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The Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. Prayer: Lord, you have promised that when two or three gather in your name you will be present with them. We depend on that promise today and pray that you will move among us. Lord, we pray that you have inspired Mike's preparation, that you will enliven his presentation, and that you will empower our application. Amen The Message: Our readings this morning are a perfect follow-up on my message from last week. We are once again looking at glory and power, and the desire for it, in people's lives. This week, of course, the focus is on how people deal with or respond to the opportunity of glory and power. I want to briefly say something I didn't get a chance to say last week. Many of us would most probably look at the message from last week and again this week and say something like: "well that doesn't really apply to me, because I am not a person of importance and I don't have all that power associated with glory." Sometimes feeling like you have no power or glory can create its own need to seek whatever glory we can claim for ourselves. Or to exercise whatever power we can in our lives, or to exercise whatever power we can in the lives of those around us. Sometimes when you feel like people don't notice you, or they aren't taking any notice of you, you seek your own glory, or you seek to exercise your own power. This becomes its own destructive pathway in our relationships and in our interactions with those around us. In an effort to be noticed or recognized, we can exercise power that is harmful and can be destructive or even self-destructive. I am sure we all know people like this in our families or among our friends. With that said I want to come back to the readings for today. It seems to me that the common theme or word in the readings this morning is testing. As I said earlier we are looking at glory and power, and the desire for it, in people's lives. The readings this morning draw our focus to how people deal with or respond to the opportunity of glory and power. How do they respond when tested? Testing is common to us all. Adam was tested in the garden, and Jesus was tested in the wilderness. You and I are tested every day. Testing is common to humankind. We are all tested every day. I would imagine that if you asked most people how they were doing with their testing today most of us would reply with something along the lines of: "not as well as I would like to," or perhaps on a bad day: "you mean how am I doing with my failing." "I am getting a passing grade in failing." Perhaps it is not quite that bad. But we certainly know how easily we are drawn to things that have the potential to distract us. Can we as Christians agree that we are better off when we are in a relationship with an eternal being we call God? That our lives, and the lives of those around us, are better when we place that eternal being God at the center of our lives. But, we can often be distracted and we can seek to place ourselves or other things in that central place. The story of Adam and Eve, in the Book of Genesis, this morning illustrates this powerfully. Now, there are most probably those here this morning who will discount the story of Adam and Eve as Jewish folklore. A story made up long after to explain the unexplainable of humankind's relationship with an eternal being designated as God. That being said the essence, or the heart, of the story, still carries some eternal truth for us all. Human beings can be drawn to things that we, feel like we are lacking, in our lives. I don't know about you, but, I certainly identify with Adam and Eve. Both in my failure to follow instructions but also in my willingness to rationalize why it was OK for me to make the choice I did. Adam particularly gets a passing grade in failing. When he is tested he falls right into failure mode and then into crisis management. Adam sees an opportunity for glory and power and he takes it. This method of dealing with distractions is the basis of the words Paul writes to the Romans. "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned" Romans 5: 12 NRSV We might say that because one human being fell, for the temptation of glory and power, that opened the door for all who followed him to go down the same path, generation after generation. But Paul draws our attention to an eternal truth that we all need to hear: "If, because of the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. For just as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous." Romans 5: 17-19 What Paul is saying here and we can see illustrated for us in the Gospel of Matthew this morning is that Jesus is not distracted, by the offer of glory and power, from his purpose and his calling. Then thankfully and wondrously he makes it possible for all to follow him down that same path, generation after generation. In fact, as we talked about last week, he turns, that glory and power, to an entirely different purpose. He uses it to prepare for his ultimate sacrifice. Then through that sacrifice and his resurrection, he makes it possible for us to find peace and purpose in our own lives. The testing and challenges, of glory and power, will still be evident in our lives, but with renewed hearts and minds we can seek after his example. In the words from the Book of Common Prayer Morning Prayer Rite II on page 99 A Collect for Fridays Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John 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 dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” Prayer: Lord, you have promised that when two or three gather in your name you will be present with them. We depend on that promise today and pray that you will move among us. Lord, we pray that you have inspired Mike's preparation, that you will enliven his presentation, and that you will empower our application. Amen The Message: So, this morning I am going to focus on a word that we use often in worship which I believe has the potential to be either one of the most creative or one of the most destructive words in our English language. You might be surprised to know that I talking about the word "glory." If we look at our Collect and then the texts for this morning the word glory appears on a constant basis. Now, since each time it is used, it refers to the Lord you may be thinking how can it possibly be seen as a destructive word? Well, let's stop and consider for a moment what the word glory means, or maybe what it implies. What do we associate with glory? Or what is the challenge for us in our understanding of glory? A couple of definitions might help us here. First of all, I would like to look at glory from an earthly or human standpoint. