Category Archives: Epiphany

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Epiphany 5 – “Christ Crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:1-12)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning is the Epistle, which was read earlier.

I’m afraid to ask the question, but here goes: What is your idea of the perfect pastor? Is it one who is a great speaker? Is it one who is a people-person? Is it one who gets his hands dirty with regards to the inner workings of the church? Is it one who has qualities I didn’t mention?

In looking at the history of the Church, we see throughout that the Church’s pastors were not what we would call the perfect pastor. Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples and close friends, had denied Jesus not once, but three times. Following the resurrection, Peter was asked by Jesus three times whether or not he really loved Jesus. After denying Jesus three times, now Jesus invited him to declare his love for Him three times.

Paul was a staunch persecutor of the faith prior to his conversion. The number of Christians that Paul had put to death was astronomical in size. His sole purpose in life was to stomp out Christianity at any and all costs. The teaching was heretical and went against the core of Paul’s beliefs. And then suddenly, on the road to Damascus, Paul encountered Jesus Christ in the flesh and everything was changed. In the blink of an eye, Paul went from persecutor of the faith to defender of the faith.

God’s decision to save the world through the lowly message of the cross had been illustrated by His calling so many lowly people to form the Corinthian church. Paul introduces himself here as one who is not “showy” in his own preaching and personal bearing in the early days of his ministry among the Corinthians.

Regardless of the man, regardless of the pastor, there is only one thing that he should preach and that is what Paul tells the Corinthians: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” There could be any number of things that a pastor could preach. He could preach about how good we are at our core. He could preach about how wealthy you will be if you only pray to God hard enough. He could preach that all roads lead to heaven, regardless of what you believe. But those pastors are leaving something out of their preaching: “Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

Wouldn’t we all love to hear that we’d be rich? Wouldn’t we all love to hear how good we are, no matter the evil we commit? Wouldn’t we all love to hear that everyone is going to heaven and no one is going to hell? While all that is nice, it is unfortunately false. That is not found within Holy Scripture. That is not found in the teachings of Jesus Christ.

What is found in the Holy Scriptures? They tell us “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” They tell us, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” They tell us “the wages of sin is death.” Those are not Scripture teachings that we want to hear, but those are the teachings that we need to hear, regardless of how much it hurts, regardless of whether or not we believe it.

What was the teaching and preaching that Paul was doing? It could have been his own teaching, just like there were many teachings of the time. Instead, listen again to the words that Paul says: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” When Paul had his Damascus Road conversion, there was only one teaching that Paul would teach: Jesus Christ. There would be no other teaching that would come from the mouth of Paul, nor should there be.

This kind of preaching is the only kind of preaching that can save because it is centered on the saving work of Jesus Christ for us sinners. St. Paul was amazed that a sinner like him, in fact, the chief of sinners he says, could be saved. And if a sinner like he could be saved, then there is hope for salvation for all sinners. A message of salvation on account of Christ beats any message of earthly riches or prosperity, a gospel of niceness that does nothing for salvation, or some message that gives the false hope of eternal life for all in heaven, regardless of faith in Christ.

One can imagine how popular this message of Paul was. There were those who were adamantly opposed to such a message of salvation because it ran counter-cultural to the other religious ideas being taught. There were also those whose hearts were opened by the Holy Spirit and who heard the saving message of Jesus Christ and believed. They saw how their “wise” theology led them to a false sense of salvation. It was not Paul and his fanciful preaching that converted these souls to Christ, but rather the work of the Holy Spirit. Why did God do it this way? As Paul says, “that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

He wanted to make clear that faith doesn’t come by knowing or understanding, and that salvation doesn’t come by creating some intellectual ladder to God. He wanted faith to come, and faith is the work of the Spirit. Faith comes by hearing, hearing the Word of God. Man’s wisdom will always be foolishness, but Paul has made it clear that God’s wisdom is anything but foolishness for those who believe. Now he boldly states that it is true wisdom. This message of the Gospel is true wisdom. Those who are “mature” in Christ know that this wisdom far exceeds the wisdom of the Greeks of the day. Worldly wisdom, along with all things worldly, will pass away. However, the wisdom of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is something that will never pass away, something that can never be replaced, though that doesn’t stop us from trying to replace it with something we think is better.

There’s a huge lesson here for the Church in our present time: salvation is about hearing the Word of God and believing it. It’s not how clever the sermon or how witty the preacher. It’s about faith in Christ and Him crucified, not wisdom. That’s how Paul begins, but then he switches gears. The Gospel isn’t foolishness, though he’s called it that because that’s how the world views it. The Gospel is actually wisdom – the wisdom of God.

The Gospel is indeed sufficient to save. Rather than being wisdom of men, this is a wisdom that is revealed only unto faith – not a matter of intellect but trust in Christ. This is all a work of the Holy Spirit, not a work of man. It is that simple and it must be that simple. You are sinful and cannot save yourself. In order for you to be saved, Jesus becomes flesh and dies in your place and then rose again three days later. As simple as this is, you do not believe it because it is simple, but you believe because it is simply the work of the Holy Spirit to reveal this gift of faith to you. All the wisdom of the world is doomed, but you are not; for you know the simple wisdom of God that you are forgiven all of your sins on account of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Purification of Mary & Presentation of Our Lord – “A Farewell Song” (Luke 2:22-32)

F-9 Presentation of our Lord (Lu 2.22-40)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

Everyone loves a good song. Music seems to be quite memorable, often having to do with the beat, melody, or lyrics. Sometimes they are memorable because of the setting in which they are heard. Take for instance the song, “Bugler’s Dream.” The song has no lyrics but everyone knows it when they hear it. For those who don’t know what song I’m talking about, think the Olympics. Other songs, like “The Star Spangled Banner” elicit a great sense of pride. As we focus on the words from Luke’s Gospel, there is a song worth remembering that didn’t even start as a song.

When Jesus was 40 days old, the Holy Family made the short trip to Jerusalem for the purification of Mary and for the presentation of the Child in the temple. The law of purification of mother found in Leviticus 12 tells what was necessary. A poor person was required to bring two doves or young pigeons as her sacrificial offering. The law also required that a firstborn male was to be consecrated to the Lord. If the child was not given into the service of the Lord, the parents needed to redeem him by a payment of five shekels. Mary and Joseph did not make this payment since Jesus was consecrated to the Lord in the fullest possible way. On the 40th day of His life, Jesus is presented to the Lord for service to God.

