Transfiguration Devo

 

Monday: “Want to be my Disciple” - Matthew 16: 24-27

Discipleship requires a choice. A choice that is rooted in the desire to grow deeper with Jesus Christ and to make his name known. 

When asked to make a comment about being a disciple in the past, I have remarked that discipleship is not a spectator sport. This is not something that you can live into a few hours a week or only in certain locations. Discipleship is a complete handing over of our lives to Christ. And that is part of the reason that theologian and pastor Dietrich Bohnhoffer remarked that discipleship is costly. 

The problem is that isn’t what we are always taught about discipleship. Some believe that if you have accepted Christ into your heart than you are a disciple. Others believe that accepting Christ means that you can live your life on your own terms. The truth is that discipleship is linked with truly seeing Christ as your Savior and your Lord - the one that you desire to follow. 

Jesus is getting at the heart of this desire when he remarked to the men who were his followers, “Whoever wants to by my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Christ never forces discipleship upon us, but invites us to come with him to the journey to transformation. 

What does discipleship mean to you?

Prayer: Christ, as we come seeking you this day, we confess that we are not always comfortable with the cost of discipleship. We want to follow you on our own terms, but that is not the journey you are inviting us to. Allow us to be resolute in our following and bold in our proclamation of your Kingdom. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Kingdom” - Matthew 16:28

  Not too long before Jesus is speaking to his disciples about picking up their cross and following him, Peter had prophetically proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah. Only, even the disciples weren’t always sure about what that meant. Does that mean that Jesus would come to overthrow the Roman Empire? Or that he would shake up the Pharisees? 

When Jesus spoke of his Kingdom, he noted that some of the disciples present would not taste death before they see the Son of Man (ie. Jesus) coming in his Kingdom. But we know that all of the disciples have tasted death. 

So what is Jesus trying to say?

Jesus is showing his disciples that the Kingdom of God is here and not yet. It is here, because Jesus is proclaiming it. It will be more fully realized when he gives his life away and then rises again. But we will not see the complete fullness of the Kingdom of God on this side of glory. 

The Gospel is full of teachings that hold two things to be true at the same time. The Kingdom of God is here and not yet. Jesus is fully divine and fully human. We live in this world, but it is not our ultimate home. And what Jesus is proclaiming here - that what seems to be the path that leads to death, will lead to life. 

How do you think of the Kingdom of God?

Prayer:  Lord, we want to be people of your Kingdom, but we aren’t always sure how. We know how this world looks and functions, but do not fully understand your Kingdom in the glimpses that we see. Open up the eyes of our heart so we can be transformed by the way, the truth, and the life of your Kingdom alone. Amen. 

Wednesday: “Transfigured” - Matthew 17: 1-3

The disciples had a rough week. Jesus had confirmed what Peter had said, that he was the Messiah. But then he talked about his upcoming death and asked them to choose the way of the cross of Christ. Six days passed, and then Jesus took some of the disciples on a journey up a mountain. And it was there that the glory of God was revealed to them. 

What happened to Jesus was terrifying. His face started to shine bright like the sun. Bright like Moses’s when he came down from up top his own mountain where he communed with God. But now, Jesus did not cover his face with a veil in order to not frighten the disciples. His clothing, too, because as bright as Jesus’s face. And he started talking to Elijah and Moses.

We don’t always know what to make of the transfiguration. We get that it proclaims the Lordship of Christ and his connection to God, but we weren’t there. We don’t know what it felt like or looked like. The words on the pages of the Gospel don’t always compute with our lived lives today. 

I like to think of the transfiguration in terms of moments when our eyes are opened to the reality of Christ. It may not look like the disciples in this passage, but I hope that you have had moments where you have come to know Christ more clearly. 

Tell of a time when you came to see Christ more clearly. 

Prayer: Lord, we thank you for the teaching of the transfiguration that call for us to examine our own lives to re-discover the times when we have been drawn closer to you. Let us dwell in those times in the coming days, finding clarity and truth within them. Amen. 

Thursday: “Three Shelters” - Matthew 17: 4

Peter understood that he was standing on holy ground. That something was happening here that was bigger than him and as a response he wanted to memorialize it by building three shelters. These shelters traced back to other times of Jewish celebration, rooted in the provision and goodness of God. 

Only that wasn’t what Jesu was looking for.

Sometimes we get caught up in our own ideas of what is right and good, discounting what Christ may be doing in and through us. We try to make things in our image, even when we are doing so out of a response to the goodness of Christ. 

But if we remember just a few verses earlier, if we choose thew ay of the cross we are not our own - we are Christ’s. Therefore we need to seek what Christ desires in a situation, not our own way or will. 

What do you think Jesus was trying to communicate through the transfiguration?

Prayer: Lord, we thank you that you do not leave us to our own way, will, and desires, but instead call us to be transformed in thought and heart. Continue to do this good and holy work in us, we pray. Amen. 

Friday: “Listen to Him” - Matthew 17:5-8

Peter is so caught up in the moment and making plans for how to commemorate this occasion that he needed to be reminded by God that he (and we) needed to listen to Jesus. To listen to Jesus’s teachings. To listen to his calls for the disciples to not be afraid. And to listen when Jesus tells them to leave this holy place.

It is easy to identify with Peter’s desire to stay on the mountaintop. It’s holy there. Something profound has happened there! But part of wanting to stay on the mountaintop and respond in the way of Peter is that it is safe there. Even if we don’t understand it fully. It is set apart and we can manage ourselves and our response here - set apart from the world. 

We can get so caught up in our own conversations in our heads that we fail to listen to Jesus. We can desire so deeply to be safe and to manage everything, that we don’t actually respond to the holy moments we are being gifted with. 

What makes it difficult for you to listen to Christ? 

Prayer: God, every time we come down off the mountain, may we seek to live into the grace we have been given and share it with the world. Amen. 

“Transfiguration” Matthew 16:24–17:8

 Before we jump into the scripture before us today, I need to have a teaching moment about the Bible as a whole. The big numbers that we see, denoting chapters, and the smaller numbers, denoting verses, were not originally in scripture. Why is that important? Because original readers and hearers would receive things differently than what we do here in 2023. When we put in those numbers, which are wonderful in helping us break up and reference scripture, we also cut apart some pieces of scripture that flowed together more naturally, thus changing their meaning a bit. 

Case in point - the scripture before us today, which we would describe as being from chapter 16 and 17 of the Gospel of Matthew, but really comes alive for us in a new way, when we read them as a continuous narrative. 

With that in mind, let us dive into the Gospel. 

Not too far ahead of Jesus’s powerful words about what it means to be his follower (which we would call his disciple), Peter had a moment of proclamation. When the disciples were asked who Jesus was, Peter blurts out a prophetic utterance, “you are the Messiah!” And now after that hinge moment, Jesus seems to be saying - yes, and…

Yes, I am the Messiah, and you are my followers. 

Yes, I am the Great I Am, and I am about to transition from being your teacher to your Savior.

Yes, I am the Son of God, and that does not mean that what lies ahead in the Passion is going to be easy. 

Here Jesus is confirming the power of what Peter had said, but following up with an invitation. Yes, I am the Messiah - and what does that mean to you? How are you going to follow me? And are you sticking around when things aren’t as easy as you thought that they would be. 

When Jesus is speaking to the disciples about picking up their crosses and following him - we need to remember that the cross was not seen as a sign of honor. It was a death sentence and a criminals death at that. Jesus knew that this was how he would die, but his disciples did not - so they must have been wondering what Jesus meant with this call to pick up their cross and follow him.

But then again, do we not still wonder that today as well?

I cannot tell you, friends, how many times I have heard people who love Jesus tell me that their lives should be easier. They had been tricked into thinking that a life of faith is a life of ease - and that is simply not what I see in the scriptures. 

