“Messianic Exodus” (Luke 9:28-36)

Luke 9:28-36

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Mosaic of the Transfiguration, Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai

Pastor Tom Johnson, February 27, 2022

Jesus’ appearance changes. His face and clothing become luminous. Moses and Elijah suddenly appear in the light of almighty God—the eternal Son of God who took on human flesh and now reveals his blinding majesty. The light of Jesus’ countenance once again shines on the face of Moses on the mountain. Jesus once again speaks with Elijah on the mountain. 

Moses is the great giver of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Moses met with God face to face at the tent of meeting and talked with God as one would talk to a friend. Elijah is the great prophet and miracle worker. He also met with God on Mt. Sinai when he was in exile.  Jesus once again bathes Moses in dazzling light. He is the pillar cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night of old that led Moses and the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, through the wilderness, and safely to the Promised Land. The departure from captivity in Egypt toward freedom is called the Exodus—literally “the way out.”  

Elijah had his own personal journey that parallels the Exodus. Elijah is in exile fleeing for his life. Ahab the King of Israel and his wife Jezebel kill God’s prophets and now threaten to kill Elijah. Elijah flees to Mt. Sinai for safety. And God shows up on the mountain. God was not in the furious wind that split the hills and shattered the rocks. He was not in the earthquake that followed. Nor was he in the subsequent fire. The Lord is in the soft whisper—the still, small voice speaking tenderly to encourage the prophet. God assures Elijah there are still true prophets that survived. You will remember that he just sent Elijah to Mt. Carmel to challenge the prophets of the false god Baal. A fire consumes the altar Elijah sets up which both demonstrates the power of Yahweh the true and living God and liberates the nation from the false religion holding them captive.

Hebrew Scripture speaks of Messiah to come who will be a greater prophet than Moses whose way will be prepared by Elijah. It is here on the mountain that Almighty God shows up again—not in wind, earthquake, fire, or still small voice but in the radiant glory of Jesus the Christ and the voice of God the Father. In their meeting, these three glorious prophets discuss Jesus’ departure. The word for departure here is the same Greek word: exodus. They are talking about Jesus’ exodus that is to come. Jesus has already told the disciples what this exodus will be. Jesus “will suffer many things and be rejected…be killed, and on the third day be raised.” 

One of the most challenging things when climbing mountains are the false summits. You spend hours ascending. You see the mountain reaching a summit above and ahead of you. You get to the top and you realize that it is only a landing. You now may see the final summit but there is still another mountain to climb to get there. It can be a bit disheartening especially if there are two, three, or four of these false summits. But if you are with someone who knows the path, it can make the journey less of a mental and emotional strain. There are fewer surprises. You know what you are up against. Jesus is that guide who knows the mission ahead—his exodus.

That is why Peter, not knowing what he says, says, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  Incidentally, how does Peter recognize Moses and Elijah? Were they wearing name tags? Over the years, I have often been asked if we will recognize one another in heaven or if we will be formless spirits. Here we have the answer. They are not only recognizable, Moses and Elijah are so truly themselves in glory, no one questions who they are. In the resurrection, we will be even more fearfully and wonderfully remade for the life of the world to come. I don’t blame Peter for wanting to make this moment last. “This is great! Let’s set up camp for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus!” But as the cloud and voice from heaven make clear, this is not the day. However, one day, God will make heaven on earth. Jesus the Alpha and Omega will make all things new. But not this day. Peter, James, and John have this mountaintop experience with Jesus. But it is a false summit. It is not the pinnacle of Jesus’ mission. It is not the climax of the unfolding  exodus ahead. There is another mountain to climb. That mountain is Calvary.

