Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9)

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. The text for our sermon this Transfiguration Day comes from the Gospel lesson read a few moments ago from the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. Dear friends in Christ, the mountain was high, the glory was great. A voice spoke of the power and majesty that would belong to Jesus. All the earth and its kingdoms lay before His feet, promised to Him, if Jesus would only be obedient to the voice who spoke. But He refused. He rejected this voice, He rejected its offer, He rejected its promise. Instead, He said, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.’” He refused to transfigure Himself, to grasp after the glory that Satan held before Him; He refused to give worship to any who promised rule over this world apart from the will and plan of His Father. It was the Father who would transfigure His Son, and He would do so at the proper time.

That time came just a couple years later. The mountain was high, the glory was great. A voice spoke of the power and majesty that would belong to Jesus. All the earth and its kingdoms lay before His feet, promised to Him, if Jesus would only be obedient to the voice who spoke. He was clothed in the very glory of God Himself; all that was kept hidden as Jesus walked this earth was brilliantly revealed; the veil was pulled away, if only for a moment. “He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light.” Although the angels acclaimed Him, all the shepherds saw on Christmas Eve was a baby; although they worshipped Him with great gifts, all the magi saw on Epiphany was a child; although the voice spoke from heaven, all that John saw at His Baptism was a man; but on this day, Transfiguration Day, the three disciples saw the very glory of God, they viewed the unveiled majesty of the Creator of the universe in the flesh. There was no mistaking on this day, on this mountain, that this Jesus is God. As if any additional proof was needed, Moses and Elijah—the one whose grave no man knows and the one who has no grave, the two men who stood on Mount Sinai and conversed with God Himself—appeared in the midst of this glory, talking to the Christ, pointing to Him, as they ever did during their lives on this earth.

The mountain of Transfiguration seems far different than the mountain of self-transfiguration, the mountain of temptation where Satan ever dwells. But Satan is on this mountain, too, still speaking his enticing words: “All these I will give you, if you fall down and worship me.” Take the glory without suffering, Easter without the cross. He doesn’t speak directly here, instead using an emissary, the one whom Jesus called ‘Satan’ just six days earlier. “And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good that we are here.’” Peter is simply echoing the words of our Introit: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord.” His desire to dwell in the glory of the Lord is good and godly, but his words are filled with poison for Jesus. As usual, Satan has twisted the Scriptures and human desires for his own use, to set a stumbling block before Jesus. Even the good and godly desire to dwell in God’s glorious courts can be used to Satan’s ends, if it keeps the Messiah from the cross.

And Peter’s next words reveal that this is exactly the evil one’s strategy. “If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He wants to stay on the mountain; He wants to dwell there forever. He is experiencing heaven, and he never wants the experience to end. Peter is overwhelmed by the glory of Jesus, but he is also impressed to be among such select company. Not one tent, but three tents. He exalts Moses and Elijah to the level of Jesus as three great saints of God; He is as awed by their reflected glory as he is by the glory Christ has in Himself. His focus is not solely on Jesus, but also on those who are with Him. Let us stay here, Lord, worshipping, adoring, conversing with this glorious company!

It is not Jesus who answers Satan’s temptations on this mountain; here God the Father speaks. Peter wanted to build some tents; God makes His own tent, a tent of His glory. “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!’” Listen to Jesus; He is my beloved Son. Moses and Elijah are faithful servants, but they are here to point to Jesus, they stand upon this mountain to witness to my Son. They have no desire to exalt themselves; they are not my beloved Son, even though they pointed forward to Him in word and in deed. Listen to no voice that tells you to exalt another human being; my Son is the object of your adoration, because He is your salvation. Listen to Him! It is His voice that you should hear, His voice you should heed.

There are plenty of voices in this world, each claiming to speak with authority. They tell you how to transfigure yourself, how to gain the whole world, as Satan promised on the mountain of temptation. These voices scratch your itching ears, they tell you to seek after glory, to glorify yourself and your own desires, no matter what the cost, no matter what Scripture says about it. They tell you that you deserve to get what you want, that it doesn’t matter whose reputation you destroy on your way to the top. They tell you, as Satan told Peter, to exalt mere humans as God has exalted His Son, whether political leaders, celebrities, football players, or even pastors, but especially yourself, to give sinful humans the honor and worship reserved for God in the flesh. These voices tell you to glory in man. They tell you, as Satan told Peter, to seek glory without suffering, to grasp after victory and majesty without the cross. These voices promise glory, they promise healing, they promise increase, all without the inconvenience of suffering. If your faith is strong enough, if you are a truly a Christian, your life will get better; you can have glory without the suffering. Do not listen to them! Refuse to indulge in their lies!

