True Glory

A Sermon preached on February 19, 2023 at St. Augustine’s, WI and St. Christoph, MZ

Exodus 24:12-18, 2 Peter 1:16-21, Matthew 17:1-9

Today the season of Epiphany comes to a close with what we call a Theophany, a word meaning appearance of – and usually encounter with – God (Theos). It is related to the word Epiphany – which means revelation - and our Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters call the whole season Theophany rather than Epiphany.

As I’ve mentioned before, we use a three-year lectionary cycle for our Sunday Eucharistic readings. This means that we last heard today's readings on February 23, 2020. Just three Sundays later we were in lockdown and only Steve, then my curate, and I were church to record and later upload a simple, spoken service of morning prayer. All we had was an iPad perched on the piano as our camera and microphone! As far as technology is concerned, we've certainly come a long way!

Lent always has a very different flavour compared to Epiphany, especially in this part of the world where it coincides with carnival! But we did not expect quite such a difference, quite such an extreme change, nor that Lent would seem to last so long - in some people’s perception, Lent lasted for two years. It has certainly been a roller coaster of emotions since March 2020 and appropriately, today's Gospel reading also covers this idea of an emotional roller coaster!  

Six days before the event we call the Transfiguration, according to Matthew’s timeline, Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, had declared that Jesus was the Messiah, anointed by God and the Son of the Living God. Together with Jesus he, and two other disciples, now ascend a high mountain where Jesus is transformed before the disciples, so that his divinity shines through, and where he seems to already come in glory: “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.” (Matthew 17:2) Peter’s declaration is confirmed by a voice from the cloud declaring – again, we heard similar words at Jesus’ Baptism – that “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

But it does not stay that way!  They come down from that mountain and back into the world again. In the episode that immediately follows, Jesus has to heal a young boy after his disciples failed to do so. Clearly this experience is somewhat of an anti-climax after all Jesus has just experienced, which might explain his somewhat exasperated response when he hears that the disciples could not cure him. “Jesus answered, ‘You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.’ (Matthew 17:17) A rare example of Jesus getting angry! And when the disciples come to Jesus privately later and ask “’Why could we not cast it out?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith.’” (17:19-20)

We see once again how quickly human beings can forget God’s glory and God’s light when we move back into the shadows, how quickly we can ignore our promises and our commitments. One of the most extreme examples in Scripture is what we hear every year on Palm Sunday when within a few days the “Hosanna” of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem turns into the “let him be crucified” when Pilate asks the crowd “what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”! (Matthew 27:22) God is faithful and unchanging in God’s love for us. We are often not.

In many ways, Jesus’ transfiguration story echoes Moses’ ascent of Mount Sinai that we heard about in the Exodus reading. Jesus is accompanied by Peter, James, and John. Moses is accompanied by Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, although they are not allowed to the very top of the mountain with Moses. Moses’ appearance is also changed, after encountering God his face shines. And when Moses returns from the glory of his mountain-top experience, he has good reason to be very frustrated and angry when he discovers that Israel has become faithless in his absence and begun to worship the golden calf.

But the Gospel does not just point back to Moses, connecting us with that part of the story of salvation that we have in common it our Jewish brothers and sisters. It also points forward to Jerusalem and the cross, to Good Friday. When Jesus returns to Jerusalem, he is confronted with condemnation by the people he had loved and with abandonment by his friends especially by Peter – despite having accompanied Jesus to the mountaintop.

In the Transfiguration, on the mountain Jesus is revealed in glory. At the crucifixion on a hill outside of Jerusalem Jesus is revealed in shame. Here his clothes become dazzling white, there the Roman soldiers strip them off. Here he is flanked by Moses and Elijah, standing for the law and the prophets. There he is flanked by two criminals. Here a bright cloud overshadows them, then darkness descends. What both events have in common is Jesus being identified as God son. Here on the mountain, it is as I said God, speaking from the cloud, who identifies Jesus as “my Son, the Beloved.” There it is a centurion who says with amazement “Truly this man was God’s Son!” (Matthew 27:54)

The Transfiguration is not the end, and not the final glory, but a sign of the glory and transformation to come. It is also intended to encourage the disciples, and strengthen them, even if that did not work as well as intended. But Jesus must first come down from the mountain, he must first go through a death on the cross before his final glory in the resurrection. From the Collect for Fridays (Morning Prayer): “Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified.” There is no divinity without humanity, no glory without sacrifice, no beloved without loving. There is no shortcut to glory for Jesus, and there is no shortcut for us either.