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines glory in a variety of ways I chose these three to us an idea of what it means: 1. praise, honor, distinction extended by common consent, 2. something that secures praise or renown, 3. a height of prosperity or achievement. So you can see that glory indicates achievement and success. It represents a certain status or level of importance in society. Someone might be said to be basking in the glory of their position. Now from a religious or theological perspective, glory has a similar but slightly different connotation. First, Glory (from the Latin gloria, "fame, renown") is used to describe the manifestation of God's presence as perceived by humans according to the Abrahamic religions. Or secondly, from the Hebrew meaning of glory, the word Kavod is a term with both social and moral implications, and stems from the root word for weight. It can mean glory, honor, respect, distinction, and importance. So you can see that the word - glory - has a lot of significance or importance, both from a human standpoint and from a religious one. It indicates someone who should be shown respect or honored in one way or another. Then we often refer to the Glory of the Lord in our worship, don't we? We associate it with God our Heavenly Father and also with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. So, now that we have a clear or at least a clearer picture of what Glory is I would like to ask you, and I am asking myself at the same time, what can we learn from how Jesus handled glory? As I was preparing this message, I found myself asking: "What can we learn for our own lives and be challenged in our Christian faith and walk from the passages we have to read this morning? What can we see from Jesus' life and teachings about how he approached or dealt with glory?" You will have noted as you heard the readings this morning that these are the readings which are generally read for Transfiguration Sunday. Even the Collect refers to the fact that Jesus went up on the Mountain. We will come back to that question and we will examine the fact that what Jesus, and his disciple's experienced on the mountain, is linked to the expectation of Jesus' passion. This event is, in fact, a part of Jesus' preparation for his crucifixion and his death. For now, let's start at the beginning. Jesus goes up on the mountain and God the Heavenly Father recognizes him as his son. This event is significant, in its own right. But is also significant because it is very similar to the events that happened when he was recognized as God's son, at his baptism. One of the words closely associated with this moment and the moment of his baptism is the word glory and its associated power. There is an anointing which takes place, and the glory of God is very present. The power of God is very much in evidence. This is also very similar to what happened with Moses when he went up onto the mountain in the account from Exodus this morning. Moses prefigures or gives us an example of what happens when a human being comes in close contact with God. God's glory shines from that individual after the encounter. When we come to the account in Matthew we are challenged to accept the fact that from that time on Jesus embodies God's glory in human form. God's glory is personified in Jesus. It is no wonder that Peter wants to memorialize this event. After all, isn't that what we do when we experience a significant moment in our lives? How many times have you sat with a family and looked through their photographs of the significant moments in their lives? Births, baptisms, school graduations, engagements, weddings, vacations, deaths, funerals. We have all done it haven't we? Or we have taken the opportunity to share those moments with our friends and relatives when something significant happens in our families. So, here we are this morning looking at what Jesus has experienced on the mountain. He has experienced the glory of God, God has spoken and proclaimed that he is his son, and his disciples have witnessed the event. He is now the embodiment of God's glory in a person. He then comes back down the mountain. What I would like us to think about this morning is what happens when he comes down and begins reconnecting and interacting with people. Having experienced all of that glory, what could he have done, how could he have acted? Now, the easy answer is: "well, he was Jesus, and of course, he acted with dignity and grace. He continued to be the gentle teacher he had been up to that point, full of gentleness and peace. But, I have to admit that I like the idea of a Jesus who may have struggled with the issues of power and recognition. I believe he was someone who was aware of what he could have done with the power, the authority, the presence that he now possessed and he chose not to. He could have exercised those things and drawn attention to himself and his own position. Why do I say that? I believe I can draw that conclusion from reading Hebrews 4: 14-16 "Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Right in the center of that reading is this statement: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. "Being tested as we are" means that Jesus faced the question of submission and obedience just like I do, just like we all do, every day. But he chose to exercise humility, he chose to submit his will to the will of his father. Ultimately that meant that he would be arrested, he would be beaten, he would be crucified and he would die the death of a criminal raised up on a tree. Going up on the mountain meant that Jesus was anointed for and with glory and then he chose to use that as preparation for what he was about to go through. What can we learn from this? How can our lives be shaped and formed by this mountaintop experience? Well, I think it shows us that we need to choose. I hope it brings greater truthfulness for us when we read the words that Paul wrote to the Philippians. Philippians 2:1-8 NRSV "If, then, there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation from love, any partnership in the Spirit, any tender affection and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross." Perhaps we are back to talking about grace? Glory or grace? Grace or glory? What is that phrase we use when we talk about Christ Church? Christ Church is a place of..... |
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