“See for Yourself ”Sunday, February 19, 2023Horseheads First UMC
Sermon Series: “Jesus Changes Everything!”
Main Text: Matthew 17:1-9
Secondary Text: II Peter 1:16-21
Theme: Jesus changes our direction.
Summary of Message:
At some point in our faith journey with Jesus, we each must experience his presence and power first – hand. It is this personal experience that solidifies our faith during the coming trials and tribulations of life. Like the disciples who saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain, our understanding of all the meaning of our personal experience with him will mature with time. But the experience itself will serve as an anchor in the storm. Have you had a personal experience with God?
Prayer for Illumination
Transport us, O God, to the mountaintop with you. Let us leave behind in the valley anything that would blunt our hearing of your word. Blind us with the dazzling truth of your glory, once again. Let the gospel address us as if for the first time, through the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.==
Have you seen God for yourself? Have you ever met the power and presence of Jesus, personally in your life? If you have, what did he look like?
We look for signs of God among us; and looking we sometimes get confused.
Nov. 30, 2004 — Diana Duyser says she took a bite of the sandwich 10 years ago, saw the image of Mary, and immediately decided that this blessed snack was not to be eaten.
When a partially eaten, 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich said to bear the image of the Virgin Mary sold for $28,000, you knew it had to be a sign of something, although not necessarily divine. The posting became an Internet sensation, eventually getting more than 1.6 million hits.
The new owner of the famed sandwich, online casino GoldenPalace.com, is putting it on display at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, also in Hollywood, Fla. It It took the partially eaten religious icon on tour.
- The ‘NunBun’ of Nashville, Tenn.
A good cup of coffee is hard to find, and so is a breakfast roll with an uncanny likeness to Mother Teresa. On the morning of Oct. 15, 1996, the store manager at the Bongo Java coffee shop looked at a pastry and found the saintly nun staring him in the face
The legend of the “NunBun” was born. The confection was shellacked for all eternity as the media converged for a breakfast treat that was soon to be known as “The Immaculate Confection,” “The Divine Dough” and “The Cin-a-Nun.”
The bends of the roll just perfectly capture Mother Teresa’s face, draped in a shawl, with cinnamon accentuating her deep-set, soulful eyes. Disbelievers still claimed the cinnamon roll more closely resembles Doc from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
The death of Mother Teresa in September 1997 did not dampen believers’ enthusiasm. The NunBun has joined Opryland as one of Nashville’s most famous tourist attractions.
“An evil generation seeks a sign” according to Jesus.
Matthew 16:3
And in the morning, “It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.” You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.’ Then he left them and went away.
==
Good seeing.
That’s what astronomers love more than anything else. “Good seeing” means that the Earth’s atmosphere is calm and free of dust, and the sky takes on a dark blue color. Astronomers will climb to the very tops of mountains, well above the cloud deck, in search of a sky clear enough to enable them to capture sharp and stable images of heavenly bodies.
LENT BEGINS THIS WED.: AND THIS WED. WE MARK OURSELVES WITH ASHES, AN ancient rite in the Christian church. Methodist? Not as much, but recently decades have seen protestants also return to this ancient rite. (WED AT 7:00 THIS WEEK, RIGHT HERE!)
“YOU HAVE COME FROM DUST AND TO DUST SHALL ONE DAY RETURN, REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL.”
ONCE, STATIC FROM THE CARPETED SANCTUARY MADE ME SHOCK A PARISHIONER, THE PARISHIONER WHO HAD BECOME MY “STALKER,” A SPECIAL NEEDS ADULT. WHEN SHE CAME FORWARD AND I PREPARED MY FINGER IN THE ASHES, THEN THE SPARK FLEW FROM MY FINGER TO HER FOREHEAD AND I HTOUGHT SHE WOULD BE SLAIN IN THE SPIRIT;
NOTHING LIKE STATIC SHOCK TO LET YOU KNOW GOD IS IN THE HOUSE.
