Transfiguration

Mateo 17:1-9

I preached this sermon in the Spanish service; the English translation is below. 

Oremos…

Sean gratos los dichos de mi boca y las meditaciónes de nuestros corazónes delante de ti, oh Jehovah, Roca mía y Redentor mío. Amén. (Psalm 19:14 RVA)

Durante las últimas tres semanas, hemos estado escuchando a Jesús predicar a sus discípulos lo que llamamos el Sermón de la Montaña. Hay mucho ministerio que sucede entre ese primer sermón y el Evangelio de hoy. Pero justo antes de esto en el evangelio de Mateo está la escena donde Pedro confiesa que Jesús es el Mesías, Jesús da una predicción de su pasión – o muerte – y Pedro lo reprende. Es donde Jesús le dice a su audiencia,

“Si alguno quiere hacerse discípulo mío, niéguese a sí mismo, tome su cruz y sígame”. (Matt. 16:24)

Entonces sus discípulos saben que seguir a Jesús será costoso: en comodidad, en seguridad y en sacrificio.

Y luego, en el Evangelio de hoy, según Mateo, apenas seis días después de los eventos de esa confesión y reprensión, Jesús, Pedro, Jacobo y Juan suben a una montaña alta donde presencian la transfiguración de Jesús. Es una epifanía, un evento majestuoso y misterioso que revela y manifiesta a Dios.

¿Y no es tentador querer quedarse en la cima de la montaña, en este momento de gloria extática?

Ese anhelo es lo que provoca la entusiasta pregunta de Pedro acerca de quedarse allí y construir viviendas o tiendas de campaña en la cima de la montaña. Pedro, el discípulo bien intencionado pero a veces tambaleante, todavía no entiende. En el Antiguo Testamento, Dios estaba presente en la tienda o tabernáculo (Éxodo 26), pero en Jesús, Dios está con nosotros dondequiera que estemos.

Recuerde, hemos dicho que, especialmente para Mateo, Jesús es el nuevo Moisés. Él es el cumplimiento tanto de la Ley como de los Profetas.

En afirmación, Dios habla desde una nube brillante, anunciando que Jesús es el propio Hijo de Dios, el Amado, con quien Dios está complacido.

No escuchamos a menudo hoy en día acerca de Dios hablando audiblemente, ¿verdad?

Pensamos en ello como algo que sucedía más a menudo en el antiguo Israel. Pero en el Antiguo Testamento, los textos que los discípulos habrían conocido, Dios habló en la creación y a Noé, Abraham, Jacob, Moisés y luego a Gedeón, y finalmente Dios habló a través de los profetas. No era algo cotidiano. Y aunque las palabras son las mismas que se pronunciaron en el río Jordán cuando Jesús fue bautizado por su primo Juan, no estamos seguros de quién escuchó esa proclamación.

Entonces, no es de extrañar que Pedro, Jacobo y Juan tengan miedo.

La parte del Evangelio de hoy que me llamó la atención fue cómo Jesús respondió a sus miedos. Mateo nos dice,

Jesús se acercó y los tocó, diciendo: "Levántense y no tengan miedo". (Mateo 17:7)

Escuchamos esas palabras “no tengáis miedo” una y otra vez en las Escrituras. Son dichos por Dios a Abram y Moisés y Josué y repetidos por los profetas y más tarde por los ángeles del Señor enviados a José, María y Zacarías. Jesús mismo las dice a los discípulos cuando está enseñando y sanando y haciendo milagros.

En cada instancia, Dios afirma la presencia de Dios con nosotros en medio del cambio, el miedo, la incertidumbre y las pruebas.

Pero aquí la seguridad no está solo en las palabras que Jesús habla.

Mateo nos dice que Jesús tocó a los discípulos. Las otras ocasiones en que Jesús toca a alguien en el evangelio de Mateo están en las historias de sanidad:

toca al leproso, y queda limpio;

toca a la suegra de Pedro, y ella se cura de la fiebre;

toca a los ciegos, y pueden ver.