Jesus tells his disciples: “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” (Matthew 17:9) For the same reason, the church puts Lent and Holy Week between the Transfiguration and the Resurrection. We need them to understand the meaning and the cost of Jesus’ sacrifice. This coming week, on Ash Wednesday we will begin our desert experience, our time of denial in Lent, our period of preparation, of repentance and renewal.

Like Jesus, we must come down from the mountain and into the world. We do this every Sunday. First, we encounter God in the Eucharist at the altar. Then, strengthened and renewed, we are sent back into the world to do our work, to tell our story, to heal as Jesus healed, and to point to the glory that is to come. Even then, deep down in the valley, we can be secure in the vision and message of the Transfiguration that Jesus is God’s beloved Son, that in him we encounter God. We hold on to that knowledge. We are never abandoned, never lost. Death and sin are never victorious. The Collect for Fridays concludes with “Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

Amen.

Revealing behaviour

A Sermon preached on February 8, 2023 at St. Christoph, Mainz

Sirach 15:15-20, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, Matthew 5:21-37

As I mentioned in my weekly email, at a recent Wednesday Bible Study, one of our number commented that the current readings seemed to have little to do with the “happy” theme of Epiphany, the manifestation of God in Christ, the light of the world!  At least more recently, they already seemed to be pointing more towards Lent with its themes of repentance, reconciliation, and renewal. And it is certainly the case, that after looking at this week's readings, especially the Gospel, we could easily feel that we have or will have cause to repent because we are being confronted with “impossible demands”!

In Matthew's Gospel we continue to work through the Sermon on the Mount. Today, Jesus takes three of the 10 Commandments: You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery and - in a paraphrase of the commandment to not take the name of the Lord your God in vain - You shall not swear falsely and intensifies them. If you want to prevent murder do not be angry, do not even insult another person. If you want to prevent adultery do not even look at another person with any desire, and to avoid swearing falsely do not swear at all. The consequences are not so good either: court, prison, hell, mutilation …. There are times when it is difficult to talk of “Good News” – which is what the word Gospel literally means.

So, what is Jesus up to? Well, we know that he was influenced by the teaching of the Pharisees (who were not all bad!). And there is a Pharisaic practice called building a fence around the Torah: By observing a law well beyond its minimum requirements we ensure that the law itself is observed. The rationale comes from Deuteronomy 22:8, which states that when someone builds a house, he must build a fence around the roof to avoid guilt should someone fall off the roof! And so they "build a fence around the Torah" in order to protect the commandment.

So, in today’s Gospel, we get nowhere near wanting to kill someone, or tempting them to kill us, if we do not get angry or insult them and if we immediately seek forgiveness and reconciliation when we recall that a brother or sister has something against us. This is another good, solid Jewish practice by the way, that only reconciliation with God is only possible once we have sought and made peace with our neighbour.

Jesus uses lots of different teaching methods. We have the parables, 55 of them in total, stories that “invite us into a different world: one that asks questions, explores possibility but that rarely ends in a clear, single answer.”[1] But we also have very clear commandments: Love God, love your neighbour, love your enemies! This is also not the only time that Jesus will speak about bad attitudes that can lead to destructive behaviour. Later in Matthew’s Gospel, after an argument with some pharisees, Jesus says: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” (Matthew 15:19.20)

We do not have to take every word literally, much of it is deliberate exaggeration for effect, especially the warnings about hell (not the medieval Christian concept, but a reference to Gehenna a valley south of Jerusalem associated with child sacrifice and by Jesus’ time a huge rubbish/trash dump that was constantly smouldering – still not a place you want to spend a lot of time!) and the instructions about tearing out eyes and cutting off limbs. Sadly these have been taken literally and led to self-harm. And while I respect the Quakers for their refusal to swear oaths before court based on this passage, often a very costly refusal, I don’t think that is a necessary interpretation.[And in case you are worried, in 1695 an Act was passed allowing Quakers to just affirm that they were telling the truth with the words: “I do declare in the Presence of Almighty God the Witnesse of the Truth of what I say.”]

