A, Mid Week Lent 1- Sermon Series "The Litany of Jesus' Treasures - Prayer"

Matthew 26:36–45a (ESV) Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”  And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.  Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”  And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?  Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”  And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.  So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.  Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”  

Why did Jesus pray?  Why does the church pray; why do believers pray? Why do you pray?  Or looking at it from the other way.  When you don’t pray to God the Father, what are your lack of words to him saying, and doing?   And if you’re not praying to God, is it possible to be praying to someone or something else?  If so, then what is the function and purpose of prayer?

Prayer is a wishing, willing, or asking someone for something. 

Jesus prayed during his earthly ministry.  He prayed for himself, and he prayed for others.  Tonight, we have heard Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane and his disciple’s weakness of flesh, falling asleep as he prayed.

Do you find Jesus’ prayer a bit peculiar?  He was born with the purpose to die for humanity.  He knew his mission and yet we hear him pray,  “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”

It raises a few questions about Jesus and prayer. 

If he is the Son of God and knew God’s plan of salvation, why did he pray for the cup of suffering and death to be taken away?  And, being God the Son, why did he need to pray?  After all, he is God!

Jesus continued on in prayer to the Father, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  Jesus asked God the Father for death and suffering to be taken away from him.  But he recognises, it’s not what he wants or asks for, but what God wants, needs, askes, pleasures, or wills for humanity that’s important.

Yet prayer is, at its most basic, an asking, and we hear in the Gospels that Jesus often is found alone praying to God the Father.  In prayer, he pours out his heart to God for himself and for those to whom he is sent. Why?

A misconception in the church is that a person who prays is a powerful person.  For that reason, many people don’t pray because they do not believe they are powerful enough; that they don’t have enough faith.

This is a misconception because they who think this, have little understanding of what Jesus is all about.

Those in Jesus’ day struggled with this mistaken belief too, when Jesus, Peter, James, and John return from the Mountain of Transfiguration and found the other disciples arguing with the scribes.

Jesus enquired as to what was going on,  “And someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute.  And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.  So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.’” (Mark 9:17-18 ESV) 

Jesus rebukes them for not having faith, speaks with the father of the boy, then heals him.  Later on in private the disciples asked Jesus, “‘Why could we not cast it out?’  And he said to them, ‘This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.’” (Mark 9:28 ESV)   

For us now, the mistake is made by believing Jesus has more power than the disciples.  But it was not power as we perceive it, rather it is in the power of faith.  Like the father of the boy, we do better than the disciples by crying out to Jesus, ”I believe, help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24 ESV)   

The power of faith and prayer is misconstrued by those who have great physical strength, exceptional understanding, or earthly experience, yet a small child can exercise a faith far more powerful than the elite, the practised, or the strong.

This is the faith by which Jesus operated.  He asked or prayed to his Father, trusting like a small child, without doubt or false expectation.  Jesus asked and prayed with a pure faith, not in himself, but by the generating of faith by the Holy Spirit within him.  In essence, he prayed with no faith in himself, but with complete faith in his Father. 

However, the disciples who could not drive out the mute spirit from the child, couldn’t do so because they had too much faith in their own ability, and little in God working through their weakness.

On the other hand, Jesus’ prayer, faith, and ability was Holy Spirited and not from his own divine or human power.  Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.”  (Philippians 2:6–8 ESV)

His death began at his baptism in the Jordan, where he put off his divinity and put on the Holy Spirit in his human weakness.  Despite his human spirit and flesh being weak, he faithfully worked in this weakness while on earth, and died in this weakness, though innocent and blameless.

Jesus’ passive trust in God the Father allowed him to exist, pray, heal, and live without sin in his human weakness, hence displaying the complete power of God, in his life and in his death. 

The disciples were to learn this first, and God calls us to learn that the true power of prayer is in the power of God working through those who truly believe they have no power in themselves. 

God exercises power through our weakness, as he did through Jesus having put off his divinity and lived in the weakness of human flesh. 

