The Prayer Jesus Gives Us

The Prayer Jesus Gives us
Matthew 6:5-15
February 17, 2008
2nd Sunday in Lent

© 2008 by Christopher D. Drew

Sermon Focus: The prayer life of the church finds its source in God, who by grace desires to be near to us and to hear both our praises and our pleas. Our prayer life, however, is clouded by our modern misconceptions about what prayer is, coupled with our own false starts and fears.

Sermon Function: To encourage listeners to pursue a life of prayer, and to provide insights from Matthew 6:5-15 for how we might structure our prayers.

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Introduction

One of the constant frustrations many Christians feel, including myself, is not really knowing how to pray. I have heard many times, in church life and in seminary, that prayer comes only with great difficulty. “My words aren’t adequate,” says one person. “I’m not good at it,” says another. Yet another says, “I don’t pray because I’m not worthy enough.”

For those who find have struggled to maintain their lives of prayer, there is frequently another kind of problem. Many find that their prayers end up just being laundry lists of requests. And of course, one of the most common complaints is that a person’s prayer life is reduced to bargaining – that is, the person only seems to discover the acute need to prayer when something huge is at stake. “Oh God, if only you would do [promise here], I promise that I’ll faithfully attend worship each Sunday.”

This week, we get some guidance from the place where we should usually turn first, Scripture! As we continue with our Lenten series on spiritual disciplines, I’ve been eagerly waiting for the opportunity to preach on this text, which is about prayer.

Let’s listen to God’s Word to us.

[Read Scripture - Matthew 6:5-15]

Advent Disciplines – Prayer

This past week, almost 70 people came to a kickoff our joint Advent Series on Spiritual Disciplines for our congregation and the congregation of First Presbyterian Church in Corpus Christi. What a great time we had! I was particularly pleased to see so many familiar faces in the crowd. Bob Malsack, Sara, and I presented our thoughts on worship and its rhythm, practical guidance for making our worship more meaningful, and comments about how we can extend our worship into our everyday living.

This week, the topic is prayer. Our scripture text from Matthew is actually a portion of the lectionary reading for Ash Wednesday. Here we receive Jesus’ words about prayer. And you may have noticed that the text is organized into two big chunks. The first chuck tells us what we should not do when in prayer. The second chunk with what we ought to do.

Prayer is the lifeblood of the Christian, and an incredibly important privilege. And I do mean it is a privilege. As created beings, made in the image of our heavenly Father, we are encouraged to actually speak with Him. What a great privilege! It should inspire awe in us. More often than not, however, it inspires feelings of inadequacy and even fear. But Jesus, our Savior, here tells, in very practical terms, how to become more fully engaged pray-ers. And as I’ve read about this text and prepared to write this sermon, I have to tell you how exciting it is to once again revisit these familiar words with fresh eyes. I hope in some way that I might let you see these words with fresh eyes as well – because what we have here in our text is solid gold assurance and encouragement in prayer, if we only open our eyes and take it in.

Part One – What Not To Do

A couple of things can be said about Jesus’ admonition to pray in private. First, it would have been the custom at the time to pause during the course of daily life to offer up prayers. In particular, pious Jews at this time would have stopped what they were doing to offer up specific prayers at about three p.m. each day – the time when sacrifices were made at the temple.

Jesus doesn’t very much like this practice, even through it was common. Private prayers given in public had two audiences – God and everybody else who might notice the pray-er. And that’s the rub. For Jesus, prayer to God should be offered to God alone. As Dale Bruner notes, “Prayer is not a form of evangelism, addressed to other people. Prayer is addressed to God, exclusively.”¹ No mixed audiences. Jesus is of the opinion that prayer is to be addressed solely to God. To do otherwise runs the risk of ostentation, of trying to look good, to look pious, to be, in some fashion, the object of admiration and worship ourselves. That’s a non-starter, says Jesus, “Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matt 6:6 NRSV).

After making it clear that prayer is most appropriately offered to God alone and in private, Jesus then makes some statements about the words we use. Specifically – You don’t need to use a lot of them. Why would Jesus say something like this?

