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and death so that he might rise three days later.   In this familiar passage Peter is less than happy with Jesus’ teaching and Peter rebukes Jesus.  Jesus, of course, calls Peter satan and instructs Peter to get behind him.  For Peter is setting his mind not on divine things, but on human things. 

As a disciple of Christ, it seemed completely asinine to Peter that Jesus, the supposed Messiah, would suffer and die.  

In his book, The book of God, Walter Wangerin describes the exchange from Peter’s perspective.  He writes,  “Jesus knelt down by the spring, cold from the earth.  He made a cup of his hands and scooped water.  Just before he started to drink, he said, “I will be killed in Jerusalem, and on the third day be raised--.”  … “I grabbed Jesus’ wrist and shouted, “No!” The water splashed from his hands.  “No, God won’t allow it!” I cried.”

Peter’s response is rash, abrupt, and angry.  Peter, despite all he has witnessed to this point is blinded by his own preconceptions of what God’s messiah can and can’t do.   Jesus’ teaching is not up-to-speed with Peter’s expectations.  Or rather, Peter’s expectations of God and the Messiah were selfish and uninformed.  For Peter, the death of his Messiah was about as improbable as a 90 year old and a 100 year old having a baby.

In this exchange Jesus is telling Peter, the disciples, and those around how he will fulfill God’s promise for a Messiah.  It is through the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Son of Man that the blessing and promise of God is made known to all the world.  It must and will happen.  Through the cross God will fulfill the covenant made to Abraham. 

Peter’s response is not a response of faithful discipleship but rather selfishness.  He was not prepared for, nor comfortable with having his faith challenged.  

We are a week and a half into the Lenten season.  About 10 days into a season of wandering with God.  Self-examination and assessment.  A season that challenges our response to God’s blessing and promise in uncomfortable ways.  And I think today’s texts are well-timed within our Lenten experience.  

How is your relationship with God this Lent?  What is your response to God’s blessing and promise?  

Do you experience God’s blessing and promise in a way that resembles Abraham and Sarah?  Willing to trust in God by faith that God will lead to the unknown destination.  And despite your flaws, temptations, and selfish ambitions along the way, do you recognize God’s continued presence.   Do you laugh with joy at God’s promises?  Not because they’re ridiculous but because only God can fulfill such joyous promises?  

Do you experience God’s blessing and promise in a way that resembles Peter?  Unwilling to hear and accept the call to discipleship?  Rebuke any challenge of your faith.  Prefer to focus on human desires and understandings rather than dare trust God’s ridiculous promise?    Perhaps you experience a bit of both.

In both of our stories this morning God speaks of a covenant, a promise that may sound ridiculous.  It may warrant laughter, or a rebuke.  But the truth of these stories is that their characters are forever changed by their encounter of God’s promise and blessing. These exchanges, these covenants forever shape the way they see and interact with God.  Despite their past understandings or immediate response they are changed through their experiences with God and the Son of man.  It affects how they see and hear...how they view the world...It affects, for better or worse, how they understand their faith in God.  Both characters this morning are in the midst of their own Lenten season...examining themselves and their faith in God.

Just like the characters of today’s scripture we might consider our own response in the face of God’s covenant.  Do you remember the covenant God made with you? 

“We give you thanks, O God, that through the water and the Holy Spirit you give your daughters and sons new birth, cleanse them from sin, and raise them to eternal life.  Sustain us with the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both no and forever.

Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. 

Each and every day we are good to remember that God has has entered into the divine covenant of promise and blessing with each of us.  Baptism is that covenant.  In the waters we were chosen by God.   We enter into death like Christ and are raised with new life.  We are made new.  God makes a covenant with us too.  And as a mark of the covenant we are given a new name. ...child of God.  A new name that signifies a new relationship with our creator.  For all who have faith and believe in God, God extends the promise eternal life.  God blesses with unconditional love, promises grace upon grace, blesses us with forgiveness and mercy, promises life to all who believe.  We belong to God, and our new name is a calling….a calling to live every aspect of our God-given lives as a response to what God has done in Jesus Christ.  God has bestowed us with every good gift for the purpose of building up the kingdom of God. 

And like Abraham and Peter and all the saints before us, the covenant of baptism forever shapes the way we see and interact with God.  It affects and informs how we see and hear...how we view the world...It affects, for better or worse, how we understand our faith in God.  It empowers our response within the world.   And for 6 weeks in Lent we take an intentional assessment of this response.  We are invited to spend forty days examining the nature of our own covenant with God.

