Sunday, February 19, 2023

Transfiguration of our Lord
Exodus 24:12-18
Psalm 2:6-12
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9

Jesus came and touched them and said, ‘Get up, and don’t be afraid.’

Our house is in a homeowner’s association. I once said I would never buy a house that was in an HOA, but we love this house and the HOA is really not as intrusive as the stories I have heard about others. Things around our neighborhood have gotten interesting, however, as personalities on the board have clashed and the work of the HOA is not getting done. We don’t pay much attention, quite frankly. We simply want to live in our house and enjoy our neighbors. It is hard, however, when the people who have been elected to lead us are suing in court over frivolous things completely unrelated to the comfort and security of the homeowners. It is all politics; it is all about power.

Sadly, we can find political motives in every aspect of our life, but the most obvious is found in government systems. I don’t like to talk about politics; I try to keep my opinions to myself in this writing. I recognize that many of my readers would probably disagree with me on many issues. Many of my readers are from much different cultures; they wouldn’t understand some of the arguments that fill our time. This writing is meant to be an inspirational devotion encouraging discipleship that glorifies Christ whatever your point of view.

It is impossible, however, to ignore the reality of our world: politics are a part of our lives. Unless we never listen to the news or pick up a newspaper, we can’t avoid the topic. Even if we do avoid the media, it is a topic that will inevitably come up in our homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces. It was interesting to follow some of the discussions around the HOA debacle. The characters were using social media to get out their case. One board member’s husband posted a scathing letter against another board member. Others posted rebuttals. People were fired, lawsuits were threatened, and nothing got done. It is sometimes interesting, sometimes disturbing, to listen to the these arguments from people who are supposed to be working together for the sake of others.

This is true in any sort of political confrontation. Ultimately it is all about power, and no one wants to give up their control. Some people are deeply rooted in their opinions and discussion is about converting others. To them, any difference in opinion is a condemnation of a person’s sanity, intelligence, or even faith. It is not the opinion that is questioned or debated, but it is the person who has the disagreeable point of view that becomes the focus of the discussion. The person with an opposition opinion becomes an enemy, someone who is less in some way. Those discussions on social media got personal.

This happens in all aspects of life. It happens in religion, in science, in academia. It even happens between tea drinkers. Try starting a debate about regular tea and sweet tea someday. Coke or Pepsi? Which fast food fries are the best? Chili with beans or no beans? Which region makes the best barbeque? The person who is passionate about his or her opinion will often put down the other point of view. Most of the time it is in fun, but sometimes people take the question so seriously that they’ll reject the other and make the disagreement about which is best. It becomes personal and the relationship is broken because no one is willing to give up their power or control.

The psalmist asks why the nations want to revolt against the Lord God Almighty. The question is not a cry of arrogance against the other nations, but a question of surprise. When we sit down with a person with a different point of view, we often think to ourselves, “I just don’t understand how he or she can think like that.” However, we don’t do that because we are so certain that we think they are wrong, we do it because we see the world from an entirely different perspective. The psalmist knows the loving grace of God and simply can’t understand a perspective that can’t see that grace. The psalmist is amazed by this point of view because he or she knows that any revolt against the LORD is fruitless.

Trusting in the Lord is the only path that leads to true life. This is the lesson we are meant to learn throughout the Church year, as we see Christ born, live, die, live again, and teach us how to follow Him in this world as we wait for His coming again. There are some moments that stand out, like the focus of this week’s texts.

We have reached the end of the Epiphany season, the season of light, and we end the season with one great flash of light. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been enlightened with the words of the Sermon on the Mount, giving us instruction on what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It hasn’t been easy to hear, since Jesus put before us expectations that at times seem impossible. The Beatitudes demand a life counter to the culture. Politics is everywhere. We are told to seek power and control. But Jesus teaches about living upside down in the world. We are salt and light. Avoid anger and lust. Do not divorce, make oaths, or retaliate. Love your enemies. Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Perfect? Impossible.

We’ve heard Paul warn us, as he warned the Corinthians, against division in the church. Our focus is now and ever shall be Jesus Christ, for it is through Him and His work on the cross that we have received grace and salvation. God’s temple is holy, and we are that temple.

