2 Peter 1: For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the

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Theodore Riley
6 years ago
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1 2 Peter 1: For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. 18 We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 1

2 Church of the Transfiguration If the calendar is to be believed, we have already turned the page on February and have crossed into March. Perhaps it s not so hard to believe; the weather has been warmer of late. When I leave the church in the evening each weekday there is still plenty of light in the evening sky. The warmer weather and the longer days are both sure signs that spring is on the horizon. Along with the change of season from winter to spring comes a change in seasons within the church. For the past eight weeks we have been in the Season after the Epiphany. The Epiphany is observed on January 6 th and celebrates the Magi, or wise men, appearing before the infant Jesus. The Magi are themselves symbols for all gentiles, and their appearance before Jesus marks the reception of the Gospel by all nations. Next Sunday will mark the first Sunday of Lent, a season of fasting and repentance that prepares us for Easter. Lent, in fact, will begin this coming Wednesday, which is known as Ash Wednesday. Growing up in the Catholic Church I always went to Mass on Ash Wednesday to receive ashes on my forehead. The ashes are a symbol of mortality, reminding us that we were dust and will one day return to dust. They are also a symbol of repentance. Within the last few years even some Protestant churches, including Broadway Presbyterian in New York, which I attended before coming to Seoul, have adopted the practice of distributing ashes on Ash Wednesday. It s part of a movement to return to some of the ancient liturgical practices of the church ashes on Ash Wednesday, palms on Palm Sunday, and incorporating the Psalms into the worship service. Here at PCL we won t mark Ash Wednesday in any particular way, but we will have some activities planned throughout Lent, including a special service in the evening on Good Friday. 2

3 Lent and all of its solemn ritual lies ahead of us. We are not quite there yet. The Season after the Epiphany is now behind us. Today we are in a space between two seasons no longer Epiphany and not yet Lent. This Sunday has its own name Transfiguration Sunday. Transfiguration Sunday gets its name from a scene described in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Jesus takes three of his disciples Peter, James, and John and leads them up a mountain. There he is transfigured before them, his face and clothes taking on a dazzling white glow. A voice from heaven speaks and calls Jesus my Son, the Beloved. Here is the scene as it appears in Matthew [SLIDE]: Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 Then Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, we will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him! 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, Get up and do not be afraid. 8 And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. (Mt. 17:1-8) This incident is known as the Transfiguration. A transfiguration is a transformation of the outward form of something. The disciples had been following Jesus for some time, journeying with him, eating with him, praying with him, listening to his teachings, and observing his interactions with people. But this is the first time that they have learned that there may be more to this wandering preacher than they first imagined. This is not simply Mary s son, but according to the voice that speaks from the cloud, this is God s son. A curious feature about the way the Transfiguration is described is those first three words: six days later. This is one of the few accounts in Jesus life other than the passion narrative the events leading to Jesus crucifixion that contains a specific 3

4 time element [SLIDE]. What Matthew is referring to is an incident that happened earlier in chapter 16 in which the identity of Jesus first came up. Jesus asks the disciples, Who do you say that I am (Mt. 16:15)? Peter, ever the bold one, proclaims, You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God (Mt. 16:16). Jesus praises Peter for his answer, declaring that only God could have revealed this to him. You would think that Peter would stop there, and quit while he is ahead, but that just wasn t Peter s style [SLIDE]. After Jesus, Peter, James, and John come down from the mountain, Jesus tells the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes. He lets them know that he will be killed and be raised on the third day. But Peter will not hear it. He pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him, saying, God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you (Mt. 16:22). Now, Peter is often criticized for being headstrong and for acting without thinking through his actions. But imagine yourself in Peter s shoes, or sandals, if you will. You ve invested your life in this man, Jesus. You ve left everything to follow him, only to have him tell you that he will go willingly to his death at the hands of his enemies. Hell no! What will I do without you, Jesus? What will become of us, your disciples, after you are gone? No, we need you right where you are, here with us. How does Jesus respond to Peter s rebuke? Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things (Mt. 16:23). Immediately afterwards Jesus tells the disciples that if they are to follow him then they must take up their cross and be willing to lose their lives. Welcome to the faith! Here is your cross. Now let s go. It is a challenging message, and one that the disciples probably didn t want to hear, if they could even understand it. So this is the context in which the Transfiguration takes place [SLIDE]. The voice from the clouds confirms Peter s confession of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the 4

