Transfiguration (Year A) [Matthew 17:1-8] (23-Feb-2020)

This sermon was preached at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Semaphore, 8.45am, and Good News Lutheran Church, Albert Park, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today we are celebrating the event of Jesus’ transfiguration. This is the wonderful event in the life of Jesus where he took Peter, James and John up a mountain, and his clothes and face began to shine with bright heavenly light. We are also told that Moses and Elijah appeared next to Jesus, talking with him about his departure, his journey to Jerusalem to die as the Lamb of God for the sin of the world. We are also told that when Peter, who was completely amazed by this appearance and had no idea what to do, was suggesting that he make three tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, a cloud came and covered over everything. And God the Father spoke from the cloud, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

This is such a wonderful event, and yet many Christians don’t often think about it too much. We have a custom in our church of remembering this event, and celebrating it on the last Sunday of the Epiphany season. The Epiphany season is that time of the year after Christmas, which begins by remembering the visit of the wise men to the baby Jesus, and the Baptism of Jesus. The word Epiphany means to “show”, or “manifest”, or “display”. We see God making a wonderful “showing” when he sent the wise men a star to lead them to the country of Israel, and also when he “showed” himself as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit at the Baptism of Jesus: The Father spoke from heaven, the Son was being baptised in the water, and the Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove. Today, as we celebrate the Transfiguration, we remember the wonderful way in which God showed to us the power and the divinity of his Son, Jesus Christ—he shows us that he is truly the powerful Son of God himself—by speaking his voice from the cloud, as wonderful light radiates and beams forth and shines from Jesus face, and body and clothes.

Actually, the two events of the Baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration form a kind of pair of bookends to the Epiphany season: we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus at the beginning of the Epiphany Season at the beginning of January, and we celebrate the Transfiguration at the end of the Epiphany season. And both of these events have something in common. On both occasions, God the Father actually speaks his voice in the hearing of all the people who were present at these events. In fact, at both events, he says the same thing: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. However, at the Transfiguration, he says something extra: Listen to Him! It’s this command of God to listen to Jesus that I’m going to focus on today, and I think that these words of God the Father actually give us a wonderful interpretation of everything that goes on. In fact, these words are the centre and the focus of this event at the Transfiguration – Listen to Him!

 So firstly, today, I’d like to take us back to the Old Testament, to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 18. Now, the book of Deuteronomy is a particularly special book in the Old Testament, which contains—if you like—a long sermon or speech from Moses, just as all the people are about to cross the River Jordan and enter into the promised land of Canaan.

Now, during the book of Deuteronomy, Moses gives the people all kinds of warnings to the people about what they should do and not do when they enter the Promised Land. Particularly, they must remain faithful to God, and not start worshipping the false gods of the people in the land. But not only that, but the people were not allowed to copy to worship practices of the people who worshipped other gods, and use these practises to worship the true God. For example, you might remember in the book of Exodus, when the people worshipped the Golden Calf. Not only did they worship this statue, but Aaron said that the calf was in fact God himself, and that through worshipping this statue of the calf, they were worshipping God himself. Do you see? Aaron made it look like they weren’t worshipping some other god, but that they were actually worshipping the God of Israel. But the people weren’t allowed to do this—they weren’t allowed to use idols, and such like, in such a way that they could gain access through them to God. The way to meet God was not to worship a calf statue made out of gold.

So, in Deuteronomy 18, this is what Moses preaches to the people. He says: When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this. The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.

Let me read to you this last verse again. The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen. Moses is saying that God will raise up a prophet like himself, from his brothers, from the Jewish people. Now, there are a number of places in the New Testament, where this verse is taken to be talking about Jesus. After Pentecost, Peter uses this passage to speak about Jesus in one of his first sermons, after he heals a man sitting outside the temple. Stephen, the first person to be killed for the Christian faith, uses this passage from Deuteronomy to refer to Jesus. It’s as if to say, that since the people entered the Promised Land all those hundreds and hundreds of years ago, after Moses had died, they have been waiting for a prophet. And Christians say, that this prophet that the Jewish people had been waiting for centuries, is in fact, Jesus.

Let me read the prophecy again. Moses says: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen. Now, let’s have a look at the Transfiguration, and see how this prophecy is actually fulfilled in our reading.

First of all, Moses calls Jesus a “prophet like me”. Actually, at the transfiguration, Moses is there. In fact, we’re not entirely sure whether this is Moses in his spirit, or in his body, because at the end of the book of Deuteronomy, it says that nobody knew what happened to Moses body. Mysteriously, here is Moses, talking to Jesus. And after Moses had received the law, we read that his face began to shine with bright light, such that he even had to put a veil, a cloth, over his head, because the people just couldn’t cope with and withstand this wonderful light. In the same way, Jesus’ face shines, but not only that, but his whole body shines, and even his clothes. But Jesus doesn’t normally appear like this, but he is always the Son of God, he is always God of God, Light of Light, but most of the time when people saw Jesus, this light was not hidden by a cloth or a veil, like Moses, but is was hidden simply by his human flesh. So Jesus is like Moses, in that his face also shone like Moses’ face.