Se nos recuerda que la fe no es solo una cuestión de lo que creemos, con nuestras mentes, sino de lo que sabemos en nuestros corazones. El amor de Dios por nosotros es encarnacional: amor con piel. Plenamente divino y plenamente humano, Jesús disipa nuestros miedos, nos consuela y nos alienta.

Mientras reflexionamos sobre esta historia de Jesús iluminado por la presencia y la Palabra de Dios, espero que podamos escuchar la seguridad de que Dios está siempre con nosotros, especialmente cuando tenemos miedo o estamos inseguros.

Durante la Cuaresma, que comienza esta semana con el Miércoles de Ceniza, podemos vislumbrar la gloria de Dios, pero la mayor parte del tiempo estaremos en el desierto con Jesús, y la gloria visible de Dios será eclipsada por la tentación y el sufrimiento de Cristo.

Que nuestra fe sea sostenida por nuestra confianza en que Dios está con nosotros.

Amén.

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Matthew 17:1-9

For the last three weeks, we have been listening to Jesus preach to his disciples what we call the Sermon on the Mount. There’s a lot of ministry that happens between that first sermon and today’s Gospel. But just before this in Matthew’s gospel is the scene where Peter confesses Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus gives a prediction of his passion – or death – and Peter rebukes him. It’s where Jesus tell his audience,

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matt. 16:24)

So his disciples know that following Jesus will be costly – in comfort, in security, and in sacrifice.

And then, in today’s Gospel – according to Matthew, a mere six days after the events of that confession and rebuke - Jesus, Peter, James and John go up a high mountain where they witness the transfiguration of Jesus. It is an epiphany – a majestic and mysterious event revealing and manifesting God.

And isn’t it tempting to want to stay on the mountaintop, in this moment of ecstatic glory?

That yearning is what prompts Peter’s enthusiastic question about staying there and building dwellings or tents on the mountaintop. Peter, the well-intentioned but sometimes stumbling, disciple doesn’t yet understand. In the Old Testament, God was present in the tent or tabernacle (Exodus 26), but in Jesus, God is with us wherever we are.

Remember, we’ve said that, especially for Matthew, Jesus is the new Moses. He is the fulfillment of both the Law and the Prophets. In affirmation, God speaks from a bright cloud, announcing that Jesus is God’s own Son, the Beloved, with whom God is well-pleased.

We don’t often hear today about God speaking audibly, do we?

We think of it as something that happened more often in ancient Israel. But in the Old Testament– the texts that the disciples would have known –God spoke at creation and to Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses and later to Gideon, and finally God spoke through the prophets. It was not an everyday occurrence. And while the words are the same as what was spoken at the Jordan River when Jesus was baptized by his cousin John, we aren’t sure who heard that proclamation.

So, it isn’t surprising then that Peter, James and John are afraid.

The part of today’s Gospel that stood out to me was how Jesus responded to their fears. Matthew tells us,

“Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid.” (Matt. 17:7)

We hear those words “do not be afraid” again and again in Scripture. They are spoken by God to Abram and Moses and Joshua and repeated by the prophets and later by angels of the Lord sent to Joseph, to Mary and to Zechariah. Jesus himself says them to the disciples when he is teaching and healing and performing miracles.

At each instance, God affirms God’s presence with us in the midst of change, fear, uncertainty and trials.

But here the assurance isn’t only in the words that Jesus speaks.

Matthew tells us that Jesus touched the disciples. The other times where Jesus touches someone in Matthew’s gospel are in the healing stories:

he touches the leper, and he is cleaned;

he touches Peter’s mother-in-law, and she is healed from fever;

he touches the blind men, and they can see.

We are reminded that faith is not only a matter of what we believe, with our minds, but what we know in our hearts. God’s love for us is incarnational – love with skin on it. Fully divine and fully human, Jesus dispels our fears, comforts us and encourages us.

As we reflect on this story of Jesus being illuminated by God’s presence and Word, I hope we can hear the assurance that God is with us always, especially when we are afraid or uncertain.

During Lent, which begins this week with Ash Wednesday, we may have glimpses of the glory of God, but most of the time we will be in the wilderness with Jesus, and the visible glory of God will be overshadowed by the temptation and suffering of Christ. May our faith be sustained by our confidence that God is with us.