Holy? Impossible.

Paul warned the Corinthians to be careful not to think too highly of themselves. God is greater than all of us and we are to treat each other with the grace He first gave to us. We are not to boast because everything belongs to God, even power and control. Paul encourages us with the reality that we belong to God. “We are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.” (1 Corinthians 3)

You are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. The rest doesn’t seem so impossible now, does it?

We are warned to be careful to discern what we hear coming from men, and to always remember to keep our focus on God. This means carefully discerning what we say and do, our motives and our actions. Are we arguing for the sake of argument? Are we trying to hold on to some power or control that was never ours to begin with? Why are we fighting our neighbors? Have we made enemies where no conflict is even necessary? On September 11, 2001, I used the text from 1 Peter. That devotion was written before the events of that horrific day.

In that writing, I talked about how people interpret the signs in creation in relation to the coming of Christ. “Prophets and prophetic interpreters watch for things to happen, and they try to decipher what they mean and how they relate to the biblical descriptions of the last days.” This was certainly true in the days following 9/11. Many people used the disaster as a launching point for their prophetic utterances. Grief and fear made people flock to religious centers, to gather for prayer and worship, to comfort one another and seek answers to the questions on their hearts. Many voices were willing to give answers, but so many of those voices did not agree. Some voices, even in the earliest moments of that tragedy, were seeking power and control.

Unfortunately, many of the prophetic voices of that day and in our day are speaking not from God’s power or Spirit, but from a sense that if they speak it loud enough or long enough, then it will be true. It is humorous to watch a “prophet” (or politician) explain away his mistake, justifying his misinterpretation by reconciling it with actual events. Many “prophets” will wait to release a “word” until after he or she can make it fit the circumstances of the day. “See, I received this word, but now I see it is true and reveal it to you.”

Peter writes, “For we didn’t follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” And “For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.” So, how do we tell? How do we know which voices are right and which are false? How can we be sure that we are on the right side of any argument?

Thomas Aquinas lived in the thirteenth century. He was a teacher and a theologian. The thirteenth century was a time of philosophical rebirth. The work of Aristotle was making a renaissance, very popular among the educated in that day. Thomas Aquinas studied the works of Aristotle and found connections between his philosophy and that of the Christians. He believed that truth is known through both reason (natural revelation) and faith (supernatural revelation.) Natural revelation is available to all human beings as they use, observe, and experience the world in which they live. Supernatural revelation comes to men through the scriptures, the church, and prophets.

Some prophetic utterances are worth our attention. God does still speak to His people. We are reminded, however, that we are to discern that which comes from God and that which comes out of the desires of men. Is that prophetic word confirmed by that which has been revealed to us already? Does it stand up to the light of Christ? Aquinas found the Gospel in the midst of that which was popular in his day, and he taught the people how to balance faith with intellect. He didn’t change the Christian message to fit into the society of his day but developed a method of using philosophy to explain Christianity. The false prophets are those that change the message to fit their prophetic utterances.

My mother had two rings. Both of those rings looked like large diamonds, between two and three karats. One had a silver-colored setting, the other was gold-colored. One was a diamond, the other a cubic zirconia. She always wanted a large diamond on her finger, but our family never had the kind of money necessary for that type of jewelry. She bought the cubic zirconia to give her the feeling of having the “big rock” until she could afford it. Then she saved her money. Eventually she had enough to purchase the real diamond. It was not a high-quality rock, but it was beautiful. She was proud of her efforts and wore her ring with pleasure. When she got sick at the end of her life, she stopped wearing the jewelry.

After mom died, we knew that one of the few treasures she had was that diamond ring. The house was cluttered: housekeeping was never her strength and though Daddy did a good job taking care of her when she was sick, the clutter was not a concern. So, we cleaned. We organized the things that might be of use to someone else, threw away the garbage. We looked for the ring as we went through her things. We were careful to look closely through everything. We searched every pocket and dug to the bottom of every purse. We found one of the rings in her jewelry box. We thought it might be the real diamond, but we weren’t sure. We had to find both rings for comparison.

