Sermon Tone Analysis

Church, let us now listen to the word, of the Lord…

(NIV - Anglicised)

The Transfiguration

9:28–36 pp—;

28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.

29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.

30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31 appeared in glorious splendour, talking with Jesus.

They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem.

32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.

33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here.

Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

(He did not know what he was saying.)

34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”

36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone.

The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no-one at that time what they had seen.

This is the word of the Lord…

<Let us pray…>

Good night, Church!

Welcome to the last sermon of 2019…

I said this last year, I said this during Sunrise Service, and I’m going to say the same thing now…

It’s late at night… it’s outside your circadian cycle… I know you’re sleepy…

If you fall asleep during the sermon, it’s ok…

But one condition… please don’t snore too loudly and disturb the person next to you…

<pause>

You don’t want to wake your neighbour up with your snoring…

<pause>

Friends, not sure how your year went, and not sure how you feel right now,

But regardless of how you feel,

the new year is going to be upon us really soon…

whether we like it or not…

and as we anticipate the arrival of the new year,

and look back at the year that is able to end,

let me ask you something…

Have you ever said something and you regret it almost as soon as the words left your mouth?

Or have you ever had the experience that you were so sure of something,

that you said something in absolute confidence you knew to be true,

only for the outcome to be different from what you anticipated

and for you to leave the situation with your tail between your legs,

and being humbled?

Well,

For me, looking back at the year, there was one thing that I regret…

I didn’t say it out loud, but it was a thought that I had…

In fact, technically, it was really last year, as in it wasn’t in 2019, but it was one calendar year ago…

And what was it?

<ra-ra>

It was the thought that I had as I was stepping off the chancel on the 31st of December 2018,

I said to myself… yes!

Now that I’ve checked that Watchnight Box, because I spoke at Watchnight Service in 2018,

It should be quite 包吃 that I can relax during the watchnight Service in 2019 and I don’t need to speak this year…

I can just enjoy the service, participate in the service and look forward to the Teo Chew porridge tonight…

I’m not sure whether I did a very good job or a very bad job last year, but regardless,

My pastoral colleagues thought it best that I should be the one preaching at the watchnight service again this year…

I’ve since sought repentance for my foolish ways and realise that I am young and foolish and do not know what I speak…

Only to be reminded by some young people that I’m not so young anymore…

Just foolish…

<pause>

Of course, church,

Please understand that I’m am just kidding,

for it is a great privilege to share the word with you this evening…

The point I’m trying to put forth tonight is that there are often disruptions in our lives, things that don’t happen according to our expectations…

That’s part of life and in fact, arguably, that’s how we grow,

Because if we are stuck in the same old same old all the time,

We will not be stimulated and we will not only will we not grow,

It’s either we stay the same or we will degenerate…

And I’m sure you’re very familiar with the story about how a boy who is eager to help a butterfly emerge from the cocoon by cutting a hole in the cocoon only to see pretty much a caterpillar with swollen body and shrivelled pre-formed wings…

Without stimulation, the butterfly wasn’t able to push the fluid into the wings and expand them…

And in today’s passage of reflection,

We see exactly a situation where the disciples had their lives disrupted, and were stimulated…

And this came in the form of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ…

If we look back at the opening phrase of the passage for our reflection today,

It says “about eight days later”…

But the question then is…

“eight days later” from what?

And for that, we would need to look at the preceding verses, namely in ;-27…

And what is happening in these verses?

Well, it starts with Jesus asking Peter who the crowd says Jesus was…

Which of course ended with Peter proclaiming the fact that Jesus was God’s saviour…

Wow…

That was indeed a moment of glory for Peter…

He was able to share an insight that perhaps nobody else had…

He was able to explain something that nobody else understood…

it was indeed a proud moment for Peter… the leader of the church…

It was a moment befitting of his name…

Πέτρος – which means the stone…

And hence, the connection made between Peter and Jesus, who referred to himself as the rock, Πετρα, on which the church will be built upon…

It was a feather-on-the cap moment for dear Peter…

And seeing that his young protégé was progressing well in his understanding of the mysterious things of God,

Jesus saw it fit to explain to Peter the need for Jesus to die on the cross for the sins of mankind and the fact that He will resurrected once again…

He saw it fit to explain to Peter and the disciples that they will all have to go through difficulties ahead…

And he told them that they will see the Kingdom of God coming,

Being brought forth by the prince who is the Christ among them…

In other words, they are going to see the glory of God appear before them very soon!

And this we know from these few verses did indeed happen in a week’s time…

<slow down>

And this is captured for us in today’s passage…

During the time of transfiguration…

When the glory of God was revealed according to what Jesus had told them…

But you know what?

I don’t think Peter was listening…