So friends, what is your response to God’s abundant promise and blessing?

Jesus speaks plainly to the crowd saying, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake=, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it!  For what will it profit them to to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

Jesus demands an intimidating response of faith.  Jesus instructs that we are to give up our priorities and the priorities of this world.  In the covenant we are to be aligned with the will of God in the great commandments...love God and love neighbor.  For Jesus, a response to the covenant means praying thy kingdom come, thy will be done...and meaning it.  It means dining with outcast members of society.  It means denying the prosperity of the world by finding favor with the poor and lost.  It means acting against corrupt authority, challenging oppression systems, and restoring justice.  It means risking persecution or suffering for the sake of proclaiming the gospel.  

As a disciple of Christ is your response one that is set on human things or divine things?

As a member of the body of Christ is your response to pick up your cross and follow Jesus

And scary as it may seem, there is nothing we can do to escape the blessing and promise of God in our lives.

Make no mistake, this is the blessing and promise of God.  It’s not to say we won’t have out faults or flaws.  It doesn’t mean we won’t struggle with our new name and our new way of life.  After all the generations of Abram would endure great challenges...barrenness, loss of land slavery, exile…Peter would continue to struggle with his call to discipleship. 

So as you reflect and self-assess this season of Lent and beyond, may we remember this good news: Like Abraham and Peter and all the saints before us...God’s promise is not and never will be dependent on our own faithfulness...no matter what, the covenant will not be broken.  

So what is your response to God’s covenant?  At the very least, it is a gift from God.

What Do You See? - Lent 1B Sermon

Listen along here. 

Mark 1:9-15

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” ¹²And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

What do you see in this text?  Or better yet, what does this text help you to see?  

I have mixed feelings when reading the book of Mark. Mark is so beautifully written, and it is often that he says so much by saying so little.  His rhetoric is perfect in that he gives one liners almost prompts for us to create some kind of image, some kind of picture, allowing us some freedom to make the connections ourselves. To fill in the blanks and bring the canvas to life. Mark draws us into the mystery of his Gospel account and then leaves us there with the palette and brush to create our own images.

When I read texts like this I interpret them with images in my mind.  And as hard as I try on my own, I want Mark to help me color in the details.  Mark says Jesus came up out of the water and saw the heavens being torn apart...but what does that look like?  The spirit descends like a dove into him.  What an image that is!   The Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness where he’s tempted by Satan, and the angels wait on him.  What does that look like?  This text is so theologically rich and significant, yet Marks seems to withhold so much detail.   In this moment Jesus is baptized, the heavens are torn, the Spirit descends, God speaks and declares Jesus as God’s son, Jesus is driven to the wilderness and tempted by Satan.  AND ALL of this in 4 verses.  That’s to say nothing of Jesus proclaiming the arrival of the kingdom of God.

Mark’s gospel is often full of mystery.  One line set-ups that demand more depth.  More detail. More discovery. More understanding.  Mark’s stories leave us wanting more.   

When I was in high school my dad served as a seminary intern at a local congregation in our hometown.  That summer it was time for Vacation Bible School and dad invited me to attend.  So I did.  There weren’t too many high school students so I accompanied the middle school stuents that week.  One evening were assigned an arts and crafts type task. The task was that they were going to give us a text related to the theme that night, a pack of markers, and a poster board.   

And on this poster board it was our job to take the text and depict it in some creative way.

To fill in the gaps of the story in some creative color-filled way.  To give some artistic expression and interpretation to the assigned text. So my partner and I were given a slip of paper with a few verses and we began to review it over and over, painting in our mind.

Putting pencil to poster we began drawing our interpretation and image of the text.  It just so happens it was this passage. Mark 1:9-15.

We started with a big dove on the top of the page.  The dove had broad off-white wings and face of determination as it burst through a cloud of fire.  With some shading we made it seem as though the dove was descending, not in a slow, casual way, but rather forcefully.  With a purpose.  The face of the dove approached a basin of water and the intensity of the dove’s descent was forcing ripples in the water.  When then depicted the water’s ripples spilling over the basin as the dove was targeting a chalice and paten.

They chalice was full of red wine and the paten was struggling to contain an enormous loaf of bread.

Now I was only in high school, but I thought our depiction looked awesome.  I haven’t seen that poster in almost 15 years but I sometimes wonder after going to seminary if it’s still as awesome as I remember.  I wonder if it is hanging on the wall of the basement in the church.  Eh, it’s probably in the back of some closet.  