Also, Jesus was like Moses, in that both of them performed miracles. But they performed very different types of miracles. Moses performed miracles that were frightening and scary for people. They were miracles that revealed God’s anger and his judgement and his wrath. For example, Moses put his hand in his coat, and it was full of leprosy. He put his staff on the ground, and it became a snake. He poured water on the ground, and it turned to blood. He brought about many plagues in Egypt—flies, frogs, darkness, death—you name it!

Now, when Jesus came, he also performed miracles, but miracles that were comforting and encouraging and which strengthened people. For example, he turned water not into blood, but into wine, for people’s enjoyment. He didn’t bring about leprosy, but he healed lepers. He healed many people, he cast out demons, he gave sight to the blind, and allowed the deaf to hear, and raised the dead. So Jesus’ miracles were of a different character to Moses’ miracles. But the fact that they both performed miracles like this, means that Jesus is very much like Moses.

But also, Jesus was a prophet like Moses, in the way that he spoke. Moses brought the 10 Commandments to the people. But then Jesus applies and comments on the commandments in a way that had never been done before.  He says: You have heard that it was said, “You shall not murder”. (Jesus quotes the 10 Commandments). But then he says: But I say to you, whoever hates his brother is a murderer. So Jesus is also like Moses in the way that he speaks. Moses spoke the thunder of God’s law, and brought the people in a limited way into God’s presence through all the laws and details about worship, about the tabernacle, and the priests, and the food regulations, and all that kind of stuff. But Jesus also speaks the thunder of God’s law, but he does so in order to lay them bare and to bring them the forgiveness of sins, which he won for them through his suffering, his blood, and his death on the cross. That was something that Moses didn’t bring, but Jesus did bring. So in this way, Jesus is very much like Moses, and he is a wonderful teacher of both the law and the Gospel, but especially the Gospel. We read in John’s Gospel: The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Now, if we look back through the bible, we read that there were many great prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. And if we were to name the greatest of these prophets, we would probably say, Elijah. Elijah was an amazing prophet, and he spoke God’s word clearly and boldly at a time when very few people wanted to hear it. However, we believe that Elijah was not this prophet that Moses spoke about, but that Jesus is this prophet.

And we realise this at the Transfiguration, because not only is Moses standing there with Jesus but also Elijah. And together Moses and Elijah testify by their presence, that the prophet that the Jewish people are looking for is not Elijah, but Jesus Christ. Can you see this wonderful way in which Moses and Elijah point to Jesus here? And together they show that Jesus is the fulfilment of these words from Deuteronomy: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from your brothers—it is to him that you shall listen.

But there are two more things in the Transfiguration that relate to this prophecy. First, it says that Jesus will come from among you, from your brothers. Moses means that Jesus will come from the Jewish people, not from some other people. And so, we see Jesus here, just like an ordinary Jewish man, amongst his three friends, Peter, James and John. He takes them up the mountain, these three fishermen, who grew up similarly to him, and to whom Jesus talks to as an ordinary person to ordinary people. Jesus came from among them, from among the Jewish people. But then, when they arrive at the place, a separation occurs—Peter, James and John are over there, and Jesus is over there. Jesus is shining with brilliant light, with all the light of his divine nature, brighter than the light from heaven itself, and Peter, James and John are completely dazzled by it. Because Jesus is not just a normal Jewish man, but he is also the Son of God, and in fact, true God of true God. At the end of the reading, when the cloud has gone, and everything is back to normal, Jesus touches his disciples, like a brother, like a friend, and he says: Rise, and have no fear. Don’t be afraid, it’s me, let’s go, let’s walk together. And so, Jesus comes from among his people, from the Jewish people, from their brothers.

But secondly, God the Father wants to make it especially clear that these words from Deuteronomy apply to Jesus. Moses says: The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from your brothers—it is to him that you shall listen. At the Transfiguration, God the Father himself hides his voice in a cloud, and speaks his voice to all who are there: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him! Moses said: It is to him that you shall listen. And now God the Father says: Listen to him! It’s as if God the Father is coming with his own finger, and pointing to his only Son, and saying to Peter and James and John: This is the one that you’ve all been waiting for, this is the one you should listen to. In fact, every Sunday, this is what we Christians actually come here to do. We come to listen to Jesus. We don’t come to listen simply to a pastor, or to listen to each other over morning tea. We come to listen to Jesus, as he speaks his own words to his people, through the absolution and the forgiveness of sins, whenever someone is baptised through the words that are spoken, in the Lord’s Supper when we hear that this bread and wine is in actual fact his body and blood, and in the sermon, when the word of God and the words of salvation are proclaimed and spoken to you. So listen to God the Father’s voice, when he says to you: Listen to him! Listen to Jesus!

Now, there’s another aspect to the Transfiguration that we haven’t really spoken about yet. What happens here is an amazing vision. And Jesus himself calls it a vision, but it’s not like the disciples were dreaming or day-dreaming, and what they saw wasn’t actually real. It was real, it happened. They saw it, and they saw it as something that was happening right there in front of them, they didn’t imagine it, and it didn’t happen in their heads.

