photo #8035306

THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD Sunday, March 2, 2025 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Our Opening Hymn: 537 “Beautiful Saviour, King of Creation” Lutheran Service Book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptW9VKgh8hI The Invocation Confession and Absolution Page 184-185 The Introit – Psalm 84:1-2, 9, 11; antiphon: Ps. 84:4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Our Collect Prayer: O God, in the glorious transfiguration of Your beloved Son You confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of Moses and Elijah. In the voice that came from the bright cloud You wonderfully foreshadowed our adoption by grace. Mercifully make us co-heirs with the King in His glory and bring us to the fullness of our inheritance in heaven; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our First Reading Deuteronomy 34:1-12 Psalm 99 (antiphon: verse 9) Epistle Reading Hebrews 3:1-6 Gospel Reading Luke 9:28-36 THE NICENE CREED Page 191 HYMN OF THE DAY: 413 “O Wondrous Type! O Vision Fair” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhxyX-QcMBk THE SERMON – Brothers and sisters, peace, grace and mercy be with you through God our Father, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. How much easier would life be if we could have a peek at the "end result” when times are hard? Those tough times that seem like they're never going to end wouldn't be quite so hard. Because the thing that really wears us down when we face a crisis, are the questions: When will this end? When will the pain stop? How do I get through this? Will I get through it? If we could just get a glimpse into the future that lies beyond the difficult uncertainty of the here and now, that glimpse, without a doubt, would cause a change in how we live and handle hard times. In fact, the painful uncertainty we all feel from time to time would be replaced with a sense of how temporary our problems are. No longer would we go through difficulties and ask, "Will this end?" Instead, we'd look past the pain and know, "This too will pass." In our Gospel lesson today, we see this reality being played out before the eyes of the Apostles Peter, James, and John. In the verses immediately before today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke we hear Jesus foretelling His upcoming arrest, death, and resurrection to His disciples. Christ was telling those closest to Him that He would die a condemned criminal. We know they didn't take it well when they heard it. We're told Peter took Jesus aside and plead with Him. Peter said -- ‘Lord, no way, you can’t do this.’ What Peter and the other disciples didn't understand is that the pain, suffering and death Christ would endure were absolutely necessary for their salvation, and for the salvation of the entire world. Without Christ's suffering and death – redemption, our salvation, wouldn’t exist. It was hard news, but did God leave the disciples high and dry? Did Christ tell them of the bad times to abandon them in uncertainty and sorrow? He did not, because Jesus also foretold His resurrection. The disciples, in a sense, were no different than you or me at times. They heard the warning of pain, sorrow and death, and that caused them to overlook the promise of the resurrection. Thankfully our Lord knew their weakness, as He knows ours. He knew when His prophecy began to unfold before their eyes, the disciples would be afraid, that they’d go into "self-preservation" mode and run, as they did in the Garden of Gethsemane. That’s exactly why Jesus took Peter, James, and John up that mountain of Transfiguration, before all the pain and suffering started, and gave them a glimpse, a reminder of who He really is and why He came to earth. This is why God the Father’s voice booms from heaven, "This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him." It’s also why Moses and Elijah, representing Old Testament Law and Prophecy, were sent by God to appear with Jesus before the disciples. Our Lord Jesus Christ wanted the disciples to see and understand that God's plan for salvation, since He proclaimed it in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:15, had always pointed to Him and His all-atoning death. (Genesis 3: 15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”) In fact, we're told in Luke's Gospel account that Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus about His upcoming journey to Jerusalem and the cross; spoke about the necessary and willing death that would produce the completely free gift of salvation and eternal life for believers. Think about that for a moment. Because of Christ, sin, death and the grave don’t get the final say over you. The appearance of Moses on that Mountain of Transfiguration speaks to it. If you remember, Moses was forbidden from entering the Promised Land because of his disobedience to God. But Moses was shown the Promised Land from a mountaintop in the pagan country of Moab where he died. God Himself buried Moses. Yet here’s Moses on the mountain of Transfiguration with Jesus, talking about the salvation-producing sacrifice Christ would make on the cross. This is no coincidence. Our Lord knew exactly what He was doing when He had Moses appear on that mountain with Him. Sin, death, and the grave didn’t have the final word. Here’s Moses, once forbidden from entering the Promised Land, now standing tall with Christ in glory … in that Promised Land! In those moments when Jesus was ‘transfigured,’ He gave these disciples, and all people, a glimpse of the "end result," just as He told them. On that mountain they were shown that Jesus is God, the Saviour, who would die on the cross, descend into hell, and proclaim victory; that Jesus was the Christ who would walk out of the tomb on Easter Sunday morning; the Son of God who went up to Heaven and sits victorious at the right hand of God the Father. Notice: Jesus didn't show His disciples a set of options. He didn't show them, or us, a fork in the road: one without pain and suffering, and one with a cross stuck in the middle of it. There is no shortcut, no other way. The road to salvation is a narrow path and it leads right through the cross of Jesus. You can't get around it, no matter how hard you may try or how much some people disagree with it. As Christians, we too will face pain, suffering, and death. The way of Christ is the way of the cross. And, sadly, we don't have to go looking for those crosses in life. They find us. Christ's call to follow Him includes His words, "Take up your cross and follow me.” Jesus doesn’t promise us a trouble-free life; in fact, He warned that in this world you will have trouble. What He promises us, as believers, is salvation. Jesus, Our Lord and Saviour, knows how tough life on earth is, especially when it’s a life lived in faith and service to God. He lived that hard reality. But He also didn’t leave us to fend for ourselves; He never abandons us. Jesus keeps His Word: "I’m with you always, to the very end of the age." Christ continues to give you a heavenly glimpse of His almighty and divine love by pointing you to His presence — His Word, the Bible, and His Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper —the great "foretaste of the feast to come." And that’s exactly what God is doing for us today. He doesn't split the heavens apart and scare us out of our wits like the three disciples on the mountain top. He comes to us through humble means of grace, Word and Sacrament, and says you’re loved, you’re forgiven. And He offers you the peace that passes all understanding. Jesus Christ suffered and died. Through the power of God, He was raised to life. Because of Christ, through the faith worked in you by the Holy Spirit, because of your Baptism into Christ’s death and His resurrection -- His victory is yours. May God grant you the saving faith to see His presence in your life this day and always. May you have the reassurance and hope of the life to come, through Christ our Saviour. Amen. THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH THE SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT (The Lord’s Supper) Page 194 Post Communion Collect (Left-hand column) Page 201 CLOSING HYMN 918 “Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer”