Sunday 03/02/14 Freeville/Homer Ave
UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Get up and do not be afraid!”
(The things that Jesus
taught us series, Part 5 of 5)
Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 99
New Testament Scripture Lesson: 2 Peter 1:16-21
Gospel Lesson: Mathew 17:1-9
Brothers and
sisters, welcome again this morning, on this, our “Transfiguration Sunday.”
This is the Sunday in the church calendar that we celebrate Jesus going up on a
mountain and performing the miracle of being “Transfigured” or being physically
changed and altered before some of the disciples. Of all of the miracles that
Jesus performed, being “Transfigured” was unique in this instance, because
Jesus didn’t just heal, didn’t just raise the dead, and didn’t just perform all
manner of miracles, but in addition to this, he literally changed or “Transfigured”
his appearance in front of some of the disciples.
This great
miracle is the one that we celebrate this morning, as we are about to enter
into a time of Holy Lent in the Christian Calendar. In fact, Lent will begin this
Wednesday with Ash Wednesday. On this Ash Wednesday, we are called to prepare
our hearts and our minds for the coming death and then the resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ. This Ash Wednesday, I will be having a service at the
Freeville United Methodist Church, and one of the traditions that the United
Methodist Church has embraced in more recent years, is that of the imposition
of ashes on people foreheads. We do this to be marked, to be humbled, and to be
prepared to enter into a season of reflection and preparation for what Jesus
Christ is about to do for all of us.
You see as the
Lenten Bible Study book that this church is going to study this Lenten Season
is called, “He Set His Face to Jerusalem,” soon he is going to die for us all,
to bring us to new life. He is going to Jerusalem to suffer, to die, and to be
raised to new life.
Today though as
I said, he will change his very appearance before some of his followers, some
of his disciples. He will show himself in dazzling white, and he will show once
more, why he is the living God.
In doing a
five-week sermon on “the things that Jesus taught us,” we heard the first week of
this series as Jesus gave the “Sermon on the Mount.” In this sermon commonly
known as the “Beatitudes,” Jesus taught us that the poor, the lowly, and the down
trodden are blessed in God’s eyes, if they but cry out to Jesus. In the second
week of this series, Jesus taught us that we must be pure like salt, and that
we must show the love of God like a bright light in a world with so much
violence, oppression, and darkness. We need to be “Salt and Light.” On the
third week of this series on the “things that Jesus taught us,” Jesus taught us
to “Try to be Holy,” and to try to be like Him. Jesus taught us that when we
fall and fail, that he will pick us back up, and that he will forgive us all of
our sins and our transgressions. Last week Jesus taught us to “Love each other,
and strive for perfection.” That we are to love all people, and to strive to be
made more and more holy, like Jesus Christ. That over our lifetime we can
become more and more pure, until we are as close to being like Jesus as
possible. This week, and the last week of this series, Jesus teaches us to “Get
up and do not be afraid!”
In calling
upon the Polish side of my ethnic heritage, during the time that Pope John Paul
II was the head of the Roman Catholic Church, he took a strong stand against
communism in Eastern Europe. The Polish side of my family was also excited that
Pope John Paul II was Polish. While Pope John Paul II was leading the Roman
Catholic Church, he would often say to Christians in Eastern Europe where he
took a strong stand, “do not be afraid.” That we should not be afraid, for we
are Children of God, and ours is the Lord. That even though a God-less
dictatorship was ruling Eastern Europe, that as Christians we should “not be
afraid,” for ours is the Lord.
Sometimes in
our lives we have fears, or even fears of God. Jesus says though, if you love
and trust me, “Get up and do not be afraid,” for I will be with you until the
end of the age. “Get up and do not be afraid!”
When looking
at our Old Testament reading from Psalm 99 for this morning, it begins with, “The
LORD is king; let the peoples tremble!” You see when Jesus was up on the “high mountain,”
as it says in today’s gospel reading, the Apostles that were there, were
terrified. The Psalm goes on to say that “He sits enthroned upon the cherubim;
let the earth quake! The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the
peoples.”
When we hear
the words “let the earth quake” many of us might have fear at hearing these
words, but Jesus says, “Get up and do not be afraid!” Then the Psalm goes on to
say however, “Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!” In
general then, this Psalm is showing us the great and awesome power of God. It
says, “Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have
executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.” God is fair and just. God is
good, yet powerful.
This scripture
then talks about how “Moses and Aaron were among his priests,” and how when “They
cried to the LORD” that the “LORD” answered them. In fact, the Psalm says that
the LORD “spoke to them in the pillar of cloud,” and then goes on to say, “Extol
the LORD our God, and worship at his mountain; for the LORD out God is holy.” So
as we will hear in our gospel reading today, God spoke to Moses, Aaron, and
ever Samuel “in the pillar of cloud,” and the Psalm says to “worship at his
holy mountain,” as Jesus will go worship and be “Transfigured” on the mountain.
