HTLC Sermon Notes: 02.15.26 Transfiguration of Our Lord

Kids put away the alleluias

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One of the things I’ve been doing for Continuing Ed in this new year is watching a video series about preaching sermons. It’s taught by Rob Bell, who is a very modern Lutheran pastor. One of the most impactful things Pastor Bell has said in this series is “One shouldn’t compose a sermon because you have to say something. You preach a sermon because you have something to say.”

You know me well enough by now to know that I always have something to say!

But this week there is so much to say, so much to think about, so much to learn … Fasten your seatbelts.

First, let’s set the stage: Matthew’s gospel begins with “Six days later”. I was curious and had to find out or remind myself about ‘Six days later than what’? What happened six days ago? Well, six days before this Peter had declared that Jesus was the Son of God, and then shortly after, Jesus told Peter to “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Then Jesus went on to tell the disciples that he would be crucified, die, and rise again.

So six days after that conversation, Jesus is now taking three people up the mountain where they have an experience with the supernatural.

Jesus is transfigured before their very eyes.

Moses and Elijah appeared to them, Peter offers to build some tents, a cloud covers the scene, and the voice of God is heard. Peter, James, and John fall flat on their faces. This is scary stuff; it’s confusing stuff; but it’s also amazing stuff! Jesus tells them to get up, and shortly afterwards, they head back down the mountain.

Jesus was revealed to Peter, James, and John as divine in this moment, and Jesus was revealed to Moses and Elijah as human. I think that’s worth mentioning. It is the very embodiment of Jesus being both divine and human.

If you think this story sounds vaguely familiar, yes…you have just heard it about Moses in the passage from Exodus. Moses was on a mountain six days — on the seventh day, a cloud came over the mountain, and Moses was given the Ten Commandments. I’m quite certain this isn’t a coincidence. As a person who knew the Torah, Matthew meant to draw those parallels.

I mentioned before that this is kind of confusing. Those poor disciples have been on quite a journey and it’s not over yet.

We, too, are on a journey. We, too, are living in confusing times, aren’t we?

The world is in turmoil — our country is divided — we even disagreed about what to watch at halftime during the Super Bowl!

Changes are always all around us, but it seems right now people might be more confused than ever.

So Iet me share with you three pieces of advice taken right from today’s gospel of Matthew:

First, up on that mountain God said quite clearly “:::listen to him.” The story of Jesus still has a lot of good advice and answers. We may not all agree on interpreting what Jesus says, but if we sincerely look to Jesus with open hearts and open minds, if we listen to his Invitation to follow him, and listen to his command to love one another, we will be on the right track.

Next, Jesus tells the disciples to get up. This is based on the Greek word for raise up. It’s used in many places in the Bible:

-Jesus heals the paralytic, telling him, “Stand up” (Matthew 9:6-7);

-Jesus takes the hand of the dead daughter of the synagogue leader, “and the girl got up” (Matthew 9:25);

-Jesus foretells his own resurrection (Matthew 16:21)

-The angel tells the women who come to Jesus’ tomb, “He is not here for he has been raised, as he said” (Matthew 28:6).

And that’s just to name a few!

So yes, life is confusing at times, but Jesus comes to us in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, touches us, and says, “Get up, be raised” It’s the promise that though life might change, it has not ended.

We don’t need to sit around weeping or wringing our hands. We don’t need to let worry overcome us. We need to get up and do something! Be salt and light.

The third piece of advice we can take from Jesus today is, “Do not be afraid”

This is mentioned all through the gospel -- words perhaps never more needed than now. The fears we experience may be different. The threat of terrorism, the prospect of job loss, illness, unexpected death, the list goes on. Fear is a part of the common fabric of our lives even though it might be different for each of us. And to all these different fears, the gospel reply is the same: Because God is God of the past, present, and future, we need not fear.

This is not the same as saying that we will have no problems, or that we will avoid all harm and hardship. Rather, it is recognizing that when we trust God for our individual and common good and believe that God is with us, we need not fear.

Sometimes I say this at the very end of the sermon, but the fact that we need not fear is not just good news….

So there you have it. I told you I had plenty to say today! To help us better face our challenges, confusion, and yes, fear in our world — we need to listen to Jesus — we need to get up and do something — and we need to not fear.

Jesus is with us. God wins!

Amen.