Only Jesus
Psalm
27 English Standard Version (ESV)
The
Lord Is My Light and My Salvation
Of
David.
27
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The
Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2
When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries
and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.
3
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not
fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.
4
One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek
after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the
days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to
inquire in his temple.
Today
is the Super Bowl....or so I've heard! for me if the Packers aren't
involved, there is NO football. So now it's time to wait for
baseball...pitchers and catchers report Feb 19th!
Which
reminds me, someone was inspired by Steve's sermon series on “why
no one attends church anymore” and sent me this:
Reasons
A Local Minister Stopped Attending Sports Events
Every
time I went, they asked me for money.
The people I had to sit
with didn't seem very friendly.
The seats were very hard.
The coach never came to visit me.
The referee made a decision
I don't agree with.
Some games went into overtime and I was
late getting home.
The band played some songs I had never
heard before.
The games are scheduled when I want to do other
things.
I don't want to take my children because I want them
to choose for themselves what sport they like best.
My
parents took me to too many games when I was growing up!
{From
the book _Holy Humor_ by Cal & Rose Samra.}
Psalm
27 is a Psalm of David, it may have been written when he was
about to be crowned King of Israel, or it may have been composed
later when he had been fighting some battles as king. As we see in so
many of the psalms, the writer has had strife, but is re-focusing,
reminding himself and those around him of the depth of the love and
protection of God. He intentionally brings himself back to God...And
David writes...sings...”one thing I desire...”to dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty
of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”
This,
like so much of the Bible, pertains to the time that it was written;
David was praying personally to be close to the Lord always, but it
is also a foreshadowing..of eternity in heaven! It's a reminder that
while things in life can bring struggle and may seem overwhelming,
God's love and the promise of Eternal life, overwhelms even the
hardest times we have.
Our
Gospel lesson is from Mark..
Passage
immediately follows Peter's declaration “You are the Christ!”
and these verses are followed by Jesus predicting that he will be
killed and after 3 days will rise from the dead! And the disciples
just don't understand what that means.
Mark
9 NIV
The
Transfiguration
2
After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them
up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was
transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter
than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared
before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter
said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up
three shelters―one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6
(He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
7
Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the
cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
8
Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with
them except Jesus.
This
story, the Transfiguration, is told in the 3 synoptic gospels,
Matthew, Mark and Luke. It is a turning point. From this point on,
Jesus is on the path to his final destiny in Jerusalem.
Jesus
took his three closest disciples, Peter, James, and John. Peter, the
impetuous, action first, mouth running before brain is engaged,
Peter. John who would refer to himself as the disciple Jesus loved.
And his brother James. James and John were the ones Jesus called,
“The Sons of Thunder.” So these 3 that Jesus took up the mountain
with him, were far from perfect were they? Yet these are the 3 that
Jesus was the closest to.
And
they were the three that witnessed this moment..this moment when
Jesus' divinity was revealed. Jesus, up on a mountain, echoing Moses
meeting God on Mount Sinai. Jesus is radiant, with his clothes whiter
than could be achieved by anyone! And Moses and Elijah with him,
talking to him! And then a cloud and a voice coming out of that
cloud!
Why
do Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus? Moses is a symbol of the
Torah, the books of the law in the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible
contains books of the Law, the Prophets and the Wisdom. God used
Moses as the great deliverer of the Hebrew people. He led them out of
400 years of slavery in Egypt. He led them through 40 years in the
desert wilderness. God was with them all the way, in a cloud by day
and a pillar of fire by night.
Elijah
was a prophet, who was 'taken up to heaven'- and according to the
prophet Malachi, God would again send “Elijah the prophet-- before
the great and awesome day of the Lord
comes”.