5 living God: This is my Son, the Beloved. Note that the voice is directed to the disciples, not to Jesus. Jesus knew who he was and what he was sent to do. The disciples, on the other hand, did not fully understand either, and so God speaks to them and allows them to be eyewitnesses to the unveiled glory of the Son. Listen to him, God says. The disciples have heard Jesus preach, but they haven t really been listening to him. Peter tried to make of Jesus something that he was not. Peter would have had Jesus avoid the cross and thus fail in his mission. Jesus rightly calls such an attitude satanic. Listen to him means understand who he is and what he was sent to do. He means what he says. He will die and he will return in glory. It may have taken Peter some time to process this message. After all, upon hearing the voice of God he, James, and John are overcome with fear. As is often the case, though, time brings clarity. Eventually Peter would come to understand the message of the cross. We see that in today s reading from 2 Peter. 2 Peter is a short book, only three chapters long [SLIDE]. Although it bears Peter s name, most New Testament scholars believe that 2 Peter was written many decades after Peter was martyred in Rome in 64 A.D. Most leaders of the early church believed the same. It was a common practice in the ancient world to attach the name of a well respected figure to a document so that it would be more widely read. We see the same thing nowadays. I have seen many quotes on the Internet attributed to people like Einstein, Gandhi, or Thomas Jefferson the third American president putting words in their mouth that they never actually spoke. The person doing so is trying to lend credibility to their cause by attaching a famous figure to it. Someone with a very keen sense of humor made fun of the phenomenon by using it himself or herself. Tell me what s wrong with the following picture [SLIDE]. The intent of the author of 2 Peter, however, was not to deceive but to speak in the tradition of Peter and apply his witness to a new context [SLIDE]. That context was 5

6 late in the first century, several decades after Jesus had been crucified. Many of the earliest Christians expected Christ to return in their lifetime. We see this attitude reflected in some of Paul s earlier letters, like 1 Thessalonians. However, their hope was met with disappointment. When that first generation of Christians died off and Christ still had not returned, some critics of Christianity took this as evidence that faith in Christ was mistaken. Even some within the church felt the need to discard this belief to make their faith more palatable to pagans. Greeks and Romans already found the notion of a crucified God to be ridiculous. Telling them that that God would one day return to earth to judge the world only made winning pagan converts that much harder. We see the author of 2 Peter addressing these critics in verse 16. Against what the critics have called cleverly designed myths, the author cites the eyewitness testimony of Peter and the other disciples who experienced the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain. We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, he says (2 Pet. 1:18). Whether Peter himself wrote the letter or someone after him writing in his voice really doesn t matter. What matters is that Peter, James, and John had an experience of the transfigured Christ. As the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke attest, the disciples were on the mountain, they saw the change in Jesus appearance, they heard the voice from the cloud, and as we heard in Matthew s account, they were overcome with fear. Fear is such an honest emotion, perhaps the most honest. It is primal, instinctive. It doesn t reason but reacts. Fear is an honest response to hearing the voice of God speaking directly to you, as Peter, James, and John experienced. Notice how they were fine until God began speaking to them. Seeing Jesus face shine like the sun didn t phase them neither did seeing his clothes become dazzling white. Not even the appearance of Moses and Elijah caused the disciples to betray even a hint of wonder. Peter is even quite practical, asking Jesus whether he would like the 6

