Worship Service – February 27, 2022

Dear Church Family & Friends,

We pray all is going well for you. That isn’t always the case, and we need some extra prayer. Please share if that is needed. If you would like to donate to our church so we can do more mission work locally and worldwide, please go to our site franklinhillpresbyterian.org and check it out. We have a donation button and it’s pretty easy to donate. So many are in need now and we as God’s people feel we need to help where we can.

Let us…spur one another on toward love and good deeds…Let us encourage one another. Hebrews 10: 24-25

Sunday February 27,2022

“Transfiguration Sunday”

Scriptures; Exodus 34:29-35, 2Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Sermon Scripture; Luke 9:26-36

Message; ”Stories of Transformation”

Exodus 34:29-35

The Radiant Face of Moses

(29)When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord . (30) When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. (31) But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. (32) Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.

(33) When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. (34) But whenever he entered the Lord ‘s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, (35) they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 3:12- 4:2

(12) Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. (13) We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. (14) But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. (15) Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. (16) But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (17) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (18) And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (4:1) Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. (2) Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

Luke 9:26-36

The Transfiguration

(26) If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. (27) I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.” (28) About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John, and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. (29) As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. (30) Two men, Moses and Elijah, (31) appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. (32) Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. (33) As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters–one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)

(34) While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. (35) A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” (36) When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and told no one at that time what they had seen.

This is the word of God. For the People of God. Thanks be to God.

You don’t have to raise your hand, but is there anyone in this room who worries about your appearance? Most of us, right?

You may remember the time-honored story of the woman who was working in her front yard when a moving van pulled up next door. Her new neighbors drove up behind the moving van. While the movers were unloading the van, the new neighbors walked over and greeted the woman. She was a bit self- conscious because she had dirt on her hands and face and was wearing dirty, old clothes.

A few days later the new neighbors invited the woman and her husband to an open house. This was the woman’s opportunity to make a better impression. She colored her hair, put on a girdle, glossed her lips, applied eye shadow and false eyelashes, polished her fingernails, and popped in her colored contact lenses. She stepped to the mirror and admiringly told her husband, “Now the new neighbors will get to see the real me.”

Our Old Testament reading today, is that scene where Moses comes down from Mt. Sinai with the tablets of stone, The Ten Commandments, one in each arm. He comes down to the people at the foot of the mountain. But the people don’t notice the tablets. All they can see is Moses’ face. They stare at his face. They know something has happened to Moses up there on the mountain. They can see it in his face. He is a different man now. Moses wasn’t like the woman in my opening story. Moses was focused on his mission and didn’t realize the change in his outward appearance.

Our text begins by saying: “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord .”

We all learn at some point in our lives, that the experiences you have will shape your appearance and how the people you associate with every day react when you encounter them. The people knew that Moses had been with God. They could see it on his face. Their reaction must have surprised him, and made him take a look at his own appearance.

We know this because the text goes on to say that Moses had to wear a veil over his face because the people, were looking at the glory of God shining in the face of Moses. They were afraid to look at Moses because you were not supposed to look upon God. The “glory” is all you can see of God. “Glory” is biblical shorthand for, “the presence of God.” God is light, like the brightness of the sun. When you look at the sun, all you can see is light. You can’t see the sun itself. You can’t even look at the light for very long. That is the way they believed God was. When you see His “glory,” you are seeing the presence of God.

Let me help you in your understanding of the people‘s reaction and Moses’ reaction by telling you, my experience.

As many of you know, before I was called into full time ministry, I worked as a truck mechanic, and the garage I worked in, was not unlike so many other. The men I worked with, their language, to say the least was crude. You know what I mean. Every other word out of their mouth’s was a curse word. But that all changed in the last few years of my employment there as I started my journey into the ministry as a lay pastor. They started to see God at work in me, as my appearance, my vocabulary and mannerisms changed. A lot of the times when these changes happened, I didn’t even realize it. At first many of the other mechanics avoided me and when they did talk to me their language was more of a genteel nature. Apologizing to me whenever they would slip in their conversation by saying something profane. Whenever I would enter the break room all of a sudden thing would get quiet. Conversations between them would stop, or the subject matter would change to sound more like church talk rather than shop talk. I now realize that they could see the “Glory of God”, “The presence of God”, in me. Although there were times when I wish I could have been like Moses and wore a veil to cover my face when my action and speech faded from being in God’s presence.

As we look to the epistle lesson today, from 2 Corinthians. Paul takes this Old Testament story about the veil of Moses, and he uses it as an example to talk about the Christian life. He points out, at first Moses came down from the mountain with two tablets of stone. The Law was written on stone, but we Christians, he says, have the Law “written on our hearts.” Secondly, he points out, Moses had a veil over his face. But we don’t have veils. We are not veiled from the glory of God. It is a painful lesson, and an unfortunate one in many ways. He writes this: “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”(3:18)

He is saying, just as the Hebrews looking at Moses’ face knew that he had been talking to God, so people ought to see in you the evidence that you have been with Jesus. You and I should be changing into his likeness, from one degree of glory to another. In the same passage he says that you are, for lack of a better term, “a letter of recommendation” from God. People looking at you ought to be able to see that you have been with Jesus, and see some quality in your life that makes you attractive and makes them want to find out, what is it about you? What has happened to you?

Let’s go to the gospel reading for today. It’s the event called,” The Transfiguration”. This event is not only recorded for us in our gospel reading of Luke, but we can also find it in Matthew 17:1-8 and Mark 9:2-8.

We know today as “Transfiguration Sunday”, the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the season of Lent. This is the end of the season of Epiphany, which began the first Sunday in January.

