Amos 5,21-24. Estomihi Sunday

In the Name of Jesus

Amos 5,21-24 1512

Estomihi (Sonntag vor der Passionszeit)  022  Quinquagesima

Gabinus, Pastor, Martyr 296

19. February 2012

1.  O Lord, who has taught us that all our doings without love are worth nothing: Send Your Holy Spirit, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love which is the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whosoever lives is counted dead before You (Church of England).  Amen. 

2. Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the Lord: „I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.“

3. The Prophet Amos (792-40 B.C.) was a contemporary of the Prophets Isaiah, Hosea and Jonah. Amos wrote to Judah, God’s chosen people, who did not understand Yahweh’s grace, for at the time of Amos the people had broken their covenant relationship with God. O the nation was prosperous, but idolatry, a corrupt justice system and oppression of the poor were common occurrences. Sounds like 21. century America, doesn’t it? 

4. Yet, in spite of such apparent and gross sin, Judah thought everything was fine and dandy (just like the average spiritual American). The people thought they had it made. They had the Holy Scriptures; they had the temple; they had the animal sacrifices; and they had Yahweh. Things couldn’t have been better -- they were the chosen race of God. They felt they could do no wrong in God’s sight, and even if they did, what of it?, they had the sacrifices to bring forgiveness. They believed that their offerings and sacrifices had pleased God.

5. Except they didn’t really have their sacrifices anymore. O to be sure, their sacrifices were performed every day at the temple, but Yahweh refused to accept their offerings and sacrifices, and that meant there was no forgiveness. Yahweh regarded Judah’s sacrifices and worship as rituals performed ex opere operato (by the mere performance of the rite), and therefore He chose to reject everything they did because they were lacking faith. 

6. Christians in the 21. century are still tempted to sin like 8. century B.C. Judah. How often do you come to worship, pray or put an offering in the plate because that is what you have always done, and therefore you do so mindlessly? Do you perform your works that God commands because you are expected to do them or because you have faith in God? Such are the temptations that we face as God’s chosen people. 

7. You see, Yahweh does not want us to be automatons that drone on with our worship, prayers and good works because we have been programmed to carry out those tasks. Yahweh did not create mankind as androids uploaded with the latest and best Windows or Mac OS. What did Yahweh do in Genesis? He created mankind in His Divine image and likeness.  He came down to the newly created earth and with His almighty hands He knelt down in the ground and meticulously formed Adam from the dirt. Yahweh breathed His very image and likeness into Adam’s nostrils and lungs. Yahweh then took one of Adam’s ribs and fashioned Eve from his side. Yahweh created thinking and feeling human beings who bore His Divine image and likeness. God also gave Adam and Eve free will. They were created to fear, love and trust in God, but they could also choose not to do so. 

8. Our God is not afraid to take risks. Giving your creation free will can result in something wondrously glorious or it can all fall apart in total disaster. The risk of free will, however, is worth it. Yahweh did not want emotionless robots but passionate people like He Himself. Thus God created both the angels and man with free will. Both used their free will to assume their own godhood. Lucifer convinced one-third of the angels to rebel against Yahweh so Lucifer could dethrone the Triune God and sit on His heavenly throne. Adam and Eve both ate from the tree of knowledge so that they could become gods in their own right. Yahweh knew that Lucifer would fall and drag down with him all mankind, but Yahweh nevertheless gave us free will because He abhors the ex opere operato attitude. 

9. Yahweh rejects all your works that you perform without faith, works that could just as easily be performed by a soulless machine or computer. Yahweh despises bland religiosity and generic spirituality. Yahweh wants you living and loving out of faith in Him. 

10. You and I cannot live and love this way because we are sinners. We often use our free will to hurt and hinder our neighbors. This is why the covenant of Sinai is old and temporary. God is faithful to His covenant, but men and women are not; we cannot remain faithful, for sooner or later God’s people would turn His covenant into mindless ritual. Yahweh, therefore, promised a new covenant that would fulfill the old one. 

11. The Prophet Amos proclaimed these words of Yahweh: »Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream«. The old testament was merely a trickle of justice and a wellspring of righteousness. The new testament is a surging flood of justice and swiftly flowing river of righteousness. Jesus is the better offering and the perfect sacrifice. The covenant of Calvary is new and eternal. 