How ironic this scene was. The Child Jesus is brought into the temple when He Himself is the very Temple of God. St. John writes, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” When John says that the Word “dwelt” among us, it literally means that Jesus set up His tabernacle or tent among us. This is a close tie-in to the temple. The people went to the temple because that is where the glory of God dwelled. Here is Jesus, who IS God in the flesh!

As the Holy Family enters the temple, they encounter an old man named Simeon. Not much is known about Simeon. Traditionally, he’s pictured as a wizened, elderly man who has led a good life of many years; but we don’t know. Is he married? Widowed?  Healthy? Ailing? Does he have kids? Grandkids?  Has he led a good life? Bad? We don’t know; the Bible doesn’t tell us. All that we know is his name is Simeon. The Bible also says that Simeon “was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”  That’s why he’s at the temple — he’s going to see the Messiah.

Suddenly, He appears. The long-awaited Messiah is there; not just a human being, but the Lord has suddenly come to His temple. The Son of God has become flesh to be the Savior of the world, and He is making His first incarnate visit to His Father’s house. The prophecy is fulfilled! The Messiah is on the temple grounds.

Simeon, within the story of Jesus, is parallel to Zechariah in the John story. Like Zechariah, he is aged, pious, and just and represents all that is best in Israel. Simeon has been waiting for the consolation of Israel. Like all the main characters of the infancy narratives, and like Zechariah in particular, Simeon has received a promise from the Lord.  In this case it is that he will not die until he sees the Lord’s Messiah. It is no surprise therefore that, like Zechariah, he will sing a particularly lovely hymn.

This hymn which Simeon sings, the Nunc Dimittis, is a fitting hymn for Simeon.  He has neared the end of his life, presumably a long life at that. He has seen the promised Messiah. Because of that, he is able to sing, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

Simeon has been waiting, waiting for death. The only way for this song to ring out is when the Law had been fulfilled. This song of Simeon rings through the ages, validating that now he is able to die because what had been promised had been fulfilled. Mary and Joseph act according to the Law by bringing Jesus to be presented for service to God in the temple. But the Law is also fulfilled because Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah comes to fulfill what is required on our part.

God is faithful, and the promises will be kept; that is why Simeon departs in peace. He doesn’t depart to peace; it is not that he faces a rosy, sublime sort of life because he has held the Savior. Whatever other trials lie ahead, he still faces death. He’s still in this sinful world. But he is at peace because God is faithful. He has sent the Savior.  He has not forsaken Simeon, but has come to redeem him. Whatever Simeon faces, he is at peace with God. The Lord has kept His promises, and Simeon knows the end of the story. The end of the story is life everlasting, because the Son has come.

God gives you faith, faith by and in a blessed truth that you know. Today, you stand with Simeon because you behold your Savior. The Holy Spirit has revealed this to you — not through some mystical vision or writing in the sky, but by His holy, inspired Word. His Word announces to you that the Baby in Simeon’s arms grows up and bears your sins to the cross. That same body is pierced and that blood is shed before He is placed in the tomb. That same Savior, with the same body and blood, is risen again on the third day. And before Jesus ascends into heaven, He speaks to His disciples of teaching and baptizing. He speaks of Word and Sacrament, and promises, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Great joy came to Simeon because he saw for himself the promised Savior. He took the newborn Babe in his arms and spoke the words which we know as the Nunc Dimittis, translated as “Now I can die in peace.” For Simeon, his life could now come to an end because he held God in the flesh. The reason why Simeon may depart in peace is that he has witnessed the Lord’s “salvation.” Simeon is holding “salvation” in his arms, salvation that was intended for him and salvation that is intended for you and for me.

The song that Simeon sings is the song of every Christian, past, present, and future. It is the song that begs to be sung by all of Christendom. Jesus comes to be Savior to all of the nations. He comes to bring light and glory.

Today, you sing with Simeon because the Savior has come to you, too; and then you depart in peace. You depart in peace, though not necessarily to peace. You stand to face some ridicule along the way. If Simeon looks strange as he sings to the Baby, you’ll draw some strange looks for looking for Jesus in, with and under bread and wine, water and Word. Some will tell you that you’ve lost your religious sanity, if not your salvation. But you know better: Christ is here because He promises, and He always keeps His promises. You have His Word on it, so you depart in peace. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Epiphany 3 – “Out of Darkness” (Matthew 4:12-25)

A-19 Epiphany 3 (Mt 4.12-23)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

I remember when I was on vicarage, we took the youth group camping for a week. One of the things we did was visit a cave in northern Kentucky, one that was dated “millions” of years old. It had beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, water running down the walls reflecting off of the artificial lights installed in the cave. We got to an area of the cave with benches and they had us sit. The tour guides warned us that they were going to turn out the lights and it was going to get dark, really dark. Once they turned out the lights, there was nothing but darkness, not a single bit of light shone in the caves. It was disconcerting to say the least. The reason you were seated was because your balance would be thrown off, and it was. To be thrown into utter darkness was not a comforting feeling.

As we look at our Gospel reading, we see a prophecy from Isaiah, from our Old Testament reading, fulfilled: “the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” Light appears to cast away the darkness. That is the joy of the season of Epiphany, the light appearing. The promised light of Jesus Christ rescues us from the darkness of death for the endless light of eternal life.

As Matthew records this account for us, Jesus retreats and lives in Capernaum, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. For those living in the Old Testament era, this was not the place to be living. This was the equivalent to the run-down and rough part of town, the place where no one likes to go, let alone live. This was due to the foreign kings living and reigning in that area. As Isaiah says, it was called the “Galilee of the nations.” Just so we’re clear, that’s not a compliment, but a derogatory statement. But as Isaiah points out, they did not remain in the darkness because they have seen a great light. We’re not talking about a bright light in the sky, but rather the Light of the world, Jesus Christ. They were given the promise of a Child to come who would restore God’s creation to Himself. If there were any doubts as to who the Light was going to be, we are given these words just after our texts, words that are familiar to us during the season of Christmas: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given….”