This is the first of two “antirules” for prayer. The first addresses an issue that certainly was a problem among pagan religious traditions during this time – use a whole bunch of words to try to demonstrate your piety to God, in order to convince God to grant your request, which can have the effect of reducing God to a grudging giver.² No, says Jesus, don’t babble on in prayer. Keep is short and simple.

The next “antirule” is this: “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him (Matt 6:8 NRSV). The obvious response to this saying is: So why pray at all? If God already knows everything, why bother?

The fact that he knows everything ought to be liberating for us. The reason our closest relationships with our closest friend, family members, and spouses are the closest is because these people know us the best. We can tell people in our closest circle almost anything. Because God does know everything, we ought to feel encouraged to approach him with everything that might be weighing on our minds.³

Keep it short, says Jesus, and don’t worry too much about the content, because God is closer than your closest friend. You really can share anything with Him. What a liberating thing! The quality of prayer isn’t something you can calculate by worldly standards like word count or word choice. Just be honest.

Martin Luther put it this way:

“The man who is serious in his intention and takes pleasure in prayer neither knows nor feels any toil and trouble; he simply looks at his need, and he has finished singing or praying the words before he has a chance to turn around. In other words, prayers ought to be brief, frequent, and intense.”⁴

No need to babble on, says Jesus, and feel free to talk about anything.

Part Two – The Model for Prayer

We recited this next part of our Scripture today earlier in our worship. This is the Lord’s Prayer. Having given us a couple of things to avoid – don’t use lots of empty words, and you Father already knows – Jesus then gives us a model for prayer. He says, “Pray then in this way” in verse nine. We could also translate this bit, “Pray like this.”

Following this are an address, three petitions about God, and three petitions regarding our needs.

“Our Father in heaven,” is the opening address. It is a short opening, as you might expect given what Jesus just said about wordiness. But the statement is actually a tremendous gift. You see, Jesus is God’s only Son. We are God’s children by adoption, by God’s grace. So here Jesus is inviting us to pray to God as if he were our own Father. God, then, is the Father all. With this simple phrase we become a member of the divine family. What an amazing gift!⁵

The other thing to notice about this opening address is the Jesus’ use of the word “our.” The Lord’s Prayer may be said individual, but the use of the word “our” reminds us that our prayer is a prayer not just for me, Christopher Drew, but a prayer for the entire community.

God, Please Be God

The first petition is then raised. “Hallowed be your name.” To be hallowed is to be set apart from the rest. I like Dale Bruner’s view on this. To be hallowed is to be made central, the central focus of our prayer and our lives.⁶ Here we ask God to be who God is – Holy, and the central focus of our lives.

We then ask for God’s kingdom to come. This is the Kingdom that we’re talking about – the one that comes on the last day, when Jesus returns in glory. This is actually a big deal – an “intense” request, to paraphrase Martin Luther. This is a prayer for the replacement of our current reality and history with something entirely new from God.

“Your will be done,” is the next petition asking God to be God. Let your will be done, Lord, as you want it to be done. “On earth as it is in heaven,” applies to the entire first three petitions. Let your name be hallowed here on earth as it is in heaven. As your kingdom is known in heaven, let it be so also on earth. As you will is executed in heaven, let you will prevail over the earth.

In each of the three petitions, then, we are asking God to be who God is, and to do whatever it is God wants to do. Be the central focus, God. Be the one who brings the kingdom to full fruition. Let your will be enacted. The first three petitions are all about God being God.

Our Needs

The next three petitions address critical human needs. Not personal needs, but needs that all humans have.

“Give us this day our daily bread.” Another way to translate this is “give us bread today for tomorrow.” We have the critical need for sustenance each day, and by this prayer we ask for that need to be met. I think that this is a very challenging petition for us, however, given that none of us likely has to worry much about where the next meal will come. The “our” of this petition then becomes very important. If we are confident that we know where our next meal will come from, then the only real honest way of praying this petition is by remember those in our community and in our world who do not have such luxury, and for whom the next day’s meal is never a certainty. When we pray for God to give us our daily bread, we are praying not just for ourselves, but on behalf of the entire community.