12. Christ brings the righteousness and justification of the reign of God into your midst. At Calvary the gospel is poured out with Jesus’ suffering and death. The gospel is „like an ever-flowing stream. Amos is signifying the power and efficacy of the Word. You see, the Word bursts forth and runs even when the madness of Satan and its foes stand in the gospel’s way. Whether the princes are willing or not, the Word breaks through like a stream. They are unable to hold it back“ (Luther 166). 

13. In Christ, all of your sins are forgiven. You are now righteous and justified in our Heavenly Father’s sight. You cannot break this covenant, and your sinfulness cannot annul this testament, because it is grounded upon Christ and forged upon His death and resurrection. 

14. Christ crucified is the manifestation of God’s love in the flesh. Christ loves you, therefore He suffered to save you. Through the Word and the Sacraments the Holy Spirit now redeems you into the image of the Triune God. The Apostle Paul describes this holy likeness, writing: »Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends« (1. Corinthians 13,4-8). Each day the Holy Spirit uses the gospel to remake you into a man or woman of faith, a person who fears, loves and trusts in Christ Jesus just as He originally created you. Jesus has promised it, and He will see it through to completion.  Amen. 

15. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, who accomplished everything written about You by the Prophets, help us to follow You to the cross and the empty tomb so that we behold our everlasting salvation.  Amen. 

One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 18 (Minor Prophets I: Hosea-Malachi). Pelikan, Jaroslav Jan, Oswald, Hilton C. and Lehmann, Helmut T., Eds. Copyright © 1975 Concordia Publishing House.

2. Corinthians 12,1-10. Sexagesima Sunday

In the Name of Jesus

 
2. Corinthians 12,1-10                                              1412
Sexagesimä (2. Sonntag vor der Passionszeit)  021
Eulalia of Barcelona or Merida, Spain, Virgin, Martyr 290.
12. February 2012

 

1. O Most Loving Father, who wills us to give thanks for all things, to dread nothing except the loss of You, and to cast all our cares on You who cares for us: Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, and grant that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal, and which You have manifested unto us in Your Son Jesus Christ our Lord (Book of Common Prayer 165).  Amen.

2. I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven – whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise – whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows – and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me: „My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.“ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

3. In this morning’s Gospel Reading, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower and the Four Types of Fields. The theme of this parable is: Grace is passively received. The Apostle Paul knew a little something about this passive grace. While he was going by his given name of Saul, Jesus appeared to him on his way to Damascus. Saul was fervently persecuting Christians, so Jesus converted him to the Christian faith. Saul then immediately began to preach the gospel of the crucified and risen Christ throughout the Roman Empire. The gospel bore fruit with patience in Paul (Luke 8,15).

4. The gospel proclaims that Christ Jesus ransomed all people unto everlasting salvation. The preached gospel promises you that all your sins are forgiven in Christ. This very same gospel strengthens you to rely upon Christ. Paul himself relied completely on this marvelous grace. To keep him from being to elated, the Lord Jesus sent a messenger of Satan to harass Paul. Paul also experienced the hardships of an apostle: he was shipwrecked, imprisoned and punished for preaching the gospel. Paul endured these hardships because Christ endures and He gave him the power to endure every trial that came his way. Jesus also gave Paul the endurance to deal with this thorn in his flesh and all the other tribulations he suffered.

5. Enduring hardship is not easy for us. We are sinners and our flesh is weak. We are broken people living in a cursed world. Hardships arise from different sources. The earth, since it has been cursed by Yahweh, creates hardship. Natural disasters afflict us, plagues infect us and our vocations often are workplaces of distress. This sinful world is full of wicked people. As such, we are constantly assaulted by the people who are our neighbors with their shenanigans and schemes. So we are sinned against by our neighbors, and thus suffer from their sinful actions and words. Furthermore, you and I also cause our neighbors grief and suffering from our sinful actions and words. So our own sinful flesh causes us, and others, hardships. Another source of hardship comes from the devil and the fallen angels. Job suffered when Satan snatched away Job’s wealth, family and health. Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness.