As we return to Matthew’s Gospel, we find Jesus withdrawing to this area following the hearing of John’s arrest. He returns to Galilee in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, becoming the light seen by those sitting in darkness. Darkness symbolizes wickedness, ignorance, and unbelief. Most of the people did not know the way of salvation. But then Jesus, the Light of the world, came to Galilee. He proclaimed the saving truth throughout that land. He attracted huge crowds of people who followed Him from place to place to hear Him preach and see Him perform miracles.

Jesus comes to shine His light into our world of darkness, our world of sin and death. He comes preaching the same message that John the Baptist was preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This repentance that Jesus preached implied a radical change of heart and mind, followed by a corresponding change in behavior. As we saw with the Pharisees and Sadducees when John was baptizing, there was no change in heart or mind, nor was their a change in behavior. That kind of change wasn’t necessary because of their own righteousness which they had earned. But for everyone else, people started to take Jesus’ word seriously, and so they should. Jesus’ call to repentance was an invitation as well as a command.  The people could not respond positively to that invitation unless the Holy Spirit prompted such a response through the power of the Gospel. To repent and believe the Gospel is not a decision anyone can make on his own. Unfortunately, the initial enthusiasm of Jesus’ words did not last long and the people would ultimately turn against Him, leading Him to the cross.

Following His encouragement to repent, Jesus encounters two fishermen doing what they do best, fishing. He extends an invitation to them, as strange as it sounds: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Now let’s look at what Jesus is saying and not saying. He isn’t talking about going fishing for mermen or mermaids. He invites Simon Peter and Andrew into His inner circle of twelve to bring others into His kingdom. He invites us to become a part of Him, to be connected to Himself. After finding Simon Peter and Andrew, Jesus stumbles upon James and John and extends the same invitation to them as well.

The interesting part of Jesus choosing these four men to be His disciples is that He was the one who sought them out, not the other way around. Being the Son of God, we might imagine that Jesus would choose those who were of like-mind or well-trained to be His disciples. Instead of choosing the seminary graduate, Jesus chooses the everyday common man. Jesus does not ask them to prepare themselves for their new calling. He rather promises to make them into workers for God’s kingdom. He would teach them what they needed to know. They would see His miraculous power. They would witness the crucifixion and the empty tomb. The Holy Spirit would provide them with the gifts they needed to become fishers of men. These men had, however, met the first and foremost qualification for service to the Lord: they knew him as their personal Savior—the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

That same invitation to follow Jesus is extended to us. He bids us to come unto Him, to become a part of Him and He a part of us. He invites us to find rest for our souls in Him. Jesus comes looking for us to give to us what we can’t get for ourselves: His forgiveness, life in His name, salvation imparted to us by His life, death and resurrection.

What made the four disciples deserving of Jesus is the same for you and I as well — nothing. There was nothing worthy of them and there is nothing worthy of you and I either. We are not worthy of our status as redeemed children of God. We are what we are solely by the grace of God.

As Matthew ends this account, he says what the ministry of Jesus is: “teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” While the teaching and preaching of Jesus was important, it was His healing that made all the difference. I don’t mean the earthly healing but the healing that He accomplished on the cross. It was the healing from sin and death that is needed the most. Jesus said, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” His command to repent holds within it the promise to deal with the punishment of our sins. He dealt with the punishment of our sins by taking them onto Himself and carrying them to the cross. At the cross He endured the punishment of our sin with His suffering and death. There our sins died with Him. In this way, He triumphed over sin, death, and the power of the devil. As Jesus calls His disciples and begins His ministry, it is done with you in mind, to come to you, to call you, to forgive and to heal you. In the name of Jesus, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Epiphany 2 – “Lamb of God” (John 1:29-42a)

A-18 Epiphany 2 (Jn 1.29-42)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

Have you ever had that “a-ha moment,” that moment where everything just seems to click and you get it? If you’re like me, those moments are few and far between. When they happen, it’s like a great epiphany, that now all of a sudden, everything is crystal-clear. For John the Baptist, he has such an “a-ha moment” today in our text.

Just preceding our text for today, John is questioned regarding baptizing people if he is not “the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet.” Of course, the ones asking the question were the Pharisees. They were, in fact, the holy ones of the day. If any person could be called holy, surely it must be a Pharisee. They didn’t seem to be opposed to baptizing, but wondered if John had the authority to do it. In reply, John again turned the spotlight away from himself and onto Christ. He says, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

John could not have been more right when he said, “one you do not know.” The Pharisees didn’t care to know who Jesus was. Why would they want to know Jesus? They did all that they could throughout Jesus’ ministry to discredit Him, to trap Him, to prove Him wrong. Yet the very promised Messiah stood before the Pharisees and they did not know Him because of their blind ignorance.

The following day, John sees Jesus coming to Him. While that isn’t too out of the ordinary, it’s what John says that sets the stage for everything that Jesus does: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” What a bold statement to make on John’s part! Jesus is that Lamb of God who came to give Himself as the sacrifice to win forgiveness for a sinful world. He is the Passover Lamb whose blood saves us from death. He is the Lamb of the daily offering, the burnt offering, the fellowship offering. He is the sin offering through which we receive forgiveness.

Jesus lived in the flesh without sin, “a lamb without blemish or spot,” thus fulfilling God’s Law in our stead. How does He do this? He does this through His bloody sacrifice on the cross. There, the Lamb of God, who came from God and who was God, satisfied God’s wrath against the sin of the world, against your sin. This is done to fulfill all righteousness, to fulfill God’s plan of salvation for the sinner.

What insight John had! However, the Pharisees of the day did not have that insight. Many people of the day did not have that insight, comparing Jesus to Moses, Elijah or a prophet. And still many today do not have that insight that John had, looking to Christ as nothing more than a moral example to follow, but definitely not the Son of God.

John goes on to further state whom Jesus is, by recounting what He saw at Jesus’ Baptism. He says, “And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” Up until now, no one has made that claim except one person: God the Father at Jesus’ Baptism. Not even Jesus Himself has made that claim. So how is John able to make such a claim? John can make such a claim because He was in the presence of the Trinity at Jesus’ Baptism. He saw the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus. He heard the voice of the Father declare that Jesus is His beloved Son.