But this can be the power of the gospel when we take time to dwell within the spacebar moments of Mark’s stories.  We’re invited to imagine the stories of the gospel in our mind and give life to the subtleties of Mark’s brief but rich moments.  And with the final brush stroke of today’s text we read on and the beauty of Mark’s gospel begins to truly shine through the page:

^“Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Friends, in this moment Jesus offers us a vision and picture that we no longer have to create for ourselves.  It isn’t a picture we have to draw or connection we’re forced to make.  The Kingdom of God is present here and now and the canvas is laid out before us in everyday walk of life in faith.  The Kingdom of God is not a distant place or land, or even one dreamed up in our imagination.  It’s not a specific historical event or occurrence to study and examine.  Rather, the Kingdom of God is present.   God draws us into God’s kingdom through Jesus.  In this moment, as Jesus emerges from the wilderness unwavered by temptations, he proclaims the breaking of God’s kingdom here and now.  

Kingdom of God is something remarkable.  Something beautifully created. It doesn’t need markers and poster board to be seen.  Kingdom of God is around us.  It is at hand.  It is near.

One of my favorite movies is August Rush.  The movie centers on an orphaned child named August.  His parents, who are both musicians, one a rock star and the other a world-renowned cellist, meet at a party.  Through some unfortunate happenstance August is removed from his parents at birth and neither parent is even aware that August is alive.  The movie opens with August listening...to the winds, the trees rustling, the cars driving by, the sounds of nature.  In his mind he hears a symphony.  August is convinced his parents are out there and so he goes in searching for them.  Along the way it becomes apparent that he is a musical prodigy and eventually it is his music that leads his parents back to him and one another.  The movie closes with same sounds it opened and August speaks, “The music is all around us, all you have to do is listen.”

Now August talks about Listening, but I think the lesson is the same, albeit a different sense.  I once read that those who have ears to hear should listen and those who have eyes to see should see and I think this phrase is applicable to today’s text.  We might say that the Kingdom of God is all around us, all we have to do is look and listen.

Friends, this is the section of the sermon where I was going to launch into a list of examples about how incredible the Kingdom of God looks.  How beautiful the colors of God’s kingdom canvas are painted.  I was going to lift up all the ways in which I see God’s kingdom present here and now, affirming our various ministries, and empower you to do the same.  

On Wednesday we gathered for Ash Wednesday a day when we ponder our mortality and our own brokenness.  We confess to God, a bit more intentionally than usual, that we are in need of God’s grace and forgiveness.  We placed ash on our forehead as a reminder that all we have is God’s and we are solely dependent upon God.  It is God that gives us a glimpse of the canvas of the Kingdom in the first place.  That service was a noon.

At 3:10: CNN Breaking news “Authorities say they are responding to a shooting at a high school in Southeastern, FL.”  The next hour, “breaking news, Multiple fatalities…”  The next “at least 16 dead…”  The next hour we had another Ash Wed service at 7pm.  

That afternoon the reminder we are created from dust and to dust we shall return was a reality for 17 people.  For Alyssa, Scott, Martin, Nichols, Aaron, Jaime, Chris, Luke, Cara, Gina, Joaquin, Alaina, Meadow, Helena, Alex, Carmen, Peter, and their family and friends. They were forced to confront the ash Wednesday confession of our own  and mortality in a way that I can’t imagine.   

And it’s terrifying to say, but this is a common experience for far too many of our brothers and sisters. And if we look beyond school shootings and senseless violence we can think about the damage of war.  For those who are called upon to fight and decide someone else’s mortality.   For loved ones in a hospital bed processing a new, unexpected diagnosis.  For refugees displaced.   For homeless siblings who don’t have a place to rest their head or know where their next meal might come from.  

Maybe it was because it was in our Florida backyard, but Wednesday was an alarming reminder that not all people hear the arrival of God’s Kingdom as good news.  And for many of us, our ability to see and embrace the beautiful kingdom comes from a position of comfort and privilege and blessing.  

But Wed. warranted a late edit to this sermon.  To only speak of the beauty diminishes the stories of our siblings whose canvas is distorted as they are made victims to  presence and oppression of sin in their lives.  For them the presence of the Kingdom doesn't sound like good news.  It doesn’t look like a Bob Ross painting with happy trees and content rocks.   It’s not vibrant colors.