After the mount of transfiguration, there will be a deep descent into suffering, pain, and loss. This is the valley of the shadow of death. Jesus must address the captivity of humanity to sin.  Like Moses did with old pharaoh, Jesus must go down and tell old Satan to let his people go. Like Elijah did with the false prophets of Baal, Jesus must also challenge our idols, unmask our false religion, and reveal the only true and living God. This is the Exodus of Jesus. His departure is not his going away but leading all of us who are prisoners to our freedom. Jesus is the new and greater Moses and Elijah. And their conference together in their glorified bodies is a foretaste of the victorious Exodus to come. In Jesus’ radiance and in Moses and Elijah’s reflective glory, we have a peek into another mountain beyond the mount of transfiguration and beyond Mt. Calvary. In Jesus blinding light, we have a glimpse into the summit of the Kingdom of Heaven.  On this mountain, God has prepared a feast of the marriage supper of the Lamb. On this mountain, Jesus prepares dwelling places not just for Moses and Elijah but for Peter, James, John, you, me, and all those he will take to himself to be where he is. And together we will shine more brightly than the midday sun.

With Moses and Elijah nigh
The incarnate Lord holds converse high;
And from the cloud the Holy One
Bears record to the only Son.

With shining face and bright array
Christ deigns to manifest today
What glory shall be theirs above
Who joy in God with perfect love.
         (“O Wondrous Type! O Vision Fair” LSB 413 vv. 2 & 3) 

“Be merciful” (Luke 6:27-38)

Luke 6:27-38

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Pastor Tom Johnson, February 20, 2022

Today we continue Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain.” Our text features The Golden Rule or The Royal Law: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” or “Do unto others as you would have them to to you.” God teaches us to treat others with the same kind of treatment that we would want to receive—the same kind of kindness, understanding, putting the best construction on things, being patient, and imagining what it would be like to be in another’s shoes. This is no moral or ethical prescription to cure our relationship problems. In fact, Jesus complicates things further when he says we are to love our enemies, pray for our enemies, and do good to our enemies. This is no easy task. Jesus says that even unbelievers take the easy road of loving people that love them back.

This is the way of the Cross: to love our enemies with no expectation in return. This is a risky love—to love those who may never return the love we give but may even despise and trample all over it just as Jesus was despised, rejected, and crucified. At the very heart of this godly love is mercy. Mercy is rooted in the character of God. Mercy is God’s nature. You’ll remember that when Moses asked to see God, God put Moses in the cleft of a rock and revealed himself in self-descriptive words: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). The biblical idea of mercy is when God does not give us the judgment, condemnation, and punishment that we deserve.

Mercy is synonymous with pity, compassion, and empathy. God’s mercy is based in his full knowledge of who we are and our whole story. He is merciful because he knows that we are all born into a sinful and broken world. He is merciful because he knows our frame—that we are but dust and to dust we shall return. He is merciful because he knows the struggles we have inherited in our past. He is merciful because the work he began in us he will bring to completion. He is merciful because he is intimately acquainted with our failures, flaws, setbacks, the injustice we have suffered. He knows the wrong we have done and the wrongs that we have endured. He is merciful because he knows we are a work in progress. God is merciful because he is up to something greater than the sum of all our sins. He is at work in us to will and to do his good pleasure. In mercy, he sent his only Son to be tempted in every way yet without sin. In mercy, he sent Jesus as Savior so that we would not suffer judgment, condemnation, and punishment for our sins.

And so God asks us to be merciful. He is not asking us to do anything that he has not done for us. That is why Jesus says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Here is the catch: we cannot be merciful to others if we do not understand God’s mercy toward us. If we do not know God to be merciful—if we are not grateful for all the mercy he has extended toward us, we will not know how to extend it to others. We love because God first loved us. We are merciful because God was first merciful toward us. We cannot extend mercy or be merciful unless we are acquainted with God’s mercy.