Let us stop and think about what it means that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This means that the Lamb takes the load, the curse, the damnation of the total massive amount of sin onto himself. He lifts the awful burden from us and carries it to the cross. There our sin is crucified with the Lamb. There our sin is put to death. This one act of lifting and carrying away our sin is good for all time.

When John said these words, he considered the taking away to already be a done deal. The forgiveness of sins that comes as a result of the Lamb’s sacrifice was already available to all. All the saints of the Old Testament received salvation because this Lamb’s sacrifice is good for all time and all places and all people. God’s promise is as if John had already heard Jesus declare his victory from the cross with the words, “It is finished.”

Jesus is the Savior, and the Savior is the Lamb of God. The Lamb is destined to suffer and die. Who’s going to follow a Savior like that? By faith, John’s disciples do. Trusting in the Word of the Lord proclaimed by John, they are willing to abandon all and follow Him. They don’t keep it to themselves, either: right away, Andrew is telling Peter. It doesn’t seem to make sense: They follow a Savior who will never amount to much in worldly terms, a King who will never gather an army to fight and conquer. They’ll put their trust in the Son of God who will allow Himself to be arrested, beaten, spat upon and killed. And after He is risen, what will happen to His disciples? They’ll tell others of Jesus, and they too will be arrested, beaten, spat upon and killed. Not real attractive to the world.

But that is how Jesus saves. He doesn’t save through worldly means, but with His shed blood on the cross. The only way to make peace between God and man is for Jesus to sacrifice Himself. And so He does what is required of you and I. He does what is necessary and He goes to do what only He can – He gives Himself as a sacrifice. He is the perfect Lamb who goes to slaughter.

So Jesus has forgiveness for you, which leads us to the second thing for us to address: rejoice! The Lord is present with you to give you forgiveness! No one at the Jordan recognized Jesus until John the Baptist pointed Him out. When John’s disciples heard the Word about the Lamb of God, though, they believed it. Thus, they went to Jesus, came into His presence, to hear more and be strengthened in that faith.

The same has happened to you. You cannot see your Savior in remarkable glory, but you have heard the Word; you have heard your Savior take bread and say, “This is My body, given for you.” You have heard Him take the cup and say, “This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

All of this was done for you, with you in mind. We are able to echo the words of Andrew, “We have found the Messiah.” We have found Him doing what he John says He will: taking away the sins of the world. The Son of God is with us to give us life, both now and forever. Behold. The Lamb of God declares to you that you are forgiven for all of your sins. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Baptism of Our Lord – “Baptism is Christ’s Work” (Matthew 3:13-17)

A-17 Epiphany 1 (Mt 3.13-17)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

St. Matthew gives us a very abbreviated history of Jesus’ early life. Matthew records that Jesus is born, the wise men come and visit Jesus, and then Jesus is taken to Egypt for protection from Herod. All of this occurs before Jesus is 5 years old. Then there is no recorded history of Jesus from that point on until we get to our text.

Our account takes place after John the Baptist was performing baptisms a plenty at the Jordan River, for those who confessed their sins and were repentant and refusing to baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees for their lack of repentance. Now we find Jesus around 30 years old. Suddenly, He bursts upon the scene with little fanfare. Jesus is a grown man and makes a trip from Galilee to the Jordan River. Our Lord comes to John in order to be baptized.

Before we go any further, we need to ask a question. Why? Why would Jesus need to be baptized if He is the Son of God who is sinless? Is there a reason why Jesus needs to be baptized?

Jesus arrives at the very place where the people have been confessing that from which He has come to save them: their sins. As they confessed their sins, John was baptizing the people in response to his message, “Repent!” But what about Jesus? What does He need to repent of? Does Jesus need to be converted from unbelief to faith? The answer is clear to John – no.

Imagine the scene that is set before you. You have John the Baptist preaching a message of repentance. You have a crowd of people coming to be baptized, while at the same time confessing their sins. You have the Pharisees and Sadducees who saw no real need for repentance and yet desired John to baptize them, their true intentions unknown. And to top everything off, here comes Jesus desiring to be baptized. What is John supposed to do? He did what he knew to do – he tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized. He said, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

It seemed to be a reasonable request from John. You have sinners and then you have Jesus. One obviously needs to repent, confess, and be baptized while the other clearly does not. Everyone seems to get it except one person, Jesus. Jesus insisted, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” We are left with a question. How has righteousness been fulfilled if Jesus is already righteous?

Here is the crux of the disagreement. It is not for Christ’s righteousness but it is for your righteousness. In order for sinful man to come to righteousness and receive salvation, Jesus must be baptized. He stands in the place of and for the sake of the sinner to fulfill that which God requires of the sinner – perfect obedience to God’s Law.

Here Jesus begins His ministry. Here He stands in the place of the sinner. He takes the place of John. He takes the place of those gathered. He takes the place of the Pharisees and Sadducees. He takes your place and mine. He takes upon Himself the sin of the entire world, offering us His holiness. He becomes the greatest of sinners, not with His own sin, but with our sin.

St. Paul expands on this in today’s Epistle reading from Romans: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Our baptism joins us to Christ and His baptism. Our sin becomes His and His perfection becomes ours. His innocent suffering and death are credited to us. The eternal life and salvation that He earned becomes ours. It is this great reversal that fulfills all righteousness. It is Christ taking our sin and giving us His perfection. It is Christ taking our death and giving us life.

Jesus’ baptism identified Him with the world of sinners. Paul describes Christ’s substitution for sinners by telling us, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Even though Jesus never sinned, God made Him to be sin. Paul then takes us back to today’s Gospel. Through baptism, we are joined to Christ. His life is for us. His death is for us. His resurrection is for us. Jesus came to John to be baptized for us.