All of our readings in this season between the Epiphany and Lent are about the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. This year, they seem to have a lot to with the impact and effect of that manifestation. We heard how people, the first disciples, were so convinced by what they saw and heard that they immediately followed him, leaving home and job behind. Last week we heard Jesus tell those disciples that they have to share in his mission and revelation. That they – and not just he “are the light of the world.” And that their purpose, as was his, is to point to God: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Mt 5:14)

Jesus was sent into the world not just to reveal himself, and through him God's true nature, but also to invite us all into a new, renewed and active relationship with God and our neighbour! Jesus inaugurated God's kingdom, and revealed the values of that kingdom that are the only way for us to truly experience an abundant life.  Yes, we have a promise of salvation and we have the proof of God's victory over sin and death in the Cross and Resurrection. They are unearned and God’s gift. At the same time Jesus called and calls us to work to overcome sin in the here and now – our own sin and the systemic We are to begin the work of transforming self and society now as a way of already living into God's kingdom, even if that will not be fully realized until Jesus’ return in glory. As Paul tells the Corinthians, we plant and water, but only God give the growth. Jesus' radical intensification of the commandments is part of our transformation. These commandments are all about our relationship with one another, how we treat one another. If I were to summarise them more positively, and without any of the threats, our relationships are to be without anger, governed by respect and tolerance, imbued with a deep desire for reconciliation, and characterised by complete honesty and commitment! That’s still not easy, but something I think we can sign up to. And, as our Collect for today makes clear, we do this only and always with God's help: “because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed.” Amen.

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[1] The Parables, Paula Gooder, xv

Licht werden

Predigt am 8.1.2023 in der alt-katholischen Friedenskirche, Wiesbaden

Jesaja 60,1-6 und Matthäus 2,1-12

Ihr kennt sicherlich den Spruch, seid vorsichtig mit dem Licht am Ende des Tunnels, es könnte ein entgegenkommender Zug sein. Nun denke ich, dass zumindest im Hinblick auf die alt-katholische Gemeinde das Licht am Ende des Tunnels echt ist, damit meine ich die baldige Beendigung der Vakanz, worüber ich mich mit euch sehr freue.

Für viele Leute aber, so war neulich einem Bericht in der Zeitung zu nehmen, fehlt derzeit jegliches Licht. Es überwiegen stattdessen Ängste und Sorgen.

An ein glückliches neues Jahr glaubten, so der Hamburger Zukunftsforscher Horst Opaschowski, aktuell nur wenige Menschen in Deutschland. Bei einer repräsentativen Umfrage bejahten lediglich 35 Prozent der Befragten die Aussage: „Dem kommenden Jahr gehe ich mit großer Zuversicht und Optimismus entgegen. Ich erwarte bessere Zeiten.“ Ein Jahr zuvor sahen sich noch 53 Prozent als Optimisten. Opaschowski sprach von einem „Absturz der Zuversicht.“ Die Gründe kennen wir, es sind u.a. die Nachwirkungen der Pandemie, der Ukraine-Krieg und die wirtschaftlichen Folgen. Viele Menschen machen sich auch Sorgen über die wachsende Kluft zwischen Arm und Reich. Eine zweite Frage war, was gibt den Menschen Halt und Hoffnung? Einerseits der Staat, der sich als Krisenhelfer bewähre, sagte der Zukunftsforscher.  64 Prozent der Befragten zeigten sich aber auch überzeugt, dass die Bürger/innen wieder mehr zusammenhalten und sich selber helfen müssen und werden.

Ich bin einerseits positiv überrascht, und auch glücklich, dass so viele Menschen aus dem Handeln unserer Regierung Zuversicht gewinnen, denn ich finde persönlich, dass sie einen guten Job machen, in einer sehr schwierigen Lage. Auch, dass die Möglichkeit der gegenseitigen Unterstützung eine so große Rolle spielt, ist erfreulich.

Enttäuschend ist aber, dass beim Stichwort „Halt und Hoffnung“ weder Glaube noch Religion noch die Kirchen eine Rolle gespielt haben. Wenn es darum geht Hoffnung zu vermitteln, sowie Zusammenhalt und Gemeinschaft zu fördern, müssten wir eigentlich an 1. Stelle stehen. Es ist schließlich unser Auftrag. Das Licht, das beim Weihnachtsfest und bei der Erscheinung des Herrn eine so große Rolle spielt, erhalten wir nämlich nicht nur zum persönlichen Gebrauch, sondern zur aktiven Weitergabe.

In der Lesung aus Jesaja spricht Gott direkt zum Volk Israel: „Steh auf, werde licht, denn es kommt dein Licht und die Herrlichkeit des Herrn geht strahlend auf über dir.“ (Jesaja 60, 1) Steh auf! – das Volk ist zurückgekehrt, die dunkle Zeit des Exils ist vorbei und Jerusalem steht wieder auf. Werde licht! – werde ein sichtbares Zeichen für den Sieg über Tod und Zerstörung, zeige die Welt was es heißt, wirklich das Volk Gottes zu sein. Dann, so Gott durch Jesaja, werdet Ihr ein Zeichen der Hoffnung, alle werden sich versammeln, nicht nur die Kinder Israels, sondern alle Völker, auch welche wie Midian, die mal die Feinde Israels waren. „Da wirst du schauen und strahlen, dein Herz wird erbeben und sich weiten.“ Das Bild das Jesaja malt ist ein ideales Bild des Zusammenlebens in Frieden, Harmonie und im Wohlstand, aber kein unmögliches.

