Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday – Luke 9:28-43a

Yesterday we had an interesting conversation in our adult class. We were talking about confession and absolution. I’ve taught this lesson with a couple other groups, and there’s always a controverisal part. It’s when I suggest that you don’t have to be an ordained pastor to forgive sins in Jesus’ name. A lot of folks never got that memo, but Martin Luther calls it the “mutual confession and consolation of sinners.” I think it’s just that we’re so used to hearing it from a pastor. Probably because we do it in worship services. So our subconscious starts thinking, oh, that’s their job. Like you have to be trained and approved to say the word that Jesus gave us. We’re always like, “are you SURE I can do that?” But the truth is that it’s not the pastor who forgives sins. It’s that Jesus forgives sins using the pastor’s mouth. Like a megaphone. A lot of folks don’t realize that. So, I’m really interested in the question of authority. Where does it come from, and who gets it? Because it’s so important for how we follow Jesus. And what a coincidence that our gospel reading today is all about that authority.

So, Jesus has just come back into town. He was away in a high place with three of his disciples – Peter, James, and John. Not that Jesus doesn’t love all his disciples, but it sure seems like these 3 are the team superstars. Anyway, there’s a huge crowd and a commotion. Some guy yells, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son. My only child. A spirit seizes him. It makes him shriek and foam at the mouth. It mauls him. It never lets up. I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they couldn’t!” Now, right there, this is tragedy. Any of you who are parents, how devastating would this be? Like a vicious disease that the smartest doctors in the world can’t figure out. But thank goodness that Jesus showed up! So Jesus does his thing. He heals the boy, and it’s so dramatic that everyone’s astounded at the greatness of God. Or in other words, everyone’s overwhelmed with faith.

Which is great, but why couldn’t Jesus’ disciples do it?

They’ve been with him for a while. They’ve watched him cast out demons. And then he actually gave them power and authority over all demons and diseases. He sent them out, they proclaimed the good news, and they cured diseases everywhere. (9:6) That means experience and an A-plus track record. But after all that, suddenly they don’t know what they’re doing? That’s odd. I mean, when Jesus gives power, he gives the whole kit and kaboodle. Jesus doesn’t hold back. That’s not who he is. Now, scripture doesn’t give us any hints about where they messed up. But it’s pretty interesting that Jesus didn’t take all the disciples up the mountain with him. Just his 3 favorites.

Now, Jesus would never say that. But for a bunch of disciples who all love their teacher, that speaks volumes. How does it feel to not be chosen? Especially when you thought you were. It’s crushing. You wonder whether you ever belonged. It tells you that you’re less-than. And no matter how much someone tells you otherwise, you don’t really trust them. Now, that can’t be what Jesus had in mind. If he took them all, who would have been there for this desperate father? But it’s that unintentional message that hurts the worst. So if they’re doubting themselves, maybe it’s not a surprise that they failed to cure the boy.

And here’s the irony. Peter, James, and John aren’t special. Up in that high place with Jesus, they’re confused by what they see. Jesus’ face changes, whatever that means. His clothes become dazzling white. Moses and Elijah appear. Now, this should be riveting, but they’re “weighed down with sleep.” They’re so exhausted that they can’t totally process what they’re seeing. But they should have figured out a few things. A white robe for Jesus’ purity and righteousness. He preaches the law like Moses. He prophesies like Elijah. Jesus’ departure is the crucifixion he warned them about. Which we know Peter can’t stand. Remember how Peter rebuked Jesus for talking about dying? So of course he wants to build tents and stay up there with Jesus, because it’s safe. We’d do the same thing. But they don’t understand what they see. So, God has to speak up. “This is my Son. Listen to him!” Now, who would keep that secret? But they don’t say a word to anyone. Because they don’t want the others to think they’re crazy? Because they don’t feel qualified to interpret the vision? We don’t know. But the fact that Jesus is right there and they’re too ashamed to ask him? That speaks volumes.

No matter how you look at it, this is a really frightening story. The prophet Isaiah said, “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” The Word of God has infinite power. Power to cast out demons. Power to stop empires and the forces of evil in their tracks. This word is all that God gives us because it should be enough. Yet, the demons of shame and self-doubt seize us and maul us. It feels like hell. And once they destroy our trust in that Word, we have nothing left. And then you wonder, was Isaiah lying?

But the good news is that there is someone who can cast out the demons. And the only thing he needs to do it is his Word. This is Jesus, whose Father loves him so much as to declare to the world, “This is my Son, my Chosen.” Chosen to go to the cross, to suffer and die for our sake, because that’s the only way he can speak the most powerful Word of all. “I love you. I forgive you. Because you’re worth the cost to me.” This is the Word that casts out our demons shame and self-doubt, because everything has been accomplished. The cross can’t be undone or erased. And no one can ever take that away from you or me. It is what it is, and what it is for us is life and love made manifest out of death.

But Jesus knows it’s hard to believe that what happened to him 2000 years ago still matters for you and me. So Jesus gives us faith. Faith to trust that it matters so much that we’d give the same word to others. Whether we speak it out loud, or show it by our actions. Because there are too many folks out there, seized by the same demons of shame and self-doubt that kept us bound. Of course, it’s scary to speak truth to power. How do we know it’ll work? Are we qualified? Are we authorized? What if they know what kind of people we really are? But here’s the thing. If such a Word can change a bunch of embarrassed doubters like us, then who CAN’T it change?

Oh, but what if we mess up? Or stick our nose where it doesn’t belong? Well, guess what – we will. Jesus’ disciples do it all the time. But thank God that Jesus doesn’t give up on us. Oh, he’ll get mad at us. He’ll stamp and shout and say, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you?” I swear I hear that in my ear at least once a day. But even when Jesus is at his angriest, he never casts us away. He’ll act where we can’t, because he knows what Isaiah said. “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” It’s a promise. We have it on authority. Thanks be to God!