The opening of the heavens after Jesus’ baptism was much more than the parting of clouds so that the sun could shine through. It was more like the experience of the prophet Ezekiel, “the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” Immediately following Jesus’ baptism, we now see the Trinity present. What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus? The Holy Spirit manifests Himself as a dove descending upon the Son. As the symbol of peace, it is a reminder to us that, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. At this time, the Holy Spirit bestowed upon Jesus the special gifts He would need to carry out the responsibilities of His office as the Messiah. The prophet Isaiah had foretold what these gifts would include: “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

When the voice of God from heaven speaks, He says something very simple, yet very profound: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  The Son has been obedient to the Father’s will. Here the Father acknowledges that the Son is indeed living a life of perfection and fulfilling the promises given through the prophets. The Father tells us that Jesus is the cause and target of His good pleasure. He tells us that Jesus is His beloved Son. Since Jesus stands in our place, the Father’s pleasure with His Son is also His pleasure with you and me. Because the Father is pleased with His Son, Jesus, He is pleased with us. We are now the Lord’s beloved children because of the work of Christ.

The baptism of Jesus in the Jordan points us forward to all the work Jesus did for us –

His perfect life, His suffering, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and the work He still does among us as our risen and ascended Lord. It points us forward to our own baptism as a means for the Holy Spirit to deliver Christ’s salvation to us. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Epiphany 3–“Shocked” (Luke 4:16-30)

C-22 Epiphany 3 (Lu 4.14-21)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

In today’s world, we hear plenty of bad news. We hear of war and devastation. We hear about acts of violence and murders. We hear of how loved ones have died due to sickness and disease. Needless to say, our souls are wearied by the world and by our own sinful nature. Surely there must be somewhere we can go to hear good news! My friends, you have come to that place today.

We gather in God’s house to hear good news from Jesus. The word “gospel” comes from the Greek word which means “good news.” That is precisely why we are here today, to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. That is what Jesus says today. As He reads the words of Isaiah the prophet, Jesus says, “The Spirit of The Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” My friends, you are the poor. The good news that Jesus comes bringing is the declaration that you have been forgiven all of your sins on account of He and His actions. He declares that you have eternal life in Him because of His life, death, and resurrection. He declares that this is done for you. What good news this is that our Lord brings!

There were those who thought positive of Jesus and what He had said and done up to this point. Luke records, “And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth.” Truly this was amazing that all the people were in favor of Jesus’ words that He had just quoted. These were words of good news, speaking of God’s pardon that lifted the people up. It is a message for the spiritually poor, the captives of sin, the spiritually blind and those oppressed by guilt and shame. This was just what the people needed to hear and they did not disagree with the Lord’s words. After Jesus finished reading and sat down on the platform to give His sermon or explanation, there was a hushed silence of expectancy. Then Jesus shocks the world with the good news that He is the Messiah!

Jesus shocks the people of Nazareth when He fulfills the Scriptures. Luke records only the beginning, which in itself is the core and sum of the whole sermon. His words were shocking: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” This hometown boy returns to church as a guest, and He claims that Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming Messiah is now come true – in the person of Jesus. Jesus not only brings good news to the people, He is the Good News of God for every sinner! It’s just a shame that you and I don’t want to hear it.

Just as quickly as the people were enamored by Jesus, they turn against Him. Luke records, “When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.” The people of Nazareth reject the good news that Jesus is the Messiah and with that, everything that comes along with it. The expected response might be for the all to throw up their hands and rejoice in the hometown hero. You can almost see them wringing their hands and licking their chops with greedy anticipation. “Here is the answer to all our problems! Can you believe that this is Joseph’s boy? We really hit the lottery with this one!” Instead, the initial reaction was split. They marveled at the way or manner He spoke of God’s love for them. But then doubt is quickly planted: “Is not this Joseph’s son?” You can almost hear them contradict themselves earlier. Surely Joseph’s son cannot be the Messiah. Eventually, doubt turns into rejection.

Isn’t that just like us? One minute we are in love with Jesus and what He comes bringing and then the next, we’re ready to throw Him out of town and off the cliff. This was the problem with the hometown crowd. This is why Jesus spoke such brutal, attention-getting Law. They were stubborn in their spiritual deafness and blindness. They heard the words of Christ, but they didn’t hear the Word of God. They didn’t listen. That is us to a tee. We hear God’s Word, but we do not listen to it. We hear God’s pronouncement of forgiveness upon us on account of Jesus Christ, but we do listen to the fact that the forgiveness is by Jesus alone. We want to find that forgiveness in anything but Jesus. But there is no forgiveness in anything or anyone but Jesus.

So what does the hometown boy do? Does He leave the people with their desires or something else? He dies. He dies for the people who want to kill Him. The people get what they wanted: Jesus dies. The people should be happy. Everything worked out the way they had wanted it. And you know what? Everything did work out the way it was supposed to. Jesus died. He died for creation. He died to fulfill the Father’s will. And He was successful. He died but did not stay dead. He rose victoriously to again fulfill the Father’s will.

Even after everything that Jesus has done for creation, what is today’s response to the shocking Good News of Jesus Christ? Some reject the Good News to their own damnation. They deny who Jesus is and what He has done. They deny that Jesus is the Messiah, the One who is promised of long ago to bring about salvation for creation. But then you have the other side of the coin as well. God the Holy Spirit creates faith in your heart through the Word of the Good News of Jesus Christ for you. By faith you see Jesus’ mission completed – from Bethlehem to Calvary, from resurrection to ascension for you. By faith you see that all of Scripture points to Jesus for you.

Jesus truly is the fulfillment of God’s promises. He is the Anointed One, the Christ, the Messiah. All this He gives to us through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith. God has promised all these things to us and today they are fulfilled in our hearing. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Epiphany 3–“Shocked” (Luke 4:16-30)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

In today’s world, we hear plenty of bad news. We hear of war and devastation. We hear about acts of violence and murders. We hear of how loved ones have died due to sickness and disease. Needless to say, our souls are wearied by the world and by our own sinful nature. Surely there must be somewhere we can go to hear good news! My friends, you have come to that place today.

We gather in God’s house to hear good news from Jesus. The word “gospel” comes from the Greek word which means “good news.” That is precisely why we are here today, to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. That is what Jesus says today. As He reads the words of Isaiah the prophet, Jesus says, “The Spirit of The Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” My friends, you are the poor. The good news that Jesus comes bringing is the declaration that you have been forgiven all of your sins on account of He and His actions. He declares that you have eternal life in Him because of His life, death, and resurrection. He declares that this is done for you. What good news this is that our Lord brings!

