Matthew 17:1-9
Paonia United Methodist Church
February 6, 2005
Transfiguration, The First Super Sunday
What a morning!
Baptisms, new church members, and communion coming up.
Now, for those of you already looking at your watches
Wondering if you are going to be out of here on time,
Let me tell you to relax…
You will eventually get back to the world
You were trying to leave behind
When you got here.
Many of our services run about 50 minutes,
Today’s may run a little longer,
But whatever your plan is, I assure you that you will
Make it to your Superbowl parties on time.
Please set aside the clock, and allow yourself
To engage in this mornings message.
Now, you might wonder why I would even begin
A request like this…
Seems kind of irrelevant to anything that we might actually
Want to look at…
But, I think that you will find that it has everything to do
With where we are going this morning.
Our expectations and God’s purposes...
They are usually not the same. What happens when they collide?
That is where we are going this morning.
So, please buckle up and return your seats and trays to their full
Upright positions as we take off this morning
To the first Super Sunday….
The story of the Transfiguration…
God’s purposes revealed.
Matthew 17
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters–one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Super Sunday!
What makes it super, I hear you ask?
Well, several things…
How many of you have heard of the transfiguration before?
How many of you stayed awake through my sermon
On the Transfiguration last year?
Does anyone know what the
Transfiguration is?
This is one of those verses that scholars just love to write about.
Something happened here.
Since I had such a great response last week when I asked you
To repeat after me, I thought we would try it again.
Say it with me…
Something big happened here.
Okay, that’s the first part.
Jesus has been baptized and has begun his public ministry.
He and the disciples go up a mountain and Jesus is transfigured before their eyes.
Something big just happened.
Well, what happened?
And how big was it?
Well, take a look at the event itself as described by the Bible before we start to
Take apart the meaning.
Jesus was changed in the presence of the disciples.
His face and his garments took on the radiance of the glory of God.
Then, Elijah and Moses, two of the great OT leaders happened to be
Standing there beside him talking to him.
How significant is this?
Well, I suspect it’s fairly significant since they had both been dead for
Several hundred years and now they were having a conversation with the
Messiah right in front of their eyes.
And, if that is not enough, God speaks again from
the clouds.
How many of you would be convinced if you were watching this that this would
Be at least what you would consider fairly significant?
I would be persuaded to think so.
So what was the significance?
I am glad you asked!
It was a moment in which God revealed to Jesus’ disciples
Jesus’ true nature… divine and of God.
Moses and Elijah standing there represent the support of the law (Moses)
And the prophets (Elijah).
God repeats his Jesus’ baptismal blessing so that the disciples,
Who had not yet been called at the time of Jesus’ baptism
Could hear it for themselves.
The divine glory illuminates Jesus and strengthens
Him for the hard days ahead…
The journey to the cross.
How is that for significant?
The Law, the prophets, God all line up to strengthen Jesus for the days ahead
And also build the disciples courage and faith to go on with the journey
Ahead.
Pretty big deal, wouldn’t you say?
That’s why I am calling this the original Super Sunday.
And, as super as this was,
How many of you would be thoughtful enough to take notes?
There is a reason I ask.
While John was typing it out on his laptop and
Matthew was recoding this into his PDA,
For you to hear about this morning,
Peter did something a bit more interesting…
Now, I have to tell you, of all the disciples, Peter is the one I can relate to the best.
The rest of them are all watching the spectacular event unfolding before their eyes
And what does Peter do?
Well, listen to this again,
I love this part that Matthew was sure to record for us…
See if you can pick up on the little barb he made at Peter.
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters–one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
Did you catch that?
Peter and the rest of the disciples have just witnessed the impossible.
The very dead representative of the law and the very dead
Representative of the prophets are standing there
Talking to Jesus.
Okay Peter…
Here is a clue.
Now is a good time to quit blathering!
God didn’t ask for your opinion!
This isn’t about you!
This is God at work!
Pay attention!
You have been invited to be a part of something big.
Quit flapping your gums!
You have just been invited to come along,
Not reinvent the process of the destination!
And Matthew is sure to include this for us when he says…
While he (Peter) was still speaking,
a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said,
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.
Listen to him!”
How many of you think that by listen to him,
God meant Peter?