Once Jesus was glorified to the right hand of the Father, and the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost, the disciples moved by the Holy Spirit, also displayed the power of God, spreading the Gospel, trusting in the power of God in the weakness of their flesh.

So, we as Christ’s church can look at the prayers of Jesus, why and how he prayed, so like him, we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to pray with one hundred percent trust in God, and with trust that we are one hundred percent weak humans.

If you want to see the heart of Jesus’ prayers, read Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John seventeen, the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew six or Luke eleven, and also the Psalms.  These are the prayers Jesus gave to King David, King Solomon, and those others tasked to write Psalms so David and Solomon could lead the temple congregation in asking God for his will in their weakness.  In the same way, in the heavenly temple, Jesus continues to also pray his petitions of prayers for us who trust in him and who know we are weak!

These treasures of Jesus’ prayer life can be your treasure too.  You can pray like Jesus and your prayers will be as powerful as Jesus’ prayers, because they are joined with his work of prayer before the throne of God.  This happens when in your weakness you allow the Holy Spirit to work in you, just as Jesus let the Spirit work in his weak flesh. 

Pray for the Holy Spirit to take control of your human spirit!

As Saint Paul encourages the Philippians in the joy of his weakness, let us also be encouraged…    

So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus… (Philippians 2:1–5 ESV)

If you choose not to pray to God, have you the mind and heart of Jesus?  In the absence of prayers to God, one usually “prays”, ponders, meditates, or speaks to oneself. Praying like this might seem powerful but it leads one back into themselves and ends in mental anguish, helplessness, and self-destruction.

If you choose not to take what is yours in Jesus Christ, are you not placing your trust in the power of your human spirit, over the work of the Holy Spirit?  Choosing to do this, ends in sinning against the Holy Spirit, rejecting the gifts of Holy Spirited true faith so you’re not brought to forgiveness through Jesus’ death.

Why did Jesus pray?  Because he gave up the divine power of his being and was baptised into our weakness.  This is why he received the Holy Spirit.  

Why does the church pray; why do believers pray?  Because we know we are weak and need the Holy Spirit, to call us, gather us, and enlighten us, us with the gifts of God.

Why do you pray?  Why wouldn’t you, knowing who you truly are, and what Jesus did in true humility for you!  Amen.

A, Lent 1- Romans 5:19 "Hypo-Hearing"

Romans 5: 19 (ESV) For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

The foundational disobedience event for humanity is the Old Testament reading for today. 

In Genesis two and three, humanity lost its innocence when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God’s command.  One negative command in the Garden of Eden.  One “no” in a pleasant place of seemingly infinite “yeses”.  Eden literally means “soft, delight, or pleasure.  It was God’s Garden of Pleasure for Adam and Eve!

Living this side of the fall, our eyes are immediately opened, hearing of Eden being a garden of delight and pleasure.  We live with increasing hardship in these days, we seek to recreate, but fail in finding the pleasure to which humanity lost access when they chose to break the one prohibition in creation of innocence and blessing.

In Romans five Saint Paul reflects, “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”  (Romans 5: 19 ESV)

We stand at the start of Lent reflecting on this event today.  And as we do there is temptation to think, “if only Adam and Eve didn’t make that one simple mistake”. But although we have no way of knowing how history would have unfolded if they didn’t, after the fall they, and we, continue to fall and add to the first act of disobedience at the start of time.

Adam and Eve did not make one mistake and then lived without any more sin.  Immediately after the fall and being thrown out of the garden, Adam and Eve continue in their disobedience.

But before we hear about this, we need to understand what this disobedience is, so we can understand ourselves, and the obedience of Jesus which saves us and makes us holy.  Then the Holy Spirit can continue bringing us to, and infilling us with, the holiness of God.

Because we live this side of the fall, our natural tendency is to think obedience is about “doing” the right thing.  Although this is somewhat true, it is only partially true.  Because we are turned in on ourselves, we think, “if I do the right thing, then I am a righteous person”.  But the problem with our doing is in the “I think – I do” logic.