Amen.

Epiphany 6A

Matthew 5:21-37

Today’s Gospel is one of those passages where I find myself wrestling with the text to find the Good News. Out of context all we hear is Jesus talking about prison, adultery, divorce, dismemberment, sin and hell.

It hardly makes us eager to keep listening.

But before you shut down or tune out, let’s take a step back and review what’s happening in the text.

This is the third week that we are hearing parts of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It’s the first of five speeches by Jesus that Matthew includes in his gospel, and it’s the one that gives us some of our most quotable words by Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount gives us the Beatitudes (Mt. 5:1-12) and the words about disciples being the salt of the earth (5:13) and the light of the world that shines for others. (5:14) It is where Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray (6:9-13) and where we hear the instruction that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (6:21)

Throughout this sermon, Jesus is teaching his disciples how to understand the Scripture they have been taught and the explanations they have been given.

And last week’s gospel ended with Jesus telling the disciples that he did not come to abolish the law of the prophets, but to fulfill it (5:17) and then he called them to a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees – the religious teachers and leaders in Jerusalem. (5:20)

It doesn’t make the words any easier to hear, but it does help us understand why Jesus is tackling difficult conversations. Four times in today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said” followed by one of the commandments that we first hear in Exodus 20 or, in the case of divorce, in Deuteronomy 24. And then, in each case, Jesus says, “But I say to you.”

Each time, Jesus takes a commandment that can be followed to the letter of the Law and makes it a matter of the heart. After all, the Commandments were never simply a list of rules that say what not to do; they were given to teach us how to be in relationship with God and with each other.

Remember as Jesus is teaching about the Law, he is not replacing it, so we shouldn’t hear correction in his words. Instead, what Jesus is revealing is that the Law is more expansive than it first appears.

He begins with murder, suggesting that murder is not only physically and mortally wounding another person. Martin Luther’s explanation of the fifth commandment in the Small Catechism reflects this, saying, “we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all of life's needs.”

Jesus encourages self-examination. When we let resentments or anger fester, we are guilty. Jesus invites us to acknowledge when a chasm exists between us and another person, or where we are withholding our forgiveness. And then he urges us to reconciliation.

And before we begin to object about whether it is fair or deserved, we can remember Jesus’ own words at his crucifixion, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

As we continue to reflect on Jesus’ words, it is important to say out loud here that forgiveness and even reconciliation does not mean that you are ever expected to remain in relationships or circumstances that are abusive or dangerous.

When Jesus talks about adultery and then divorce, he is speaking at a time when husbands could divorce wives for trivial reasons, when women had no rights and when women who were divorced were scandalized and often left without financial support. As he talks about adultery and divorce, he is urging honesty in our relationships and concern for the other person’s welfare.

In every example, Jesus speaks against our human instinct to manipulate God’s Word to make it easier to follow or to lower the cost of discipleship.

And in every example, Jesus invites us to look beyond how we are or aren’t following the Law and look at how our actions are hurting or loving others.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul reminds the church there that “we are God’s servants, working together” and “we have a common purpose”: that people would know God’s love. (1 Cor. 3:8-9) We are being called to live according to God’s Word in ways that fulfill the Law, not only in letter, but in our hearts.

The Good News in the difficult conversations Jesus has with his followers is that Jesus doesn’t look at us and say, “Y’all missed the mark; I’m going to start over with different people.” Instead, in God’s abundant mercy, we’re forgiven, and if that wasn’t enough, he teaches and gives us this Word of God and Word of Life, that we may learn and draw near to God, always seeking understanding.

Let us pray…

Good and gracious God,

We give you thanks for Your grace, that you do not turn away from us.

We give you thanks for your Son Jesus who shows us how great your love is, and invites us to love others as You love us.

Encourage us to be honest, knowing You already know our hearts and minds. Help us confess our anger and resentments and seek reconciliation.

Enable us by your Holy Spirit to live according to your will, trusting in your Word and promises for us.

We pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.