What’s my point?
Well, first of all, it is pretty rare that God will show up
In a cloud and shout over you.
Could it happen?
I suspect so, but I haven’t had that happen to me yet.
And like Peter, I also try and move on to the next
Thing without always hearing God finish his
Sentence first.
God was speaking and he wasn’t listening!
Had this not been such a dramatic experience,
He would have missed it all together.
How about you?
Yes I am talking about being distracted.
I am talking about having our own plans and expectations
And our own understanding about how things are
supposed to work.
I seem to think that I know what is best for me
And what is best for the church and for my family and marriage,
Etc. etc. etc.
How about you?
If you are honest at all with yourself you should at least
Be able to relate somewhat to poor Peter who
Managed to make a fool out of himself
Yet again.
And, when we do that, we miss God speak.
We miss our communication.
We miss our very purpose for being and we are left
Floundering around trying to do meaningless things
Like Peter’s bright idea of building shelters for a couple
Of dead people!
Now, before you think that I am picking on Peter too much,
Remember this…
Peter was the Rock on which Christ decided to build his church!
The same guy who said stupid things at all the wrong times,
The one who denies Jesus at the cross and splits,
The one who Jesus even called Satan as Peter
Was trying to talk him out of his mission!
This is the founder of the church!
We are sitting here 2000 years later because of this
Same guy who, when push came to shove, could never get it right!
Seem strange to you?
It certainly does to me!
It must have to the other disciples as they were sure to write all this
Down for us so we knew darn good and sure who we
Are dealing with here.
But, facts are facts.
Peter was the rock!
I hope you are asking at this point how this is possible.
Anyone interested in knowing?
Want to know what happened to make this work?
I hope you do because this is the part that means something to you and me.
Peter had a transfiguration of his own.
No, there were no clouds,
No ancient prophets,
No voices from on high.
Peter, after he denied the Messiah and failed miserably under his own power
Came to a place where he was willing to let go and let God.
We will come to this reading after Easter,
But let me give you the part that is meaningful for you today.
Until you come to a point when you recognize
That you are not the master of the universe,
You are not in control of your future,
You are not the creator of your own design,
And that God is not interested in your opinion (that hurts)
You are not usable by God.
Peter, after he was able to keep his mouth shut
And listen to God speak to him,
Not only became a pretty good disciple,
He also managed to build what you and I call the church!
Were still here!
Think that he could have done that by his own design?
Then why do you continue to try it in your own life?
Now please, understand something, I am not up here picking on
You like Moses handing down the tablets.
I have my own laundry list of where I have failed and failed miserably
As a disciple and a follower of Christ.
The only reason I can give you a message like this is because I
Can see some glaring faults of my own.
But, that does not change the message to you.
Peter was his own biggest obstacle in his spiritual walk with God.
You are your own biggest obstacle in your spiritual walk with God.
I am my own biggest obstacle in my spiritual walk with God.
Call it pride, call it fear, call it apathy, call it disbelief, call it anger, call it resentment,
Call it for whatever it is in your own life,
But call it for what it is. Give it a name!
Its an obstacle.
And that, by its very definition, is sin.
And this is what keeps us stuck.
Does that mean that Peter was a bad guy?
No.
Does that mean you and I are bad people?
No.
Just flawed.
Human.
Very much less than God.
But when we claim these obstacles for what they are,
And we are willing to lay them at the feet of a loving God,
We hear him speak.
“This is my Son, listen to him…”
People of God, I do believe that God is speaking to us right now.
We as individuals and we as a church.
We are being challenged to move beyond our own plans
and to instead be faithful disciples
To the destination God is leading.
But we will not hear it if we hold onto our own plans.
You will not fulfill your purpose you were created for
So long as you set the agenda.
The church will not fulfill its purpose so long as
We set the agenda.
It didn’t work in the past.
It won’t work in the future.
Its not about you.
It never has been.
Its about God’s work.
And you and I have been invited along as followers.
But first, we are called to listen…
To hear with new ears God speak to us.
You are called to set aside yourself and be transfigured
Into the image God intended for you when he created you.
Today is not a call to action,
But a call to transformation.
Are you willing to get out of the way
And allow God’s purpose to be fulfilled in you?