6. When we face hardship, we then turn to God expecting Him to rescue us. Unfortunately, sometimes God Himself is a source of our hardship. There are times when God Himself is our enemy. We do not like to think this way about God, for we would prefer to only visualize Him as the avenging savior from our distress. Now it is true that God is our Deliverer, but it is also equally true that sometimes He is the enemy who is giving us constant grief. If you’d like to read more about that topic, I commend to you a wonderful paperback available from Concordia Publishing House or you can download it in about ten seconds from Amazon if you have a Kindle or an iPad. The author is Dr. Ingvar Fløysvik (Flowsvick) and his book is When God Becomes My Enemy: The Theology of the Complaint Psalms.

7. The Book of Psalms has 150 chapters in the Old Testament, and 18 of those chapters are complaint psalms. In one, David laments: »How long, O Yahweh? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long?« (Psalm 13,1-2) In another the psalmist cries out: »O Yahweh, You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. You have caused my companions to shun me; You have made me a horror to them« (Psalm 88,6.8). Finally, the most well-known complaint psalm comes from David: »My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest« (Psalm 22,1-2). Our Lord Himself prayed this psalm in anguish on the cross.

8. You and I have felt the raw, heart-rending grief that comes when hardships afflict our lives, but God seems far away, silent and aloof. You know the solitude of wanting God to intervene in your life, but for some reason God just does not do it.

9. You might feel alone and abandoned by God, but dear people of God you are not alone and You are not abandoned by God. Jesus has endured the sufferings and grief that you have felt or are right now feeling. Jesus fervently prayed for His Heavenly Father to remove the suffering of the cross (Luke 22,39-44), but God the Father did not remove this cup, for He made Jesus drink it in full. Jesus was abandoned by His Heavenly Father when He hung on the cross (Matthew 27,46). We confess in the Apostles’ Creed that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary and suffered under Pontius Pilate. With these three creedal phrases we confess that Jesus became man and suffered just like men and women suffer every day.

10. While at times God may be our enemy, He is always our Savior. Christ Jesus was crucified, died and was buried, in order to deliver you from the hardships of sin, death and the devil. God loves you. He cares about you. He has forgiven your sins, paid the penalty of death and rescued you from the clutches of the devil.

11. The Apostle Paul preached this rich grace even as He also endured hardships. One particular hardship was a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, that was given to him by Jesus. Paul does not elaborate what specifically this thorn was, but he does indicate that it was a particularly troublesome hardship. Paul prayed, but God would not remove this thorn. Jesus did something even more powerful. Jesus told Paul: »My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness«. If you are undergoing hardship and God seems distant, know this: the grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient for you, for this grace will strengthen you, console you and allow you to bear your hardships.

12. Hardships humble you, for they reveal how weak you are. This is nothing to be embarrassed about, for when you are weak then you are strong in Christ Jesus. He will not give you a burden or a hardship that you cannot bear with His grace. Many times the hardships you suffer will take you to the very breaking point, but the Prophet Isaiah promises: »a bruised reed Christ will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench; He will faithfully bring forth justice« (Isaiah 42,3). Christ will not allow you to break; He will not allow your flame to be snuffed out, for He is the Vine that sustains you and He is the Oxygen that feeds you. In Christ you are strong, and in Christ you will endure.   Amen.

13. Let us pray. O Holy Spirit, today we have heard Christ’s voice; help us to have hearts wide open to receive the comfort You bring so that whatever we face in this life we know that we face with Christ beside us who will see us through for His glory.  Amen.

 One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!

         All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 
          Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1990 Oxford University Press. 
          ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.

Jeremiah 9,22-23. Septuagesima Sunday

In the Name of Jesus

Jeremiah 9,22-23                                                                                                         1312
Septuagesimä (3. Sonntag vor der Passionszeit)  020
Jacob (Israel), Patriarch
Agatha, Virgin, Martyr at Catania, Sicily 251
5. February 2012

1. O Heavenly Father, gracious in mercy and justice, You sent Your Only-begotten Son to redeem us from sin and the curse of sin. We are prideful. We are demanding. We fail to fully comprehend Your good will. Pour out upon us God the Holy Spirit and give us the same mind as Your Beloved Son, Christ Jesus, for as He teaches us in today’s parable, You give eternal life equally to all people regardless of who they are. Help us to spread the joy of this parable to our borough and neighbors for in doing so we are pointing them to Jesus who brings the good gift of life everlasting.  Amen.