The genius of Jesus telling us to love and pray for our enemies is this: we cannot and we will not love our enemies until we revisit our own experience in the Gospel. We need to see how God’s mercy transformed our lives first. We must go into the archives of our souls, dig into our memory banks, and bring to mind God’s mercy toward us. We remember how much understanding, how much undeserved grace, and how much forgiveness we have experienced. And if we have no recollection of such mercy, it’s time to have a come to Jesus moment! All that garbage from our past, all those skeletons in our closets, all the guilt, all the shame, all the regrets, all the pride, the feelings of unworthiness, all the anger, all the resentment in our lives has been nailed to the Cross of Calvary in the Body of Jesus. What you and I deserve for all our flaws and failures has been crucified with Christ. Scripture says that “if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old self has passed away. Behold the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17). God has treated us with divine mercy. So we should extend this mercy toward others. That means that we must think before we act. We must be quick to listen and slow to speak. In the Gospel, all our enemies are potential objects of God’s mercy. God is up to something. He is about the business of mercy. He has a unlimited supply of mercy. He is working on his global supply chain of mercy. You and I are the wheelers and dealers of divine mercy. And God loves it most when we deliver that mercy to those we think deserve it the least. In order to participate in this divine supply chain of mercy, we need to get over our own self-imposed obstacles. But even more importantly, we need to believe that God is up to something. God is up to something even in the lives of our enemies.

In our Old Testament reading, Joseph remembers all the cruel and wicked things his brothers did to him including throwing him in a pit, leaving him for dead, and selling him as a slave to Egypt. Joseph had every right to be angry, resentful, and even vengeful. But Joseph knows the goodness of God. He believes God was up to something through slavery, prison, and now as governor of Egypt. Joseph recounts his own life story and considers himself blessed. So he is able to love his enemies—even the brothers who so wickedly betrayed him. Joseph knows that God is up to something in their lives too. God uses the good, bad, and the ugly to bring mercy, life, and salvation to the world. So he says, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.” 

This is how God deals with evil—even the worst evil imaginable—even our collective sin as humanity when we crucified the Son of Glory. We killed Messiah who cried forgiveness from the Cross. We buried him. But God was up to something. What we buried in dishonor, God raised in glory, power, forgiveness, and eternal life. This is the story of what God is doing in the world. He loves his enemies with unfathomable mercy—mercy so powerful that it transforms them into friends of God.

How can your pardon reach and bless
the unforgiving heart,
that broods on wrongs and will not let
old bitterness depart?

Lord, cleanse the depths within our souls,
and bid resentment cease;
then, bound to all in bonds of love,
our lives will spread your peace.

          (“Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive” LSB 843 vv. 2 & 4)

“Blessings and Woes” (Luke 6:17-26)

Luke 6:17-26

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Pastor Tom Johnson, February 13, 2022

Jesus describes two states—one is a state of blessing and the other a state of woe.  A state of blessing is God’s goodness directed toward us. We are on a trajectory toward experiencing greater goodness from God. A state of woe means we are on a trajectory toward loss of whatever we value toward experiencing greater loss. Blessed are the poor. Blessed are those who hunger. Blessed are those who weep. Blessed are you when others hate you, exclude and revile you, and spurn your name because of the name of Jesus. Woe to the rich. Woe to those whose stomachs are full. Woe to those who laugh. Woe to those who are well-spoken of and celebrities.  Jesus calls those we pity blessed and those we admire foredoomed. The reason Jesus’ words are so difficult to understand is that his words have the power to turn the perception of our world upside down. It’s the reverse of how the world around us sees things.

Five years ago, rapper Kendrick Lamar and Irish band U2 collaborated on a song called American Soul. It begins with these words: 

Blessed are the arrogant
For there’s the kingdom of their own company
Blessed are the superstars
For the magnificence in their light
We understand better our own insignificance
Blessed are the filthy rich
For you can only truly own what you give away
Like your pain.
Blessed are the bullies
For one day they will have to stand up to themselves
Blessed are the liars
For the truth can be awkward.

