Transfiguration Sunday: Identity Theft

Vicar Rod Serbus

Sunday, February 18, 2007

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

I remember when I was a little one, just a wee little first grader, I got lost. See, my parents were helping my Aunt Patrice move into her new apartment building and I came along. And although I love my Aunt Patrice very much, I was very busy that day. I had my own agenda. You see, I was a rock collector. I knew that inside certain rocks, there were diamonds and in other rocks, there were rubies. And if I could just find these rocks, I would become rich. I would become a trazillionaire and I would have it all.

My aunt’s apartment had those decorative stones along the side of the building. They were of the mixed variety and I thought if I went around, I could find those specific stones. So I was going around the building and I noticed the building across the way had some so I hopped over there. And I hopped from building to building searching out these stones. And then I realized something. I didn’t see where my parents went. I couldn’t hear them anymore. I didn’t know where they were. I was lost. I very calmly ran from building to building trying all the doors, trying to get in to find they were all locked. I was lost. There was nothing I could do. I needed my family to come rescue me.

Years later, my parents got me involved in the Boy Scouts. And aside from learning quartz, not diamonds, were in these rocks I was finding, I learned something very important. I learned if you ever find yourself lost, it’s because you didn’t listen, you didn’t look, and you didn’t stay put.

It seems like every year in the paper or in the news we read or hear about a hiker who goes out into the woods, hiking, enjoying nature, enjoying creation, who gets the idea to go off the guided path to try to forge it alone himself. Going off the path, finding things out for himself his own way, he finds himself shortly after lost. He runs back to where he thought the path was but only to find himself more lost than when he originally left the guided path, left the signs of warning.

We do that in our everyday lives, don’t we? Yeah, we get lost in the mall or in a store. “But we can find our car. We’ll just look around a little bit.” “We’ll find our friend eventually.” But what about when we get lost in the day-to-day decision making? My wife’s sad. What do I tell her? What do I do for her? My friends, my colleagues are taking things from the supply room. Is this okay? Is this unethical? Is this right or is that right? What should I do? There are so many decisions to make. What happens when we get lost? We’re lost because we don’t look, listen, and stay put where we belong.

Back when I was a little kid looking for those precious stones for those hidden treasures as I thought, I got lost. I got lost because I stopped watching my parents. I stopped listening to their voices. I found myself totally alone and I was scared. And even though I had heard what building they were in, I didn’t listen. “They told me. They told me it was 12 something. Well, this building’s 1201 so maybe that’s it. But that building’s 1202 and that one is 1203.” You see, I heard them tell me but I didn’t listen.

The disciples didn’t listen. They didn’t understand their master’s plan, not completely. Jesus showed His disciples He was God, that He was divine. Jesus was doing God stuff. He was calming the waves. He was stopping a storm. He was receiving worship from those He healed. He was doing God stuff. He even said He was one with the Father, the Father is one with Him. He said He was God. The disciples heard Him. The sound resonated in their ears. They heard it but did they really listen to it? They wandered off the path. They wandered off the path and found themselves lost.

Jesus gathered His disciples back in, though, like He gathers us back in. At the transfiguration mount, He reveals to them again His divinity, His godness. His face shone. His clothes white as lightening. He showed He was God. And Jesus called those inner disciples, He calls Peter, John, and James up to the mount and puts them back on the path, the guided path to heaven. Jesus is the path, the only way to God. God the Father of man of transfiguration calls from heaven. He calls to their ears. He calls to our ears. “This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to Him.” “This is my Son, the one I love. Listen to Him.” The disciples went off with their own doubts when God’s plan comes to fulfillment in Jerusalem. They didn’t want to hear of Jesus’ upcoming death in Jerusalem.

And through this epiphany season, we too are shown that Jesus is truly God. We know this now. The disciples knew it then. And we look to this epiphany season to listen, Christian, listen to this Lenten season as it comes. Listen to the word of God proclaimed to you. Listen to Jesus’ departure to Jerusalem for you, for me. He turns His eyes from the glory and reveals the Mount of Transfiguration to Jerusalem and the Mount of Calvary where He’ll die.

Listen to Him this Lenten season as on the tree He hangs for you and He calls out to His Father for you so you won’t be forsaken and turned away. And stay put this Lenten season. Stay put here where His people are gathered. Do not get lost. Be like the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. Let Jesus show you, tell you, and keep you still in His glory, His glory revealed on the cross.

He showed His disciples then. He told the disciples then. And He kept them still. Jesus shows you and tells you and keeps you still.

When I was a little child, I needed to hear my father’s voice. “Rod, Rod, I’m here. You’re safe. It’s alright.” I needed my mother’s arms to swoop me up and to hold me so I knew I was found, so I knew I was home. And yes, I needed my brothers and sisters to razz me or pointedly remind me how much I needed my parents’ love and protection.

Jesus sought you. Look to Him. Jesus, the only way to salvation. Jesus called you. Listen to Him. Listen to His cries out for you. And Jesus gathers you here today to stay put. Stay put in the Word of God proclaims. Stay put in His revealed word of scripture. Stay put, Christian, in Christ alone for a lifetime.

Copyright 2007 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church