If obedience is about, “ I think, I do”, then most of humanity is obedient.  But what happens when what I think and do is different to what you think and do?  One’s thinking and doing will end up harming someone else’s thinking and doing.

Any parent that’s frustrated with their children, practises obedience teaching every time they lose it with their children. 

If and when one raises their voice at our children we do not usually say, “you are not being obedient, or stop being disobedient”.  Nor does one usually say, “stop doing what you’re doing”. 

No!  One who is frustrated with their children will raise their voice and say, “stop, you’re not listening.  Listen to me!”

Obedience is primarily about listening, and once hearing is heard, then the secondary act of doing can occur! 

This is because obedience occurs in community.  The parent is frustrated with their child or children in the nucleus of a family.  This is God’s original community.  In fact, all community is an extension of the household community of parents and children.  All authority flows from God to humanity through the family unit.  But since the fall, disobedience and loss of innocence also comes to us, not from God, but from Adam and Eve!

Notice it’s Adam who is named as being the one through whom sin came into the world.  Eve took the fruit, but it’s Adam who bore the responsibility for the sin.  Adam did not listen to God and broke the authority invested in him by God.  And in not listening he turned his back on God towards Eve and the serpent, to listen to their distortion of God’s Word, then participated in the act of eating themselves into death.  Community broke down between Adam and God when he listened and acted with Eve.  As a result, his relationship with Eve was also corrupted.

At this point I delight in telling you one of my favourite quotes from Luther’s Table Talk.  Martin Luther, being a very earthy Middle Ages man, said, “Almost every night when I wake up the devil is there and wants to dispute with me… I instantly chase him away with a fart.” (Luther’s Works 54:78)

Crass, yes!  But it is excellent classic practical theology!  For when you’re breaking wind in the devil’s face one is reversing the authority order of the fall at Eden.  If only Eve had turned her back on the devil, it would have been the holiest and most blessed and pleasant fart known to humanity. 

To turn in the devil’s hearing and blow flatulence in his face would have been a turning to her husband, and he with her, a return to the Lord.  They would have remained in the authority of God’s command, not eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Instead, they could have partaken in the many delights of the garden, including the tree of life, and pleased God in doing so.

But they didn’t and as the cliché goes, “the rest is history”, until at the right time in history, God sent Jesus to do what Adam could not do.

Here too the doing is not the primary action but rather it is the listening.  “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”  (Romans 5: 19 ESV)

Disobedience and obedience are not just about hearing or listening, then doing.  Rather Saint Paul and the other Epistle writers speak of literally “hypo-hearing” or “under-hearing” when listening to God.  This is listening in submission to God’s Word, and for us it is the listening of the body, or the church, to the head of the church, which is Jesus Christ.

Disobedience here in Paul’s Epistles is “para-hearing”, “contrary-hearing”, or “proximity-hearing”.  One might not listen properly, only hearing in part, or mishearing.  Or a person might read into what they hear, and act on that, like a Chinese whisper gone wrong.

This is what happened at Eden when God told Adam not to eat of the tree.  Somehow, Eve tells the devil a slightly different command from what God had said to Adam.

Adam was commanded, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16–17 ESV)

To this Eve added, when quizzed by the devil, “but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” (Genesis 3:3 ESV)

When touching it, they did not die.  So, they ate, they knew death, and knew they were disobedient.  Instead of “under-hearing” they “contrary-listened” and became “hyper-hearers” they stood over God’s word, placing the authority of God’s Word below their understanding, their touching, and their tasting.

And what followed was the eternal “oops” once the sweet fruit of knowledge soured in the reality of whom it was that they had not listened.

But they continued in this “oops” by believing their immediate offspring would be the one to crush the serpent underfoot, promoting Cain as a champion man.  Wrongly they believed, and therefore named their second born, Abel, which means “second-rate, vain, or unsatisfactory”. 