These words have a similar effect that Jesus’ words have on us—to question our own reality. Jesus comforts the disturbed. Jesus disturbs the comfortable. Jesus says that the challenges we face now will with him result in great blessing. Those who appear to be happy on the outside might actually be miserable, lonely, and bankrupt on the inside. Jesus’ words and example are just as powerful today as they were when he first spoke them. It’s a cliche to say “You can’t buy happiness.” But when we look at our own behavior, our attitudes, and the things we value, we often live as if our worldly pursuits will one day deliver us the happiness we long for.

One of the worst things that can happen is for us to get all we want—the money and possessions we think will make us happy—to work hard all those years—to neglect the world and people as they pass us by and not appreciate all the beauty and relationships that surround us. What we think we want or need may not be God’s best for us. Woe to us—Lord, have mercy—if we are so obsessed with earning the almighty dollar, filling our stomachs, laughing at things that are a mile wide and an inch deep, trying to impress people, and make friends at all costs. We are setting ourselves up for a life of superficial and meaningless living.  One day we may wake up and realize just how impoverished and poor we truly are. We should not misunderstand the word woe. It literally is oy and is the sound of a gut punch. Jesus is saying “woe” out of compassion, not judgment. He is grieving our misplaced values and priorities—that we would sell ourselves out so easily and so cheaply. This is the very definition of false idols in our lives—when we give ourselves over to someone or something so completely—that we believe the empty promises and lies so much—that we live in a state of delusion and deception. We are held captive and slaves to whatever we are putting all our energy and time into. Our misplaced priorities keep us away from all the blessings God wants to shower on us. If this is the state of our being, than woe to us, indeed.

But how blessed we are! What the world, the devil, and our sin meant for evil, God means for good. God is teaching us and molding us into the people of God he wants  us to be through all the challenges, setbacks, and suffering we experience. It is through our poverty of body and soul that we learn contentment. God wants us to look to him to provide for us. He tells us to “strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to [us] as well” (Matt 6:33). It will not remain hidden forever that we who appear to be poor are extraordinarily rich in the Kingdom of God. Those around us will wonder how we can still have joy even when life throws us its worst. 

How blessed we are! We hunger and thirst for the things of God. “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps 42:1). God tells the ancient people of Israel, “He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deut 8:3). And so we come here this morning hungry for loving community, famished for a word of encouragement, craving bread and wine, and longing for the Body and Blood of Jesus at this table. We will be filled indeed. Our cups run over with the blessings of Christ.

How blessed we are! What a blessing to feel godly sorrow for our sin and to receive complete forgiveness. What a blessing to know that God sees our grief, our losses, and our deepest emotional wounds. He promises to give us peace that surpasses understanding and will one day wipe every tear from our eyes. How blessed we are! What a blessing to know that God unconditionally loves us, accepts us, and even likes us. We are fearfully and wonderfully made in his likeness. In his name, by the water and the Word, we are remade in the image of Christ in Holy Baptism. Scripture says “you you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9). Jesus has made us the blessed ones. By his poverty, his hunger, his sorrow, his suffering, and his death on the cross he has made us rich in forgiveness, life, and salvation. And by his resurrection, he has opened to us all the riches of heaven. Rejoice and be glad! For yours is the Kingdom of God!

“Catching People” (Luke 5:1-15)

Luke 5:1-15

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Pastor Tom Johnson, February 6, 2022

Peter just finished the nightshift—fishing under the starry skies until the rising of the sun. It must have been demoralizing to be a professional fisherman and to have nothing to show for it after pulling an all-nighter. Peter brings his empty boat to shore. Peter and the other fishermen decide to make some use of their time so they begin to mend their nets. That’s when Jesus the traveling rabbi comes by. Jesus steps into Peter’s empty boat uninvited. Peter the fisherman gets his biggest catch of the day! Jesus eagerly and loving gets into the boat and asks Peter to push him out a little so that he can teach. Jesus’ teaching is followed by a command to Peter: “Put your nets out into the deep.” Peter argues with Jesus. “Master, we worked all night and caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets.” All we like sheep—or like fish—have gone astray, each of us to their own way. Peter is like the elusive fish he is trying to catch—wandering aimlessly in the dark and fleeing away in the depths. 

