St. Paul Lutheran Church, Minden, Nebraska
Sunday Sermon – Last Sunday After The Epiphany – March 6, 2011
“Humbling Majesty – Hands-On-Ministry!”
Text: Matthew 17:5-7
There are several things going on in the Gospel for this Trans-
figuration Sunday that are awesome, majestic, surprising, scary,
amazing things going on.
What an awesome place to be! Peter, James and John go with Jesus
up on a high mountain where they can be by themselves.
What a majestic sight to see! Jesus is “transformed – transfigured”;
His face shining like the sun, His clothes suddenly white as light.
What a surprise when Jesus is joined by two recognizable “stand-
outs” from the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah, who are seen and
heard talking with Jesus.
What a rush of excitement for Peter that he should suddenly blurt
out, “Lord, it is good to be here!
What an eerie, scary moment when the cloud of God’s presence
descends on Jesus three disciples and God’s voice causes them to fall
to their knees, faces to the ground, terrified.
And what an amazing gesture on the part of Jesus that He should
approach His three disciples when they are face down on the ground,
kneel down next to them, maybe even put His hand on their shoulders &
say to them, “Rise, and have no fear.”
It’s this last amazing gesture on the part of Jesus; Jesus touch-
ing His fear-filled disciples to reassure them that I want to focus on
in this message.
To begin with, this all started off as a very ordinary day, Peter
James and John walking along with Jesus as He led them up a high
mountain away from the crowds & away from the preaching & teaching
& helping others that had become familiar signs of Jesus’ earthly
ministry. We’re not told what the disciples may have been talking
about as they followed Jesus, but we know that just prior to their
trek up the mountain Jesus told His disciples what was coming in
the days ahead. He told them how He would not be with them much
longer, how he would be betrayed, arrested, put on trial, condemned,
How can we preserve this meeting?”
crucified, and rise again.
Hard as it must have been for Peter, James & John to imagine that
happening to Jesus, they had to be dismayed; maybe even a little
depressed that Jesus spoke of such harsh realities.
With heavy hearts when the disciples stopped walking and Jesus
turned to face them, what a change, what an epiphany, what a
majestic “transfiguration” of Jesus they witnessed.
In the blink of an eye, Peter, James and John found themselves
face to face with the majestic glory of God manifested, shining ever
so brilliantly in the face & clothes of Jesus.
Not only that, one minute the disciples can’t believe their eyes;
don’t know what to say; Peter blurts out how good it is to be there;
what can they do to preserve such a moment. And very next minute,
enveloped in the cloud of God’s presence, unable to see anything yet
hearing God’s voice, it’s more than Peter, James & John can take.
They fall on their faces, filled with fear, terrified.
As I try to put myself in the sandals of those fearful disciples,
what I am reminded of is that an “epiphany” doesn’t only happen on
a high mountain. Epiphany happens in the midst of a fierce storm
on the Sea of Galilee when suddenly Jesus speaks & calms the sea.
Epiphany happens when the disciples have been out fishing all night
& caught nothing and Jesus tells them to let down their nets which
are quickly filled with a miraculous catch of fish. Now get this:
“Epiphanies” don’t only happen in the Bible, but they happen where
God wants them to happen.
One minute the sky is wonderfully bright, clear, sunny, everything
is going along fine. How good God is; how good to be where we are,
to have what we have. And the next minute, the next thing we know,
how quickly life’s twists & turns become more than we can take. Yes,
there are majestic rainbows & beautiful sunsets but how quickly
dark clouds can descend on us, threaten us, leave us feeling alone,
disoriented, as if in a thick fog….
