Sermon Manuscript021807
Sermon Worksheet & Manuscript
Robert L. Hutcherson, Jr.
Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church
Sermon Preparation/Delivery
Luke 9:28-36
“Transfiguration”
The Rev. Karla J. Cooper, Pastor
February 18, 2007
“Transfiguration Sunday”
Sermon Worksheet & Manuscript
AUTHOR
1. Who wrote (or is credited with writing) the text?
The third of the Gospels, the Gospel of Luke, Is attributed to that disciple of Christ, and is regarded as the most carefully composed of the three divinely inspired stories of the Redeemer. This evangelist is generally believed to have been a physician, and a companion of the apostle Paul. The style of his writings, and his acquaintance with the Jewish rites and usages, sufficiently show that he was a Jew, while his knowledge of the Greek language and his name, speak his Gentile origin. He is first mentioned Acts 16:10,11, as with Paul at Troas, whence he attended him to Jerusalem, and was with him in his voyage, and in his imprisonment at Rome.
This Gospel appears to be designed to supersede many defective and unauthentic narratives in circulation, and to give a genuine and inspired account of the life, miracles, and doctrines of our Lord, learned from those who heard and witnessed his discourses and miracles. It is the reply to questionings which would naturally present themselves to a thoughtful, cultured man who had heard, and after hearing had been impressed with the strange beauty and the intense reality of, the story of the cross. There were, to such a man, many things, apart from the simple narrative which formed the groundwork of the preaching of the first days, which called for explanation. Who was this strange, marvelous Being, whose love for men - a love passing understanding - had led him to die for men who only repaid his love with the bitterest hate? Whence came he? How and when and in what guise did he first appear among men? Where did he spend the first thirty years of his life? What was his earthly home? Who was that honored and mighty forerunner, that John, whom Herod had foully murdered? What was the meaning of the exclusion of Israel, the chosen people, from his Church?
All of these questionings would naturally occur to a cultured listener, who longed to embrace the promises of Jesus, about A.D. 60 AD-70, when the Church was growing into a great and widespread company, and the "story" was being repeated at second and third hand in many a city far away from the Holy Land.
"No one could understand better than Paul the need of an exhaustive reply to such questionings, the need of an authoritative history, where an account of the rise and progress of the gospel of Jesus Christ was related with accurate and careful detail. And if Paul, among the helpers who surrounded him, had an evangelist distinguished for his gifts and culture - and we know from 2 Cor 8:18,19 that there was really one of this description - how could he help casting his eyes upon him, and encouraging him to undertake so excellent a work? Such is the task which Luke has discharged" (Godet).
To sum up, when Luke undertook his great work there was probably current, in the Churches in which he lived and worked, a general oral authoritative gospel, which had grown up in the apostolic circle in very early days, in the months and years which followed the first Pentecost, much in the way we have sketched out above. In different Churches, we may with all reverence assume, existed separate and distinct memoirs and faithful oral traditions - memoirs and traditions written and preserved by men and women, eye-witnesses of the scenes and hearers of the words so preserved; such a memoir, for instance, as that evidently Aramaic fragment which treats of the birth and infancy and childhood of the Redeemer woven into the tapestry of the first two chapters of Luke. It is of such pieces as these that Luke, no doubt, was thinking when he wrote the first verse of his Gospel.
2. From what perspective does the author write?
With startling rapidity the few hundreds who before the Ascension, with more or less earnestness, believed in Jesus of Nazareth, and accepted him as Messiah, became, after the first Pentecost, thousands, and these numbers kept growing in Palestine and the adjacent countries, with an everwidening tendency. It was necessary at once to teach these "thousands" something beyond the great fact that the Son of God had died for them. The apostles of the Son of God felt at once that they must tell these "thousands" what was the life which the Son of God would have those who believed in him live. To do this they repeated to the listening crowds their Master's teaching; they rehearsed again and again the memorable discourses which they had listened to by the lake, in the synagogues of Capernaum, in the temple courts; some spoken to them alone in comparative solitude, some addressed to curious and even hostile crowds in the days of the public ministry.