The honest truth is that I don’t necessarily have all of the answers for us this morning.  But here is what I can offer:

¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

The Kingdom of God is something remarkable.  It is something beautifully created. I believe it is all around us.  It is at hand.  It is near.  And I can proclaim confidently that it is good news.  For we are made colors, filled with the beauty of the Holy Spirit, bursting onto the canvas of creation.  And I suppose through the waters of baptism then, we might consider the Kingdom of God to be a watercolor.

But I think the good news this day is that while the Kingdom of God has come near in Jesus we also confess that not yet fulfillment of the Kingdom.  There is work left to be done.  And for those who mourn I pray they hear that as hope.  For those who see with comfort and privilege, may we walk with those who mourn.  

Until the one day when the fullness of the kingdom is realized and hope is fulfilled.  

When beauty and intrigue are more than hoped for or sought after, but seen and embraced.  When we we might all consider ourselves unique colors on the bristles of God’s paint brush.  

So, what do you see?  Or better yet, what does the gospel help you to see?

© Pastor Daniel Locke, preached Feb. 18, 2018 @ St. Mark's Lutheran, Jacksonville, FL 

Transfiguration B Sermon

Listen to the gospel and sermon here.

Mark 9:2-10

²Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, ³and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. ⁴And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. ⁵Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. ⁷Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” ⁸Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.  ⁹As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Something about this text has always been an illusive text for me.  I don’t know what it is about the Transfiguration, but for some reason this day in our lectionary has always puzzled me.  This story appears in one form or another in all three synoptic gospels, and therefore it appears on the final Sunday of Epiphany, the Sunday before Lent every year.  It’s a text that I have marked on my calendar and to-do list every year because there is something about it that challenges me more than the rest.  I might even admit that it intimidates me.   

I suppose I could find some comfort and reassurance with the disciples in the passage since even they too were terrified by the experience.  Peter comes across as a bumbling fool, unable to process what happens.   He even wrongly proposes that they set up tents and stay in that place.  Here is to hoping I don’t sounds like a bumbling fool today too.

And although the lectionary gives me reason to confront this text each and every year...something about it seems so elusive.  I think more than anything I’m caught in the specifics...Why did Jesus Transfigure...How did he transfigure...what does transfigured even mean?  Why Elijah and Moses?  What did it look like?  Why were only the inner circle of disciples permitted on the mountain top?  

And I wish, friends, oh how I wish I had the answers for us.  I wish I could explain to you why Jesus is transfigured.  In Freek, literally transformed.  I wish I could explain to you why only the inner circle of disciples are present to witness it.  I wish I could explain why Moses and Elijah are present in the moment I wish I could tell you what brand of bleach was used to make Jesus’ garments whiter than humanly possible.  I wish I could explain for us the transfiguration, but the truth is I don’t think that I can.

The story intimidates me because I think that any attempt I or we make to make sense of this spectacular glimpse of the resurrection.  Any attempt to understand or draw conclusions about this story would indeed fall short.  Short of the glory and splendor the story deserves.  And I think commentator Matt Skinner gets it right when he says “Maybe the transfigured Jesus isn’t supposed to be figured out.  He’s supposed to be appreciated.”

So how do we gain an appreciation for the transfigured Jesus?  What insight can we glean in order to fully appreciate the text for this day.  I think there are two perspectives worth considering in order to appreciate this transfiguration event.   First we can appreciate the placement of the transfiguration story within the over gospel narrative according to Mark.   Second, we should consider the placement of the transfiguration  story within our church calendar as it appears on the Sunday between Epiphany and Lent.

Today’s story is nestled in the 9th chapter of Mark’s gospel account.  Actually it occurs in the middle of the gospel story.  Prior to this story Jesus has been born, baptized, and tempted.  He is well into his public ministry.   So far into it in fact that he will turn to Jerusalem in just 2 more short chapters.  

In the previous 8.5 chapters of Mark, Jesus has been healing, teaching, preaching, praying, performing miracles, sharing parables, and foretelling his death  resurrection.  He has traveled around the edge of the sea of Galilee, into Tiberius, Caesarea Philippi, Bethsaida, Galilee and more.

And of course, along for the journey are the disciples.  Those closest to Jesus have been with him every step of the way, consistently witnessing his teachings, healings, and miracles.  And as we know, despite what they see and what they hear they repeatedly misunderstand what it is they are witnessing.

Most recently, in the chapter prior to the transfiguration, Mark tells the story of two important healing events.   Frist Jesus is traveling through Decapolis, and they bring him a deaf man.  Jesus, of course heals the deaf man.  The text says they were astounded, and that Jesus even makes the deaf to hear and mute speak.

