Not your transfiguration [Transfiguration; St. Matthew 17:1-9]

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Jesus teaches us today saying:

“And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.”

Ah the big three: Peter, James, and John. The three who will see the kingdom of the Lord before death, the three that witnessed the dead daughter raised from her deathly sleep, and the three taken into the confidence of Gethsemane, today get to see our Lord’s Transfiguration.

But why these three? We can theorize and speculate on their importance or prominent roles within Jesus’ 12 disciples, but Scripture is pretty silent on this point. The best we have is St. Paul quoting Moses in 2 Cor. 13, when Moses says,

“One witness shall not stand to testify against a man for any iniquity, or for any fault, or for any sin  which he may commit; by the mouth of two witnesses, or by the mouth of three witnesses, shall every word be established.” (Deut. 19:15)

What Moses focuses on here is unrighteousness and 3 different words for sin. We’re talking about committing a crime, here, not just verifying testimony. Jesus Transfigures with an openness that lands Him under capital punishment. Now who would think transfiguring yourself would be that bad?

When you do a cursory Google search for “transfigure” you come up with a bunch of mystical magical stuff, because transfiguring is impossible without Harry Potter. So, we are usually taught not to transfigure ourselves (because magic isn’t real), but to transform. Transform becomes close enough for these popular teachers of religion and for us, I mean, it sounds the same right?

So we are taught that God wants us to transform our lives, transform our hearts, and transform our behavior so that we can spread the message:

“What are YOU going to do when hearing or reading these readings for today?”, they ask. Are you going to attentively listen and allow yourself to let the message fall upon deaf ears?  What are you going to do to become ‘transfigured? You have been called to love your neighbor regardless of liking their actions or not.  WE ALL are called to listen to what Jesus taught… Practice and teach love, and hopefully those who have deaf ears will eventually come to hear the message.  We are ALL called to be ‘transfigured’ so that we can spread the message of Christ.

But is that all there is to transformation? Just, “bring a friend to church”? To transfigure means to transform into something more beautiful or elevated. In other words, something other than what you currently are. And to transform means to make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of.

Our form is man. Our appearance is that of a human being. Our character is to be a body and a soul. We cannot transfigure or transform. We would be made into something completely different. We would not be human. We would not be “made man”. We would be unrecognizable to God and He would turn us away at the Wedding door.

We can pretend to transfigure or transform, but God isn’t fooled by our sinful attempts. And yet, neither is He unaware of our inability to transfigure. Thus, the main idea behind Jesus transfiguration is not that we follow suit, but to show us that we can’t do it, yet we have a Savior Who can.

There is no sin with God. There is no pretending or metaphor. In fact our unrighteousness proves the righteousness of God, because in His divine forbearance He passes over all our sins. Not for how well we transform, but for how well the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world.

For our sake, God made Jesus to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. This means that it is God’s work to transform us. It is God’s work to transfigure us. We don’t know how or what a real transfiguration looks like neither do we know how to accomplish it. So God must.

Jesus must be formed in us (Gal. 4:19), not the other way around. God then makes up the plan for transfiguration and institutes what this transfiguration is to look like. It is not up to us to pretend it happened to us. It is up to God to make a way for us.

And it is in this way that He does so. Jesus is only partially transfigured today. Though we see the glory, we only see the back end of it. Part of it. For God’s full glory is revealed on the cross. It is the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus that reveals not only the true glory of God, but also the pattern we are to follow in order to be transfigured ourselves.

And it goes in this way: that we are con-formed to His death (Phil. 3:10). Not only that, but that we share fellowship with His sufferings. And in order to gain His resurrection from the dead, we must believe that it is not us to be transfigured, but God, transfigured on the cross beyond all recognition of Him being God anymore.

There is only Jesus. This transfiguration is for Jesus. The sufferings of betrayal and scourging are for Jesus. The death on a cross is for Jesus. The resurrection from the dead is for Jesus. Life eternal is for Jesus. Word and Sacrament is the mercy Jesus extends to you which allows you to commune with His Transfiguration.

You want to be transformed by Christ?? Hear His Word and believe it. You want the transfiguration that comes from God?? Partake of God’s Sacraments. You want the ability to share that with others?? Invest in the Divine Service, attend Bible Class, make all of Church a part of your life.

People can smell a con from a mile away. They will only buy the “transform yourself” line for so long. And it will be until they realize they don’t need to be in church to accomplish transformation in their lives. But giving them the Divine Service is not a scam. It is how God has chosen to work salvation on this earth.

And it is the only way God continues to transfigure you, even though you return to your sin. Our Lord’s Transfiguration is brought to us. Forgiveness is brought to us. Jesus comes to us in Word and Sacrament that we would have the hope of His Transfiguration. Not only that it is a real, historic event, but that it is something we get to do as well.

