Sermon for the Transfiguration of Our Lord

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Listen to Him!”

Text: Matthew 17:1-9; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Exodus 24:8-18

 

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

The divine and human natures of Jesus are on full display today. 

The human body which the Son of God has made His own hikes up and down the mountain with Peter, James, and John. But at the top, it is the divine nature that shines. The appearance of Jesus changes before their eyes. He did not become something He was not before, it is that now His eternal glory is revealed. The glory of God usually hidden in His human flesh now shines brighter than the sun and is whiter than light. It was good for them to be there, Peter says. Indeed.

Things quickly get out of hand, though. Overwhelming. Suddenly, it’s not so good to be there! It’s one thing to witness something, it’s quite another to be involved. It’s one thing to see Jesus in His glory, talking with Moses and Elijah, it’s quite another when that glory begins talking to you! As long as the glory of God is a safe distance away, it’s okay. But when the bright cloud overshadows them, and Peter, James, and John hear the voice of God speaking to them, they are terrified. They fall on their faces. They cannot look anymore. 

Matthew doesn’t tell us how long they were there, flat on their faces, quaking in fear. It was probably a few seconds that felt like eternity. Until they feel a hand on their shoulder, and another voice - the one they know. The one that called them from their fishing business. The one they heard praying so often. The one that taught them, spoke the parables, healed so many, and forgave sins. That voice, that comforting voice, now saying to them, Rise, and have no fear. It’s time to go. And when they looked up, it was Jesus. Just Jesus. 

Were they disappointed? Disappointed that the glory was gone? Disappointed in themselves, their reaction, that they weren’t stronger and able to stand? That it was now just Jesus? Or were they relieved? Well, if they’re anything like us, probably all of the above. 

When they get to the bottom, back to civilization, things will quickly get back to normal. Crowds. Disputes. Healing. Opposition. And their fear would return. But this time, fear not from the glory of God, but from the fear of men. They would all run away when Jesus is arrested. Peter would deny even knowing this Jesus of Nazareth three times. Who? Bah. They locked themselves in a room after Jesus was crucified. The Roman soldiers are so strong. The crowd in Pilate’s courtyard so large and Peter so all alone. And if the Jewish leaders could get Jesus crucified, what would they now do to them? If only Jesus was still there . . . His hand on their shoulder . . . His voice . . . They didn’t need the glory, they just needed Jesus. Just Jesus. 

You, too. For if there’s one thing we share with the disciples, it’s fear. Their culture was different, their times were different, but our fear is the same. Fear of other people and what they can do to me. Fear that my sin will be found out and the shame I will feel. Fear of the future and what is happening in our world. Fear of being alone. Fear of being forgotten. Fear of failing. Fear of disappointing others. Fear from what I see happening to others and in others. Fear that I will lose what I love. Fear that I will lose the love of others. Fear for my health. Fear of death. 

As long as these things are far away and I don’t have to think about them, I’m good. Then it is good to be here, in this world and life. But when their dark cloud overshadows us, when they draw near, when my conscience accuses, then they make us terrified. They make us lose sleep. They make us do things we shouldn’t do, and wouldn’t ordinarily do, and don’t want to do, and yet do. Which brings even more guilt, more shame, more fear. It’s a deadly spiral. And the harder we try to set ourselves free, the stronger it gets and the faster it goes. 

If only Jesus was here . . . His hand on our shoulder . . . His voice . . . Then it would be okay . . .

So Jesus came to those frightened disciples behind locked doors on Easter evening and took away their fear; gave them peace. And Jesus comes here the same. 

Oh, but it’s not the same, Pastor! We can’t see Jesus here. We can’t touch Him. If only He was, in His glory, in His might . . . and we’d be on our faces, terrified. 

So the key is that voice . . . that voice that came from the bright cloud. That voice that brought fear, but also pointed the way out of it: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him. Don’t listen to the voices of those who tell you what to do to be accepted by them, or what you have to do to please them. Don’t listen to the voice of the evil one who tells you that your sin is too great to be forgiven, or that you are too far gone. Don’t even listen to your own voice that beats yourself up for your failures and is constantly shaming you for your sin. Those are powerful voices, yes. Influential and myriad. Because they all want to be god. They all want to be in charge. They all want power over you.

But there’s only one voice we’re told to listen to: God’s only-begotten, beloved Son, with whom He is well pleased. For only His voice will not deceive you or mislead you. Only His voice is pure truth. Only His voice can take away your fear. Listen to Him.