When looking
at the second epistle or letter of Peter, the Apostle Peter talked about the “coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and that they had been “eyewitnesses of his majesty.”
The Apostle Peter then said, “For he received honor and glory from God the
Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This
is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Peter citing Jesus’ “Transfiguration”
on the mountain, went on to say, “We ourselves heard his voice come from
heaven, while were with him on the holy mountain.” This again, is the
re-telling of the story of the “Transfiguration” of Jesus Christ.
Within this,
the Apostle Peter is telling some of the people of the early church, “So we
have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be
attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and
the morning start rises in your hearts.” The Apostle Peter then concludes this
portion of his second letter by saying, that any piece of scripture is not “a
matter of one’s interpretation,” because everything in scripture is from people
moved by the Holy Spirit from God.
When
looking at the gospel reading this morning from the gospel of Mathew, it begins
with, “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John
and led them up on a high mountain, by themselves.” Then the gospel said, “And
he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his
clothes became dazzling white.” Then the gospel said, “Suddenly there appeared
to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.”
Then
the Apostle Peter being Peter said, “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.” As Peter was speaking though, as he said in the reading from his
second letter from the morning God then spoke. In fact, the gospel says, “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!” Well of course
the Apostle Peter failed to insert the part of this story where God said, “listen
to him!”
When
God spoke these words, Peter, James, and James’ brother John “fell to ground
and were overcome by fear.” The gospel then says, “But Jesus came and touched
them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” Just then, “they looked up” and “they
saw no one except Jesus himself alone.” Then as they were coming down from the
mountain, Jesus said, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man
had been raised from the dead.”
The
reality is that we all have times that we are afraid, and we might even have
times that we feel inadequate before God. Times were we feel unworthy, and
tremble and God’s power. Yet Jesus says, if you have faith in me, then get up
and do not be afraid. Know that I love you to the end of age, and that you are
my beloved.
When
thinking about Jesus teaching us to “Get up and do not be afraid,” I would like
to close with a story. This story is about a German pastor, seminary professor,
and theologian from World War II named Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was
strongly opposed to Nazism, and would pay the ultimate price for resisting the
evils of Hitler’s Germany.
In
Bonhoeffer being a devote Protestant Christian, he knew that Jesus meant it
when he said, “Love you neighbor as yourself.” In fact, when Adolf Hitler
became the chancellor, which is similar to a Prime Minister of Germany in 1933,
Bonhoeffer realized that dark curtain had fallen over Germany. Bonhoeffer
realized that this leader named Hitler meant to massacre millions of Jews and
others, and that he knew that Jesus meant it when he said, “Love your neighbor as
yourself.” Bonhoeffer saw pastor and priest one after another swear allegiance to
Hitler and the Nazis, yet in his heart, Bonhoeffer knew that God called him to
love all people.
As
a result Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer preached a sermon in 1940 called, “God is my Fuhrer.” The word Fuhrer in German means leader. So, “God
is my Fuhrer.” “Get up and do not be afraid!”
When there is wickedness, and you are tempted to do the wrong thing, Jesus says
trust me, and “Get up and do not be afraid!”
Bonhoeffer
would go on to spend some of the war in prison, some of it running a seminary
in Northern Germany called Finkenwalde, all the while speaking out against the
violence, oppression, and the genocide of Nazi Germany. “Get up and do not be
afraid.”
Ultimately
Bonhoeffer was imprisoned, and he actually through codes in books helped in
prison to coordinate “Operation Valkyrie” in 1944. What is “Operation Valkyrie”
you might ask? In 1944, Adolf Hitler was almost killed by an exploding brief case
that secret Nazi opposition planted to attempt to kill Hitler.
A
week before Hitler committed suicide in an act of total cowardice, and Nazi
Germany was surrendered, Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was marched out of his prison
cell naked, was taken to the gallows, and was hung. You see Hitler before he
cowardly took his own life, wanted to make sure that people like Bonhoeffer
were killed first. Shortly before Bonhoeffer was killed, he was seen laughing,
praying, and praising God. He died with Jesus in heart, for he knew where he
was going. For Jesus had taught him to “Get up and do not be afraid!”
As a
result of all this, Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a theologian studied a just
about every seminary, his books are likely in the book stores you go into, and
they even now offer entire seminary classes on his teaching. Why do we do this?
We do this because people like Bonhoeffer stood fast and kept the faith, and
believed in the power of Jesus Christ. Believed Jesus when said, “Get up and do
not be afraid!”
Brothers
and sisters, this week and always, let us seek God, and when we fall, let us “Get
up” and “not be afraid.” Amen.
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