We know Cain’s sacrifice to God was second rate, where Abel’s offering received God’s favour, leading to Cain murdering Abel, and being cursed by God.  This occurred as a result of Adam and Eve’s expectation and hyper-hearing of God’s promise.  Seth, however, is the one named as son, from which Jesus Christ is later born.  Incidentally, Abel was the first fallen human to enter the Kingdom of God, and second only to Jesus Christ!

Into our fallen world Jesus was born.  He is the true “Hypo-Hearer” of God.  He does not listen contrary to the Word of God, nor does he place himself over God’s Word, even though he is “the Word made Flesh”.

Jesus Christ was sent from the perfect community of the three-person common-unity, “threefold community or Trinity”, of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

At the start of his ministry, Jesus was baptised, and the Holy Spirit came down upon him.  Have you ever wondered, “why”?  Why does God the Son need God the Holy Spirit to come down on him in his earthly ministry?

There are two primary reasons.  First, God is a community of life and love, God works in community, everything he created is for community. 

Second, for Jesus to be the perfect servant, the true “hypo-hearer”, “under-hearer”, or “Obedient One”, he had to become as we are, as Adam and Eve were.  With the same nature as us.  But one hundred percent without sin. 

Jesus had to come in complete submission, not resting on a hyper-hearing or para-hearing, but weak, and led by the Holy Spirit, showing himself to be like you and me in every way, sin excepted.

Because of the Holy Spirit’s work of leading him to the cross, and his atonement for us on the cross, we now walk in the holy priesthood of all believers, baptised into Jesus’ “hypo-hearing”, or submission. 

And in receiving Jesus and his Word, we also receive the Holy Spirit, to will us, to inspire us, and lead us from the temptation of disobedience to the holiness, righteousness, and pleasures of God our Father in Jesus Christ.  Amen.

A, Ash Wednesday- Matthew 6:19-21 "The Litany of Jesus' Treasures"

Matthew 6:19–21  Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Who is Jesus?  How do you explain Jesus to someone else?  Who is Jesus to you? What makes Jesus important to you, for you in your day-to-day life?

Jesus tells those who listen to his Sermon on the Mount, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasurers on earth… but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

In coming weeks, we will be examining a litany of Jesus’ life to see his treasure.  Then we can identify our treasure to gain a deeper understanding as to why and how Jesus gave up his divinity and served humanity through what he treasured.

Last Sunday we came to and from the Mountain of Transfiguration.  Now we travel with Jesus in remembrance to the Mountain of Calvary, to the cross, where the Gospel was nailed out for our deliverance from sin and death. 

We are being led to God’s kingdom, forgiven, and equipped to forgive.  Given what we need to walk the way of this wilderness through heartache and suffering.  But also, given it with hope in the great day of salvation, when Jesus will lead us through the Jordanian waters of death into the eternal land of milk and honey.

However, first we find ourselves on the mountain of teaching with Jesus as he opens up the Law to us in greater depth than the Old Testament, and with greater width than we can possibly fulfil during the length and breadth of our lives on earth.

Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with the beatitudes, “nine statements of blessedness”, then calls the hearer to be the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world”. 

He explains that he has not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfil them.  Then what would have surprised everyone he teaches, one’s righteousness needs to exceed that of the pharisees and scribes, to enter the kingdom of heaven.

He expounds the laws of murder and adultery to include, hatred and lust.  He teaches how to pray, giving them his prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, to turn meditation from themselves to God and his gifts.

What becomes apparent to all who listen with the right heart to his Sermon on the Mount, is that no one can fulfil what the law and the prophets have said.  And even more so!  Now, that Jesus has expanded the Commandments to include not glorifying the self, nor being anxious or worrying.  As well as increasing hating and calling one a fool into the same as murder, and likewise desiring with sexual hunger as the same as adultery. 

In the midst of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus focuses on what are one’s treasures.   A treasure is literally anything that you set aside as security for yourself.  He then focuses us on the greater treasures of heaven.  But the sting he leaves with us is this:  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

What is your treasure, where is your heart?  What is your haven of heavenly treasure?