That’s what Peter said in the Epistle we heard today. He said yes, we were eyewitnesses of His majesty - we were there! We saw the glory, the bright cloud, we heard the voice from heaven. But we have something more sure than all that, that we were told to listen to! The prophetic Word, Peter says. The Word of God. The Scriptures. For those aren’t just words talking about Jesus, they are Jesus talking to us. That is how we listen to Him today. I think we’ve lost that understanding. But we need to get it back. The understanding that while yes, the Scriptures were written by men, it is the Word of God. Not just the word about God - but the Word of God. That like Jesus, the Scriptures have both a divine and human nature: the very voice of God though written by men. 

So, Peter goes on to say, you will do well to pay attention [to them] as to a lamp shining in a dark place. A lamp, a light of truth and grace, of comfort and peace, shining in a very tumultuous, confusing, dark, and evil world. 

And when we listen to Him, to that voice, to the Scriptures, what do we hear? 

We hear that the sins we are afraid of, that frighten us, Jesus has atoned for. He took them, and you can’t have them back! I forgive you all your sins. They’re gone. And so is their guilt and shame. 

We hear that the death we are afraid of, that frightens us, Jesus has overcome death in His resurrection. The grave could not hold Him, and it will not be able to hold you either. On the Last Day He will say to you, rise! just as he did to the disciples on the mountain. They did, and so will you. But you, on that day, to a life that will not end, and to eat and drink with God - not on the top of Mt. Sinai, like Moses and his sons and the elders of Israel, but with all believers in Christ, in the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom, which has no end.

We hear also that Jesus has defeated the evil one. He resisted his temptations, cast him out of those he possessed, and stripped him of his power. Yes, he’s still prowling around you, still hissing his lies into your ears. Don’t listen to him or his surrogates, no matter how impressive they look or sound. Their words don’t give you life, they only suck the life out of you.

And we hear Jesus say, I am with you always (Matthew 28:20). Neither time nor space can separate us from Jesus and His love. Or from His hand touching you in the water of Baptism, or His Body and Blood touching you in the bread and wine of the Supper. Baptism and the Supper aren’t just things the Church does, but that Jesus does in His Church. For you are His and He is yours.

And speaking of the Church, that is another thing that is both divine and human. We look at the Church and see weakness, sin, failure, conflict. Church officials caught in sin. Her human nature can be quite ugly! And yet she is the Bride of Christ, a holy Church, His divine institution, washed clean by His blood, and beautiful and radiant in His eyes. 

And thus baptized by Jesus, and fed by Him, and forgiven by Him, this then is also true - the voice of the Father for you: that YOU are His beloved son, with whom He is well pleased. And your perfect Father will never forsake His children.

That is the confidence we have as on Wednesday we enter the season of Lent, a season of repentance. Repentance and self-denial not to earn His grace and favor - you already have that in Jesus! No, we repent in order to hear His word of forgiveness. We deny our sinful urges in order to follow in His holy ways. And throughout this season we train ourselves to listen to Him. To grow in His Word and faith, and for His Word and faith to grow in us. That focused on Him and living in Him, our fear be taken away, replaced with His love and life.

That in this world of sin, confusion, doubt, shame, trouble, trial, sadness, tears, death, and fear . . . On our mountains of trouble, our valleys of despair, or our daily slog through life . . . In our families or at work or school . . . In the best of times and the worst of times . . .  No matter where you are or who you are . . . we lift up our eyes, and see Jesus only. And listen to Him. And live each day in, with, and under Him.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Congregation at Prayer

For the Week of Ash Wednesday (February 16-21, 2026)

Invocation: In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Speak the Apostles’ Creed. 

Verse: Romans 5:19 – “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

Hymn of the Week:  Lutheran Service Book #656 “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”

Hymns for Sunday: 656, 422, 561, 620, 562, 424, 544

Readings for the Week: [The readings for Thursday-Saturday are the Scriptures for this coming Sunday.]

Monday: Joel 2:12-19

What is the Lord calling His people to do? How? Who was included? What confidence do we have to do this?

Tuesday: 2 Corinthians 5:20b – 6:10

What does it mean to “receive the grace of God in vain?” Have you done this? How? Why? How can we avoid doing this?

Wednesday: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

What’s the difference between being righteous before others and righteous before God? Why do we care so much what others think of us? What really matters?

Thursday: Genesis 3:1-21

Once their eyes were opened, Adam and Eve could not unsee what they had done. So what do their Father do for them? What did they now need to see and hear? How do we need the same?

Friday: Romans 5:12-19

How was Jesus like Adam? How was Jesus unlike Adam? What do we inherit from Adam? What do we inherit from Jesus?

Saturday: Matthew 4:1-11

What were satan’s three temptations? How did Jesus answer them? Why did that work? How can we do the same?