I think that Jesus’s first disciples knew that life would not be easy. They had already been chased out of towns, been spoken ill of by the religious leaders and had left their families and jobs. But even so, they did not fully understand the cost that Jesus was talking about - the cost of their lives.

Even when we do not think that our lives should be easier because of our walk with Christ, do we really think that it is going to cost us our lives? Our preferences? Our hopes and dreams? Or are we not willing to pick up our cross and following Jesus as well?

Jesus is inviting his disciples, and us, to shift from being hearers alone to do-ers of the word. In these brief words, he asks us to consider what self-denial actually means. 

All too often we throw the phrase “self-denial” at other people - people we want to change. Or people we want to accept where they find themselves in life. That is not what Jesus is talking about. Jesus’s self-denial is not imposed upon other people. It is a choice that we freely make as those who bear his name. It’s the action that accompanies that choice to proclaim that the Gospel is worth more than anything we could hold dear, and thus we are prepared to make sacrifices for the words and message of Jesus.

Noticeably absent from this statement about the high cost of discipleship is the actual disciples reactions. We aren’t told what they said or did. Instead, we sit in the silence of six days. Six days where I believe they kept pondering Jesus’s words over and over again asking themselves, can I really do this? Can I really give over all that I think highly of and value in my life for this ministry?

Six days when they understood, at some level, that these words and teachings were going to cost their teacher his life - and where would that leave them? 

Six days of being under a heavy burden. 

But at the end of those six days, Jesus took a smaller group of his disciples with him to a high mountain, and there they experienced the confirmation of what Peter had proclaimed. The confirmation of what had started this entire journey - that Jesus was the Messiah. For they saw him transformed in light and being in conversation with the prophets of old. 

And they don’t get it. 

For Peter tries to make plans to worship and stay-put - understandably. This is profound. This is life-changing. And so much better then what they had left on the other side of the mountain, thinking about what it would mean to pick up their cross and follow Jesus. 

But as Peter is making these grand plans to stay - a voice from heaven interrupts him and says to listen to Jesus. For Jesus is the beloved of God. The loved son of God. The one with whom God is well-pleased. 

In many ways the transfiguration is hard to capture in words. It’s difficult to figure out what it has for us here and now today. But when we hold these scriptures together, as they were first intended, what new light is shed upon them?

First, the call to follow Christ asks us to set aside some of the thought patterns that we cling to the most. Those that tell us to be independent, self-made, and self-reliant and replace that with the call to self-denial. And doing that is not something that we can regulate to certain places and times in our lives. Because when we claim that we are not our own, but Christ’s - that’s a total proclamation. But this path that asks much of us, this road that looks to the world like it leads to death of self, actually leads to life and life abundant. 

Second, mountaintops are good. The disciples certainly needed this mountaintop to help break them of the heaviness they were carrying from the six days prior. Mountaintops can be places of perspective, wonder, and possibility. But we are not meant to stay there. In other words, we all need mountaintop experiences, but those are meant to sustain us while we going about the work down off the peak, and yes, sometimes even in the valley. While it would be easier to stay there, that is not where the work of the faith is carried out. 

Three, we need to listen to Christ. Sometimes we can get so caught up in our own heads and hearts, that we fail to really be attentive to Christ. We think we know the way and we are going to go that direction - full speed ahead. We all need to have our hearts re-attunded to the voice of Christ that calls us to attend to sacred moments, set aside our fear, get up and pick up our cross anew. 

Friends, this passage, in its wholeness, reminds us what it truly means that Christ is the Messiah - it power and in call. And then it asks of us - what do we do with it? How do we allow Jesus to transform us in the mountain and in the valley? How do we follow Christ to the lofty places and the places that hurt? And maybe, it asks us the most difficult question of all - is there any part of our life where we are not following Christ with our all? 

Let us pray….

Amen. 

Sabbath. Study. Serve.

 Sabbath, Study, Serve 

Taking the Sermon Into Our Week 

Scripture of the Week: Matthew 16:24–17:8

From the Sermon:

Scripture was meant to _____________________.