To work out firstly what your heaven might be, we can place ourselves in the shoes of the young man who came up to Jesus, enquiring…

“Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”  And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.  The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”  Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”  (Matthew 19:16-17, 20–22 ESV)

Jesus tells him to sell all his goods.  Or, to rid himself of all the things he deems good for his existence.

Now that you are in the shoes of this young man, how do you receive these words from Jesus?

This should rightfully make you feel uneasy.  With his word, Jesus cuts to the heart of every person’s treasure.  Or what we can rightfully call, goods or riches that have become idols or gods.

Jesus follows on, and says to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”  (Matthew 19:23-24 ESV)

The disciples get the gist of Jesus’ word and on hearing, “they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”  But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:25-26 ESV)

God gives us what we need to live, but we take these things and they become treasures greater than the treasures of heaven.  But they perish, and once we’ve made them our gods, we too are in danger of perishing with them. 

Yes!  We all die!  However, these earthly treasures tempt us to trust them and lead us away from being saved.  One’s treasures can lead, not just to a physical death, but an eternal death!

The treasures of the kingdom of heaven are only possible through God.

So, what Jesus was teaching at his Sermon on the Mount is that getting the treasures of heaven is only possible through him.

In a moment we are going to receive the imposition of ashes and I will announce to you as I place an ash cross on your forehead, “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

We do this in full realisation that through humanity’s knowledge of good and evil, we lost access to God, and that we live under the curse of death.  But upon the knowledge of the law we live looking forward in faith in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

During the Lenten season we will examine just what this knowledge of Jesus Christ is.  After the imposition of ashes, we will pray the “Litany on the Life of Jesus” which will be the form of our five meditations. We will also learn of the activity of God the Holy Spirit as Jesus passively lived seeking treasures of his Father in Heaven, his name, his kingdom, and his will, as he walks to the cross for us.

In this Litany of Jesus’ treasures, the Holy Spirit will seek to give you a deeper understanding and teaching of…

1)   The prayers of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to pray.

2)   The gifts of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to give.

3)   The toils of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to work.

4)   By the love of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to love.

5)   By the cross of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to live. 

In allowing the Holy Spirit to rule in our hearts, bringing us to Jesus, we will be Holy Spirit prepared to tell others what the Gospel is.  How we are blessed by forgiveness.  Understand for ourselves God’s purpose for us, despite the curse of sin and death in our lives.  And therefore, show the compassionate steadfast love and generosity we receive, to others, who like us, need God’s forgiveness and salvation.  Amen.

A, The Transfiguration of our Lord - Matthew 17:1-9 "Uncovered Glory"

Matthew 17:1–9 (ESV)  And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.  And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.  And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”  When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.  But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.”  And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.  And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

My dog loves to get bones.  Unfortunately, because he is part Labrador, he tends to gulp them down, with an expectation that another is coming.  Therefore, we often give him bones that are frozen, so at least he has to work on them longer, so you might say, to get better value for money out of them.

To my dismay, when we give him a frozen bone, he waits till no one is watching, then finds a secret place in the garden to bury it. 

This is a terrible practice. A nice clean bone gets covered in dirt and once retrieved from the ground any meat on it is shrivelled and engrained with grit, often with the addition of meat ants who’ve come to join the festivities.

But it just doesn’t happen with frozen bones.  If the bone is large and he is not finished chewing it, he has to hide it, to keep it for later, so he can enjoy its goodness later on.

Like my dog, Peter sought to cover Jesus, Elijah, and Moses when they were uncovered on the Mountain of Transfiguration.  Perhaps he sought to keep Jesus’ glory covered for later on!

Up on the mountain the figure of Jesus changed.  Strikingly, vividly, and with this change appeared Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus. 

The three disciples did not understand what was going on. And nor should they!  Not until Jesus had been raised and had ascended into heaven.  Not until the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost giving understanding and knowledge of who Jesus is, and what he did for us in his life and death with them at that time.  Not until his resurrection then ascension to the right hand of the Father for us.