The Catechism - The Ten Commandments: The Third Commandment: Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.

Collect for the Week: O Lord God, You led Your ancient people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide the people of Your Church that following our Savior we may walk through the wilderness of this world toward the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

The Prayers:  Please pray for . . .

+ yourself and for all in need (remembering especially those on our prayer list).

+ God’s blessing, wisdom, and guidance for our congregation’s Building Committee.

+ the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti, for God’s wisdom, blessing, guidance, and provision.

+ God’s blessing, guidance, and wisdom for our Synod president, Matthew Harrison.

Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer and Luther’s Morning or Evening Prayer from the Catechism.

Now joyfully go about your day (or to bed) in good cheer, child of God!

Collect for the Week © 2018 Concordia Publishing House.

Lutheran Service Book Hymn License: 110019268

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Be Who You Are”

Text: Matthew 5:13-20 (1 Corinthians 2:1-16; Isaiah 58:3-9a)

 

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

You are . . . That’s what Jesus said today. Not you should be or must be or need to be - you are. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. These are not commands, but realities. You are these things because you are a child of God. This is what Jesus made you when He baptized you and gave you His Spirit. This is why God has not only saved you, but blessed you. Not just so you can sit there and be blessed in your blessedness! But to use you as His blessing to others, just as He uses others to bless you. 

So when you live as the child of God you are, living in the words and promises of God, living by faith, praying, forgiving, loving, serving, at work, in school, in your families, you are salt that seasons and preserves the world. A world that has settled for the blandness of the now over the eternal, and the rottenness of sin over the soundness of life in Christ. The world needs Christians, for the world needs Christ. I don’t think it a coincidence that as regular church attendance has fallen (at least in the West), that sin, death, confusion, and lostness has risen.

And in the same way, when you live as the child of God you are, you are a light that shines in a dark and sinful world. Showing the world a different way. Exposing sin and sinful ways, but also showing love and forgiveness. In the darkness of sin, we don’t know who we are, where we are, or where we are going. But in the light of Christ, we know who we are, whose we are, and can follow Him. The world needs this, too. 

Now, certainly, (and I think it is as true for you as it is for me), we have not lived as the children of God we are, and not been as salty or as bright as we should have been. Instead, I find myself trying to season and preserve myself. It’s all about me, and my life, my sin, my pleasures, my ease, my desires, rather than love and serve others. And rather than shining the light of Christ’s love and forgiveness, I’ve left that light on the shelf. Frankly, doing nothing is easier. So I need to repent. Maybe you, too.For God would be justified throwing me out for not being who He created me to be. For not rejoicing in Him and the life and gifts He’s given me. So, we pray, have mercy on me, O Lord, a sinner.

But we shouldn’t stop there, with these words of Jesus. I think there’s more to this, these verses today, than just that. For while, yes, it’s easier not to be salt and light in this rotten, dark and sinful world, not to be who we are, it’s also safer.

Because you may remember the Holy Gospel we heard last week, the Beatitudes. Blessed are you . . . blessed are you, Jesus said. Well, remember the last two that He said? Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake . . . Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. And then right after saying those words about persecution, Jesus says, You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. I don’t think they’re unconnected. So I think we could re-word those last two Beatitudes . . . Blessed are you when you are reviled and persecuted for being the salt and light you are. Because you will be.

Because there’s more than one way for salt to become unsalty and get thrown out, and for lights to be extinguished. Here’s what I mean . . . I’ll tell you a story. True story . . .

When I was in college, a group of us would always eat breakfast together. And one of the guys would always get scrambled eggs and salt them. Vigorously! And not a little! So one morning, we decided to prank him. He left his tray on the table to go get a drink, and we salted his eggs. A lot! I mean, like half the shaker. And we mixed all that salt in so he couldn’t see it. When he came back with his drink, he then - vigorously! - also put his normal, giant amount of salt on his eggs! And we sat there waiting for his face to pucker up because of all that salt . . . and nothing. He ate them like there was was nothing wrong, as if we hadn’t put any extra salt on at all! You see, for him, the salt had become unsalty. It wasn’t the salt’s fault - it was him. He simply couldn’t taste it anymore.

I think that happens in the world. We are God’s salt as His children in the places He has put us and for the people He has given us, but there will be people who cannot taste the salt anymore. They are so steeped in sin and comfortable with their sin that the salt we are is ignored; they simply can’t taste it anymore. Or, they can, and, Jesus is saying, and they don’t care - they throw us out and trample us underfoot. They don’t want to be seasoned or preserved from sin. It is who they are. So you have to go. You might have experienced that. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. Maybe you’ve even done it to those trying to help you! It is being persecuted for righteousness’ sake. 

And the same is true with light. You’ve probably experienced this, or done it yourself . . . when the sun comes up in the morning, but you don’t want to get up! Or when your Mom or Dad come in and turn the light on to get you up for school or church . . . You pull the blankets up over your head to extinguish the light. You might even throw a pillow or a slipper at whoever turned the light on for you. You don’t want it. 

And the world often doesn’t want the light either. The light of the good works you do, which bring glory to your Father in heaven. Oh, some of those good works are okay, if you’re just being nice, or doing what the world think is nice. But do the good work of calling out their sin, or working against their sin, and they might pull the blankets up to ignore you, or even throw the book of the law at you. Laws enacted to enable and protect what God has called sin. Be like them or leave them alone; live and let live. Or you will be persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Like the apostle Paul was, and the prophet Isaiah was, and the saints and martyrs who came before us were.

That’s who you are and that’s the reality we live in. So what’s a Christian to do? 

Well, be who you are. Not because you’ve been threatened. I don’t think that’s what Jesus is doing here. Be salt or get thrown out! Be who you are because you’ve received the incredible gift of being a child of God. Because you’ve received a righteousness that does, in fact, exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees! 

Which, I might add, would have been a completely shocking statement to those that heard Jesus say that. Because the scribes and Pharisees . . . no one tried harder than them! No one was more righteous than them. Today, it would be like saying that to enter the kingdom of heaven, you have to be a greater quarterback and win more super bowls than Tom Brady. Or be faster than the fastest marathoner, who can somehow run 26 sub-five-minute-miles in a row! Or be a greater soccer player than Messi. It just ain’t gonna happen. 

But here’s another reality for you; another thing you are: righteous! Not that you should be or must be or need be - you are. Because when you were baptized, you received the incredible gift of being a child of God and given - gifted! - the righteousness of Christ. For as hard as the scribes and Pharisees tried, and as righteous as they were in the eyes of the world, they could not fulfill the law. They were not righteous in God’s eyes. But you are. Oh, not righteous in the eyes of a world that calls good evil and evil good, but righteous in God’s eyes - the exact opposite of the scribes and Pharisees. And you are not because Jesus came to abolish the law and the prophets, to lower the bar and make life easier for you, but because He fulfilled them to give you a new life to live. 

And because He did, you know what happened to Him . . . what He said today! He was thrown out and trampled underfoot. The light of His good words and deeds was extinguished on the cross and sealed in a tomb so they would never have to deal with Him and His salt and light again. So they could live as they wanted, unbothered, unconvicted, comfortable. And condemned. 

But God is a God of life. He is life and gives life and will not stand idly by while death does its thing. He didn’t in the Garden when sin came into the world - He swooped in and rescued His children and gave them the promise of a Saviour. And then that Saviour came. To be the salt of the earth. To be the light of the world. And to do what we could never do: fulfill the law and the prophets. To save us. To save us from our unsaltiness and darkness, and to save us from a world that doesn’t want us. To bless us and give us life now, and to promise us a life of blessedness forever. 

So Jesus went to the cross. He was put there, yes. But really, He put Himself there. No one could have taken His life from Him had He not chosen to lay it down for us (John 10:18). So He went to the cross to be thrown out for us, to be trampled for us, and then to rise from the dead for us. Because that’s how you make salty salt. You can’t make it salty again, but you can make it new salt. Risen from the dead salt. And this, too: risen from the dead, the light of Jesus and His forgiveness and life - that they tried to extinguish! - shine more brightly than ever. 

And because that’s who He is, that’s who you are. Because you’ve been baptized into Him. And His Body and Blood have been fed into you. And His forgiveness has given you His perfect righteousness. You’ve been raised to a new life in Jesus, salty, bright, and righteous. We have the mind of Christ, as Paul said. That’s who you are.

And yes, you’ll be persecuted for that. But there is no persecution greater than His love.

And yes, you’ll fail to live up to who you are. Instead of thinking with the mind of Christ, the world and its thinking will creep in. But there is no failure greater than His forgiveness and His restoring righteousness.

And yes, one day you’ll die and be buried as Jesus was (unless Jesus comes back first!). But though you die, you will not pass away. You’ll pass from this life to the next, for there is no grave stronger than His resurrection. 

So be who you are. For blessed are you. Not because you do these things, but because Jesus did and blessed you with them. To be salty and bright in the ways Jesus said last week: poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers. These things season, preserve, and enlighten our dark, rotting, sinful, evil world. You don’t have to be an influencer, or rich or powerful or well-known. Just be who you are in Christ. A child of God. And that’s enough. Actually, it’s more than enough. It’s exactly what this world needs.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.