At first, for many months, possibly for years, there was little, or even nothing, written. The apostles and their first disciples were Jews, we must remember - men trained more or less in the rabbinical schools, whose great rule was, commit nothing to writing. The training, we must be careful to remember, in the Jewish schools of Palestine in the time of our Lord was almost exclusively oral.
Now, the great teachers of the first days had all, perhaps, with rare exceptions, been with Christ. Out of their abundant memories of their loved Master's sayings, aided, we may reverently assume, by the Holy Ghost, they reproduced, after taking mutual counsel, just those words, sayings, discourses, which they considered would best paint the picture of the life. He wished "his own" to live. The acts which were done, the miracles which he worked, the incidents which happened, were gradually added in their proper places to complete the picture of "the life to be led," which they painted. Special doctrinal teaching at first was very simple - a few great truths, apparently, and no more, were taught.
Together the first great teachers "remained in Jerusalem, in close communion, long enough to shape a common narrative, and to fix it with requisite consistency. The place of instruction was the synagogue and market-place, not the student's chamber."16 Provision for the student's chamber was made later by one of them, still acting under the Holy Spirit's influence, when John the beloved put forth his Gospel, which dealt rather with doctrine than with life. But in the first days - possibly for many years - the gospel preached by the great teachers was the gospel much as we find it in Mark, or Luke, or Matthew.
An original oral gospel, generally arranged by the apostles in the days immediately succeeding the first Pentecost, with one great general outline repeated over and over again, was, doubtless, the foundation of the three synoptical Gospels. This accounts for the identity of so many of the details, and also for the similarity in the language. It is highly probable that, in the first years, this oral gospel existed in Aramaic, as well as in Greek, to suit the various classes of hearers to whom it was presented.
TEXT
"Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing {became} white {and} gleaming. And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him. And as these were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah --not realizing what he was saying. While he was saying this, a cloud formed and {began} to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My Son, {My} Chosen One; listen to Him! And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen. On the next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met Him. And a man from the crowd shouted, saying, Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only boy, and a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams, and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming {at the mouth;} and only with difficulty does it leave him, mauling him as it leaves. I begged Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not. And Jesus answered and said, You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here. While he was still approaching, the demon slammed him {to the ground} and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy and gave him back to his father." (Luke 9:28-42 NASBR)
BODY
Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight
O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer
Let us pray…
Today is known as “Transfiguration Sunday”, and our text from the Gospel of Luke has already painted the backdrop for our story. But what exactly do we mean when we talk of “transfiguration”, and what does this mean to us as we live the Christian life today?
Transfiguration is defined as:
A marked change in form or appearance; a metamorphosis.
A change that glorifies or exalts.
The act of transfiguring.
The state of being transfigured.
The supernatural and glorified change in the appearance of Jesus on the mountain.
Let’s look at this for a moment…a marked change in form or appearance that glorifies or exalts… “Trans” is a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin (transcend; transfix), used with the meanings “across,” “beyond,” “through,” “changing thoroughly,” “farther from”, “transverse,” “on the other side” , and “Figure”, which means form or shape, as determined by outlines or exterior surfaces, an individual bodily form or a person with reference to form or appearance. a character or personage, esp. one of distinction, a person's public image or presence, the appearance or impression made by a person or sometimes a thing, a representation, pictorial or sculptured, esp. of the human form, an emblem, type, or symbol.
I’ve come to think of it as “moving beyond what we are at this moment, toward what God has intended/created/designed us to be.”
