Shame before glory, cross before crown

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Transfiguration of Our Lord

2 Peter 1:16-21  +  Matthew 17:1-9

Everyone wants to be happy. Everyone wants comfort and ease, glory and contentment. But what did Jesus tell His apostles? I must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day… If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. That’s what the twelve apostles heard from Jesus about a week before the events of our Gospel took place. Follow Me. First to the cross, then to the resurrection. First to shame, then to glory. As an old professor of mine used to say, the symbol of our religion is the cross, not the couch. The way of the Christian—the only way that leads to glory and life—is the way of the cross, which is not a symbol of comfort or of a relatively easy life, but of suffering, pain, and death.

But since that way of the cross seems dark and daunting, God also knows that you need some light along the way. And He provides that much-needed light in His holy Word, which, as you heard in today’s Epistle, is like a light shining in a dark place. Today that light shines literally (though briefly) as we hear the account of Christ’s Transfiguration, perhaps the greatest of Christ’s epiphanies, which happened just a week after the apostles heard from Christ just how dark the way was going to get, first for Him, then for them, and now for us, if we would actually follow Jesus.

We note right from the beginning that Jesus only took along three of the twelve for this epiphany. They didn’t all need to see it, just as you and I don’t have to see it with our eyes to believe it. Only three were there with Jesus—Peter, James, and John—so that “every matter may be established by the mouths of two or three witnesses.”

What did they witness? They witnessed Jesus’ “transfiguration.” The German word for that is the same as the word for “glorification,” to be made glorious, to be made brilliant. His face shone like the sun. It was the brilliance of His divinity, revealed to human eyes in the form of light, since, as John says in his first epistle, God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all, and from John’s Gospel, He was the true Light which gives light to every man.

This visible glory also included whiteness. Not whiteness of His skin, but of His clothing; it became white like the light, symbolizing purity, sinlessness, no stain or blemish or spot, no dirt or taint of evil. This was the glory of which Jesus says in John 12, now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. This is the glory that awaited Christ after His death and burial. This is the glory that awaits all who follow Jesus, too, first to shame, and then to glory.

To illustrate that point, the transfiguration also included Moses and Elijah, Old Testament saints who were talking with Jesus. Why those two? We could make so many connections. First, it showed that Christ really was the continuation and fulfillment of the Old Testament and the religion of the Jews. Moses didn’t teach one religion and Christ another. Moses and Elijah were pointing to Jesus the Christ all along. Second, it showed that Jesus wasn’t just “a” prophet, but “the” Prophet. He wasn’t talking with Moses and Elijah as their equal, but as their Lord, as the one who had sent them, as the One whom the Father was about to glorify even further.

In the midst of this glorious vision, Peter is the one who speaks, though he doesn’t know what he’s saying. Lord, it’s good to be here. I’ll put up three shelters for You, Moses, and Elijah, so that we can stay! It’s really no different from what Peter had said to Jesus just a week earlier after Jesus had predicted His suffering and death: No, Lord! This will never happen to you! What would you have said? “Oh, Lord, this is just too glorious here. We’re too happy, too content. Let’s go down and find that cross you talked to us about!” Wouldn’t you, like Peter, suggest to the Lord that He allow things to remain glorious here, or that He would cause glory to be restored to us here in this world instead of letting it fall further into darkness? Would you suggest that He replace the cross, as the symbol of our religion, with the couch, or with the crown?

Jesus didn’t have to answer Peter. The Father’s voice gave him the answer he needed.

This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased! Spoken at Jesus’ Baptism—at the beginning of His earthly ministry, and spoken again now as it draws to its conclusion. Whether you see Jesus in glory, or whether you see Him in humility, it doesn’t change the reality: This is the beloved Son of God, the only-begotten Son, who is not only well-pleasing to the Father as God, but also as Man. And if He does it or says it, it must be right. It must be good. It must be necessary. Because He is well-pleasing to His Father at all times. So if He says He must go to the cross, if He says you must follow Him through shame and suffering and cross in order to get to the glory on the other side, that is the good will of the Father.