But also, there’s something very mysterious in the way that Moses and Elijah appeared. Because in one sense, they were dead—but also, there was something very strange about the deaths of both these men. With Moses, nobody knew where he was buried. In the book of Jude, it says that there was some kind of dispute between the archangel Michael and the devil about the body of Moses. We don’t really know much about it, but it’s a strange thing that nobody knew where Moses’ body was, and yet, here at the Transfiguration, here is Moses. Also, Elijah was taken into heaven on a chariot—he didn’t die a normal death, and he also didn’t have a grave site. And yet, at the Transfiguration, here is Elijah. All this is very mysterious, and strange, and is a holy mystery that we leave in the hands of God. We don’t want to delve into it too much, because if we do, it can even become dangerous to us. When Peter starts to ask about these things, God brings down a cloud. It’s as if he puts all these things off limits. Sometimes Christians are deceived into thinking that they need to penetrate through this cloud of unknowing to discover God in the darkness there. No—the cloud comes down, the mysterious things are off-limits, and God the Father points us to Jesus.

Now, there are actually many people in our country and in our society who are interested in spiritual things. In the 60s, many hippies went to India to find spiritual enlightenment. Many people still go to wellness clinics in Asia to find spiritual health. Many people want to receive visions, and they want to contact the dead, and cross over into other dimensions, and they start to wonder about all these things. People even today, just like superstitious people in ancient times, look up at the stars, and practice astrology, and try to derive meaning from them, as if the stars and the zodiac are telling us messages about our lives.

Well, Moses spoke about these things in Deuteronomy: Earlier, I read where Moses said to beware of the practices of the nations when they entered into the Promised Land. Moses says: The nations, which you are about to possess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this. Moses makes a long list of these strange practices of the nations: fortune-telling, sacrificing children, practicing divination—which is, let’s say, “trying to get a message from something that doesn’t give messages”—, interpreting omens (like reading stars, or tea-leaves, or bird-calls, or whatever, to get some warning), sorcery (which is witchcraft, or occult), charming (which is attaching some spiritual power to something that doesn’t have that power—like saying, “this magic rock will protect you”). Moses also mentions, “mediums” (who are people who claim to give messages from the dead), or “necromancy” (which is talking to dead)… all these things, Moses says, the nations listen to these people. But the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this. Instead, who should you listen to? Moses says, “It is to him you shall listen!” To the prophet like me! God says: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him!

What Moses describes with all these strange practices things, is basically the traditional religions which are found all across the world. If you go to India, you’ll find talking to the dead, reading omens, fortune-telling in Hinduism. If you go to Africa, you’ll find it there with the witch-doctors. If you go to South America, you’ll find it there with the shamans, or whoever. And this stuff is making a strange come-back in Australia. If you start take notice, you’ll see this stuff everywhere, and realise just what a pagan country Australia.

What you need to know, and what Moses teaches, and what God the Father teaches at the Transfiguration, is that, if you hear a message from any of these people, who practice this stuff, it is not Jesus. It is not the voice of Jesus. The Word of God does not come through these people, and these practices. It is mutually exclusive to listen to the fortune-tellers, and to listen to him!

So we don’t become distracted by the wonderful spiritual vision at the Transfiguration, and go off trying to chase our own personal spiritual vision, through whatever means. We don’t become distracted by the presence of Moses and Elijah who are there, and start trying to build tents for dead people, and try to talk to them, and get messages from them. King Saul wanted to talk to dead Samuel, and he was rejected by God.

And so, at the Transfiguration, there are so many comforts for us. We don’t need to embroil ourselves in all this complicated, mystical stuff. We are simply told to listen to Jesus, to hold fast to his Word, and never let it go. When we have the Words of Jesus, we have everything we need. We have everything we could ever possibly want, and we will never be disappointed. He is our true Saviour, our true God, our true Light, who has won the true forgiveness of our sins, and promises us eternal life with Moses and Elijah, and all his saints, in wonderful glory, just like we see in the Transfiguration. Our bodies will be transformed to be like his. The forgiveness of sins which receive even today through the absolution and the Lord’s Supper is the beginning of that wonderful Transfiguration that will happen to us on the last day so that all our sins will be completely erased and we will shine like Jesus. So let’s listen to him, and take tremendous comfort in this event! Amen.

Epiphany III (Year A) [Matthew 4:12-25] (26-Jan-2020)

This sermon was preached at Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Semaphore, 8.45am, and Good News Lutheran Church, Albert Park, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today our reading is taken from the second half of Matthew chapter 4, and tells us about what Jesus was doing early on in his ministry. But before we look at our text today, let’s go back and have a look at what comes just before. A couple of weeks ago, our reading was about Jesus being baptised. We read about how Jesus came to John at the River Jordan and the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” This is an incredible event in the life of Jesus, where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are so clearly presented to us.