Listen to Jesus! He alone has the words of eternal life. Listen to Him! He tells you that He cannot stay on that mountain, and neither can you. The mountain-top is not your home, as much as you may want it to be, at least not yet. The voices want you to live on the mountain; aloof from this world, seeking to dwell in that spiritual high that you captured at a youth gathering or concert, or at the Christmases of your youth. The voices want you to chase that feeling, to seek it again and again to keep your faith running strong. The voices want you to make three tents: one for Jesus, one for your pastor, and one for the band (or the organ!). Do not listen to them! Listen to Jesus! He calls you to come down from the mountain and into the valley, for that is the path He must tread. The mountain of Transfiguration has given a glimpse of the glory yet to be, but that glory will only come after suffering. If Jesus stays on that mountain, there will be no glory, for you, for me, for anyone. There will only be darkness for us, even if Jesus continues to shine like a beacon. Listen to Jesus; He must go to the cross. There He will find another kind of glory, but like the glory of Transfiguration, it will drive men to their knees. On that day, Good Friday, as this same Jesus hung dead upon the cross, with the earth shaking and the sun refusing to shine, the centurion in terror cried out, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

The centurion wasn’t on the mountain of Transfiguration, but at the mountain of Christ’s death, Mount Calvary, he understands, at least in part, what is going on. This man, beaten, bloodied, dead, is the Son of God. There is glory hidden there, the glory of God Himself. The Transfiguration was a gift of Jesus to His disciples, a vision of glory to hold on to in the midst of the horrors that were to come, the promise that on the other side of suffering lies exaltation, for Jesus and for us. The Transfiguration is the promise of Easter, of resurrection; His and yours. The Transfiguration shows us what Jesus went down that mountain to win; it is a foretaste of the glory yet to be when He comes again on the Last Day. The Transfiguration shows us the price that needed to be paid for our sin; the cross shows us that Christ was willing to pay it. He goes into the valley of the shadow of death to destroy death; and thus He is with you in the valley, in your suffering, with the promise of deliverance, the promise of glory. The glory will come; that is His promise, His guarantee, sealed by His shed blood. That is your comfort, no matter what your eyes see; He has not left you alone.

The disciples were overwhelmed by the voice of the Father, rebuking Peter, pointing to His Son. They fell on their faces in fear. Then the vision ended, and there was no one left but Jesus only. “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.” Jesus only. Only Jesus is the beloved Son of the Father, the Messiah promised long ago. Only Jesus went to the cross to win glory for us, giving up His life into death to destroy death. Only Jesus can give comfort to you in the midst of affliction, in the midst of suffering; He doesn’t stay up on the mountain-top, but He goes with you into the muck of this sinful world to speak words of comfort. Listen to Jesus. He says, “I forgive you all your sins;” He says, “You are baptized into my name;” He says, “This is my Body, this is my Blood;” He says, “Behold, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” He says these things to you, and He doesn’t lie. His resurrection proves it. The next time someone would say, ‘Have no fear,’ it was an angel, standing outside of an empty tomb. Have no fear, the promise of the Transfiguration has been fulfilled in the glories of Easter. Have no fear, the sufferings of this present age are not worth comparing to the glories that are yet to come. Suffering comes before glory, but O the glory Chris has for us! There, on Mount Zion, we will say for eternity, “Lord, it is good that we are here.” In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

The Baptism of our Lord (Matthew 3:13-17)

“And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. The text for our sermon on this day, the Baptism of our Lord, comes from the Gospel lesson read a few moments ago from the third chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. Dear friends in Christ, a man stands in a river, a baby is held over a font. Both are gifts; the first is the gift of the Christ child, given to the entire world, the child that was born to us, the son that was given to us now grown and mature, standing there in prayer. The second is the gift of new life, bestowed upon loving parents, one of the greatest gifts that our Creator gives, squirming in his or her mother’s arms, maybe even crying out. Both witness that our God is a God of life, a God who delights in giving life, who in His great kindness and grace gives parents children when and where He pleases, just as He gave the Christ child to the world in the fullness of time. But there is a difference between the man in the river and the baby at the font. The ages don’t matter; we all become children when we are brought to the font, no matter our age, and to God all life is precious, no matter how young or old. Only one difference matters: one is sinless, one is sinful.

It is this difference that is a stumbling block, that kept Christ from the water and keeps children from the font. One is sinless; one is sinful. John understood this all too well, and so he tried to keep Jesus out of the river. “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’” The Christ child is held back from baptism, John keeps Him from the water, for He has no sin. John knows that he baptizes sinners, those who are in need of forgiveness, who repent. The perfect, sinless Son of God has no need for repentance or forgiveness, He has no need for baptism.

Baptism is for sinners, and so baptism is for all, even children, even infants. Every gift of life that God sees fit to give is to be brought to the font. This is the most important task of a parent, given to each and every parent on this planet: the gift of life is to be brought to the font. There is no more vital task than bringing your child to Baptism. The death of a child before he or she can be brought to the font is a tragedy, and we trust in the mercies of our God who is love, knowing that His grace is greater than we can even comprehend. But actively keeping them from the font, even to the point of deliberately taking unborn life, is a denial of the vocation God has given, an abandonment of the task that comes with every pregnancy. Baptism is a command to parents because it gives great promises to their children. “Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word.” The taking of unborn life is an act of disobedience against that command, an act which despises those promises.