A diagnosis of cancer or Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease is
one such cloud. The sudden loss of a loved one is a dark cloud. Who
can forget how thick, dark, rolling clouds of dust & smoke in the
aftermath of 9/11 ended up changing a lot of things? There are sunny
days and dark days throughout life; great successes, lost causes,
deep valleys, unsettling changes. In Fennville, Michigan, Friday,
March 4, a 16 year old star basketball player scored the winning
basket with 30 seconds left in overtime to give his team a perfect 20
& 0 season,
celebrating
an enlarged
never ready
Yet one thing all such unpredictable, unexpected, dark, hard to
understand moments have in common is that we be silent & listen. As
was true for Peter, James & John, in such dark, frightening, moments
God usually has something to say to us.
Presbyterian pastor and author Frederick Buechner recalls one low
moment in his life when God broke through in an unusual way and God
put His hand on his shoulder.
“I can remember sitting in my car parked by the road-side once,”
Buechner writes, “terribly depressed and afraid about my daughter’s
illness and what our family was going through.”
As he was sitting there thinking about his daughter, Buechner saw
a word in big bold letters on the license plate of a passing car.
“The license plate bore on it the one word out of all the words in
the dictionary I needed most to see exactly then,” Buechner writes.
“The word was TRUST in capital letters.”
At first he wasn’t sure what to make of such an experience. Was it
an experience to laugh off as the kind of joke life plays on us every
once in while? Or was it the word of God? “I am willing to believe
that maybe it was something of both,” Buechner admits, “but for me it
was an epiphany.”
The owner of the car turned out to be a trust officer at a local
bank. After reading of the incident somewhere, the trust officer paid
a personal visit to Buechner one afternoon. He presented Buechner
with the license plate which bore the word he desperately needed to
see that day, TRUST. Buechner placed the license plate on a bookshelf
where it serves to remind him of his trust in God. “The license plate
is rusty around the edges and a little battered,” he writes, “but it
is also as holy a relic as I have ever seen.”
It happens. There is a humbling majesty to life lived with awe and
respect for God’s creation. There is also a terrifying reality to
things that can & do go wrong.
But then, Jesus comes, approaches, doesn’t wait for us to get up
and come to him; but Jesus comes, puts his hand on our shoulder,
speaks to us and says, “Rise, and have no fear.”
and 30 seconds later in the midst of all the cheering &
that 16 year old student died from cardiac arrest due to
heart. Sunshine one minute, dark clouds the next! We’re
for them.
Or maybe it’s a license plate on a car that says TRUST! HOPE!
PEACE! FORGIVE!
Or it’s a ten-word sermon text for a funeral message that says, “I
can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Or it’s a Portals of Prayer title for a devotion that says, “God
Knows The Future” or “Coming to the Rescue” or “Back to God’s
Purposes.” (which, by the way, are titles for some of the Portals of
Prayer devotions coming up in March.)
Or if you are really needing to feel God’s hand on your shoulder;
when life is hard & long or you feel alone & overwhelmed; how about
when you come to the Lord’s Table and you are handed a crisp, little
wafer of bread and drink a little cup of wine. You hear Jesus words
which He truly means for you to hear, “Take eat . . Take drink . .
This is my body given for you . . This is my blood shed for you . .”
The minister says, “The body & blood of our Lord Jesus strengthen you
in body and soul to life everlasting. Go in peace. Amen.”
Someone has said, “Mountaintop experiences in our faith journey
are those moments of revelation that give us something to hold on to
for the rest of our lives, just like what happened with Peter, James
and John when Jesus put His hand on their shoulders and said, “Rise,
do not be afraid.”
Epiphanies can happen on a mountain top; or watching a Nebraska
sunset, or worshipping in church. They can happen when you’re in
your car; or on a tractor, or sitting alone in a hospital waiting
room and you strike up a conversation with a complete stranger who
tells you an interesting & encouraging story.
Any time, any place we recognize or we are touched by the person
& presence of the living Lord Jesus that is an “epiphany” experience.
Wherever & whenever they happen may such “epiphanies” assure us be-
yond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus’ humbling majesty & His hands-on-
ministry are still as real & personal & reassuring today as they were
for Peter, James and John 2000 years ago.