Immediately after the baptism of Jesus, we read at the beginning of Matthew chapter 4, how Jesus went was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. We read about how Jesus was fasting for 40 days and nights our in the wilderness, and how the devil came and tempted Jesus to prove that he was the Son of God, by turning stones into bread, and jumping off the pinnacle of the temple. Also, the devil tempted Jesus to worship him, in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. However, in each case, Jesus overcomes the temptations with a simple word of the Scripture, where Jesus says, “It is written…”, “it is written…”, “it is written…” And at the end of this passage, we read: Then the devil left [Jesus], and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

You can see, then, that there were many incredible things happening before the events in our reading today. Especially, we see the Father, Son and Holy Spirit revealed clearly and powerfully at the baptism of Jesus. And we see Jesus, the powerful Son of God, in all his weakness, overcoming the devil, and being ministered to by the angels.

Now, we come to our reading for today, which says: Now when [Jesus] heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. We read here that John the Baptist was arrested. John had been preaching and baptising there at the River Jordan—but it seems as though, when Jesus comes along, that he is immediately taken out of the picture. In John’s Gospel we read that John the Baptist said: He must increase, but I must decrease. John had baptised Jesus, and in a sense, John’s earthly work was now done. He is arrested by King Herod, and kept in prison until that time when he is executed at the time of the king’s birthday party.

When Jesus hears about John’s arrest, Jesus decides to move to Galilee. Now, this is a very interesting thing. Why does Jesus move? Is he scared of what might happen to him? No--there’s no indication in our reading that he does anything out of fear or because he was frightened or scared or frightened. It’s simply that it is not the time for Jesus to be arrested too. That will happen later. It also shows us that Jesus does not purposely put himself in harm’s way. This is important for us too. Sometimes Christians find themselves attacked or persecuted or arrested or even killed for their faith, depending on which part of the world they live in. Jesus speaks many encouraging words to his people for situations like this. But at the same time, we shouldn’t go looking for persecution, or putting ourselves purposely in harm’s way, but instead should quietly go about doing the work which God has given us to do. So let’s say, that you have someone you work with, or in your family, who attacks you because of your Christian faith. That doesn’t mean that every time you see them, you should provoke them, or tease them, so that they make some anti-Christian remark. Just quietly do what you need to do, and let them find you out. That’s the kind of attitude which we see in Jesus in our reading—he is not aggressive or confrontational. He simply has work to do, he simply goes about and does it, and when the time for attack or persecution and even his death comes, then he deals with it at the proper time.

So we read: When [Jesus] heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—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.’

We read in the Gospels that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but most of his childhood and early adult life, he lived and grew up in Nazareth. You might remember that after Jesus was born, his family had to flee to Egypt to escape King Herod’s ruling that all the baby boys in Bethlehem should be killed. After they returned home from Egypt, they settled in Nazareth. And Nazareth was such a significant place, that Jesus came to be associated with Nazareth, and identified with this place. Even on the cross, Pontius Pilate put a note above his head which said, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Now, in our reading, we read that Jesus began his ministry in Capernaum, which was a fishing village near the Sea of Galilee.

Now, we read here about Zebulun and Naphtali… If we go right back to the Old Testament, we read in the book of Genesis about the patriarch Jacob. Jacob was the one who received a blessing from his old father Isaac in place of his brother Esau. He was also given a new name by God—Israel, and had twelve sons, including his favourite son, Joseph, to whom he gave a special coat. Jacob, together with his twelve sons, all moved to Egypt, and then after Jacob died, his sons and their families were the people who were rescued out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and eventually these families entered into the promised land. Two of Jacob’s sons were Zebulun and Naphtali—we don’t read much about them, and they don’t show up as very prominent characters in the book of Genesis. But when the Israelites came to the promised land, the families of Zebulun and Naphtali were given as their land this particular area near north of Jerusalem called Galilee.

Now, later in the reading today, we read about Peter and Andrew, James and John, who would have come from these tribes. Also, this region had a lot of Gentiles living there. And the people in Jerusalem, then, looked down and were a bit snobbish towards people from Galilee, because they had a lot more to do with Gentiles, people outside the Jewish faith.

And so we read: And leaving Nazareth, [Jesus] went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—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.”

You can see here that God doesn’t reject the people from Galilee, but it is a very special thing that Jesus goes and lives there and spends time there. Even though they live in darkness, Jesus is the light of the world, and he comes and brings us light.

And this a great comfort for us too… we are also a people who live in darkness. Many people all throughout the world are not open to the Christian faith, or listening to the words of Jesus. They only listen to their own sinful hearts, and do whatever they like. They think they know everything, but in actual fact, they don’t know anything. When they come across something in the Christian faith or in the words of Jesus that upset them or annoy them, they want to silence Christians and the bible. Maybe you think that over your lifetime, Australia has become more of a godless nation than it once was—that’s an interesting thing to consider on Australia Day! However, we also need to realise that this attitude that we see in people like this is the same attitude that is at work in us, because we have the same sinful hearts as they do. How often Jesus shines his light into our lives, and we so often want to cling to the darkness!