Debts and debtors. This is another incredible part of the prayer Jesus gives us. You see, by the very fact that we are sinful people, we stand in debt with God. We need forgiveness. This petition, that our debts be forgiven, means that we are asking God for an amazing grace – the grace of having our debts written off the divine balance sheet. This is an audacious request – as audacious as someone calling Citibank and asking them to forget that you have an outstanding balance. That kind of thing just isn’t done, but with God, Jesus encourages us to ask for such forgiveness. And we are also reminded in this section that our forgiveness is consequent on our forgiveness of others.

And finally, “Do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one” (Matt 6:13 NRSV). We are all the time surrounded by temptation and trials. We are here asking God to preserve us from the worst of these, and to “rescue us,” perhaps more literally “snatch us up”⁷ from the evil one. Bruner sums this petition up nicely, “Dear Father, please lead us in such a way that we will be able to resist the temptations that both consciously and unconsciously surround us; please constantly swoop down and rescue us from all the wiles of the evil one and all his evil works – we need your help.”⁸

Those are the six petitions of the prayer. With the first three, we humbly ask God to be who God is. Only after this do we move on to our own communities needs. The need to be fed. “Please give us the food so that we can stand up; please give us forgiveness so that we can stand up straight.”⁹ And finally, once we’re standing up straight, lead us forward as only You can.

Concluding Remarks

This is a prayer, friends, about God, and about us. It is not a personal prayer where we present God with our list of things. It is a prayer we say on behalf of the whole community, even as we pray it in the locked closet away from the crowds.

The Lord’s Prayer is an outline. You can shape a prayer like it using words that you create. But when those words are lacking, you’re more than welcome to simply recite the very words Jesus gives us.

I hope, by spending some time in greater detail with this wonderful gift of a prayer that we often take for granted, that you might have some new insights into how it is structured and what really we’re asking for when we say it. I also hope that you will join us for another engaging discussion about prayer this coming Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church, Corpus Christi, as we continue our Lenten series on spiritual disciplines. Let us pray.


Father in Heaven, we ask you again to be who you are, the central focus of our lives. We ask that your kingdom come sooner rather than later, so that our world might be transformed according to your heavenly will. Sustain us each day with those things we need, especially those of us who are at immediate risk. Let your forgiveness rain down and drown out our sin. Help us share your forgiveness with others. Lead us forward, we pray, and carry us over the traps dug for us by the adversary. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Given at First Presbyterian Church, Portland, Texas.

¹Bruner, Frederick. Matthew: A Commentary: The Christbook, Matthew 1-12. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1987, p. 106. ↩

²Ibid., p. 235. ↩

³Ibid. ↩

⁴Luther, Martin. The Sermon on the Mount (Sermons). Vol. 21 of Luther’s Works, p. 142-143. ↩

⁵Brunner, op. cit., p. 239. ↩

⁶Ibid., p. 241. ↩

⁷Ibid., p. 255. ↩

⁸Ibid. ↩

⁹Ibid., p. 252. ↩

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My Cute Buddie

I found this amongst some older photos. Jodi and I hanging out.

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The Unbearable Cuteness of Being

For Valentine's Day, my sister sent these pics of our new niece, Lauren:


I'd say someone is pretty darn happy today!

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Worshiping the Lord God

Worshiping the Lord God
Matthew 4:1-11
February 10, 2008
1st Sunday in Lent

© 2008 by Christopher D. Drew

Sermon Focus: Jesus temptations by the devil are designed to test his spiritual maturity. Whereas Adam and Eve failed the testing of the devil, Jesus Christ prevails, relying on God’s very word to parry the attacks of the tempter.

Sermon Function: To encourage listeners that we should strive to turn away from the idolatries that tempt us to worship someone or something other than God; to encourage listeners to renew their spiritual commitment to Christ; and to remember the great hope we have in Jesus, the one who did withstand all the temptations of life, and who, at the cost of his life, secured our eternal salvation.