We found the second ring tucked into the corner of a windowsill. She must have taken it off when she was sitting on a chair near the window and put it there for safekeeping. It didn’t make sense, and we thought that it must be the cubic zirconia because it was just lying around. We looked at both rings; none of us were expert gemologists, but we thought for sure we would be able to tell the difference. However, the stones looked amazingly similar. We cleaned rings, hoping it would help. We considered the setting, thinking that might give us a clue. We eventually took them to a jeweler because that was the only way we would find the truth.

The answer didn’t make sense: the ring we found on the windowsill was the real diamond and the cubic zirconia was the one in the jewelry box. I’m sure that she put the cubic zirconia in the jewelry box when she purchased the diamond and that it had been there for a long time. The diamond was probably on the windowsill because she wore it often. She loved it. But one day she had to take it off and then she probably never put it back on. It was no less important, and she probably hoped to be well enough one day to wear it again.

The story of Pompeii is a tragedy. We know about what happened in that town at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius from two major sources—archeology and the letters of Pliny the Younger. Those letters described what happened the day that the volcano erupted burying the town and the people of Pompeii. Archeological digs since the town’s rediscover in the mid-eighteenth century have given us an image of what life was like in the ancient Roman Empire. Pompeii was a suburban town, with people from every class represented. The people of Pompeii had no idea what would happen on that day in August 79. Unfortunately, there were plenty of signs—earthquakes, tremors, dried up wells—but they did not recognize those signs.

Ironically, the Romans celebrated Vulcanalia, the festival honoring the Roman god Vulcan, on August 23rd, just one day before the eruption. The Romans believed in multiple gods, each representing some aspect of life. The people worshipped them in relation to those things. There was a god for war, for peace, for rain, for procreation. The festivals were meant to placate the gods so that they would be blessed by them. The signs in nature were interpreted as emotional responses by the gods to the people’s actions. Floods were a sign that the rain god was upset. Barrenness was a sign that a woman had sinned. A volcano eruption was a sign that the fire god was angry. Despite the signs around them, the people began August 24th with a sense of assurance because they had just offered sacrifices to Vulcan.

Imagine what it must have been like at the foot of the mountain when Moses went to talk with God. Though the God on that mountain was the God of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they did not know Him very well. They had spent four hundred years in Egypt. The Hebrews had lost touch with their God. They knew the foreign gods and recognized that the signs of nature could be interpreted as communication from the divine. It must have been frightening to the people to see that cloud descend down the mountain as their leader was climbing up. Was it a bad sign? Was Moses going to be safe? What did the fire mean? Would this God really save them from their suffering?

Forty days and forty nights are a long time. I confess that I worry every time my son or husband are a few minutes later than I expect them. We begin to worry if someone is out of our presence for even a day or two. How could Moses survive up there? It was an extraordinary experience for Moses; he stood in the presence of God, learning how to lead God’s people. He learned about the tabernacle, the laws, and worship. He received the tablets of stone. When he came off the mountain, he retained some of the glory of God. It shone in his own face. By then, even in such a short period of time, the people had forgotten Moses and the God who delivered them from Egypt. Moses found them worshipping an idol, running from that which frightened them by trying to placate the gods in a way that they knew. In less than forty days they forgot the one who had saved them from bondage and returned to the ways they had known for four hundred years.

They weren’t very patient people and they thought they had the power to be in control. God was not idle during those days and Moses was not dead. The people looked to themselves for salvation instead of waiting for God. They tried to take the divine into their own hands, to lift themselves into heaven. They did this over and over again throughout their history. They revolted against God, not in an open rebellion as it at the foot of Mount Sinai; they revolted by turning to the power of men and nations for help. They revolted by going their own way instead of the way of God. They revolted by doing their own thing. That’s sinfulness; we are all guilty. We all go our own way. We all think that we know best. We all think that our way is the right way, not only in our opinions and ideas of the things in this world, but in the things of God.

