Sermon Tone Analysis

Feb. 26, 2017 - FPC Caldwell

Welcome and announcements:

What’s going on in life?

Prayer requests for later: Brooxy’s daughter (in-law?) with cancer, George’s surgery

PRELUDE - Let us use this time to center ourselves for worship

CALL TO WORSHIP AND OPENING PRAYER

This is the day the Lord has made,

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Let us Pray: Holy God, our petition is that we would experience your grace and love.

May this time of worship be a time when we set aside our own understandings, our own agendas, our own preconceptions, our own assumptions, our own pursuits, and even our own troubles, that we may embrace the opportunity before us.

We offer our hearts to you in worship that may we indeed experience your grace and love.

Amen.

HYMN: Come thou Fount of Every Blessing 356

Prayer of Confession: Eternal God, in whom we live and move and have our being, whose face is hidden from us by our sins, and whose mercy we forget in the blindness of our hearts: Cleanse us from all our offenses, and deliver us from proud thoughts and vain desires, that with reverent and humble hearts we may draw near to you, confessing our faults, confiding in your grace, and finding in you our refuge and strength; through Jesus Christ your Son.

Eternal God, in whom we live and move and have our being, whose face is hidden from us by our sins, and whose mercy we forget in the blindness of our hearts: Cleanse us from all our offenses, and deliver us from proud thoughts and vain desires, that with reverent and humble hearts we may draw near to you, confessing our faults, confiding in your grace, and finding in you our refuge and strength; through Jesus Christ your Son.

RECEIVING GOD’S HEALING IN BAPTISM AND FORGIVENESS Friends, let us proclaim the Good News: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!

Amen.

Friends, let us proclaim the Good News: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven!

Amen.

* GLORIA PATRI: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be World without end.

Amen.

Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be World without end.

Amen.

Amen.

The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”

So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.

To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”

Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud.

Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.

Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain.

Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

Prayer for illumination: God, your Word is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path.

The gospel of John tells us that Jesus came as a light to the darkness, the Word made flesh to dwell among us.

Help us so to hear your holy Word that we may truly understand; that, understanding, we may believe, and, believing, we may follow in all faithfulness and obedience, seeking your honor and glory in all that we do; through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

God, your Word is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path.

The gospel of John tells us that Jesus came as a light to the darkness, the Word made flesh to dwell among us.

Help us so to hear your holy Word that we may truly understand; that, understanding, we may believe, and, believing, we may follow in all faithfulness and obedience, seeking your honor and glory in all that we do; through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Our gospel text today is the Transfiguration passage of the book of Matthew.

But before I jump right into the gospel text this morning allow me to set a little context.

(**Map on the back of your bulletin today**) At the end of chapter 15, Jesus is at the Sea of Galilee and feeds a crowd of 4,000 hungry men and then women and children as well.

In chapter 16, Jesus travels from the Sea of Galilee further North to Caesarea Philippi and it is here that Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” () …

And then it’s after this that the gospel of Matthew says, “21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” ()

It’s here where Peter rebukes Jesus, yes Peter rebukes Jesus, saying that that will never happen to you Jesus!

Do y’all remember how Jesus responded to Peter? “Get behind me, Satan!

You are a hindrance to me.

For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

And then the end of chapter 16 says: “24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” ().

I think that is significant because in our gospel text we have a fairly rare occurrence of an exact reference to the passing of time… 6 days.

6 days after what I just read the Transfiguration happens.

So in doing this I think Matthew acknowledges a little passing of time, while also remaining in the same train of thought.

I think this is because for Matthew there is a correlation between the context I’ve just given and the Transfiguration text, which we tend to separate.

We tend to look at the Transfiguration by itself, standing alone.

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John 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 dazzling white.

Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.

But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”

And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

The Word of the Lord.

Jesus goes up on a mountain with three disciples: Peter, James, and Jesus’ brother - John.

And while they are on the mountain, something crazy happens.

Actually, its not just one crazy thing, it’s three crazy things!

And let’s pretend like we haven’t heard this story two hundred times or more and place ourselves in Peter’s shoes - or sandals.

So your on the mountain with Jesus then suddenly, three mind-boggling, mind-blowing, jaw-dropping, astounding, incredibly amazingly extraordinary things happen:

Jesus is “transfigured” Then Moses and Elijah appear out of thin air And then, if that weren’t enough, a mysterious cloud envelopes them all and God audibly speaks

Now there is something to say about each of these things:

Jesus is transfigured… the greek: μετεμορφώθη (metamorphothe) metamorphosed, before their very eyes.

Jesus, the guy that you have traveled around with listening to his teachings, and witnessed do some amazing miracles and such, but now “his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.”

Moses, if you recall in , after he had gone up Mt.

Sinai to get the 2nd set of Tablets, when he came down from the mountain had to cover his face with a vail because his face was shining as if it had radioactively absorbed some of God’s energy, because he had been talking with God.

Now in Jesus’ case, it wasn’t that he seemed to absorb some of God’s energy that made his face radiate like Moses, but that he did so by the very nature of himself alone.

Speaking of Moses, he and Elijah appear.

What is the significance of Moses and Elijah?

First, these two monumental people of the Jewish tradition - I mean especially Moses, REALLY MOSES APPEARS!

Moses is the Torah and the Torah is life to the Jews - it still is to this day!

And you would think if Moses visibly showed up that he would draw ALL the attention, I mean it’s Moses for crying out loud, right!!

But Moses and Elijah, as awesome a sight as they are, aren’t the main character.

Jesus is still the main character.

Jesus is the center of attention and Moses and Elijah appear to merely serve as a testimony to the majesty of Jesus.

It’s as if they are there to ultimately there to endorse Jesus as the Christ.

And why Moses and Elijah specifically?

Well between the three - Jesus, Moses and Elijah - there are a number of interesting connections: They are the only three named as having fasting 40 days.

All three could be considered prophets.

And the all ascend a mountain and experience the presence of God, which for Jesus is happening in realtime.

But what I like to point out is that Moses represents the Torah (the Law) and Elijah represents the prophets - and in the infamous word of Jesus from his Sermon on the Mount, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” ().

So, Jesus doesn’t add a third component that is on par with Moses and Elijah, Jesus comes as the fulfillment of them and their role, and it’s as if they submit to that.

Lastly, a cloud, like on the mountain with Moses, envelopes the mountain and God audibly speaks.

Here God repeats what is said in , “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased”; but then adding to it: “listen to him!” Jesus has the authority of the Law and the prophets and the very beloved Son of God… Listen to him!!

Every one of these things: Jesus’ self-radiating transfiguration, the appearance of the supporting cast of Moses and Elijah, and the voice of God very illicitly come together to point to Jesus’ authority, his sovereignty, his very deity, the exaltation of Jesus.

Jesus in this sense is wholly other - He is transcendent.

And what I want to draw our attention to is, in the midst of all this going on, we can’t forget about the 3 disciples with Jesus: Peter, James, and John.