A few verses later, they are traveling to Bethsaida, And they bring a blind person to Jesus. Jesus of course heals the blind man.  The text says he saw everything clearly, and Jesus makes even the blind to see.

These two specific incidences where Jesus opens the eyes and ears of those who can’t see or hear...Jesus offers a profound witness to the power and message of God.  And even though the disciples witnesses these healings, they still don’t get it.   Now Peter comes close and confesses that Jesus “is the messiah.”  But as soon as Jesus foretells his death and resurrection…Peter rebukes him…and refuses to understand; to see and to hear exactly what Jesus is telling them.

I can imagine Jesus sighing at Peter….thinking really...after all that you have seen and heard?  You...you don’t ...you don’t get it?  Even a little bit?  

It’s in that moment that Jesus pulls this small inner circle of disciples high up on a mountain for another perspective.  And before them he is transfigured.   For that brief moment, they witness a glimpse of the resurrected Christ.  A glimpse of the promise that is to be fulfilled.   A sneak peak if you will into the full glory of God revealed in the God’s own son, in whom God is well pleased.  I imagine Jesus saying, “how about now?!”  In the transfiguration it becomes more apparent than ever that not only is Jesus God’s son, the Messiah, but he is meant to be seen and heard by all.

The text goes on to tell us that the disciples did not know what to say for they were terrified.  They were in awe.  Matthew tells us that they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe.  Mark and Luke say they were exceedingly afraid.  This glimpse of the resurrected Christ…Christ who is to be seen and heard, something the disciples have yet to figure out or understand leaves them in awe.  

And perhaps this is the part that we aren’t supposed to figure out, as Matt Skinner suggested.  We are supposed to figure out why Jesus is with Moses and Elijah….or why Jesus is shining so bright and bleached.   Perhaps this is where we best relate to the disciples and we are to be filled with awe.  Much like that moment in worship where our sins are proclaimed as forgiven and we catch a glimpse of God’s grace.  Or the moment when we the body and blood of Christ are given and we can for a moment taste and see that the Lord is good.   

This is the moment we are to appreciate because God speaks and reminds us clear as day that Jesus IS The one called for.  Jesus is the messiah.  Jesus is the God’s son sent to live among God’s people.  Jesus is the light shining, not only on the mountain top, but in all darkness throughout the world.   We are to appreciate this moment because it is a pure glimpse of the resurrection, and for the disciples a sign of the promise to come.

Epiphany, the season of the manifestation of Christ to the world began with Jesus’ baptism.  The heavens were torn open and God said, “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  

Our Epiphany season ends today with a similar declaration by God.  “This is my son, the beloved, listen to him.”   Our final Epiphany moment this season is a glimpse of the resurrection.   So not only is Christ made known to the world as the Messiah and son of God, but Christ is the promise of salvation for all peoples.  The perfecter of faith who will overcome sin death and the devil.

This week we enter into the season of Lent.  It is season of reflection and contemplation about the suffering cost of discipleship.  It is a remembrance that even in the darkest of times, such as the crucifixion, God prevails.  It is a season of self-examination and evaluation of the call to discipleship.  Lent is not about re-enacting Christ’s death.  Christ has died…and Christ has risen.   And therefore Lent is an intentional walk through the trial, persecution, betrayal, suffering, and death of Christ.  It is an examination and appreciation of our God-given lives and mortality in Christ.

It makes sense then that we end our Epiphany season and begin our Lenten discipline with a glimpse of the transfigured, resurrected Christ.  To remind us that throughout lent. As we remember and reflect.  As we exam and confess.  We do so in the light of the one and only who saved.  God through the Jesus Christ.   Our Lenten journey is only possible by the grace of God in Jesus Christ.   Our self-reflection is only possible because Christ shines perpetually within our lives.  God never leaves us in the depth and death of Lent, and is always present to bring us through to the celebration of the resurrection dawn.

The Good News for us is that the light, the light of the transfigured Christ is far more contagious and far more powerful than all the darkness of the world.   It’s the light that shines in our baptism when we too are transfigured into children of God.   We are transformed by God’s grace, washed by the water, bleached if you will or our sins and made alive in Christ.  And rather than ever have to reason with the darkness, we hold in the hope found in the transfigured Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

© Pastor Daniel Locke, preached 02.11.2018 @ St. Mark's Lutheran Jacksonville, FL