The Transfiguration of our Lord (C) 2019

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Luke 9:35
Theme: ‘Listen To Him’

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

Often when one thing ends, another begins. Today the Season of Epiphany comes to a conclusion. The Messiah who has consistently revealed His divinity through miracles and teaching makes a short, but dramatic show of His majesty on the Mount of Transfiguration. Exactly what happened will remain somewhat mysterious. The inner circle of His disciples, Peter, James, and John, witnessed Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah after seeing a spectacular change in His appearance. He shone with the brightness of the sun. The affair ends with the voice of the heavenly Father, “This is My Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him.”1

The declaration of the Father is an unmistakable affirmation of the work and identity of Jesus.
Listen to Him! Oh, what a challenge it is to listen! Ours is a world of sound-bites, of buzzwords, of abbreviated expressions aimed at communicating the very smallest bits of information. Attention-spans are shrinking to micro-sized wavelengths. If you can’t say it in a few words you’re probably in danger of losing a good portion of your audience.

We’re conditioned to tune-out, shut down, or move on. Often this happens now with the click of the mouse or the tap of the finger. We have the technology to change the channel, advance the video, or delete the file. If we’re too hasty we can just come back to it later, retrieve it from the archive, or find it in the trash bin. The choices we have for media exposure are truly extraordinary. It doesn’t mean though, that the options are necessarily helpful, healthy, or truthful. The challenge to sift out what’s meaningful from the noise has always been there but now the competition is more intense.

The call to listen is also a call to honestly reflect on what voices or authorities shape our beliefs or values. We’re often being conditioned without even recognizing it. Are you addicted to your smart phone or to social media? Do we recognize the sinister side of such convenience? Not only the vulnerability to predators using such mediums brings with it, but also what is says about our own motivations? Do we allow ourselves to be wired 27/4 for fear of missing out or because of low self-worth? These are serious issues in our society.

What does it mean to listen to Christ? Our heavenly Father is not simply asking that we pause to concentrate for a few moments on the transfigured Jesus, as if we were receiving a little bit of interesting information. He is calling us to discipleship. Listening, in biblical context, involves obedience. It entails following. The call to repentance is a call to turn from all wayward paths and follow the narrow road. If we agree listening isn’t a strength of our current culture, it’s worth reflecting on what some of the consequences might be. Who is this Jesus and why should people still listen to Him? The answer is as simple as it is profound: Christ is the Way and the Truth and the Life2. All other truths that govern life in time and in eternity are connected seamlessly, if not immediately recognizably, to Him. Yet the certainty of what is truth, and agreement on who we look to to verify it is undergoing radical transformation in our society.

How is knowledge of the truth lost? In a society free from crippling tyranny, false teaching establishes itself in three basic stages. Firstly, those who are hesitant about the accepted teaching ask for tolerance and sensitivity. They give reassurance that their speculations are mostly of a private nature and pose no threat to the established teaching. No one need to listen to them, they only want the privilege of indulging their doubts and exploring a new position on the issue in question. In the second stage, those advocating a new teaching ask for a level playing field. Open-mindedness and fairness, they say, demands equality for the discussion of ideas.

Once achieved, this stage attains equal footing of the new teaching with the old. The original teaching is still the officially accepted one, but the proposed teaching has now been given legitimacy. Assurances are often made that no challenges will be made to overturn the original teaching. In the final stage, the new teaching supplants the original, and soon, ironically, though predictably, the original teaching is no longer tolerated. These types of changes can take years, decades, and even centuries. And at some point, the pendulum often begins to swing back.

In many ways our contemporary challenge is not new at all. It is as ancient as the faith and its founder. God does not change. Christ is immortal. He was crucified to atone for the sins of the entire world. He rose again on the third day in victory over death. These truths are unalterable. He sends His Spirit to attend us and gives His body and blood to sustain us. Yet, how do we present these truths to a society increasingly skeptical, apathetic, and even hostile? And how do we correct misguided convictions within our own Christian communities? How can we avoid giving the impression that baptism is a ceremonial ritual that magically guarantees the person has a free pass to heaven? How can we deconstruct the fallacy that once confirmed the Christian journey of listening and learning is over? If you have the answers, please let me know!

Rest assured, divine truths do not change, only our perception of misuse of them do. The legitimacy of baptism is unchanged. And the power and promise of baptism for an infant is no different than for that of an adult. The Holy Spirit is present to forgive sins and engender faith. We can’t see it with our physical eyes, but we believe it through the eyes of faith. (Erin Jo is no more, and no less a redeemed child of God than the most mature saint among us.)

The transfiguration of Jesus was a glimpse into the future. For Peter, James, and John it was a peak at the eternal majesty of the immortal Son of God. It was recorded for us as a boost for our faith. For unlike Moses and Elijah, your part in this sequence of events- the last era before the coming of Christ in glory- is not yet complete. As long as you draw breath, God still has purpose for you. You have vocations of service. You have the privilege of being served. Don’t ever think that any godly service is insignificant in His eyes. The challenge you have parallels the broader challenge of the church’s mission: to live with integrity in a culture of corruption, to distinguish truth from falsehood, to love the unlovable. The Scripture says, “Love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.”3 And, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”4 Remember, when you forgive someone, you are granting them an undeserved pardon. It’s the same pardon repentant believers receive from God.

It’s no coincidence when the cloud lifts that, Peter, James, and John find themselves alone with Jesus. Moses and Elijah have recessed back into the heavenly dimension. Their part in the chronicle of divine salvation is complete. The way has been prepared. The promises of been proclaimed. Christ must fulfill them and no one else can. He can and He did. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”5 Salvation is complete in Him. Christ will not fail you. In the hour of your death He will not be absent. At the time of your judgment He will not forsake you. He finishes what He starts and initiates for us grand new adventures.

+ In nomine Jesu +

The Transfiguration of our Lord
3 March 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 9:35
2 See John 14:6
3 1 Peter 4:8
4 1 Corinthians 13:6
5 Acts 4:12