In this season we have been celebrating the way that God’s glory has been displayed in the life of Jesus. The season began with Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan. In that text it says, “The heavens were opened, and a voice said, ‘This is my Son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.’” The season ends on this Sunday, where once again the heavens open and a voice from heaven says, “This is my Son.” Then it adds this line, “Listen to him!”

It’s addressed to the disciples. There are three of them on the mountain with Jesus. Peter, James, and John. They have accompanied Jesus up to the mountain where Jesus prays. While he is praying, his face is transfigured. There is a bright light. The appearance of his face has changed. That can only mean one thing. He was talking to God, just like Moses on Sinai has his face changed by talking to God. That’s what happens when you get close to God. Your appearance changes.

Let me ask you this. When you have your picture taken, are you nervous about the results? They say, “the camera doesn’t lie,” but you and I know better. A woman said to the photographer, “I hope your camera will do me justice.” He said, “Ma’am, you don’t need justice, you need mercy.” That photographer told the woman the same thing that God tells and offers to each and every one of us. We all need mercy not justice from him.

Anyway, Peter, James and John are there. They see this. In fact, it is for their benefit and ours, that the transfiguration happens. They also see Moses standing on one side of Jesus, and on the other side, Elijah. Just as quickly as they saw what happened, it disappeared. And there is Jesus, praying, alone.

I guess, to understand it you really had to be there. So, I am going to take you there. Actually, I am going to take you to an event about a week before this happened to a meeting with the disciples and Jesus at a place called Caesarea Philippi, using a culmination of all three gospel accounts.

Jesus announced to them that they are going to Jerusalem, and there he will be killed. Peter immediately protests, Matthew and Mark records for us: “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” ‘Never, Lord!” “This shall never happen to you!” I can imagine Peter was thinking, “No, I won’t let it happen! How can you do such a thing! Everything is going so well here in Galilee. Everything that you accomplished is going to be lost!” But just then Jesus interrupted him, shouting at him, actually, “Get behind me, Satan!”(Matthew 16:21-23)

That’s the way that meeting ended. For the next week it must have been terrible. Their relationship was probably, cool and distant. They are traveling together, so they ate together. You can imagine how it was. They probably weren’t even talking at the meals. Then the eighth day, as Luke records for us, Jesus told Peter, James, and John, “Come with me while I pray.” There a epiphany occurred. It was for the disciples, and our benefit.

Do you know what the word epiphany means? It means, a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

I think it happened this way. Peter must have been dreaming. Luke says he was half-asleep. But we know that when Jesus went off to pray, many times he took Peter with him to stand watch. Remember that scene in the Garden of Gethsemane, three times he asked Peter to stand watch. Peter says, “I will.” Three times Jesus comes back, and Peter is asleep. Peter and I definitely have this in common. Peter couldn’t stay up late at night. He is always going to sleep while Jesus is praying. He’s probably dozing his head bobbing.

I believe Luke was being kind when he says Peter was half-awake when this happened. I don’t know for sure, and it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that he saw something up there that changed his life. He saw Moses and Elijah, just for a moment, standing of either side of Jesus. Moses is the giver of the Law. Elijah is the first prophet. So, the two together constitute “The Law and the Prophets,” which is all the authority a Hebrew needed. There they are, probably their arms around Jesus talking to him. Then a voice comes from a cloud, “This is my Son. Listen to him!”

So, if Peter had any doubts about Jesus, whether he was Messiah or not, or if he had any questions about whether or not he should have given his life to Jesus, they were dispelled in that moment. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, that’s all it was, an epiphany, and the shattered pieces of Peter’s life came back together, and he found new direction, purpose and power for his life.

Now what I wished happen next in the text, is for the three disciples to go down the mountain with Jesus with their faces aglow, looking like they have been skiing up there. But instead, as they come down, Jesus says, “Don’t tell anybody about this.” Then they head for Jerusalem. Nevertheless, it must have been one of those transforming experiences. The kind that can change your appearance, and cause people to ask, “What has happened to you? You’re different.”

This story has all the ear marks of a genuine “Peter” story. Later on, in his life Peter will go around to the churches and tell the story of his transformation. What it was like to be with Jesus. All the apostles did that. That is how we got the stories that are in the New Testament. The apostles told what it was like to be transformed by God, and the Church wrote the stories down and eventually they became the four gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke tell this story, in their own words but each gospel writer puts it in the same place. They all say that it happened just before they left for Jerusalem, testifying to the importance of this story in the life of Peter, and in the life of the Church.

Like all great stories the “Transfiguration” has multiple layers of meaning. But I want to suggest that one reason that it was so important for the Church of Peter’s Day, was because they expected to have similar experiences. They got discouraged. They too, went astray. They made mistakes. They did things they weren’t proud of. They said things that they wished they could take back.

They felt terrible about it, and they hoped they could have an epiphany experience like Peter experienced.

You see Peter, in many ways is like us. We too, can have an epiphany, something that will reorder our lives and bring us back together, and give us a purpose and meaning and power in our lives. If that can happen to Peter, then it can happen to us. And we could say, if it happened to the early Church, then it can happen to us in this Church.

I don’t know what form an epiphany would take in your life. Probably you won’t see anything as spectacular as what Peter saw on the mountain, the Transfiguration. But on the other hand, you never know.

Do you have a story of transformation? Has God transformed you? By the “Grace of God”, he sent his son to die on the cross and was resurrected for you so that you can experience an epiphany and be transformed into his likeness.

As we head into the season of “Lent”, will you be able to share your “Stories of Transformation”. I pray you will.

In His Service,

Pastor Joe