Glowing in all the glory of God, Jesus is the Son of God, radiantly reflecting his holiness which had been hidden within.  God was giving Peter, James, and John, a glimpse of the eternal glory hidden within Jesus’ human body.

Having seen Jesus’ form change into something glorious, Peter pipes up with an idea.  To build shelters for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.  Just like my dog burying his bone in the dirt, Peter seeks to cover the uncovered through his dirty human effort, to freeze in time the radiance that was now shining from Jesus.

But Peter’s covering was inappropriate.  His tent was not needed and nor could his work of building it contain the glory of God. Jesus was on the wrong mountain, and the time was not right for his work to be nailed into history.

However, God covered Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James, and John, with the bright cloud of his Word saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5b ESV)

It’s interesting to note that the brilliance of Jesus’ transformation pleased the disciples as Peter says, “Lord, it is good that we are here.  If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (Matthew 17:4 ESV)  But when God the Father envelops them with his covering Word, they fell on their faces in overwhelming fear.

God cannot be locked away from us, nor can the Son or the Holy Spirit.  We cannot build a place to hide God within and without God we cannot be uncovered and made free.  In fact, we cannot cover God in love, “we cannot  love God unless we have received the forgiveness of sins.” (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Art 4:311, Tappet Edition)

Goodness or pleasure are not found in Peter building three coverings, but in God’s pleasure in Jesus Christ and the goodness of God’s Word where we are called to, “listen to him”, “listen to Jesus”!

Now, I like to talk to my dog.  I talk to him most of the time when I am with him.  My daughter thinks talking to my dog is a sign that I have lost my mind.  Maybe she has a point.  I often ask my dog for advice when I am trying to fix or make something at my workbench.  He looks at me, listening with full attention, with his head cocked to the side.  Surprisingly, he does not answer.  The other day I was telling a relative this and he said, “I bet if the dog spoke back to you, you’d drop dead!”

Hopefully unlike my dog, I do listen to God and his Word.  That I don’t act like I’m listening just to have the pleasure of getting a pat.  But that I hear, and in hearing Jesus’ Word, I receive the uncovered glory of God.  In receiving his Word, I allow the Holy Spirit to temple grace, faith, and love for others, within me.  And I respond in kind, with joy, confessing my sin in the protection of God’s covering, showing others that God’s covering shields me from sin and death.  And that they can have this eternal covering too.

Jesus is present with Moses and Elijah transfigured on the mountain.  He stands with the two great men of the Law in the Old Testament.  The Word of God is joined to the Law on the mountain and the experience of the three disciples turns from, “it is good to be here”, to “not good”.  The disciples fell face down with fatal fear, seemingly death was about to touch them.

Yet the touch they felt was not death but that of Jesus.  “Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise, and have no fear.’  And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.”  (Matthew 17:7–8 ESV)

They left the Mountain of Transfiguration and glory, but Jesus left knowing full well he was on the way to the mountain of disfiguration and goriness, Golgotha, where death would touch him.

Jesus calls you to follow him.  He touches you with his Word, he touches you with the Holy Spirit, so we stop building our own coverings of pleasure that neither protect us from sin nor death.

God has no pleasure in death.  On the Mountain of Transfiguration Jesus stood with the Law men uncovered in glory, but for only a moment, revealing his perfection under the Law.

He took that perfection under the Law and bore your disfiguration on the Mountain of Atonement, at the cross of Calvary.

As we walk through these days, Jesus does not want you to seek your own coverings.  But rather, from him and the Father, the Holy Spirit continually comes to rescue you from the deadly shelters of your own efforts, your own truths, and your own lives. 

The Holy Spirit seeks to cover you with Christ, and in this covering, he smothers to death the human spirit, that seeks to bury and hide your need for forgiveness.  Your human nature continually seeks to cover God’s need for forgiveness with the dirt and grit of your own good and evil.  Such is the dogged nature of us all.

The Holy Spirit covers you in Christ, so you can be transfigured with Christ, so you can be with God the Father in the eternally pleasing place of Paradise.

Amen.