[Click to Show/Hide Sermon Text]

Introduction

We are now in the season of Lent, a season of introspection and repentance. Starting with Ash Wednesday, the Christian community is reminded of its sinful nature, and of its finitude – its mortality.

Today’s text takes us into the wilderness, a place long associated with isolation, loneliness, and temptation, where Jesus has an encounter similar to the one that beset Adam and Eve at the dawn of creation.

Let’s listen now to God’s word to us.

[Read Scripture - Matthew 4:1-11]

Introductory Comments

The story of Jesus’ temptation by the διάβολος, Satan, is an appropriate text to start off the Lent season. We are in the great forty days preceding Easter, and Jesus was himself taken up, immediately after his baptism, into the wilderness for a period of testing lasting forty days. Moses was in the mountain for 40 days and nights in order to receive the Law, Elijah was tested for 40 days and nights, and the people of Israel wandered in the dessert for 40 years. Wilderness, isolation, and temptation are all elements related to the idea that we are tested by God.

Jesus is presented by Matthew as being in a state of physical duress. He has fasted throughout his time in the wilderness, and is now famished. This is a potential weakness, and sure enough, the temptation comes.

The First Temptation – You’re Hungry, So Eat

Matthew records that the tempter first tests Jesus by suggesting “if” he was the Son of God, why not turn these stones into loaves of bread. Jesus is tested hear to satiate his immediate need, food. Are you hungry, Jesus? All you need to do is get a little bread in you. There are actually two parts in the devil’s first temptation. The first part of the question is meant to induce doubt. “If you are the Son of God,” the devil said. Jesus has just entered the wilderness having heard the divine voice proclaiming him to be the Son, the Beloved, at his baptism. The deceiver first sews doubt, and then moves on to the matter of Jesus’ hunger pains.

Writing in Presbyterians Today, Kenneth Bailey notes that this first temptation can be thought of as the very human need to have things.¹

We all have human needs that must be fulfilled for us to survive. And that’s okay. We’re created beings and as such have basic needs that require our attention. But what of other things that we need, or just want? What effect do these things have on our lives of faith?

In fact, our perceived needs can be destructive. Even one of our most basic needs, eating, can be destructive, because it can devolve into gluttony and guilt. And we are all time persuaded that we “need” things that we really don’t need.

Our perceived needs can overwhelm us, in fact. Our needs can become so important to us that we forget the One who already knows what we need – the One who provides food for living creatures. The One who gives us life itself. And when our needs take over and we forget the source of our lives, we have committed one of the most basic, commonplace sins of all – idolotry. We sin when our perceived needs take the place of God.

Jesus responds to the slander’s temptation by quoting scripture, Deuteronomy 8:3 to be exact. “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matt 4:4 NRSV). The temptation was bested by referring to the great repository of truth we have in the Holy Scripture.

The temptation to have is put down by Jesus with the use of a Book. About this fact, Dale Brunner writes:

“If Jesus found his way into ministry and around temptation through the faithful remembering of Scripture and sacrament, the church should not think that she can find better ways.”²

And I think the same can be said of us individually. All to often we neglect the discipline of reading and reflecting on the Word of God. The season of Lent affords us the opportunity once again to reinvigorate this practice.

Temptation Two – Supernatural Displays of Power

In the next temptation, the scene shifts and the devil says to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone’” (Matt 4:6 NRSV). Interesting that the devil, having heard Jesus quote Scripture, now quotes Scripture himself, this time from Psalm 91.

A good friend of mind once sought spiritual direction at a silent retreat. A silent retreat is what it sounds like – silence. My friend had reached a point in his life when he felt like he was “stuck” spiritually. He went to a monastery far away, and was placed under the spiritual director of one of the monks. For him, the silence was very awkward. Silence was expected everywhere, including during mealtimes. My friend shared with me that it took him several days to figure out the appropriate way of asking one of the brothers to pass the green beans. You first had to get the attention of the monk closest to the beans, and then through as series of silent nods, winks, and gestures communicate that you wanted him to pass the beans.

