The Feast of the…

The Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord | Sermon on 2 Peter 1:16-21, by Samuel David Zumwalt |

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

English Standard Version, [© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers]

LIGHT OF THE WORLD: WITH HIM IN GLORY

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

The Christian faith does not exist in a vacuum. There was a broad marketplace of ideas at the time of the birth of God’s Son in human flesh, and there continued to be a broad marketplace of ideas throughout the time of His earthly ministry, His death, resurrection, ascension, and the birth of His Church. The witness of the New Testament writers happens within that marketplace and calls into question all the alternate good news stories by which people lived. In many ways, we live in no less a broad marketplace of ideas; however, the notion of a post-Christian era begs the question of the extent to which God’s Son has been faithfully proclaimed and clearly heard.

Three hundred years before the birth in human flesh of God’s Son Jesus, the Greek philosopher Epicurus argued against superstition and the idea of divine intervention. Rather, Epicurus proposed the living of simple lives devoted to the avoidance of pain and emotional disturbance. Thus, Epicureanism was, in familiar American terms, all about the pursuit of personal happiness.

Epicureans and those attracted to such ideas would immediately have approached the very idea of God becoming human as superstition and the story of His choice to suffer and die for sinners as a great absurdity. So, then, Peter, his scribe, and other apostles would have been accused of spinning cleverly devised myths hardly different than Zeus coming to earth to sow wild oats.

To such accusations against the apostolic witness, which in our day cynics call fairy tales, Peter writes, “Well, no, this is not some story we dreamed up. We actually saw and heard this story.”

17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

Like the Epicureans in the New Testament era, there are numerous critics, who doubt the truth of the biblical witness. Sadly, a great number of them teach in Christian seminaries or have been ordained into the ministry of communities purporting to be Christian. Like the Epicureans, many bring to the Scriptures a hermeneutic of suspicion that reeks of rationalistic presuppositions and, most revealing, of the Gospel of Progress (“We know more today than they did then”).

Where does this lead? Professor W, Pastor X, and Parishioner Y can say, “Well, on the basis of the latest scholarship, Peter didn’t write this, so this is a piece of pseudonymous authorship that we don’t have to take at face value.” Such is as dubiously argued as when an “authority” says, “Well, Paul wrote it, and we all know he’s a misogynist, a homophobe, and God only knows what else, so… we don’t have to take him at face value.” All of which leads to the very thing about which Peter later warns regarding personal interpretation. On the other hand, the early Church contended Mark actually wrote the Gospel according to Peter, a Galilean fisherman who followed Jesus. In other words, Peter had a scribe, whose Greek and literary style shows through.

If we take the text at face value, Peter’s argument is very clear: “We actually saw. We actually heard. We are eye and ear witnesses. We didn’t make this story up.” Peter presents his bona fides to readers. Using a Lutheran hermeneutic, this serves as a word of Law against the doubters.

19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,

Peter is speaking here of the Old Testament as the prophetic word. The Lord Jesus taught His disciples to read the Old Testament through Himself, whom John called the Word made flesh (John 1:14). Luke reports that the Risen Jesus appeared to Cleopas and friend on the Emmaus road and opened to them the Holy Scriptures concerning Himself (24:13ff.). Luke’s account of Peter’s Pentecost sermon has Peter quoting Joel 2 and Psalms 16 and 110 (Acts 2). Here in v.19 Peter describes the prophetic word like Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet….”

As eye and ear witnesses of the Transfiguration of our Lord, Peter, James, and John have had that prophetic word confirmed more fully as the Lord appeared in glory with Moses and Elijah. Nevertheless, we live out our faith in a world darkened by sin, death, and the old evil one. In the words of the Hebrews writer, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (11:1). God’s Word guides us until faith becomes sight when Christ returns.

20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The Old Testament writers were not making it up as they went along. They were not merely taking their best shot at figuring out God’s good and gracious will as it seemed best or right or fair to them. They were inhabited by the Holy Spirit, who worked through them to speak the Word that God wanted them to speak to His people at a particular time but also for always.

Peter did not think that he was writing a letter to be included in a New Testament, but the Holy Spirit intended Peter to speak not only to 1st century Jewish and Gentile Christians but to the Christians of every time and every place. Today, no less than then, we need to hear Peter’s eye and ear witness and to take it at face value as an encouragement to believers still living in a world darkened by sin, death, and the old evil one.

There would be no Christian Church today without the witness of our Lord’s closest followers, who heard Him, saw Him innocently nailed to the cross and dead, saw Him bodily raised from the dead with the marks of the nails in His feet and side, and who saw Him, off and on, for an extended period of time before His ascension. The embarrassment about their biblical witness in our day speaks to the unbelief of some who claim to be Christian while acting as if the Lord Jesus only came to teach Torah to Gentiles. In short, those who will not preach and teach the Scriptures in accordance with the creeds and Lutheran confessional writings ought neither to call themselves Lutheran Christians or even generic Christians.

The greatest danger is not that some will die both in their sins and their unbelief. Rather, the greatest danger is that cultured despisers of the biblical witness will cause countless “little ones” to stumble and fall into great sin and unbelief. Hence, we sinners who flee to the Lord for mercy ought never to cease praying for the conversion of historical revisionists to a passionately orthodox trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, His Father, and the Holy Spirit. Kyrie eleison!

As we prepare our hearts and minds to enter into Great Lent and contemplation of the mystery of our Lord Jesus’ death for us sinners, we remember that He is indeed risen and remains the Light of the world shining in the darkness of sin, death, and the old evil one. We have the witness of those who have seen and heard the great things God has done for us, our salvation, and that of the whole world.

But we have more than an ancient witness in our midst. We have our Lord’s own promise that He is present in more than a spiritual, disembodied sense about which many calling themselves Christians can only sing and say. We have our Lord’s actual promise: “This is my Body… This is my Blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Having become His disciples by our Baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yes, by our Baptism into our Lord Jesus’ saving death and glorious resurrection. We sinners now can come with empty hands uplifted to receive the very Body and most precious Blood of our Lord in the Host and Cup. So, then, we don’t just talk about Jesus, sing about Jesus, or even just listen to Jesus. We actually receive Jesus, the Medicine of Immortality, and He enters into our mouths in order to inhabit our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls that we may be His own!

Today, we sing our last alleluias until the Easter Vigil. But we know that all the company of heaven continues to give honor and glory to the Lamb, His Father, and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. May none who hear or read these words fail by loss of faith, of heart, or hope to be joined to that eternal song of gladness with Him in glory. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.