Sermon “Looking for Transfiguration? See Jesus”

Sermon “Looking for Transfiguration? See Jesus” audio link
May the grace of the Lord be with us all, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Today, Sunday of the Transfiguration, the last Sunday before the penitential season of Lent, we look to Jesus as the one who was presented to his apostles as the Holy One of Israel. We see that Jesus, already the pure and spotless Lamb of God, is shown to be that one, abundant in radiance.

When confronted by God's radiance, how do we react? Do we, like Peter, start to articulate our building plan, preparing to make some sort of tabernacles to celebrate God's holiness? Do we fall down in fear and reverence? Or do we possibly avert our eyes and try to escape from our Lord's presence?

I can picture the responses that some people in our community might have had to the sign posted outside this week. I know they read it, because I hear about it from unexpected people at unexpected times. People from the community comment on our sign, though they rarely tell me specifics. So what would they make of that sign, this sermon title? “Looking for Transfiguration? See Jesus.”

I know and you know that some people would deliberately avoid a sermon like that. It sure seems like a chance for the pastor to beat us about the head telling us how to change our lives so we can be like Jesus. We often can go to church and be told how to transfigure ourselves, or at least be told that we need to transfigure ourselves. That's about the time that the crushing weight of God's Law falls on us. Do this! Do that! If you want to live like a “real” Christian you'll prove yourself holy, all the way, all the time, and then you will have some hope that maybe the Lord will accept you. Have you ever been beaten up in that way? I'm sorry if you have. I've endured it also, for a good many years. And sad to say I've probably dished up a number of servings of that kind of preaching and teaching. I might have done it recently.

Here's a case in point. Last week, when talking about letting children come to Jesus, I realized that I neglected to say some things. And that neglect may have proven a discouragement to some people. I hope it didn't. But I fear it may have done so. In saying that the death of a person stops that person from having more opportunities to come to Jesus in faith, I spoke the truth. When we die, we no longer have opportunity to hear the Gospel and respond with a life of faith. That's the fact. But does that mean that everyone who doesn't make it to birth is condemned? Not at all. Though we are conceived as sinful beings, the Holy Spirit works through the Word on people who haven't even been born yet. Remember that everywhere the mother goes, the baby also goes. And through the hearing of the Word of God even an unborn child can have faith planted in his heart. There's no reason to doubt that, no reason at all. What fruit of righteousness do we see? We might not have the opportunity to see the fruit. The child who dies before being born has no opportunity to bear fruit of the Spirit, to love his neighbor, to help those in need. But neither did the thief on the cross when he was repentant and
trusted Jesus. Remember, we are saved by grace through faith, and that is not of ourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, so nobody can boast. And sometimes God grants that faith to a person who will not live to express his faith in any way. But it is saving faith nonetheless. This does not mean that we treat unborn humans in any casual way. But it does mean that we are often unaware of the work which the Holy Spirit is doing in people's lives. Let God be God!

So we don't beat people up, telling them how to be righteous in hopes that they will earn their wings. It simply isn't going to happen. God commands that we should be holy, but he also gives us the way to be holy, and that is not through our own works. And that is the other feature of today's service which I think might just be sadly unattractive to some people in our community. Really, the Bible says that we are to look to God for change? But how many of the people you work with think they are doing pretty well regardless? Change? From God? Really? Why, if anything, they may well think that God should change his attitude and decide to like us, because we're pretty good folks, after all. All this religiosity about sin, shame, repentance, forgiveness, our culture wants to leave it behind. Just get on with our lives and do what's right. We all know how to be good people, don't we? Well, let me ask if we act upon that. The same person who tells me people are good by nature will confess to locking up his possessions because there are people all around him who will steal them. The same person who tells me people are good and helpful wouldn't be caught dead asking for directions in some parts of some cities. The same people who say they are honest in all their dealings are willing to pay people in cash that will be unreported for tax purposes, or may prefer to receive payment in cash which they will not report on their taxes, thus violating federal laws. And I'll just say two other words, then let it go. “Speed limit.”

All right, so we need transfiguration. If we are to be faithful and lawful people, we realize we have failed. Yet the change that we need is not something we can cause ourselves. We can make attempts at it. Yet we realize that deep in our hearts we are by nature lawbreakers. We need a change, and we need it from outside ourselves. Jesus, then, is the one who is presented to us as the one who is perfect, radiant in righteousness, having complete communion with God the Father. This is all well and good. But how does Jesus' transfiguration have anything to do with us?

Enter the Bible Reading Challenge. What did we read this week? We read most of the book of Leviticus, where God's redeeming grace shines through bright an clear. Now I realize that some people despair of God's grace when they read Leviticus. But I'd ask if they have ever seen chapter 16 well in its context. For in this chapter we meet the “scapegoat” - the perfect young goat upon whom all the sins of Israel are confessed, then which is sent out into the wilderness where he certainly becomes lunch for some very hungry wild animals. What is the result? This animal bears the sin of the people and then goes outside of the camp to perish as a result of the sin which has been imputed to him.

Jesus is now presented as our scapegoat. He, the perfect Lamb of God, presented to us in glory at the mount of transfiguration, is the one to whom all the sin of all mankind is imputed. He, Jesus, is the one who suffers and dies a shameful death, outside of the city, outside of the camp, in an unclean place, bearing your sin and my sin. Jesus, the transfigured one, changes himself to receive all our sin and shame. And because he receives it we no longer bear it. We no longer need to walk around weighed down by the guilt of our sin. We no longer need to bear the oppression of our past. We are not condemned, for Jesus has been condemned for us.

Do we want transfiguration? Let us look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our salvation, the one who bears our sin, the one who overcomes it all by his death, burial, and resurrection. Is this a message which is foreign to our culture? Yes it is, but it is the truth, it is the message we need. Jesus is the one who has delivered us. Thanks be to God. Amen.