The only time talking was allowed occurred during one-on-one discussions with the spiritual director. My friend expressed his frustration at his current spiritual state. The monk looked at him for a moment, and then asked him the question: “What does your heart desire the most? Think about this for the next day, and then let’s meet again.”

My friend went back to his cell and reflected on the question for some time, and then again the next day. When he met with his spiritual director, he answered by saying, “I want to be the most faithful servant of Jesus Christ that I can be.” Again, the monk observed my friend, and then said to him, “Take another day to think about it, and then let’s talk.” My friend was taken aback, initially, but followed his director’s advice and reflected some more on the question about what his heart most desired.

He arrived again at the office of the spiritual director, and was asked the question about what his heart most desired. This time my friend knew the answer. He said this:

“What I most desire is to be famous, to be popular and well-liked, to have people look to me as a leader, and to be respected and admired for who I am. I want to be viewed as a person of high achievement. I want to be known in my community as a success.”

This second temptation is the temptation to do, to be a person of accomplishment, to be spectacular, famous, high-achieving. To have your posse, your entourage around to catch you when you fall, to push those pesky photographers out of the way so that you have unobstructed access to the VIP room at the most popular club in town.

Here’s that sin of idolatry once again. This time, however, it’s more like idolatry of fame rather than of things. And fame become idolatrous when it causes us to take our eyes off what ought to be the true object of our worship, almighty God.

Jesus quotes Deuteronomy once again when he corrects the devil’s abusive use of Scripture and replies, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Matt 4:7 NRSV).

Dale Brunner writes, “Where the first temptation had tried to reach Jesus through his week spot, he now tries to reach Jesus through his strong spot, his faith in God’s Word.”³ We have our own strong spots, areas of expertise and achievement, but these can become idols when they start us down the road of sinful pride. Pride becomes the idol, and we lose sight of God.

Temptation Three – Power

In the third temptation, the devil takes Jesus up to a very high mountain, and promises him all of the kingdoms of the world, in all their glorious splendor and beauty. All that Jesus needs to do is fall down prostrate in front of the slanderer, and to worship him.

First it was idolatry of things, then idolatry of fame, and now it’s an idolatry of power that forms the basis of the test. Brunner calls this “the temptation to make our work God.”⁴ The risk here is thinking that what we do is an essential component of what God does. But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it is God who is the source of everything we have in life. Jesus was likely tempted this time around. He knew his mission. Why not take a little short cut, make a small bow, and take everything in early, before God’s purpose has been fulfilled? One of the great risks of the social gospel, which got its start at the beginning of the last century, is that someone we could, through actions of our own will, bring the Kingdom of God to existence hear and now. All we needed to do was get hold of the powers of the world, the governments, schools, and ecumenical organizations. “Our work, however, while important, is not God and must never be treated as God. We must not seek to be successful at any price or else we have made success our God.”⁵

Concluding Remarks – Lent and Spiritual Discipline

In each of the three temptations, idolatry is a big risk. Idolatry of the self, of fame, and of power and faith in our own works. Idolatry is worshipping something other than God. During this season of Lent, we have a wonderful opportunity to work together to develop ways of trying to forestall these temptations in our lives. We do this by rehearsing practices that have been part of Christian life for over 2,000 years.

An importance practice for many people during Lent is to give something up. I like the idea of giving something up, because it affords the opportunity to take something up that might have been neglected. In this case, it might be a good time to examine some of the historical practices that have guided the church. Together with members of First Presbyterian Church Corpus Christi, you are invited to take part in a five-week Lenten series on Christian Spiritual Disciplines. This year, we’re going to focus on five in particular: Meaningful Worship, our prayer lives, the ancient tradition of meditation, living simply, and acts of service.

The first practice, meaningful worship, is really what this sermon is all about. Whom do we worship? How do we remain focused in worship, so that the temptations have less of a chance to sidetrack us, so that we’re not left worship meaningless idols, or worshipping ourselves? These fives weeks are meant to be a practical examination of what we’ll be preaching each Sunday. The schedule is in your bulletin, and you are invited to come and be a part of this joint experience between our two great churches.