Now, what should we do? God, the Father Almighty, tells us what to do: Hear Him! Listen to Him! That’s what you do now. That’s what you do during this time of the cross and shame. You hear Jesus, not whispering in your ear, but speaking to you through His own inspired word and through the preaching of that word that He Himself ordained.

And what is it that you hear Him talking about in His word? You hear Him talking quite a bit about the cross, first His, then yours. But you also hear a promise that accompanies the cross, that His death on the cross paid for the sins of the world, and that His death will be applied to you for the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ, and also a promise of glory, first for Him, then for you who follow Him and remain with Him.

You hear Jesus mark you who are baptized with the same seal of God’s approval that He received when He was baptized. He who believes and is baptized will be saved! You hear Jesus, through the Apostle Paul, describe you who are baptized as wearing the same pure, white garments He was clothed with in the Transfiguration: As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

You hear Jesus pointing to the inspired Holy Scriptures, that light shining in a dark place. When you walk by that glorious light, you don’t walk in the darkness of ignorance any longer, and you don’t have to keep groping in the dark for what’s true and what’s not true, since His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. And you hear Jesus telling you to take and eat; this is My body. Take and drink, this is My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

You hear Jesus telling you Christians that you are the light of the world. Men will see your good works and will glorify God because of them. Your love will stand out in contrast with the world’s hatred. Your chaste behavior will stand out in contrast with the world’s sexual immorality. Your patient endurance of suffering will stand out in contrast with the world’s bitterness and vengefulness. Your mercy will stand out in contrast with the world’s selfishness and readiness to condemn. And your courage will stand out in contrast with the world’s fear. You will shine as lights in this dark world.

You hear Jesus telling you that in this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. You hear Him telling you that He rose from the dead and reigns at God’s right hand and that He will come again in glory. And you hear Him telling you that, if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him.

These words of Jesus, everything recorded in Scripture, this sermon you’re hearing today, is your God-given light, your God-given glory, for today, for this week, for the rest of your time on this way of the cross. The way of the cross is always dark; the valley of the shadow of death is always dim. But the glory of Christ, hidden from the eyes, still shines brightly in His word. It will light up the way of the cross for you in this world, until you reach the endless glory of the world to come. Amen.

 

 

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Each Day in the Word, Sunday, January 29th 

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Tom and Karen Klumb

Revelation 1:12-16

12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; 15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; 16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, John the Apostle saw Jesus transfigured—that is, His appearance changed. Instead of the Jesus that looked just like any other man, John then saw a glimpse of Jesus’ true glory. Today, in our lesson from Revelation 1, John sees Jesus now transfigured into His full glory. No longer is this the Jesus that John would dare to lean on His chest at the Passover. Instead, this is the Jesus that John “fell at His feet as dead.”

Fortunately, our Lord is not simply concerned about His power and glory. St. Paul tells us, that this is the mind of Christ: “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:6-7).

In His incarnation, Jesus became like us, to fulfill God’s commands for us, and then He died in our place. All we who repent of sin and come to Him in faith, receive forgiveness of our sins, new life in Him, and the promise of heaven with Him forever. And once in heaven, we will see Jesus as John saw Him in this vison, as the resurrected and glorified Lord of all. John gives us a glimpse of what that will be like here in Revelation 1. Paul also gives us a glimpse in Philippians 2: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (9-11).

Let us pray: O God, in the glorious transfiguration of your only Son you confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of Moses and Elijah. In the voice that came from the bright cloud you wondrously foreshowed our adoption as your children. Mercifully make us heirs with the Christ of his glory, and bring us at last to share that same glory with him; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

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Each Day in the Word, Saturday, January 28th  

Posted on January 28, 2023 by Tom and Karen Klumb

Matthew 10:17-11:1

17 But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. 18 You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

21 “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! 26 Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

27 “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

40 “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

11 Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.

The widespread rejection of Jesus’ apostles which we heard about in today’s reading would not take place during this first sending, but it would certainly take place later, and at various times until the end of the world. Peter and John would be the first to be arrested, interrogated, and beaten. James would be the first apostle to be put to death. And countless other Christians, both ministers and laity, would be unjustly targeted and brutally tortured and killed within the next three hundred years. During much of that time, there would be nowhere in the world where it would be safe to be a Christian.