2. Thus says Yahweh Sabaoth: „Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches. Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on the earth. For I delight in these things.“

3. The words from Yahweh our God, proclaimed by His prophet, Jeremiah, hits like the ice-cold Gatorade dumped on victorious coaches or a jarring tackle in football. Yahweh tells us not to boast. He speaks this to fallen men and women whose lives often revolve around boasting. „See what I did? Marvel in my wisdom. Behold my strength and power! Check out my wealth.“ If you’ve watched any of the pre-Super Bowl fanfare, you have seen talented and well-paid football players boast in themselves. If you watch today’s championship game, you will see celebrations and chest-thumping when a good play is made. Professional sports brings out mankind’s worst narcissistic traits, and coaches constantly drill into their over-paid problem players that everything is not about you but it is all the about the team. 

4. No team wants to lose the Super Bowl; there is no joy proclaiming you came in second place as you watch your opponents lift up the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Neither do we enjoy telling others how foolish, weak or poor we are. Human pride will fight against such actions, and we will often do all we can to accentuate our positives and boast of our successes. We strive to become first, and we will fight to remain in that position. It’s a dog eat dog world, and being the top alpha dog does has its benefits in the world. 

5. Our sinful nature, therefore, might grate at such attributes as kindness and righteousness, for the world often associates such traits, even if they are Divine, as traits that reveal weakness or humility. Certainly the statement by Jesus in this morning’s Gospel Reading goes against our Western ideals of fairness and the ethic of hard work. Jesus proclaims: »So the last will be first, and the first will be last« (Matthew 20,1 ). Some might hear these words and decide that Jesus must be a Communist or a Socialist. Such a declaration would immediately rile up conservative talk show hosts, and might even cause the Founding Fathers to start rolling over in their American graves!

6. Jesus was not a Communist nor was He a Socialist. He also was not a Democrat, a Republican or a Libertarian. No American political party gets to claim Jesus only for themselves, nor can they claim the political high ground in any debate by quoting Jesus. During His life on earth, Jesus found common cause with the Pharisees, the Sadducees and even the Romans on various issues, but none could claim that Jesus was their go-to candidate.

7. When Jesus proclaimed that the last would be first and the first last He was making a theological statement, not a political one. Jesus came to this earth to bring us the kindness, justice and righteousness of His Heavenly Father. God the Father delights in these attributes.

8. Here we see the great disconnect that we have with Yahweh. There is a wide gulf between Yahweh and sinful men and women. Our warped sense of reality believes that kindness is for those who are good, justice is for those who deserve it and righteousness is for those who have earned it. Surely the laborers hired at the first hour deserve Yahweh’s kindness, justice and righteousness more than those guys who only got hired at the end of the day and merely put in an hour’s worth of hard work. At the very least the first laborers deserve a large bonus for all their dedication to offset the equal wage paid to the ones who showed up last, right? Wrong!

9. The point of Jesus’ parable is that God’s grace is undeserved. You don’t deserve it, I don’t deserve it and nobody in the world deserves God’s grace. If God the Father treated us fairly and rightly, then we would all properly deserve His judgment and punishment. Our sinfulness only merits Yahweh’s holy wrath.

10. Thank God that He is gracious to us! The Prophet Jeremiah wonderfully proclaims that Yahweh delights in kindness, justice and righteousness. In His kindness, God the Father sent to us, yes, to the entire world, His Only-begotten Son. In His justice, God the Son suffered in your place, and in doing so spared you from Divine judgment and punishment for Jesus Christ justly bore the guilty sentence that you deserved. In His righteousness, God the Holy Spirit applies to you the holy merit that belongs to Jesus: Christ’s righteousness is now your righteousness. The Holy Spirit speaks Jesus’ righteousness to your ears whenever the word of the gospel is proclaimed to you. In a few moments the Holy Spirit will place Jesus’ righteousness in your mouths with the really present body and blood of Jesus that is sacramentally united to the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.