Matthew wrote, “After six days...” as he began the story of the Transfiguration. This happened just after the confession of St. Peter. Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus blessed Peter but told him that he did not speak those words on his own. It was God who spoke through Peter’s confession. On the mountain, Peter, James, and John saw the truth of Peter’s confession. Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, glorified so that those with Him would know that He is all that He said He is. Things changed on that mountaintop; in the days that followed Jesus began His final walk toward Jerusalem and the world began to react to God’s grace with confusion and hatred.

Jesus began and ended His ministry with a mountaintop experience. In Matthew 4, Satan took Jesus to a high mountain and offered Him the kingdoms of the world. In that temptation, Jesus was given the opportunity to avoid all the messiness of obeying God’s plans. Satan gave Him the chance to rule without the cross. It would be easy for any of us to take the easy way out, to accept our own ideas and take control of our own destiny by our own power. But we don’t really have any power, but Jesus did, and He knew that God’s way was the right way. He had to go through the cross to complete what God began. God’s justice demanded a price and Jesus was willing to be the sacrificial lamb. On the mountain of transfiguration, God commended Jesus for His obedience and called Him the beloved Son, just as He had at Jesus’ baptism. With Him, God was well-pleased.

There are parallels between Moses and Jesus in the texts we read this week. First of all, Moses waited on the side of the mountain for six days before he was invited into the presence of God and Jesus climbed the mountain six days after predicting His death. In the case of Moses, the people thought that he would die. Jesus knew he would. Both trusted in God’s Word and obeyed God’s command, knowing that He would do what was necessary for the sake of His people. Both Moses and Jesus entered into the glory of God. Both were totally covered by His Light. Both heard the voice of God and experienced His presence. In the Old Testament story of Moses and the Gospel story about Jesus, we see the place where heaven meets earth, where God mingles with His people.

The world is filled with voices in politics, religion, science and academia. The voices we hear these days speak with so-called wisdom but do not come from God. There are many people who seem to preach but are speaking a different gospel. They twist the word to fit their point of view and ignore everything about the scriptures that reject their own way of living. They often focus on mountain top experiences and ignore the reality of sacrifice. They avoid the cross. In their own way, they have turned from God. They aren’t building altars of gold, but they are building altars that serve their own desires. They are trying to hold onto the power and control that belongs to God.

On this last Sunday of Epiphany, we celebrate a moment when God revealed Jesus as more than the Light. On the mountaintop God transfigured Jesus and revealed Him as more than the Light. Peter, James and John witnessed Jesus being transformed into a divinely shining being standing among the great men of their faith. Moses, the father of the Law and Elijah the father of the prophets stood for everything on which their faith was built. Peter wanted to capture the moment, to build a temple on the spot to honor Jesus and hold on to the glory. Jesus said “No.” He told them to keep it a secret. He told them to hide their experience away until the future day when “the Son of man be risen from the dead.”

Then Jesus invited the three to follow Him to the valley, to do the work of God. Jesus went to the cross and died for our sake. It was on the cross, not the mountain, that Jesus was truly glorified. It was not beautiful; as a matter of fact, it was horrific and tragic, not only for Jesus but also for those who loved Him. His humiliation was there for all to see. It was the diamond in the rough. The transfiguration, as glorious as that moment must have been, was not the ultimate glory. It was a mountaintop experience that was used to compare to the real glory that would be found on the cross. It seems backwards to us. It seems upside down. Didn’t Jesus deserve to be honored on that mountaintop? He did, but He knew the real glory would come on the cross where the word and work of God would be complete. Peter, James and John would not know that until later. They would see the truth after the resurrection.

We might want to argue about the “politics” of our day, but Jesus taught us to live in trust of God and to do His will. We might not understand, after all, we always want to win the argument whatever it is. It is not easy to live counter to the culture. Politics is everywhere. We are told to seek power and control. Jesus teaches about living upside down in the world. We have nothing to fear and we have no reason to argue. God is in control; He has the power to do what He intends in this world. Jesus was worthy of the Transfiguration, but He was willing to die on the cross. He experienced the glory on the mountain but left it behind for the true glory that comes with sacrifice.