Auch als die Sterndeuter (oder auch Weisen oder Könige) nach Bethlehem in Judäa kamen – „keineswegs der unbedeutendste unter den Städten“ – war damit das Zeichen verbunden, dass die mit der Geburt des Christus, d.h. des Messias, verbundene Hoffnung, nicht nur für ein Volk, für Israel, sondern für alle Völker und alle Menschen gedacht war. Und damit wurde auch die Prophezeiung aus Jesaja erfüllt: „Nationen wandern zu deinem Licht und Könige zu deinem strahlenden Glanz.“

Wie werden wir licht? Später im Matthäusevangelium, in der Bergpredigt, sprach Jesus zu den Jüngern: „Ihr seid das Licht der Welt. ….. Man zündet auch nicht eine Leuchte an und stellt sie unter den Scheffel, sondern auf den Leuchter; dann leuchtet sie allen im Haus. So soll euer Licht vor den Menschen leuchten, damit sie eure guten Taten sehen und euren Vater im Himmel preisen.“ (Mt. 5,14-16)

Zum Lichtsein gehört also das Licht offen zu zeigen und aktiv zu teilen. Dazu gehört als kleines Beispiel auch die Tradition der Sternsinger, die aktiv rausgeschickt werden zu den Menschen, um an den Türen von Häusern und Wohnungen den Segen anzubringen und gleichzeitig für Hilfsprojekte, besonders für Kinder, zu sammeln.

Licht sein heißt z.B. auch aktiv daran zu arbeiten, dass die Kluft zwischen Arm und Reich nicht weiterwächst, sondern verringert wird. Das kann sowohl politisch als auch karitativ erfolgen. Licht sein heißt auch die Menschen in der Ukraine zu helfen und diejenigen, die vor diesem, wie auch vor den vielen anderen Konflikten, fliehen mussten. Licht sein heißt sich klar gegen Versuche zu positionieren, die Geflüchteten und nicht die Fluchtgründe als das Problem darzustellen. Licht sein heißt sicher alle Bemühungen, um einen gerechten Frieden zu unterstützen. Licht sein heißt einfach immer in Liebe zu handeln, damit Gott in unseren guten Taten sichtbar wird. Licht sein heißt es hell werden lassen für andere Menschen.

Licht sein heißt aber auch, aktiv und offen auf das Licht hinzuweisen, woran wir glauben und aus dem wir unsere Kraft und Zuversicht schöpfen. „Ich bin das Licht der Welt. Wer mir nachfolgt, wird nicht in der Finsternis umhergehen, sondern wird das Licht des Lebens haben“ sagt Jesus von sich im Johannesevangelium. (8,12) Es wird nämlich nie reichen, sich nur auf Regierungen oder uns selbst zu verlassen. Wir brauchen Gott und Gott will helfen.

Es war dunkel und finster als Jesus geboren wurde. Die Sterndeuter zogen mit gutem Grund auf einem anderen Weg heim in ihr Land. Die Rückkehr über Jerusalem, und zu Herodes, wäre auch für sie gefährlich gewesen. Kaum war Jesus geboren, schon musste seine Familie mit ihm nach Ägypten fliehen. Danach ließ Herodes die unschuldigen Kinder in Bethlehem ermorden, im verzweifelten Versuch, einen vermeintlichen Rivalen zu stoppen. Und genau dann kam mit der Geburt Jesu Gottes Licht in diese Welt, weil sie dann gebraucht wurde. Auch heute – das zeigt nicht nur die von mir eingangs zitierter Befragung – wird das Licht gebraucht, um Hoffnung zu bringen, die Hoffnung auf eine Veränderung zum Besseren sowohl im eigenen Leben wie auch in der Welt. Jesajas Bild einer friedlichen, wohlhabenden Welt ist möglich, wenn wir so leben wie Jesus uns lehrte und zeigte.

Daher gilt für uns die Aufforderung, steh auf, werde licht. Zeige das Licht in Eurem Leben und trage das Licht Gottes hinaus in die Welt.

Amen.