Throughout the Bible, the depths—and especially the depths of the sea—are the loneliest, most vulnerable, dark, and dangerous places. Creation began with the Spirit of God hovering over the chaos and disorder of the watery depths. We know that the world can be a deep, lonely, scary, dark, and dangerous place. In the deep waters we feel like we are doing our best to grope through the night. And like Peter, despite our willingness to put in ridiculous overtime, we too often feel like we have nothing to show for all our efforts. And that should be no surprise to us who believe that “apart from God we can do nothing” (John 15:5). We cannot find what we long for. We chase the pleasures of this world that play hard to get just to toy with us on a never-ending and vain pursuit. Like Peter, the only fruit of our labors is exhaustion, exasperation, discouragement, and despair. “Master, we worked all night and caught nothing.” O Lord, how long? I am trying harder. I am working longer. I have the best and latest net technology. My nets are immaculately clean and mended. It’s in our emptiness that we are ready for Jesus to to fill our nets. We realize our inability. We are ready to draw on him for strength.

Jesus invites himself into our empty boats. He is the divine initiator. He takes the first step to enter our lives. Our empty boats—our lack of productivity apart from him—our confession that we have failed in thought, word, and deed makes room for Jesus to enter the nave of our hearts. Jesus is the only one who can fill the void of our hearts. Peter does not know it yet, but his reluctant words are prophetic. “We have caught nothing but at your word, I will let down the nets.” It is in the stead and by the command of Jesus that we work and live. “Your word, O Lord, is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105). It’s through Scripture that we find our way through the depths and darkness. It’s by his strength and Holy Spirit that we seek and find what God has in store for us. Just as the word of God said, “let there be light”—just as the Spirit of God hovered over the waters and the deep—so Jesus and the Holy Spirit re-create a whole new world and make all things new. In the name of Jesus and at his Word, Peter puts down his nets. They catch so many fish that Peter calls the others for help. Their nets begin to break. Their boats are so full with their catch that their boats begin to sink. Because of this miracle and Peter’s shock from having nothing to now having more than he can handle, Peter realizes his utter insufficiency. His powerlessness and sinfulness are more real and evident than ever before. Peter tells Jesus, “Go away from me for I am a sinful man.” Yet, it’s too late. Jesus has already drawn near. Jesus has already caught Peter in the net of his grace. And contrary to his sense of worthlessness, Jesus has not come for the righteous. He has not come to us when we succeed. He has come to make us worthy.

Jesus comes for sinners. He comes to seek and to save the lost. We realize our need for him most when we are confronted with our failures and our weakness. We love because he first loved us. He draws sinful men and women to himself by the net of his grace. Jesus shows Peter that disciples are not first taught but caught.  “Do not be afraid,” Jesus says, “from now on you will be catching people.” Peter’s successful catch of fish is now a living metaphor of the ministry of the Gospel. Our mission is to go out into the depths of this world to catch people. Our goal is not to win arguments about Jesus but to win people to Jesus. The word catch is literally “catch alive.” There is a prefix before the word catch which is Zō. It comes from the word Zōe. It is the same word for life when Jesus says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). This is a beautiful turning of a fisherman’s trade upside down. Peter will no longer labor by his own wisdom and strength. He will no longer catch fish. He will no longer draw them out of an environment where they thrive and are free. He will no longer ensure their death as they are unable to breathe the open air. Peter—and now we—will now catch people alive. We will do so in spite our weakness, sinfulness, and sense of unworthiness. He will give us the strength, forgiveness, and joy as he draws all people to himself through his church. They will be drawn out of the depths lifeless, hopeless, and dead. The old self is drowned in the waters of Baptism. A new creation rises out of the water to life and salvation. We are cleaned—not for eating but for true living. We are sanctified by the washing of regeneration for lives of godliness and eternal life. We are brought to the table—not to be the meal but—to feast as his adopted children.