Climate End Game [Epiphany 4; St. Matthew 8:23-27]

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From the Gospel heard today, Jesus speaks, saying:

“And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.”

Yesterday, the Church celebrated the Purification of St. Mary and the Presentation of Jesus. Where we heard the beginning of this on New Year’s, when Jesus was given His Name and Circumcised, yesterday was the actual day when those things happened. 40 days after His birth, Jesus and His mother are purified and able to rejoin regular Temple life together.

This is a key theme to recognize in Epiphany: that Jesus, the Lord of all, the Creator of all known and unknown things, waits 6 weeks with His mother in order to return to God’s Church at the same time as her.

Which brings us to one of the many “storm of the sea” scenes that Jesus attends with His disciples, where He either calms the storm or walks on water. In similar fashion, Jesus takes the hard route, unnecessarily, simply to be on the boat.

But, once again, Jesus refuses to be just a part of the crowd. He changes water into wine, heals lepers and paralytics, and today He waves His magic fingers over the water and changes the weather. And, once again, just as He doesn’t heal all lepers or turn my water into wine, not that that would do me any good in my life, He doesn’t stop all storms. Just this one.

Let’s face it. To have a Christian opinion or worldview today will get you sent to the dunce’s chair. Nobody is saying Climate change doesn’t exist, we just call it normal weather. Yet, time and again, those in power want you focused on their scientism rather than Christ and being a decent person. “But you can’t be a good person if you’re dead”. Well you can if Jesus raises you from the dead.

In any case, every time Jesus mentions the environment, it does not exactly fall into the “good steward” category. Jesus is always talking about flowers and grass withering away; of trees being cut down and burned, and of weeds and chaff being blown away into fire. What a climate denier!!

So, let’s see: of the 1,189 chapters of the Bible, only the very first 2 find all of Creation in harmony with its Creator. For those first 6 days, there was no Climate crisis, no pollution, and no death. Jesus spoke Creation into being. All things were made by speaking 3 simple words: “Let there be…”

Yet, in the very next chapter, seemingly in the same week, Adam and Eve bring sin and death into the world and all of Creation is cursed. Upon closer listening, we find that the Word of God does not lay the blame at Adam’s feet nor even at the devil’s.

The One who curses the environment to inevitable destruction is God, Himself. As Scripture says, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope;”(Rom. 8:20)

Through His spoken Word God curses the serpent, Adam, and the environment. “Heaven and earth shall pass away”, saith the Lord and He means it.

What does this mean? What do we do with an earth-cursing God? What do we do with an environment that produces man-killing tornadoes, hurricanes, and wild-fires? How can you commune with or fight for nature when it conspires against you?

Scripture says, “O foolish [Christians]! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal.3)

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my Word shall never pass away” (Mt. 24:35). In Adam’s fall, Jesus wanted Adam to know that it wasn’t going to be by nature, that he would be saved. Jesus wanted to show that it would be by an unnatural tree that redemption would be accomplished. A tree so alien to nature, that it could hold the infinite in fetters. A tree that could kill God.

Now this tree of Life, with every good, stands with Christ upon it. It is for this reason that creation groans under the curse. For, the Word of God “imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” (Gal. 3:22)

In our sinful foolishness, we believe that if we work hard and do what is right, we will be saved. Instead it is by Christ’s hand alone that we are saved. Jesus is not only willing to give up all of creation, but also His entire being on the cross, in order to forgive your sins and then be with you in all your suffering as well.

Thus, it is to this of the curse placed upon us, which we can not escape, that Jesus comes to and stays with us, as He stayed with His mother and His disciples. While we were yet dead in our sin, Jesus died for us. While we were without love towards God and our neighbor, Jesus showed us God’s love on the cross and spoke it to us in His Word.

The Word of God speaks to you even in this darkness and even as all creation heads towards destruction. He does not condemn you, He does not upbraid you. He simply is born of a virgin, is made man, suffers and dies. He reveals Himself to be the center of all of history so that, as the only light shining in the dark, He can speak His words of salvation to you and create faith.

Faith comes from nowhere else except Christ and Him crucified. In Christ is the New Creation; the new Jerusalem; the new heavens and the new earth. All of creation is the way it is so that we learn to hope for the better, perfect creation.

Scripture says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21)

No more curse. No more climate crisis. No more pollution. No more death.

In Christ, we do not look to this current earth for any kind of comfort, be it in cures, comforts, or sustainability. But in hope, we look to that which Jesus has prepared for us; that is eternal life with Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

And it is to this hope that Jesus leads us. Not just by Word and deed, but in flesh and blood. Just as He was with His mother, just as He stayed with His disciples, just so He stays with us. In God’s Body, Jesus dwells with us in Word and Sacrament. Though we love and care for His creation, we find salvation in Him and not anywhere else, because He does not leave us.