There were those who thought positive of Jesus and what He had said and done up to this point. Luke records, “And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth.” Truly this was amazing that all the people were in favor of Jesus’ words that He had just quoted. These were words of good news, speaking of God’s pardon that lifted the people up. It is a message for the spiritually poor, the captives of sin, the spiritually blind and those oppressed by guilt and shame. This was just what the people needed to hear and they did not disagree with the Lord’s words. After Jesus finished reading and sat down on the platform to give His sermon or explanation, there was a hushed silence of expectancy. Then Jesus shocks the world with the good news that He is the Messiah!

Jesus shocks the people of Nazareth when He fulfills the Scriptures. Luke records only the beginning, which in itself is the core and sum of the whole sermon. His words were shocking: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” This hometown boy returns to church as a guest, and He claims that Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming Messiah is now come true – in the person of Jesus. Jesus not only brings good news to the people, He is the Good News of God for every sinner! It’s just a shame that you and I don’t want to hear it.

Just as quickly as the people were enamored by Jesus, they turn against Him. Luke records, “When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.” The people of Nazareth reject the good news that Jesus is the Messiah and with that, everything that comes along with it. The expected response might be for the all to throw up their hands and rejoice in the hometown hero. You can almost see them wringing their hands and licking their chops with greedy anticipation. “Here is the answer to all our problems! Can you believe that this is Joseph’s boy? We really hit the lottery with this one!” Instead, the initial reaction was split. They marveled at the way or manner He spoke of God’s love for them. But then doubt is quickly planted: “Is not this Joseph’s son?” You can almost hear them contradict themselves earlier. Surely Joseph’s son cannot be the Messiah. Eventually, doubt turns into rejection.

Isn’t that just like us? One minute we are in love with Jesus and what He comes bringing and then the next, we’re ready to throw Him out of town and off the cliff. This was the problem with the hometown crowd. This is why Jesus spoke such brutal, attention-getting Law. They were stubborn in their spiritual deafness and blindness. They heard the words of Christ, but they didn’t hear the Word of God. They didn’t listen. That is us to a tee. We hear God’s Word, but we do not listen to it. We hear God’s pronouncement of forgiveness upon us on account of Jesus Christ, but we do listen to the fact that the forgiveness is by Jesus alone. We want to find that forgiveness in anything but Jesus. But there is no forgiveness in anything or anyone but Jesus.

So what does the hometown boy do? Does He leave the people with their desires or something else? He dies. He dies for the people who want to kill Him. The people get what they wanted: Jesus dies. The people should be happy. Everything worked out the way they had wanted it. And you know what? Everything did work out the way it was supposed to. Jesus died. He died for creation. He died to fulfill the Father’s will. And He was successful. He died but did not stay dead. He rose victoriously to again fulfill the Father’s will.

Even after everything that Jesus has done for creation, what is today’s response to the shocking Good News of Jesus Christ? Some reject the Good News to their own damnation. They deny who Jesus is and what He has done. They deny that Jesus is the Messiah, the One who is promised of long ago to bring about salvation for creation. But then you have the other side of the coin as well. God the Holy Spirit creates faith in your heart through the Word of the Good News of Jesus Christ for you. By faith you see Jesus’ mission completed – from Bethlehem to Calvary, from resurrection to ascension for you. By faith you see that all of Scripture points to Jesus for you.

Jesus truly is the fulfillment of God’s promises. He is the Anointed One, the Christ, the Messiah. All this He gives to us through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith. God has promised all these things to us and today they are fulfilled in our hearing. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Epiphany 2 – “Delight” (Isaiah 62:1-5)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Old Testament which was read earlier.

Think about people you have known who have come through great tragedies in life with the ability to maintain a spirit of hope. That ability or disposition is most certainly a gift from God. It is truly a gift when people are able to recover from grief and despair, when they are able to turn from the pain and suffering of a past event to discover healing in new community life and wellsprings of hope for the future.

As Isaiah writes this portion of his letter, God’s people had suffered great tragedy. But this speaks beyond the people of Isaiah’s day; this speaks of the Church, God’s believers. What wonderful good news this is for the Church, knowing that God has not forsaken His people! This inseparably associates Christ’s righteousness and salvation, granted to us in His means of grace through Holy Baptism, where we are made God’s children.

Look again at the words of Isaiah: “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.” In the Lord’s plan for a perfect world, there would never be a situation like this. God had created the heavens and the earth and all that inhabits them to be perfect. He created man and woman to be perfect. Creation was deemed to be “good” in God’s eyes, while man was deemed to be “very good.” As God saw things, this was perfection. Perfection did not last long and as a result, this world fell into sin. And with creation’s fall into sin, so did creation suffer. That suffering that creation experiences trickles down to the Church as well.

As much as we would like it, the Church is not immune to suffering. Even our Lord Himself is called the Suffering Servant. The Church suffers greatly for the sake of Christ and His teachings. The Church suffers for what is right according to God’s Word. The Church suffers as a result of who she is.

For the sake of creation, God sent His Son to earth with the single task of saving creation. God became fully man and lived the perfect life that we could not. That meant that Jesus never sinned. That meant that Jesus never failed to do the Father’s will. That meant that Jesus did what was required of you and me and of all creation so that we are forgiven of the damning guilt of our sin.

The picture that Isaiah paints is one of good times and bad. Leading up to our text for today, Israel had seen better days. But we know that God is faithful and just and because He promised to Adam and Eve a Savior, Israel held out hope for that Savior. Way back at the time of Abraham, He called them to be His own. He brought them out of Egypt. He compared Himself as their bridegroom and called His people Zion, called them His bride. He promised always to be faithful, to provide for them and to keep them safe. But they were not faithful to Him. Time and time again, they turned to other gods. Time and time again, they ran to idols that promised some sort of forbidden pleasure. The Lord pursued them, called them back, repeated His faithfulness and love to them again and again, but they would not have Him. They wanted another instead.

As we look back, we tend to shake our heads and say, “Israel, you should have known better. You should have done what God asked and there wouldn’t be any problems.” As I said earlier, Isaiah is not only describing Israel, but his description is that of the Church. God has called us to be His bride. God has promised to the Church to be faithful and to provide for her safety. But we as God’s people have not been faithful to Him. We have turned to other gods, running to idols and all that we think will give to us the same things that God Himself promises.