However, Jesus does not reject people just because they live in darkness. Instead, he comes and lives right in the middle of it all. He went and lived among the Galileans, and he also comes and visits his church all throughout the world today, wherever there are two or three people gathered in his name. He even meets us today in his word and sacrament—we hear the living and active word of God, and we come here to receive the body and blood of Christ. And even in the midst of our dark world, in the region of shadow of death, Christ comes and shines his light on us. The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light.

So, what does Jesus do that shines such a great light in the region of Galilee? We read: From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

First of all, let’s take notice of the fact that Jesus is preaching. Jesus actually says stuff, and speaks, and talks. He’s not a dumb puppet who says nothing, he’s not a cardboard cut-out, and he’s not a stone brick. He’s a real living person, with a mouth, and he talks. The reason why I say this is that many want to have Jesus, but they want to hold onto the darkness. They do this when they have a silent Jesus. They say things like: I respect Jesus as a great teacher, but they have no interest in what he actually says. Or people might have a picture of Jesus in their own minds, but they don’t actually read about how the bible describes him, or how Jesus even talks about himself. Or they might say—and this is a really fuzzy one--“The Words of Jesus are not important, because Jesus is the Word. It’s not important to listen to what he says, but only to have a relationship with him.” Can you imagine a student going to school and saying to their teacher, “Teacher, I’m not interested in learning any maths or English from you; I just want to have a relationship with you.” To the Principal’s Office! Or can you imagine if a husband says to his wife, “Darling, I don’t want to listen to you. I just want to have a relationship with you!” Slap! You can’t have a relationship with Jesus without listening to his preaching and his teaching. If we fashion our own silent pretend Jesus in our own hearts, then all we do is create an idol, a dead god, a golden calf. Then, we end up staying in the darkness, and the light doesn’t shine on us.

Bus also, let’s look at what Jesus actually says. He says: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Let’s take those words especially to heart: Repent! Repent means to change your mind, to turn your heart around. It means: You’re walking in the wrong direction. Walk in the right direction. One of the main differences between Christianity and other religions is this whole teaching about repentance. For example, in many Buddhist countries, you see all kinds of local customs and spiritual practices that have nothing to do with Buddhism. Even here in Australia—let’s say you meet a Buddhist from Malaysia. What’s something that you’ll probably see in their home? They’ll usually have a photograph of their dead relatives on a shelf with offerings in front of it. Now worshipping ancestors—as far as I can tell—doesn’t really have much to do with the central teachings of Buddhism. I suspect too, that before Buddhism came, people probably already worshipped their ancestors. But when Buddhism came, it simply took this practice under their wing, and made it their own thing. However, when Christianity comes to a place, new Christians turn away from their old practices. They can keep their family and cultural traditions, as long as they don’t conflict with Jesus’ words and teaching.

However, today, many people even in the church don’t want to listen to the message of repentance. And when this happens, the church stops being the beacon of light, and instead, it just collapses into the darkness around them. Every time there has ever been a great movement in the church of life and vitality, it has always had at its heart the message of repentance. Just think, for example, of the Reformation. What was the thing that started off the Reformation? We often think about it as Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg in 1517. But what was the first of those 95 Theses? It was about our reading today. “When our Lord Jesus Christ said, “Repent”, he meant that the whole of our life should be one of repentance.” The Reformation was a call to repentance. Our whole life should be one of repentance. Of course, our whole life should be, because every time we look to Jesus we should see how perfect he is, and how imperfect we are! He is the true vine, and we are the cheap plonk. His holiness shines light, our hearts are full of darkness. And so, every day should be a day of searching our hearts, and bringing our sin to Jesus, and placing it on his shoulders.

But also, there is another word that Jesus says. He says: Repent. But he also says, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is here, because the king is here! The king enters his palace, and let’s the citizens of his kingdom come and meet him! But sometimes when we hear the message of repentance, we think: because my heart is sinful, I can’t enter that kingdom. Yes, you’re right, you are sinful, and you can’t enter it because of anything you have done or whatever. But you can enter it, because of Jesus and because of what he has done. He is the Saviour of the World, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He has won for you the forgiveness of sins, and that forgiveness is the door which lets you enter into this kingdom. So when Jesus says: The kingdom of heaven is at hand, he is saying, “I am the door for the sheep! I am the way, the truth and the life! I am opening this door for you right now. I will let you in through the forgiveness of sins.”

Sometimes, we might think—but hang on, doesn’t Jesus forgive us without conditions? Why do we need to repent? Isn’t that earning salvation by our works? Well, no it’s not. Just think about how Jesus raises people from the dead—he does this apart from anything that they have done. Nobody contributes to their own rising from the dead—Jesus does it completely by himself. But if you are going to be risen, there is a prerequisite—you need to be dead! And yet, it’s not as if being dead makes you risen or contributes to it. The same with repentance… Repentance is simply the acknowledgement that spiritually you are dead. Sometimes, people think that repentance is cleaning up your act. No—repentance is when you want to clean up your act, but you realise that you don’t even know where to start! It is the killing off of your prideful sinful self. And so, the fact that Jesus forgives you has nothing to do with you, it has everything to do with him. And yet, there’s no forgiveness of sin for you, if you don’t believe you have any sin. If you’re not a sinner, why would you even want forgiveness? So Jesus says: Repent, because he wants you to wake up to yourself and despair of yourself and your own abilities and your own heart. But then he says: For the kingdom of heaven is at hand, because he wants to comfort you and point you to himself, the Lamb of God, who has died for you and forgives you, and bring you into the wonderful kingdom.