Peter blurts out a prophetic utterance proclaiming, “___________________.”

Jesus is inviting his disciples, and us, to shift from being ______ alone to ______ of the word.

Jesus’s ___________ is not imposed upon other people. It is a choice that we freely make as those who bear his name.

As Peter is making grand plans to stay - a voice from heaven interrupts him and says to _____________________.

The call to follow Christ asks us to set aside some of the thought patterns that we ____________ the most.

Reflection Questions:

What does the proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah mean to you?

How do you respond to the call of Christ to self-denial?

What does discipleship cost you and what does it give in return?

Is there any area of your life where you are not following Christ with your all?

Prayer:

Lord, I need you to teach me what self-denial looks like. Remind me what it means to pick up my cross and follow you. Bring the light of your truth to any areas where I am not seeing clearly, so I can respond more fully as your disciple. Amen. 

Devotional “Parables of the Kingdom” - Matthew 13:24-43

 Monday: “Sowed Good Seed” - Matthew 13: 24-30

Have you ever had something that you put a lot of time and effort into go sideways? No one ever has everything that they do turn out perfectly. And yet… in the case of this particular farmer, it was not his fault. He did all of the right things. He planted the perfect seed. Yet, someone choose to do something evil against him. 

What should be done in the face of the presence of evil in the world? I’m not sure that any of us have an answer for this powerful question. Our human instinct seems to be to eradicate all evil, but Jesus does not give that as a solution in this parable. He doesn’t tell the neighbors to attack the one who snuck in and did what was evil. He doesn’t even tell the neighbors to come and help pull up the weeds!

It seems as if Jesus is reminding us that in combating evil, we can sometimes get swept up in the evil itself. What an unsettling thought. Our human agency, even when seeking to do what we think is right and true, can have unattended results - like pulling up the good crop with the weeds. Because we do not know all, as God knows all, our actions can have ripple effects that can become harmful, even to what we planted in the first place. 

Jesus seems to be inviting us to see with different eyes - Kingdom eyes. And not to rely on our own sense of knowing, but to trust in God, in order to seek first the ways - including peace and timing - of the Kingdom of God. 

What is your first response when evil is done unto you? How would you have reacted if you were the farmer in this parable?

Prayer: Loving God, you call us to a different way of thinking and living when we accept the invitation to be part of your Kingdom. Reminds us what that means, even when the costs are high and the road is hard. Let us seek you and your heart first, O Lord. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Mustard Seed” - Matthew 13: 31-32

  Hanging in my office is a small necklace that a dear sister in Christ got me for Christmas one year. It has the figure of a mountain and a tiny mustard seed held together under glass. Whenever we hear about mustard seeds in scripture that is often the first scripture that comes to mind - having faith the size of a mustard seed that can move mountains. 

But that is not the image or teaching of the mustard seed that Jesus brought to this particular parable. Instead, he talked about a small mustard seed finding its way into a field and the next thing you know the farmer who did the planting had huge plants - large enough that animals came to seek them out. 

This is the shortest parable of Jesus. In fact, it almost read more like a proverb (wise saying) than a parable (a story). But either way, the message remains the same - there is power in even a little. There is especially power in the Word upon which the Kingdom is founded. The Kingdom of God is not about being the wisest, tallest, or most accomplished. Instead, it is a place where what seems insignificant to the world actually means a lot. And it is here that the hope of even a mustard seed can be found. 

What does it look like for you to plant and share mustard seed hope today?

Prayer:  Lord, we confess that it is easy to think that bigger is better. That more is the way of the kingdom. But we recognize that this is confusing the kingdom of the world with your Kingdom. Forgive us, O Lord, and lead us anew to the things that matter most and let our faith be planted there. Amen. 