The Good News

The good news in today’s text is this: Jesus saves! This story illustrates that when we fail our testing, as our first parents Adam and Eve failed, Jesus Christ passed them all with flying colors. And that means his perfection covers over our own imperfections. This passage, then, is really a wonderful foreshadowing of the wonder and joy that is Easter.

Given at First Presbyterian Church, Portland, Texas.

¹Bailey, Kenneth. “The Temptation of Jesus.” Presbyterian Outlook. January 16, 2008. . ↩

²Bruner, Frederick. Matthew: A Commentary: The Christbook, Matthew 1-12. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1987, p. 106. ↩

³Ibid., p. 108. ↩

⁴Ibid., p. 112. ↩

¹Ibid., p. 112. ↩

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A Wonderful Gift

This is my newborn niece, Lauren Ryleigh Marvel, born on January 31, 2008. She came into the world at eight sounds, one ounce, and 19 inches in length. Mom and Dad are getting along very well, and Sara and I are thrilled to be a first-time aunt and uncle!

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Transfigured

Transfigured
Matthew 17:1-9
Sermon Date
Transfiguration of the Lord

© 2008 by Christopher D. Drew

Sermon Focus: Many modern readers have difficulties wrapping their scientifically trained minds around this fascinating story of Jesus’ transfiguration. And yet, we are called by faith to look deeply into the text to discern God’s truth for us – a truth that runs counter to our self-rationalizations and our need to apply the scientific method on everything we encounter.

Sermon Function: To teach listeners that we, as those called into Christ’s church through baptism, are joined with Jesus in such a way that we experience, through our own sanctification by the Holy Spirit, a transfiguration of our minds and bodies and we draw closer to the Crucified One.

[Click to Show/Hide Sermon Text]

Introduction

I became an uncle this week, and Sara an aunt! My sister, Bethany, who many of you met over the course of the summer, gave birth to Lauren Ryleigh Marvel. She came into the world at eight pounds, one ounce, and measured 19 inches in length. After an intense day of labor, the doctors decided that little Lauren would have to arrive via caesarian section. Mom is resting and recovering. And Dad is beaming. My parents arrived there on Wednesday sometime around midnight, just in time to join with my sister and brother-in-law for the big event of the birth.

God is great, indeed.

And God’s greatness can be seen throughout out lives. Nature itself testifies to God’s creative genius. Our families and friends remind us of God’s steadfast love for us. And the miracle of birth, well, it does something far more profound to us than ever we might imagine. The scientific atheist would view birth through the lens of Darwinian piety. Of course we have children! If we didn’t, humanity would die out! And this is, indeed, true. But the wonders of God transcend even our own human need to replicate ourselves for the sake of having future generations. The act of birth gives rise to changes that permanently alter the landscape. Two married individuals suddenly add to their number, and instead of having a “married couple,” one now sees a “new family.” Parents become, suddenly, grandparents. Brother and sisters are transformed into aunts and uncles, and children suddenly take on the new role of “cousin.” The birth of children brings with it fundamental transformation.

Today we read of a special, and very different, transformation, called by us “The Transfiguration.” This Sunday is actually a feast Sunday in the larger church. By design, the readings we just heard from the Old Testament and 2 Peter should resonate in your minds as you hear this amazing, awe-inspiring story that forms a great hinge in the gospel of Matthew. Listen, and imagine, if you can, the awe that you might feel had you been Peter, James, or John.

Let us listen now to God’s Word.

[Read Scripture - Matthew 17:1-9]

The Scene

It is difficult to talk about this scene using terms we can relate with. Bill Carter, another Presbyterian pastor, recently confessed “to years of transfiguration aversion.”¹ He discovered that for years he had been punting on this text, routinely assigning responsibility for preaching this Sunday to a colleague. Alas, I have no one to assign the text to this week. But I can understand Bill’s issue: How do you talk about this text, this miraculous, wonderful glimpse of Jesus’ awesome majesty, in a way that is relevant for us today?