11. Jesus declares you righteous because He gives you His very own righteousness. Where Jesus is, there is His righteousness. Where His righteousness is, there is everlasting salvation. Where salvation is, there is the forgiveness of sin, and not just one or two gross sins, but the forgiveness of every single sin, no matter how serious or petty it may be. And not just your individual sins, but even your very sinful nature is covered by Jesus’ righteousness. Where there is righteousness there is grace, yes, free, undeserved grace that is yours because our Triune God is merciful.

12. Do not mistake Yahweh’s free grace as easy grace. The grace of Jesus Christ is most certainly free, but it does not come without a cost. Jesus paid the highest cost to justify you, because it cost Jesus His own life. 

                  Marvelous grace of our Loving Lord,

                  Grace that exceeds your sin and your guilt!

                  Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,

                  There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

                  Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

                  Grace that is greater than all your sin (Julia H. Johnston). 

13. The crucified Christ shows that Yahweh’s grace is free, yet costly. The risen Christ shows that Yahweh’s grace is yours and that it is effective. In your Baptism you have died with Christ and have now risen to new, everlasting life with Him. Yahweh shows you His kindness, justice and righteousness in Christ Jesus, yes, the Jesus who was crucified and resurrected for you and your justification. God the Father boasts in His kindness, justice and righteousness; He boasts in Christ Jesus, and so also do you boast in Him.

14. It does not matter whether a person was baptized as a baby and has been blessed to receive Christ’s grace for many decades, or if someone calls upon the Name of Jesus on his or her deathbed, both will receive the same forgiving grace of Jesus, and both will be rewarded with life everlasting. Christ’s grace is undeserved, and in this marvelous truth you rejoice, for Christ’s grace is yours. Believe it, boast in it and revel in it, for you are forgiven and you are saved by the merit of Jesus alone. He makes the last first and the first last, for all who believe upon Him for righteousness have that very justification in full abundance and in full equality into life in Paradise.  Amen.

15. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, we present our pleas before You because of Your great mercy; hear our petitions and graciously answer them so that we may remain steadfast on You when the tribulations of this world would drive us from You.  Amen. 

One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!

                All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.

Matthew 17,1-9. Transfiguration Sunday

In the Name of Jesus

Matthew 17,1-9                                                             1212
Letzter Sonntag nach Epiphanias  019 weiß
The Transfiguration of our Lord
Valerius, Bishop of Trier, Germany. Disciple of Peter.
29. January 2012

1.  O Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory of Israel and the Light unto the nations, who on this day revealed Yourself to be the true Son of God, our Savior. In Your Light we see light and in Your transfiguration we see the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, yes the very Author of Heilsgeschichte (salvation history) who redeems us back unto our Heavenly Father. Support us with Your power to be ever faithful in proclaiming this gospel unto our neighborhood.  Amen.

2. And after six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him. And Peter said to Jesus: „Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah.“ 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.“ When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying: „Rise, and have no fear.“ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them: „Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.“

3. O how we wish we had an encounter with Yahweh, the Great I Am, like Moses did on Mount Sinai at the Burning Bush. How envious are we of Peter, James and John who saw Jesus transfigured in His glory on Mount Tabor, the highest and loftiest mountain in Galilee. Three earthly men, Peter, James and John, meet three heavenly men, Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Moses and Elijah are not chosen willy-nilly by the Lord to visit Him. Moses’ face had shone with light when he returned from speaking to Yahweh on Mt. Sinai. Elijah had stood in the presence of Yahweh when the heavenly fiery chariots swept him away from his protégé and disciple, Elisha.

4. Jesus spoke with the great prophets Moses and Elijah at His transfiguration. Luke tells us in his Gospel: »Moses and Elijah appeared in glory and were speaking of Jesus’ exodus, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem« (Luke 9,31). The departure of which these three holy men speak is the forthcoming and imminent death of Jesus. We note that these three men all have unique, spectacular deaths.

5. Joshua, the successor of Moses, tells us that Yahweh and Moses took one last walk together in Moab (Deuteronomy 34). They hiked up Mount Nebo, opposite Jericho, and Yahweh showed Moses the promised land of Canaan. Before Moses was the land Yahweh had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Israel; He was giving this plenteous land to their descendants. The land was a good and blessed land, flowing with milk, honey and vineyards ripe for making wine. I suspect tears streamed down Moses’ checks as he saw the beautiful and bountiful land that Yahweh was giving to His beloved people. Moses, however, would not enter this land. He had sinned against God and disobeyed His command just one time (Numbers 20,1-13). Moses, at 120 years old, died apart from Israel, but he closed his eyes in the wonderful presence of Jesus, the Son of God, who then lovingly carried Moses in His own arms and with great care buried Moses in a valley opposite Beth-peor, a town five miles northeast of Mt. Nebo. No human being knows exactly where Jesus buried Moses.