Wednesday: “A Little Yeast” - Matthew 13: 33

It is easy to look past something of the beautiful details found in parables simply because we do not find ourselves in the same place and time as the first hearers. Case in point, Jesus speaking about a woman who had sixty pounds of flour and a little bit of yeast. Unless we are an avid baker, it is easy to think “wow, that’s a lot of flour” instead of remembering. Remembering that Sarah used fifty pounds of flour in Genesis to prepare a feast for unexpected visitors. This woman is making a feast worthy amount of bread, not just a single loaf.

A little bit of yeast is all that was needed, even for this immense amount of flour, in order to transform it. The same is true with the Kingdom of God in our lives. While we may often look for big, complex, flashy moments, the truth is that the Kingdom of God becomes known and recognized more often through the every day moments that are transformed in unexpected ways. 

Tell of a time that God did something extraordinary with an ordinary moment in your life. 

Prayer: Lord, let us seek to see with your eyes and heart in a way that truly opens us up to the unexpected. Give us renewed sight and transformed lives that proclaim your Kingdom come. Amen. 

Thursday: “Parables” - Matthew 13: 34-35

So why did Jesus speak in parables? Wouldn’t it have been easier to just come right out and say what he wanted to say? Perhaps it may have been easier, but that does not mean that it would have been wiser. 

Parables, in connecting Kingdom teachings and values with the everyday lives that people knew and lived, allowed for truths to be opened to people that were in plain sight.

But plain sight that they didn’t necessarily want to see or respond to.

The same is true for us today as well. We may say that we want Jesus to speak his truth to us plainly, but are we really prepared to hear and respond with open hearts? Especially if what Jesus is teaching us is radically different than what we have been taught by the Kingdom of the world?

What is one thing that you learned from the world that is not true in the Kingdom of God?

Prayer: Lord, we thank you to you continue to speak to us gently in ways that we can hear, receive and respond to.  Thank you for not giving up on us, O Lord! May you speak, for we are listening. Amen. 

Friday: “Explained” - Matthew 13: 36-43

When Jesus left the crowd he was sharing these parables with and it is just him and his disciples, they asked for clarification. They were confused by some of the things that Jesus had just taught (and aren’t we all!)

Jesus was trying to help them, as well as the crowds, truly sense how close the Kingdom of God is and what it requires of us. In other words, are we willing to truly participate in the work of the Kingdom of God?

It is so easy to react by setting ourselves apart or thinking we are better than other people, including the crowds and the disciples. It’s our destructive tendency - we claim good for ourselves and project bad onto others.

But Jesus invites us to set these distractions aside and instead do the holy work of tending to our own spirits and proclaiming the Kingdom of God. 

What distracts you the most form the work of the Kingdom of God?

Prayer: God, remind us of our call. Remind us of our work. And allow us to set aside all the detracts us from it. Amen. 

Sabbath. Study. Serve.

 Sabbath, Study, Serve 

Taking the Sermon Into Our Week 

Scripture of the Week: Matthew 13:24-43

From the Sermon:

A little bit goes __________________.

_________ are stories that are told using examples of items that people would understand in order to explain a deeper truth. Jesus often spoke in parables in order to help connect people with Kingdom principles.

If you pull up these ________ which are so abundant then you will surely take the ______________ right along with it.

We need to hear from Jesus that a little bit of _______ goes a long way.

There is an _____________ of the Kingdom into our everyday lives in a way that spur growth and life abundant. In other words, what seems _________________ actually matters a lot. 

A little bit of ________, even the size of a mustard seed, can grow in our lives and burst forth in a way that shares our ultimate hope in God.

A little bit of _______ added to the abundance of our lives spills forth in ways that can nourish both body and soul for people we know and do not yet know.

Reflection Questions:

When you sit with these three parables of Jesus about the Kingdom of God, what is Christ’s invitation for you?

How are you being called to participate in this mystery in a way that looks to God and proclaims that God is near?

Prayer:

Lord, we often become so overwhelmed by the immensity of your Kingdom that we do not know where to begin in our proclamation. May you remind us this week that a little bit goes a long way   and will lead to more and more of your hope, faith, and love in the world. Amen.