The initial answer is – you can’t. I don’t think there is any way of collapsing the events Matthew records in a way that we can use our rational 21st century minds to understand. We, instead, are being invited to look in on an event that really happened, but through a lens of language that inherently limits our ability to share Matthew’s eyes to truly take in the full majesty of the Transfiguration event. And that’s okay, really. Because if we try to reduce the majesty of Christ into a nice package, we risk missing out altogether on the mystical, majestic, awe-inspiring core of our faith – a faith that proclaims we can know God, even as conceive of God as being unknowable. Instead, all we can do is point to what this text tells us about Jesus, and then sit in awe that God, despite our sin, would give us the means to know Him through his Son.

The Players and the Mountain of Authority

Matthew records that the ascent to the mountain occurred “six days later.” In the previous days, Peter, at Caesarea Philippi, has just confessed that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (16:16). Right after Peter’s proclamation, Jesus begins teaching that he will be handed over, killed, and then on the third day raised to life (16:21). Peter, who one can imagine was annoyed that the Messiah he had just confessed would be humiliated and killed, rebuked Jesus. Jesus, in turn, rebukes Peter with those piercing words, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (16:23). Jesus then tells us that anyone wanting to follow him must “deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (16:24). Jesus concludes his remarks by saying, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (Matt 16:28 NRSV).

And hear we are, now, at the base of the mountain. Peter, James and John, the “inner circle” of Jesus’ disciples, are present. And now we’re present with them, through the eyes of Matthew. Jesus takes them and leads them up to the high, unidentified mountain. Throughout Matthew, the high mountain is the place where Jesus exhibits his authority. Three times in the gospel, Matthew takes us to the mountain. The first time we’re taken up a mountain is way back in chapter five, when Jesus proclaims the beatitudes. While there, he preaches as one with authority. “You have heard it said,” Jesus says, “But I say to you…” and he gives his authoritative interpretation of the law. At the conclusion of Jesus’ teaching, Matthew records this: “Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt 7:28-29 NRSV).

The second mountaintop experience happens at the end of Matthew, in chapter 28:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:16-20 NRSV)

Note that Jesus is the one acting in the first verse of our text. Jesus takes them, and Jesus leads them up. This isn’t an accident. Jesus does take us, and he leads us. Now, where is he leading us? And why?

Jesus Christ, Messiah, and Lord of All, God’s Very Word Incarnate

And the answer comes to us spectacularly in verse two. Matthew records that he was “transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white” (17:2-3). The critical word here is “transfigured.” It comes from a rare New Testament Greek word, the same word that gives us the term metamorphosis. Apart from Matthew, this word appears in only three other places. The first is in Mark’s account of this same event. The other two occurrences are both from the writings of Paul. Somehow, Jesus was transformed into something fundamentally glorious and awe-full. Eugene Peterson writes in The Message that, “His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes” (17:2 MSG). Like the piercing light of the Sun breaking over the horizon, his countenance became so bright that we cannot imagine looking at it without singeing our retinas. This must have been a shocking surprise, and electrifying event, and explosive scene, even more explosive than the time I once lit a gas log after letting the gas run a bit too long. Bam! Glowing white, shining Son, altogether beautiful, glorious, amazing, eye-burning, hair-singeing wonder! Imagine yourselves there with them. Imagine the look of surprise, confusion, and wonder.

And that’s just verse two! Matthew writes that two other people were suddenly present at the scene: Moses and Elijah. Moses, the chosen one of God who brought the law, the Ten Commandments, down from the mountain to the people of Israel. Elijah, the great prophe, who was miraculously taken up to God without having to first suffer death. Moses here represents the Law of God that Jesus has proclaimed earlier that he would fulfill. Elijah represents the prophets of God, those who proclaimed the day of the Lord. Both are present with Jesus in his wondrous glory. They have their own glory, to be sure, but it is nothing compared to the One who has been transfigured. One can imagine that even Moses and Elijah would have been awestruck at the sight, even given their intimate knowledge of God. Here is the very One who was promised to us!