7 disciples to build three dwellings for the prophets. No, the disciples are fine until the voice of God addresses them. Then they cower. Is it the voice itself or what the voice tells them? [SLIDE] Listen to him. As I alluded earlier, the Transfiguration is corrective. It corrects the simplistic view that the disciples had of Jesus, who was much more than a teacher of morality, even the higher morality that he calls his disciples to follow, as we saw over the last four weeks of reading a portion of the Sermon on the Mount. Do not resist an evildoer. Turn the other cheek. Love your enemy. What enabled Jesus to preach this higher morality and to live it into being with perfect obedience was the fact that Jesus was who God proclaimed him to be: the Son of God, the Beloved. He was a prophet, like Moses and Elijah, but he was greater. Unlike Moses and Elijah, Jesus had the authority to reinterpret the Scriptures because the Scriptures point to him. The author of 2 Peter recognizes that the Transfiguration confirms Jesus true identity. Thus he writes, So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed (2 Pet. 1:19). What the Scriptures attest to, Peter, James, and John have just witnessed: Jesus is God s anointed. This knowledge is like a lamp shining in a dark place, a lamp that shines like the face of Christ transfigured on the mountaintop. This light is the light of the Gospel. As Christ s modern-day disciples we are now witnesses to that light. We are now the ones transformed by the morning star rising in our hearts, as it says in verse 19. Our faces are meant to reflect the light of Christ. All that we think, say, and do is meant to be a reflection of the light of Christ. Moreover, we are called to be bearers of the light of the Gospel, bringing it to the dark corners of our world, our country, our city, our neighborhoods, and our homes as God leads us. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it it says in John 1:5. That s the thing with light. Even the smallest flicker of light dispels the darkness around it, pushing it away. 7

8 I don t know of a place in the world that has more darkness literally and figuratively than our neighbor to the north. There was a photo that was making the rounds of the Internet last week. It was taken from the International Space Station. It s a photo of the Korean peninsula and surrounding area at night [SLIDE]. You can see that South Korea, particularly Seoul, is well lit, as is China. But then look to the north. Aside from a speck of light in the capital, Pyongyang, you wouldn t even know that there is land in North Korea. In the dark the land blends together with the darkness of the sea. As a Christian living in South Korea, I feel a calling to bring Christ s light into the vast darkness of the north to whatever extent is possible. One of the reasons I decided to come to this church was because of the opportunity to serve North Korean refugees through the Samheung School, where we used to send a team of volunteers once a month to interact with the children there. Although that was a key factor in my coming here, I haven t resumed that ministry because 1) I first needed to get myself situated here; and 2) I felt that we needed to develop more of a sense of community among ourselves before we brought that community to others. Recently another opportunity to serve the North Korean refugee population has opened to us. This one is also a school, although it is a high school, and it is much closer to the church. The school would like us to lead a Bible study and other activities in English for the students. They have asked that we come twice a month, although I think once a month would be more realistic, given our size. I don t want to burn anybody out, especially myself. I want to keep our ambitions and our capabilities in balance, which is not always an easy task. If you are interested in serving this ministry, please talk to me after the service or send me an . My is in the bulletin. If you ve taken a look at our Web site recently and yes, let me plug the Web site one more time you should have seen on the home page, right under the name 8

9 PCL English Ministry, the tagline Serving Heart and Seoul. I used to work in advertising; writing taglines is what I did. I want that tagline to reflect who we are and what we do. I want us to be servants of the Gospel. I want us to be people who serve wholeheartedly and who bear Christ s light throughout this city. Some of that we will do on our own, but some of that we can do as a community of Christ s disciples. Those of you who have already volunteered to serve the English discussion group, I thank you, and I will see you after the Bible study. Now I appeal to others of you to help with this North Korean ministry. Look, I know we re not going to change the world. That is not our ambition. But just as the smallest light dispels even the deepest darkness, we can shine the light of Christ into our little corner of the world. The Transfiguration is about the disciples at last recognizing Jesus as the Son of God. They had heard the Sermon on the Mount. They had seen the miracles. But the Transfiguration gave them a new understanding. The name of our church is 주님의교회 or Church of the Lord. A long time ago, after I had left the Catholic Church but before I joined the Presbyterian Church, I briefly attended an Episcopal church in New York City known by the nickname, The Little Church Around the Corner [SLIDE]. It s official name was more formal: Church of the Transfiguration. Although our name may be 주님의교회 (and let me add, it s a fine name), let s be a church of the Transfiguration. Let s be a church that fully recognizes Christ, is transformed by the light of the Gospel, and witnesses to his saving light. Christ is calling us to this mission. As the voice of God said to the disciples on the mountaintop, let s listen to him. 9

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Making the Love of Christ Known ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH 7:45AM & 10:45AM FEBRUARY 26, 2017

ST. JOHN LUTHERAN CHURCH 7:45AM & 10:45AM FEBRUARY 26, 2017 Making the Love of Christ Known Jeffery Gramza Senior Pastor Doug Meyer Pastor Emeritus Fred Bartelt Vicar Prelude Welcome /Announcements Sharing