Indeed,
just a couple verses later, Jesus would remind the disciples of this,
so they would understand that John the Baptist had fulfilled that
role, telling that the Messiah, Jesus, was coming and pointing him
out to the people!
the
words, “listen to him” come from Deuteronomy, Moses' sermon to
the Hebrew people, Deut 18:15 “The LORD your God will raise up for
you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers―it is to
him you shall listen”
Moses
symbolized the Torah, Elijah the prophets. But once Jesus arrived,
HE was everything. The law, the prophets, the wisdom. Each of these
things is an aspect of God. God is so vast, that we, even though we
are created in the image of God, we can barely fathom God. So we have
these aspects of God, sort of like facets on a diamond or precious
stone. Each facet shows a part of the whole and helps us to see the
brilliance within the stone! But it is only one facet or one aspect,
not the whole.
In
the Bible there are many, many names of God, because there are so
many aspects or facets of God. And we sometimes can relate to one
aspect, or need one facet. Just as we all like different things...ok
let's use coffee hour as an example...some may drink coffee, regular,
or decaf, some may want it black, some with cream and sweetener. Some
may have tea, or juice or a cup of water! We may have a cookie, or a
big cream filled donut or piece of fruit. Maybe we're on a special
food plan, so we bring an energy bar or cheese or wait till we get
home. We all have our own tastes and preferences and it's all ok!!
So
just as we have differences at coffee hour, we have differences in
the way we think of God and worship God. Some need a lot of quiet to
meditate and pray. Some may find God more in nature. Some may sense
God's presence when they are busy, taking care of others! Some of us
have days of needing quiet and other days of being busy! We all come
to God and experience God in different ways and that's good! So we
have different names of God to help us recognize God in our need, and
in our worship. This is why over time worship changes, and we have
different styles of worship.
That's
one of the best things about our Community Lenten services. We get to
go to other churches, hear other pastors preaching, other styles of
music, different orders of worship. But it IS all worship, it all
serves God, and can all speak to us, if we are open. And the
fellowship afterwards is great too! We can renew acquaintances and
make new friends. Our services coming up will have an even wider
variety of churches represented than last year!
Getting
back to our story, Moses and Elijah symbolized the Law and the
Prophets! But when God spoke and said This is my son―some
translations say “My Beloved Son” “listen to him!” then
Moses and Elijah disappeared. And there was Only Jesus. Because now
Jesus is all that is needed. He IS the Law and the Prophets and the
Wisdom, because he Is God's own son, part of God, “the Father is in
me and I in the Father” he said, present at the beginning of time
and will be present at the end.
Savior,
Messiah, Redeemer and Friend
Savior
–the One who 'saves' us from sin. When each of us says, I want
Jesus to be Lord of my life, He is our savior. He is the One who
bridges the gap between each of us and God, the one who took all our
OUR sin to the cross, so that when we face the judgment of God, we
CAN face God. Jesus took it all. He is Savior!
Messiah-
the anointed one―the Chosen one of God. The one of whom God said,
“This is my beloved Son, Listen to him!” the Messiah who delivers
ALL of God's people. You see, we need Jesus as individuals, but we
also need him collectively. This is how we become the Body of Christ!
We go from being a congregation or a nation or an ethnic group, to
becoming the Body of Christ because of Jesus the Messiah.
Redeemer.
--the One who said “this is my body, given for you, This is my
blood, shed for you” because we are saved, (when we are saved, we
belong to Jesus for all time!) but, being flawed human beings will
still mess up. So we need redemption! This is why we do communion
regularly.
Friend...even
though Jesus is Lord, he IS God-- he is personal. He is one we can
take everything to in prayer. We can share our joys, our
frustrations, our grief, our thankfulness! And as we share, the Holy
spirit brings us closer to God, helping us to be guided and to learn
how to live our faith and to be more Christ-like. That is the ideal,
the goal, to be more like Jesus. To love well, to care for all of
God's people...which is all people! To acknowledge our flaws and
failings, but to know that if we align ourselves with Christ, we can
find the joy of having God within every day, to be in the presence of
God every day, and one day we will all dwell with Our Lord forever
and ever!
Let
us pray... Precious Lord, we are so grateful for Your Word which
teaches us, for the Law and the prophets and the wisdom books, but
most of all we are grateful for Jesus, our Lord, savior, messiah,
redeemer and friend.
We
ask that we may dwell with You always, and gaze upon your beauty, and
help bring your love and light to others, today and every day! In
Jesus' Name Amen.