Now, what do you do when you directly experience the in-breaking of the divine into our common reality? What do you say when your eyes are being blinded by God’s glory? If you’re Peter, you want to prolong the experience, and memorialize it. “Let’s stay here for awhile and enjoy this spectacular goodness,” Peter says. “Let’s build some tents so you, Moses, and Elijah will stay for awhile.” Sounds grand, but the plan is interrupted. This time by something profoundly serious – the very voice of God.

A voice calls out from the cloud that overshadowed them saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” (Matt 17:5 NRSV). And with these words, we see what authority Jesus really has. He is, in fact, God’s very Word. The divine voice did not say, “Listen to me,” but “listen to him!”² Jesus is the Word, the fullest, most complete revelation of God to us human mortals.

The transfiguration event has now become overwhelming for Peter, James, and John. They collapse from the fear. First it was Jesus’ transfiguration, then suddenly the arrival of Moses and Elijah, and finally the very presence of Almighty God on the mountain. God told Moses that no one could see God’s face and live. I’d duck for cover as well. And that’s what they did. Overcome by their fear, they literally, according to the Greek, fell down on their faces.

Jesus then came over and touched them. He reached out to them. Notice how Jesus works here? Jesus took them up the mountain, he led them there, and now he touches them. Jesus always moves first in the Bible. God always moves first and remains steadfast in his love for us even when we flail about in fear. Jesus reaches out, touches them, and says, “Get up and do not be afraid” (17:7).

In Dale Brunner’s acclaimed commentary on Matthew, he writes:

In a way, the entire gospel is present in this text of the disciples' reaction, for the church believes and teaches that God himself "came up to us, gripped us, and told us to get on our feet and not be afraid anymore" in the Incarnation, person, and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. He came to us at Christmas, he grabbed us by his helping words and deeds in his ministry, he put us on our feet by his Good Friday death for us, and he banished fear from our hearts by his resurrection. Everything is in that little seventh verse, and in some ways this little grab-and-list at the end of the transfiguration story, often neglected in exposition as if a mere after-effect, may be one of the most important points in the story. For Jesus shines not just to shine, not just to impress, not even in the final analysis to make us obedient or trembling, but especially to help us up, to put us on our feet, to enable us to breathe again so that we can be obedient to his Word.³

And they looked up and saw no one except “Jesus himself alone” (17:8). And then their fears evaporated. There is, as Bill Carter aptly notes, “Nobody else we have to deal with” apart from Jesus.⁴

Back Down the Mountain

And the importance of this fact is highlighted when Jesus asks the disciples to keep quiet about what they have seen until “after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead” (17:9). It won’t all make sense, says Jesus, until after Easter. But you’ve seen a glimpse of the true glory of God, and you’ve seen that same glimpse here this morning. And what awe and wonder it is, that God’s Word would dwell with us each Sunday, right here in Portland, Texas. Having had the mountaintop experience, Jesus descends and continues with his ministry. We ought to do the same as we leave our worship encounter with Jesus today.

The final lesson for us to remember is this: Jesus of Nazareth, the great Son of God who lives among us having been born into our human condition, and who can relate to us directly through his humanity is, still, the Christ, the anointed one, the very Word of God. He is not as we are, thank God!

Let us pray.

O God, in the transfiguration of your Son, you confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the witness of Moses and Elijah; and in the voice from the cloud you foreshadowed our adoption as your children. Make us, with Christ, heirs of your glory, and bring us to enjoy its fullness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.⁵

Given at First Presbyterian Church, Portland, Texas.

¹Carter, Bill. “Homiletical Hottub.” GoodPreacher.com. Sponsor: Lectionary Homiletics. Accessed January 31, 2008. . Entry dated 1/28/2008. ↩

²Ibid. ↩

³Ibid., quoting Brunner. ↩

⁴Ibid. ↩

⁵Theology and Worship Ministry Unit. Book of Common Worship. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993, p. 215. ↩

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