But baptism is despised in many other ways as well. Even if parents do bring their children to the font, they can keep them from learning about their baptism by not taking them to church or refusing to teach them at home. We adults, moreover, despise baptism by treating it as something that has no bearing on our lives, as simply a ‘get out of hell free’ card that we’ve moved beyond. We see baptism as something that happened long ago, that has little significance today; because I don’t remember it, because I cannot recall that experience or my emotions on that day, it has little power for me now, and my life resembles the life of the unbaptized around me. This should not be. If we truly understood the power of Baptism, we would run with our children to the font, and we would return to the font every day, yes, even every hour in repentance.

For Christ Himself shows us the power of Baptism; every gift given to Christ at the river is given to us at the font. He will not let John deter Him from the waters, He will step into the baptism of sinners. “Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented.” Jesus’ baptism fulfills all righteousness—God’s righteousness and our righteousness—because He is baptized into His own death. Baptism always means death; the water always drowns. What does such baptizing with water indicate? “It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” Baptism is always into Christ’s death. Even Christ was baptized into His own death; He was baptized as the Lamb of God, the sacrifice offered up on the altar of the cross to fulfill all righteousness, He was baptized in order to die.

A righteous and holy God cannot simply overlook sin, nor can a loving God leave His creatures to die eternally under His wrath. His righteousness could only be fulfilled in punishing sin yet sparing the sinners, and so Christ submits to the baptism of sinners in the place of sinners, and the voice of the Father declares that this One is the sin-bearer. God’s righteousness is fulfilled in fulfilling our righteousness, because God declares us righteous, justified in His sight for the sake of Christ, who went from the river to the cross to die in our place, bearing our sin and its punishment. As Christ was baptized into His own death, so we are baptized into that same death; we are put to death in the font and raised up righteous in God’s sight, able to stand before our heavenly Father redeemed and forgiven. Saint Paul declares that God offered up Christ, “To show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

There is nowhere else to look for our salvation, for our righteousness, than Christ. Do not look to your sins, your failings, but to Christ, in the river and at the font. In between the two stands the cross, which gives your baptism its power; the waters are joined with the promises which are all ‘yes’ in Jesus. How can water do such great things? “Certainly not just water, but the Word of God in and with the water does these things, along with the faith which trust the Word of God in the water. For without God’s Word the water is plain water and no baptism. But with the Word of God it is a Baptism, that is, a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit.” The Word, the Gospel, gives Baptism its power, at the river and at the font. The Word was joined to the water in Christ’s own baptism, as the Trinity was revealed, manifested before the world: “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.’”

Christ is anointed as the sin-bearer, as the One who stands in the place of sinners, who submits to the Law, not because He is a sinner, but because He carries all sin. God declares Him a sinner, the sinner, when He stands in the baptism of sinners, and He is anointed for the task of taking that sin to the cross. He bore your sin, inherited from Adam and committed since, even the sins against life, and He paid the price in your place, as your sin-bearer. In your baptism, all that was given to Christ is given to you, for He stands in your place. Heaven is opened to you; you are no longer barred from God’s holy presence; you have access to God through Christ, heaven remains opened to you because you are baptized. Your baptism isn’t a past event, it is a present reality, your identity forever. The Holy Spirit continues to descend upon you, creating faith which clings to the promises given in Baptism, and the Father speaks to you every day as you return to the font what He said on the day of your baptism: “You are my beloved child, with you I am well-pleased.”

The Father is well-pleased; He is well-pleased with His Son and with you. On Christmas the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” His pleasure rests upon you, because you are His dear child through your baptism into Christ’s death. He is pleased with you because He is pleased with Jesus, and He is pleased with Jesus because He went to the cross. He showed that pleasure by raising Christ from the dead, and He shows that pleasure to you by promising your resurrection. What benefits does Baptism give? “It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.” The water of Baptism cannot be mere water, for The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are present there, giving the gifts of the cross and empty tomb in abundance; there is no holier water on this earth than the water that pours over our heads at the font. Our God is a God of life; He not only gives life through natural birth, but He gives eternal life through the new birth of water and the Word.

A man stands in a river, a baby is held over a font. Both are gifts; the first is the gift of the Christ child, given to the entire world, the child that was born to us, the son that was given to us now grown and mature, standing there in prayer. The second is the gift of new life, bestowed upon loving parents, one of the greatest gifts that our Creator gives, squirming in his or her mother’s arms, maybe even crying out. One gift is given for the sake of the other; one life is laid down so that the other will live forever. Our God delights in life, all life; if we are to be a people of life, we cannot be defined simply by what we are against, we cannot be those who only speak the Law. We rejoice to speak the Gospel, the Gospel that declares to us that every pregnancy, every birth, and every life, whatever the age, is a gift from the God of life, and the Gospel which declares to us that God gives eternal life in abundance to all who believe, who are baptized into the name of Christ, His beloved Son. We know this because Christ Himself was raised from the dead; He lives, never to die again. Every baptism is a celebration of life—temporal life and eternal life, all gifts from God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. In His Name, Amen.