And yet Jesus promises divine help to give an answer and to make the good confession. He assures His Christians that they matter to Him, even when it looks like they’ve been abandoned, and that He will be their Avenger, too, though not at once.

This is the way it must be on this earth. Those who confess Christ must be made to resemble Him, first before God, through faith, in perfect righteousness and holiness; then before men, through confession, in great humility and shame. No one and nothing can come before Him—not our families, not even our own life. But the rewards He promises after this life are so great that they cannot be compared with these present sufferings. This is why we commemorate the martyrs of every age, that we may be encouraged by their example and trained to imitate it.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, strengthen us to confess You before men. Grant us wisdom and a mouth to speak, that Your name may be glorified and Your Church edified through Your Spirit’s work in us. Amen.

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Each Day in the Word, Friday, January 27th

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Tom and Karen Klumb

Matthew 10:1-16

10 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, 10 nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.

11 “Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. 12 And when you go into a household, greet it. 13 If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!

16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

See what happens when a person asks the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest! Sometimes the one who prays becomes the answer to his own prayers.

That was the case for the twelve apostles. Out of the multitudes of disciples who followed Jesus, learned from Jesus, and believed in Jesus, He chose some—only some—to be apostles, “sent ones.” These were the ones who were to go out and preach His Gospel. In this first sending, they were not to go into all the world. They were to go “first to the Jew” (cf. Rom. 1:16). Such was the privilege of being of that race. They had been entrusted with the very words of God. They were the recipients of His promises of the coming Christ, the invited guests to the marriage feast. Therefore, they were to be the first to hear the call to the feast, “All things are ready! Come to the wedding!” (Matt. 22:4).

In the words of today’s reading, Jesus establishes a precept that remains in place for those whom He sends to preach: “A worker is worthy of his food” (Matt. 16:10, cf. 1 Cor. 9:3-14). His preachers have a right to receive a decent wage from those to whom they preach, and their hearers have an obligation to give it. Some, like the Apostle Paul, would not use this right, but all have it alike. Even more importantly, those who hear the Word of Christ from His messengers have the obligation to receive it, to believe it, and to obey it.

Let us pray: O Lord, we thank You for giving some to be ministers of Your Gospel among us. Help us never to despise this gift, but to use it, and to support those whom You send. Amen.

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Each Day in the Word, Thursday, January 26th

Posted on January 26, 2023 by Tom and Karen Klumb

Matthew 9:27-38

27 When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”

28 And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” 30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows it.” 31 But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.

32 As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. 33 And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!”

34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”

35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

The blind men in today’s reading trusted in Jesus to heal their eyes, but not to command their mouths, as they flagrantly disobeyed His order to keep their mouths shut about this particular healing. Another man’s mouth was opened by Jesus, and the crowds were amazed at how easily He was able to command the demon. But the Pharisees were quick to attribute His power to the devil instead of God. Jesus tirelessly taught and preached and healed in all the cities and villages of Israel, but it was never enough; the people of Israel remained weary and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd, and His heart went out to them. His teaching was clear, and yet many did not obey. His preaching was pure, and yet many charged Him with false doctrine. His shepherding was perfect, and yet the sheep were prone to wandering.

If the Son of God could suffer so many setbacks in His earthly ministry, why do we imagine that we should see fewer? Sin has so corrupted our race that we are barely kept within the fold by even the best ministry. And yet the ministry of the Word, instituted and regulated by Christ, remains the only thing that stands between us and eternal death. It is still Christ’s tool on earth for gathering His sheep into His holy Church and keeping them gathered there. The harvest may not be as plentiful in any one place as it was at the time of Jesus, but there are now more places to live and more people scattered throughout the world. The need for laborers and for prayers for laborers remains just as great!

Let us pray: Lord of the harvest, send laborers into Your harvest field, and sustain them in the face of both opposition and apathy. Amen.

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