All of this sounds tragic for the Church, and it is. But as we know, God does not allow the Church to wallow in its sin forever. Listen again to the words of Isaiah: “You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her….” God has a plan to redeem creation. He becomes flesh and takes their place. He takes their sins upon Himself, their guilt and their shame. He bears all their sins to the cross. At the cross, God the Father says to Christ, “I see that you bear the sin, the guilt and the shame. I see on You every last sin that I despise. And because I condemn sin and sinners, I condemn You.”

This is the Gospel, as Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 5, “For our sake [God] made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” What wonderful news this is for the Church as a whole and for each individual Christian! God did not leave us to our sinful nature but on account of Christ’s atoning salvation were we restored to full honor and glory. For you, the Lord does not keep silent. He will not be quiet as you waste away. Though you feel the bitterness of sin and shame, He declares that He has already borne your sin to the cross. Before God, your sin is gone. Before God, you are righteous for the sake of Jesus.

Jesus’ life, suffering, death, and resurrection have verified once and for all that we are perfectly right with God; holy and just as if we had never sinned. As the vow before the wedding altar states once and for all time a commitment we can always trust, God has taken the vow. We are the Bride of Christ, never forsaken, never desolate and lonely, but married to Him. We are the Lord’s delight.

For your sake, the Lord is not silent. He continues to declare His delight in you, His joy over you. That is why you hear His Word, even when you can’t stand yourself, because there the Lord proclaims His faithfulness, His redemption, His love for you. That is why you run to His Supper for forgiveness, because there is your Bridegroom, present to save. The time will come when sorrow and sighing will flee away—on the Last Day, at the marriage feast of the Lamb. Until then, the Lord is not silent. He will not be quiet. He says, “I delight in you, for I have redeemed you. I rejoice over you, because you are righteous and holy in My sight: because you are forgiven for all of your sins.” In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Epiphany of Our Lord–“Mysteries” (Ephesians 3:1-12)

C-19 Epiphany (Mt 2.1-12)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Epistle, which was read earlier.

Who doesn’t love a good mystery? I remember when I was in middle school taking our state standardized tests, all I wanted to do was finish the tests so I could pull out another Hardy Boys Mystery from the library. I was so caught up in the middle of everything, wondering what was going to happen on the next page and how everything would play out. The mystery brought excitement and wonder, and being a young teenager, I never walked away disappointed.

But what about mysteries today? Do they still intrigue us? Do they captivate us in a way that only a mystery can? Do we even want to involve ourselves with mysteries? If you are St. Paul, then you are all about mystery, namely the mystery of God.

As Paul writes his letter to the Ephesian church, he speaks of many things. First, he makes mention that he is a prisoner. Not only was Paul an actual prisoner in jail, he was “a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of [the] Gentiles.” Notice what Paul says there. He is a prisoner on their behalf. Paul wasn’t preaching and teaching for his own benefit; he was preaching and teaching for the benefit of his audience, in this case, the Ephesians. This was a church that was in full need of God’s grace and mercy and Paul sought to bring that saving grace and mercy to them, just as he was in full need of God’s saving grace and mercy.

In order to do so, he was given insight into the mystery of Christ. Just what does Paul mean here regarding the mystery of Christ? He is not speaking of something that is mysterious in the sense of being vague, murky, or hard to understand, but rather, something that needs to be explained. After it has been explained, it’s perfectly clear, but one would never have stumbled onto it without some outside help. Paul indicates that he received such help from God by revelation. Paul says rather clearly what the mystery is: “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” It means that they are included in God’s saving grace and mercy!

What a wonderful thing for a person to hear, that they have been included in God’s saving grace and mercy. What relief that fact should bring to a person, knowing that God has forgiven you all of your sins on account of Jesus Christ. That is the message that Paul was bringing to the Ephesians and that is the message that Paul brings to you today.

Today we celebrate the Epiphany of Our Lord; we celebrate His being revealed to the Gentiles, that they would become God’s children by grace. We also celebrate His being revealed to us, that we would become God’s children by grace.

According to Matthew’s Gospel, God chose to reveal Jesus to the wise men via a star to follow, leading them to the Child. For St. Paul, he was intent on making sure that the churches to whom he visited or wrote to knew of “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” St. Paul understood well that salvation in Christ means wealth beyond compare or comprehension. No one can put a dollar sign on the riches that come to us in the Gospel. The riches are also unsearchable in that no human mind could ever have contrived God’s gracious plan of salvation. No one and nothing in all of God’s creation could reveal to us the eternal treasure of unconditional forgiveness of sins. Only the Creator of all things could reveal this wealth to us.

It is Paul’s privilege and passion to make plain to everyone that the sins of the world are taken away in Christ. Unlike the sweepstakes offer which tells us we may have already won, he announces that we have already won through the Savior.

For the Church today, God reveals Jesus to us in His means of grace: His Word and His Sacraments. This is where He promised that He would be found. However, for many, that’s not where they want to find Jesus. They want to find Jesus on the lake, in prosperity preaching, the promise of being good and receiving God’s good grace. That is why the Word of God is so important.

We cannot live as the people of God unless He has been revealed, that is, preached to us. Without His Word and Sacraments, not only would our Lord remain unrevealed to us, but His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation also would not have been given to us. Without faith in Christ, we would forever be unable to comprehend this mystery. Even with faith in Him, we are still unable to comprehend the mystery of the Incarnation. We finite creatures cannot comprehend an infinite God becoming true Man, coming hidden in a finite form. We are unable to understand how a virgin can conceive and bear a Son. We cannot begin to fathom how one who was crucified and dead can come back to life.

There is more to Epiphany than a lovely story though of wise men, of a great Old Testament prophecy fulfilled and of an energetic appeal of Paul to the Ephesians. Epiphany is not just to be remembered in the past tense. Epiphany is a present now.

Epiphany is now, even as Christ is now. He continues to come to His Church, to feed her with His precious Word and His saving body and blood. He continues to come to save and forgive His people. He continues to bring people to the cross as their Savior from sin. This is the message that St. Paul came preaching and this is the same message that is preached to the Church today. This is what the Church needs to hear; this is what you need to hear.