When was the last time you had a moment in your life where you said, “My life will never be the same. It is changed forever.” Was it at your graduation from high school or college? Was it at the time of your wedding? Was it at the arrival of a big promotion at work? Was it at the birth of your children? Was it at the beginning of retirement? Was it one of those times in our spiritual lives when we realize that life will never be quite what it once was. When we have encountered God in a special way that has left our futures different. Here we find a reminder that our Lord modeled for us how to live the new life we have in him. He had continuously taught his disciples that he never said anything, did anything, or went anywhere without first checking in with his Father. For he had come to earth to do the will of his Father in heaven, and now that will was that he would willingly die to take away the sins of the world. When we enter into relationship with God through Christ Jesus, we come to realize that our life is not our own; it is bought with a price. And we learn to imitate Jesus and check in with our Lord about everything-work, family, vacations, or whatever-so that we end up at the right place at the right time, say the right words to the right people, and so on, all to his honor and glory, not ours.
There were three men present from this side of eternity, Peter, James, and John, and three men from the other side as well, Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. When Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus about his exodus or departure, they understood that it had to do with the full range of his redemptive plan for humanity: his arrest, beatings, trial, his suffering on the cross, the burial, his resurrection (in which he would finally be set free from the limitations of his humanity), his glorious ascension, and, finally, his second coming. This moment of transfiguration was an encouragement to our Lord's heart and later the hearts of his disciples, for the end result of this exodus would be that "the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds." The three disciples had been sleeping, but apparently the bright light and the sound of voices woke them up, and they were allowed to look into eternity and see the Lord in his full glory just as he had prophesied a week earlier: "But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." The disciples were awakened about the time that Moses and Elijah finished their conversation with Jesus. The scene was so bright and overwhelming that all Peter could say in haste was, "Lord this is so wonderful; let's celebrate by putting up three shelters and stay right here away from the world, our enemies, the cross..." But Peter did not realize what he was saying, "...for they became terrified." I can understand how Peter felt, though. All of us have had that “moment in time” where everything was just perfect, and we wanted that moment to go on forever, even though we KNEW it couldn’t. We cannot stay in the moment forever, as much as we would like to do so. At some point, all of us must come back to a place that is much more ordinary, one that isn’t quite as exciting, doesn’t give us the rush we would like to feel all the time, and one that is necessary for us to be in. It is to the normal, everyday moments of life that we must take the message, the feeling, and the euphoria of that moment and turn it into active lives of faith. Wanting to stay there forever was a natural reaction, but if Jesus were to stay there, of course he would never go to the cross. Our Lord had told his disciples about the cross, and now he was encouraging them by allowing them to witness the glory of his transfiguration and the preview of his glorious kingdom, which was on the way. This was a private glorification of our Lord by the Father, but one day ALL of us will see and experience his full glory as the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth, power and majesty.
I’m wondering if it’s not true that WE need to seek out our own “transfiguration”…where we move from what we are today, to what God in His infinite wisdom created us to be. We accomplish that through our reading of scripture, prayer, and most important, relationship with Jesus Christ, for it is only through Him that we can be truly transformed, transported, transfigured…so that we can transcend the issues of this fallen world, and bring His message to all who will receive it, so that they may have eternal life.
Are YOU ready for your “transfiguration? It’s yours for the asking…as we sing the Hymm “I Surrender All”, come and tell Him…The altar is open…
CHILDREN’S LESSON
Order of Worship
Sunday February 18th, 2007
11:00 A.M.
Opening Hymn……………………” God of Grace and God of Glory”, Hymn 62
Doxology………………………………………………..All
Call to Worship……………………………….Bro. Robert Hutcherson
Hymn…………………………………… “Be Thou My Vision”, Hymn 281
Prayer…………………………………………..Bro. Robert Hutcherson
Prayer Response………………………………….Give Us This Day”
Scripture Reading……………………………..Bro. Robert Hutcherson
Decalogue………………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson
Gloria Patri………………………………………….Congregation
Sermon…………………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson
Invitation to Christian Discipleship………”I Surrender All”, Hymn 196
Altar Call/Offertory………………………………………All
Offertory Response……………………………”All Things Come Of Thee”
Affirmation of Faith…………………………………Congregation
Benediction……………………………………..Bro. Robert Hutcherson