Now, we look at our reading again, and we see Jesus doing just that. He brings people into his kingdom. First, he brings in Peter, Andrew, James and John, as his apostles, and calls them to fish for people. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And after this, we see Jesus going around the whole of Galilee and preaching, and teaching, and healing people from all their diseases, afflictions and problems.

But there’s something very interesting about Jesus’ words: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Let’s come back to John the Baptist, who we were thinking about earlier, because we read that he was arrested. What do you think he was arrested for? Actually, we read that he was also preaching: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He even told the King that he should repent too, because he was living with his brother’s wife. And so they arrested him to silence him. And then, we read that once John is arrested, Jesus goes around saying the same thing. If John has been arrested, what do you think will happen to Jesus? Yes, he’s going to be arrested too, and he was arrested when Judas betrayed him with a kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane. If John has been killed, what do you think will happen to Jesus? Yes, he will be killed too, he will be crucified, and die for the sins of the world.

How do you think the first apostles are going to fish for people, how do you think they are going be fishers of men? Jesus told them after he rose from the dead, that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations. And many people are not going to like it—and will kill these apostles too. But instead of the church dying, the church grows and grows over the centuries, because we have a living Jesus, who is risen from the dead.

So let’s commend ourselves with all our troubles and sins, our weakness, our failings to our Lord Jesus. He has called us to repent, to change our minds and to turn around from wherever we were walking and follow him. He calls you even by your name, even today. And yet, he also comes and opens the door of his kingdom for us today, and forgives us all our sins, and shines his light into our darkness. Let’s leave all of our nets, and follow him, because nobody in the whole world shines brighter than him, no kingdom is more glorious than his, and there is no Saviour who is as trustworthy, loving and faithful than him.

Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light! We thank you for calling us to repentance, and calling us to live in your kingdom. Send us your Holy Spirit, so that we may repent and turn to you each day, and rejoice in your living words of forgiveness and peace. Amen.

Baptism of our Lord (Year A) [Matthew 3:13-17] (12-Jan-2019)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Ferryden Park, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Behold, the heavens were opened, and [Jesus] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today, on this particular Sunday, we remember the Baptism of Jesus Christ. Now this part of the church year is called Epiphany, and this word Epiphany means, “showing”—it’s a time when we particularly think about the fact that God shows himself to the world in Jesus Christ. Now, sometimes when we have a difficult time in our life, we might think to ourselves, “Where is God in all of this?” “Why has he hidden his face from me?” “Why doesn’t he open the heavens and show himself?” People think like this particularly when some tragedy happens in their life, or some terrible, traumatic, sad event. I could only imagine that many people who have been caught up in the bushfires in our country at the moment must feel something like this.

I think we all know what it’s like to wish that God would just come out from behind the clouds and make everything right. We know very well what it’s like to ask questions like this. God’s answer is what this time of Epiphany is all about: God actually sends his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, who shows himself to us. So, last week, we focussed on the Three Wise Men coming to visit the baby Jesus. God shows himself to these foreigners, these strange people with their strange gifts—he reaches out to them, and leads them to Jesus, through an amazing star and through the words of the Bible which send them from Jerusalem to the small town of Bethlehem. At this time of the year, we sometimes also remember that occasion where Mary and Joseph couldn’t find Jesus, when he was twelve years old, and they end up finding him in the temple. He says: “Did you know that I would be in my Father’s house?” Jesus shows to Mary and Joseph, that Joseph is not his true father, but that God the Father is. And also, at this time of year, we often think about when Jesus turned the water into wine, and performed his first miracle at a wedding in the town called Cana. Jesus shows his glory to his disciples and they believed in him. Today, we read about the Baptism of Jesus, where we read, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Now, this event is just such an amazing, wonderful thing. This event is no fairy-tale—the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, make a special point to let you know that what happened on that day is true, that it is a fact of history, that is really happened, just as truly as you walked in here into this church this morning. And in all those times, when we long for God to tear open the heavens and come down, we can remember this event, and say to ourselves, “Yes, God has come down—he is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—he has baptised me, I am his beloved child together with my Lord, Jesus Christ, and he will never let me down.”

At the beginning of our reading today, it says: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptised by him. Now, let’s just think for a minute about this person John. It’s amazing when we think about John the Baptist, and what kind of a person he was. There was a miracle at the time of his birth—his parents were old, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and the Angel Gabriel came and told Zechariah that his wife would be pregnant at the time when he was serving as a priest in the temple in Jerusalem. Because Zechariah didn’t believe the angel, he became dumb, and wasn’t able to speak until the time when John was born. John then when he was older, went out into the desert, into the wilderness—maybe his parents died when he was young, and he had to go out fend for himself. He had to feed himself on what we call bush-tucker—he only ate locusts, and wild honey. He wore a shirt of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. He was a pretty wild-looking fellow! A real bush-whacker!