Now that the mystery has fully been revealed, we see that the whole message of Scripture was always about Jesus. Everything of the Old Testament pointed to Christ. The New Testament is all about the saving work of Christ. Paul, as a called apostle of Jesus Christ, was tasked with bringing this message of salvation to both Jew and Gentile alike. The salvation that God had promised Adam and Eve of so long ago was not meant solely for them, nor was it meant solely for the Jew. God intended this salvation to be for all peoples, regardless of who they are. This salvation that God grants on account of Jesus has been credited to you.

While we may not know all the ins and outs of this mystery, one thing of this mystery is clear: on account of Jesus Christ and His saving work, we have the forgiveness of our sins, case closed. In the name of Jesus, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Transfiguration of Our Lord – “Changing Lives” (Matt. 17:1-9)

A-26 Transfiguration (Mt 17.1-9)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? From the celebration of the Epiphany of our Lord to today, the Transfiguration of Our Lord, we have experienced something that we won’t experience again for another 27 years, or until 2038: we celebrate the entire season of Epiphany. That means we have heard some texts from Scripture that share more of what the Church was like at the time of Christ and shortly there-after: it was rough. It was ugly. It was not what we would think of the Church as being. During the time of Christ, there were groups who sought to put our Lord to death because He made what they thought to be heretical claims, such as being the Son of God and dying and rising from the dead three days later. For Paul, some 25 or so years later, we hear how the Church of Corinth was slowly tearing itself apart from the inside out, setting up faction against faction. Some of the other churches which Paul either visited or formed began to throw out the teachings of Christ and reverting to their previous ways, or accepting the worship of idols and the like as part of their worship. This was the Church, in all of its glory. Praise be to God that this was not a picture of the entire Christian Church, but it was a picture of what can happen when the Church moves away from Christ. But when the Church is firmly rooted in Christ, then it is life-changing.

Today in our Gospel reading, we experience an event that was life-changing. Our text begins: “After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.”

Jesus had just begun to show His disciples that God’s plan for Him as the Christ will take Him to Jerusalem to suffer and die and rise to eternal life. Instead of taking all of the disciples with Him, Jesus chose to take with Him Peter, James, and John. Sometimes referred to as the Three because they were present with Jesus on special occasions, such as this and again in the Garden of Gethsemane, these men were present when a life-changing event took place. They saw the transfigured Jesus, that is, the Jesus who shone with glory “like the sun.” His clothes became white as light. What occurred to Jesus’ appearance and form was as drastic a change as a caterpillar becoming a butterfly or a tadpole becoming a frog. Here, in this moment, Jesus was allowing some of the splendor of His divine nature to show through.

Indeed, Jesus had told His disciples repeatedly that He was God, and He had demonstrated that fact through the performance of miracles. Yet, here He is making a very visible statement about His divinity. There, Peter, James and John stood before Christ in all of His divine glory. If the Three had any doubts before of who Jesus was, this was all the convincing they needed. But it didn’t stop there. Before their eyes stood Moses and Elijah: Moses, the man of God through whom the Law was delivered on stone tablets. And with him was Elijah, representing the prophets who foretold of the coming Savior, and who endured the worst of times among God’s people. And finally, to top it off, they were overshadowed in a cloud and heard the voice of God. Jesus’ disciples were not dreaming. They actually saw two individuals who had died centuries before this time. How Peter, James, and John were able to correctly identify these two people as Moses and Elijah we are not told. But these disciples were experiencing a little glimpse of heaven. Their lives were changing right before their eyes.

Peter, experiencing this life-changing event wanted to build shelters there on the mountain because he didn’t want the experience to end. Maybe he had the idea that eventually Israel and even the whole world could come to this mountain top and worship the Lord.  Peter did not understand that there was an even greater mountain top experience waiting in the future.

But that wasn’t the only life being changed on the mountain. The life of Jesus was being changed as well.

Within about nine months, Jesus would enter into the depths of His humiliation by being arrested, mocked, tortured, cruelly executed on a cross, and buried in a tomb. Above all this, He had told his disciples that He would triumph by rising from the dead. His transfiguration certainly authenticated that claim. His life would forever be changed at His Transfiguration as He begins to set His eyes to Jerusalem, where lives would forever be changed, including yours and mine.

As Jesus sets His eyes to Jerusalem, lives are about to change. The disciples’ lives would be forever changed when their Friend, their Leader, would be led to the cross and die. The lives of the Pharisees and Sadducees would be changed because Public Enemy #1 was no longer interfering in their lives and their teachings and so they could go back to business as usual. Your life would be forever changed because of the sacrificial act of Jesus Christ on your behalf.

The Transfiguration on this mountain points God’s creation to another mountain-top experience: Calvary. There, we see the extent of the love of God for us: the sacrifice of His one and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. There, on the cross of Christ, your life was changed forever. At that moment, your sins became Christ’s sins and His righteousness became your righteousness. What should have damned us has been taken from us. That which is not deserved, that is, Christ’s holiness, was given to us.

Lives continue to be changed even today when we heed the words of God spoken to Peter, James, and John: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Why is it so important to listen to the words of Jesus? There are many other words that we could listen to that sound just as good. But we listen to the words of Jesus because of the promises which He gives to us. He gives to us great words of comfort when He says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He gives to us the great promise following His resurrection: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Just as Jesus spoke to the Three, He speaks to us as well: “Rise, and have no fear.” There is no reason we should fear. We know that all of the promises made to us by God have been fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As we prepare for our journey to Calvary, we make ready for another mountain-top experience. On that mountain Jesus will express the inner most being of God in sweat and blood, pain and suffering, and, ultimately death and burial.  It is through that suffering and death on the cross that Jesus earned our salvation.  It is through that suffering and death on the cross that Jesus took away our sin and replaced it with His righteousness.  It is Jesus working through the cross who offers us forgiveness, life, and salvation.  It is Jesus who takes away the burden of our sin and makes it possible for us to stand in the presence of God.  It is the glory of Christ on the cross that gives the glory of eternal life to us, glory manifested at His Transfiguration and fully shown to us on the cross where He won for us the forgiveness of our sins. In Jesus name, amen. Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.