You might say that Peter, James and John are in search of “good seeing” when they follow Jesus up to the top of a high mountain on the day of the transfiguration. They climb up to an altitude where the sky is a luminous blue, and at the peak Jesus is transfigured before them, and his face shines like the sun (Matthew 17:2). Through the power of God, Jesus undergoes a metamorphosis, a change in form, a transformation — he begins to glow with the glory reserved for heavenly beings. His face shines “like the sun,” says Matthew — sending off a blast of brightness that is positively out of this world.
Peter says it this way: “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.” (I Tim. 1:4)
Seeking signs and wonders makes the real thing pale in comparison.
The question for you is, have you seen the majesty of God in the face of Jesus Christ?
Good seeing. It simply doesn’t get any better than this. At some point in our faith journey with Jesus, we each must experience his presence and power first – hand. It is this personal experience that solidifies our faith during the coming trials and tribulations of life.
“Lord, it is good for us to be here,” whispers Peter, after adjusting to the brightness before him; “if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (v. 4).
Now you might think that this is an exceedingly stupid suggestion for Peter to make. But think again. Peter is actually showing good spiritual sense here, because he knows that a “dwelling” — also called a “tabernacle” — is the best possible place to keep the fiery cloud that marks the presence of God himself. Peter is not talking about building three shacks on the mountaintop — he wants to construct three holy tabernacles to house the divine glory that is glowing before him.
His offer is not ridiculous. It’s respectable.
But before Peter can open his toolbox, a bright cloud overshadows them, and a voice from the cloud booms, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” (v. 5).
So the disciples fall to the ground, overcome with fear. God has appeared in power and glory and spoken directly to them, repeating the words that he spoke at the baptism of Jesus (3:17). The only addition is God’s clear command to listen — listen to Jesus! Any doubt the disciples may have had about Jesus is instantly erased. They know that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
Then Jesus blazed before them in majesty and power and glory, reaches out and offers them a surprisingly tender touch. “Get up and do not be afraid,” he says to them, and when they look up they see no one but Jesus himself, alone.
LENTEN THURSDAYS IN MARCH: COFFEE AND COMMUNION. I WILL READ EXCERPTS FROM HENRI NOUWEN’S “LIFE OF THE BELOVED.” IN THIS BOOK HE CAPITALIZES ON THE VOICE FROM HEAVEN ABOUT JESUS AND ASKS, WHAT IF GOD ALSO CALLED YOU BELOVED? “THIS IS MY BELOVED.”
The day of transfiguration was clearly a day of good seeing. The disciples were like astronomers on the rim of an ancient volcano, half a mile above the cloud deck, pointing their high-tech instruments straight at a brilliant disk of fire in the sky. And like modern scientists, the disciples were getting an unobstructed view of the source of our energy, a clear look at the closest connection we have to the power of the universe.
Paul says it this way, to the Colossians,
“Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created … all things have been created through him and for him” (1:15-16).
The source of all light and life on earth is revealed to be Jesus of Nazareth, the one who walks with us down the mountain, and stays with us through all our hardships, reminding us that God is with us, always with us, and that he will never let us go.
Get up and do not be afraid. That’s what the mightiest power in the universe says to us when we feel:
frustrated by failure,
ransacked by bad relationships,
battered by betrayal,
soiled by sin,
and depressed by mental, physical or spiritual deterioration.
“Get up!” says Jesus. “I am offering you light and new life.”
The marvelous promise of the resurrection is that there is always new life to be found on the other side of suffering and death. “Do not be afraid,” counsels Jesus. “I am going to walk with you, and assure you of the presence of God in your life.” The greatest guarantee of Christ’s companionship is that nothing in all creation — no pain or crying, suffering or dying — can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39).
So keep looking up. Jesus is our light and our life, our “bright morning star,” the one that can lead us and guide us (Revelation 22:16).
Even through a storm.
But the experience itself will serve as an anchor in the storm. Have you had a personal experience with God?
Benediction
The good news of God’s love is not just a message for the mountaintop. It is a glorious charge and a holy calling. As we leave this house of worship, may we be transfigured ourselves, radiant, refreshed for God’s mission. Let us depart with fervent hope and renewed energy. Let our lives be witnesses to the gospel; let God’s Spirit DWELL IN each of us!