We also read in the Gospels that he preached fiery, wild sermons, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near! You brood of vipers! Flee from the wrath to come! Today, if we met a preacher like this, we might think he were a bit of a crazy-man! But this aspect to John’s life has a very powerful message for us. When we hear the word of God, we never know who God will send to speak it—and we should always be careful not to reject the Word, because we reject the person. Perhaps, we are posh—and we think that all the good preachers in the world need to be posh too. Or perhaps, we’re rough as guts—and we want a down-to-earth preacher. Never mind—many times God sends us his Word, through someone who is nothing like us—a complete foreigner, someone who has had a completely different life from our life. If this happens, and they speak the word of God, and a particular word of God that we don’t necessarily like, we need to be careful, that we don’t reject the word, because we don’t like the preacher. God chose to send a rough-as-bags, scruffy, bug-eating man to carry out this duty in our reading today—the most holy duty ever to be performed: the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, in our reading today, it says that Jesus came to the Jordan. Let’s just have a think for a moment what’s significant about this place, the Jordan. We all know that Aboriginal people here in Australia like to think about the significance of a particular place. This place, the Jordan, was also a significant place. It had a history. The Jordan is a river. And all throughout the world, rivers often form a boundary between two countries or something like that. For example, in Australia, if you cross from Victoria into New South Wales, you have to cross the River Murray. The Murray River forms the boundary between those two states. Now, also, the River Jordan forms the boundary between the promises land of Israel, God’s chosen people, and the land of the Gentile people. Many years before John the Baptist and Jesus were there, the people of Israel crossed over the Jordan into the promised land with Joshua. In fact, the priests stood with the Ark of the Covenant in the middle of the river, and the water stopped on either side, so that God’s people walked through on the dry ground. So, we can see, that the River Jordan was a very special, significant place. In fact, it’s almost like, when people were coming to John to be baptised, they were entering the promised land all over again—not the land of Israel, but a new, heavenly country—Paradise, Heaven, the New Jerusalem. And when Jesus is baptised, we get a picture of this, because it’s not the water that splits apart here, it’s the heavens, the sky, the clouds, that split apart, showing us that when we are baptised, we don’t enter the promised land, but we enter into the promise of heaven and eternal life.

So we read in the Gospels that all these people were coming out to John to be baptised. And what do we read that they were doing? It says, that they were confessing their sins. Now, along comes Jesus… what sins do you think Jesus had to confess? None. He hadn’t sinned at all, he had no sin, he was sinless, he was completely and totally without any sin, any guilt, any fault, any stain or blot whatsoever. So why does Jesus come to be baptised?

Actually, even John is a bit confused about it all. He says to Jesus: I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me? He is thinking: Hang on a minute! Jesus, you are the sinless one, you are the holy Lamb of God! I am a sinner. Shouldn’t I come in all my sin and be baptised by you, who are totally pure and holy and sinless? Why is it, that you, the perfect one, come to me, an imperfect one? Why is it, that you, the sinless one, come to me, a sinner? Why is it, that you, the holy one, come to me? A wretch like me?

And Jesus says to John: Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness. And we read: Then John consented. So how does Jesus and John fulfil all righteousness by doing this? Well, the only people who were allowed to be baptised here were sinners. If you didn’t think you were a sinner, John sent them away. But Jesus, who is not a sinner, wants to come and be with sinners. He wants to show that in baptism, he takes their sin, he takes their impurity, he takes their guilt, and also in baptism, he gives sinners his righteousness, he gives us his forgiveness, his holiness, his purity. We might look at ourselves, even though we are baptised, and think, but I’m not holy or pure! Yes, you’re not, but you’re with Jesus, and he covers over all of that, so that when God looks at you, he doesn’t see your sin, he sees only the holiness and the perfection of Jesus himself, because you are with him.

And so, Jesus takes our sin, and he gives us his righteousness. He fulfils all righteousness. St Paul says in 2 Corinthians: For our sake, [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. When we realise our sin, and when God allows us to see it for what it is, we might just want to pluck some piece of our body out and leave it on the ground somewhere. If only we could get rid of it! If only we could undo the past, and fix it, so that we hadn’t done that thing or that thing. But Jesus stands there in the River Jordan and he says to us: Listen, I know your sin even better than you know it yourself. And when you look at your sin, don’t see your sin anymore there, see me. Because I have died for your sin, and I have risen again from the dead, and now I clothe you with my forgiveness and my righteousness. I have fulfilled all righteousness. That’s what’s happening here in Jesus’ baptism.

Now, we come to the last part of our reading which says: When Jesus was baptised, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

This is such an amazing event, which shows to us the three persons of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We see the Father speaking his clear voice from heaven, the Son being baptised in the water, the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus in the form of a dove.