6. But the devil knew where Moses had been buried. He was waiting and watching to make his complaint before God in order to claim Moses’ body. The Apostle Jude tells us: »The Archangel Michael contended with the devil and disputed about the body of Moses« (Jude 9). With Yahweh’s own word, Michael rebuked the devil and ordered him to stand down and yield his claim for Moses’ body.

7. Elijah likewise had a spectacular departure from this world, all the more wondrous because he did not die. When Elijah and Elisha crossed the Jordan River, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them and in a whirlwind Elijah ascended into heaven in his physical body (2. Kings 2,11).

8. These two great prophets of the old testament descend at Jesus’ transfiguration to discuss with Jesus His impending death (Luke 9,31). Six days earlier Jesus had spoken to His disciples about this very topic, saying: »From that time on, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, but on the third day be raised from the dead« (Matthew 16,21-22).

9. The disciples were uncomfortable with this talk of suffering and dying, for this did not fit their ideal of who the Christ was supposed to be. Peter even tried to prevent Jesus from walking down this path of the Suffering Servant (Matthew 16,22), but Jesus’ transfiguration impressed upon Peter, James and John that the Law and the Prophets were all about Jesus and Jesus’ death and resurrection. On Mt. Tabor these three disciples saw with their own eyes that Jesus is the very God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. Jesus is the Son of God who appeared to Moses on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 24,9-18). Jesus is the Son of God who spoke to Elijah on Mt. Horeb (1. Kings 19). Jesus is the Son of God, incarnate in human flesh, who was born of the virgin Mary so He could suffer, be crucified and rise again. This Jesus, transfigured in His glory, is God in their midst who has arrived to save you, me and all mankind from our sinfulness.

10. Moses, the great Lawgiver of the old testament, will not save you. The Ten Commandments, as wonderful as they are, will not merit your salvation no matter how diligent you may be in keeping them. Elijah, the renowned Prophet of the old testament, will not deliver you. Only Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel can, and does, save you. The transfiguration declares that Jesus is this very God of Abraham. Moses and Elijah rightly point to Jesus as the Author and Fulfiller of the old testament, the one who brings the new testament, the one who humbles Himself unto death on a cross to save you. The mighty voice of God the Father rightly proclaims: »This Jesus is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.« The Heavenly Father is well pleased with Jesus because Jesus will become the sacrifice that will redeem the world.

11. Moses and Elijah returned to heaven. The Voice of God became silent. There is only Jesus in the midst of the three apostles. There is no need to be afraid, for Jesus is with you.  The impending suffering and cross is the means of your redemption. Only Jesus can save you. Only by the cross and the empty tomb can you have eternal life. The transfiguration is about Jesus (Gibbs 861). His path takes Him to the cross and the grave. Jesus exhorts you to travel this path with Him. Focus on the cross, the crucified Christ and the risen Savior, for He has redeemed the world; He has ransomed you. Jesus can and will sustain His disciples as they deny themselves, take up their cross and continue to follow Him (Gibbs 861). This is still true today, for Jesus can and will sustain you as you suffer and walk the way of the cross as His lowly disciple, because Jesus has named you co-heirs in His glory.

12. You have experienced Jesus in His Word and Sacraments. You behold His glory each week in the Divine Service. „You cannot stand still with such an experience, for you return to everyday life, often with suffering, but you take with you the shining light that encourages you to continue living in God’s light“ (ELKB), the Light that is Jesus Christ, your Savior.  Amen.

13. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, the brilliance of the eternal light and a stainless mirror of that Divine power and an image of goodness, pour upon us the Holy Spirit so that we are emboldened to proclaim the wonders of Your loving-kindness unto our neighbors.  Amen.

One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!

        All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 
        ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
       Gibbs, Jeffrey A. Matthew 11:2 – 20:34. Copyright © 2010 Concordia Publishing House.
        Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.