Now, in the Christian church, we believe that there is God, but that he has revealed himself as three persons. We believe that there are not three gods, but one God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Now, when we say “person”, we don’t mean a flesh and blood human being like you and me. Only Jesus, the Son of God, took a human body. The Father and the Holy Spirit are spiritual, divine beings. They are without bodies. But Jesus too is true God, so that he lives and dwells with the Father and the Holy Spirit as one God. Remember how we say at the end of our prayers: We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. That’s a wonderful confession of faith that we make each week, and we shouldn’t take it for granted.

Sometimes, this stuff about the Trinity can sound very complicated, and it can do our head in a bit. And maybe to explain all of this further is a job for another day. But anyway, let’s remember that when God does something, it is always the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who do it together. For example, when God created the world, it is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who created it. When God baptised you in this church or another church somewhere, it was the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who did it.

But at the same time, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have different personalities, and they are not all the same. So, at the baptism of Jesus, we see God the Father speak from heaven, we see Jesus there in the water, and the Holy Spirit come down on Jesus in the form of a dove.

So, what is special about the way in which Jesus, the Son of God is revealed here? He is a man, a human being just like us, who takes on the weight of all the sin of every single human being who has ever lived in the whole history of the world right up until the present time, until this very minute and second, and right up until the end of time. And he fulfils all righteousness by taking human sin on himself and giving us the perfect righteousness and holiness of God as a complete and total free gift. He does this by forgiving our sins, and this forgiveness belongs to us simply because we believe it. We believe it and it is ours. And Jesus delivers this forgiveness right into your lap, and right on top of your head, when he baptised you.

What is special about the way the Holy Spirit is revealed? He is revealed as a dove—a peaceful, gentle, white bird. It was a dove that showed to Noah that the flood was over, and that everything was now safe and at peace. In the same way, when God sends us the Holy Spirit, we are at peace with God. There is no more flood, no more anger of God, because all is forgiven. And Jesus is the one who sends out the Holy Spirit—the Holy Spirit comes and lands and stays on him. Jesus breathes out the Holy Spirit, he speaks to us his Spirit-filled words, and sends us the perfect peace of God. And so, at the baptism of Jesus, we see the Holy Spirit revealed in the form of a dove.

And what is special about the way the Father is revealed? He is revealed as a voice from heaven. We don’t see his mouth, we don’t see his face, we don’t see his body. We only hear his voice. And this is a very important lesson for us: we should always remember when we hear God’s voice, we never see his face. The Bible, for example, is God’s Word, God’s living voice, but we don’t see God’s face. When a pastor preaches God’s Word, we hear the living Word of God, but we don’t see God’s face. When we’re baptised, we hear God’s voice, “I baptise you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit”,  but we don’t see his face. When we receive the Lord’s Supper, we hear God’s voice, “This is the body of Christ”, but we don’t see God’s voice.

The reality is that God’s face, God’s form, his shape, his figure, what he looks like, is just too much for us. We wouldn’t be able to endure it. Deuteronomy says: Our God is a consuming fire. So if we can’t see God the Father, if we can’t see his eyes, his mouth, his face, his form, how do we know what he thinks about us? How do we know if we are acceptable to him? If he loves us, or hates us? If he wants to destroy us, or if he wants to bless us? How do we know?

He tells us. He tells us. That’s why we have God’s Word! And at the baptism of Jesus, God the Father doesn’t stay silent, he speaks. And he says: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. He says what he thinks about Jesus twice. He is not just his Son, but he is beloved, and well-pleased. He says the same thing in two different ways—he loved his Son, and he is pleased with this Son—because he wants us to be doubly sure. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, are not three people who live together and bicker all day long. They live together in perfect love and unity.

And so, when we are baptised too, and made part of God’s family, God also shares his love with us. It is because of his love, that he sent his Son into the world as a human being, to die for our sins and to rise again. It is out of love, that he forgives us. And so, when we are baptised, God sends us his Holy Spirit. When we are baptised, we are made children of God together with Jesus Christ his Son. When we are baptised, God says to us: You are my beloved son and daughter, with you I am well pleased. 

People who don’t acknowledge their sin and their sinful life and their sinful condition have no interest in going to Jordan and listening to the preaching of John. They have no interest in meeting the real Jesus there, and seeing his Father and the Holy Spirit. This whole event is of no value to them whatsoever, but is just a joke.

However, if you know your sin, and realise you are completely helpless before God, then run to baptism, be baptised, or comfort yourself with the fact in history that you were baptised at some point in your life. This baptism is God’s gift to you, so that you look to it, and trust that the forgiveness of sins has been poured out on you. Remember that you are baptised together with Jesus, and a swap has occurred. Your sin is on him, and his righteousness and holiness are on you. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have been shown to you, revealed to you personally, and Jesus has fulfilled all righteousness. Amen.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the wonderful gift of baptism. Send us the power of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly dove, so that we may live as your beloved children on this earth, and finally enter the promised land of Paradise, through Jesus Christ our Lord.