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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
It can be said of our culture, or for that matter, it really could be said of all of us, couldn’t it? We’re pretty self-centered when everything is said and done. In fact, the fancy word to refer to it is that we’re narcissistic, which ultimately means that we think pretty much only of ourselves. And no matter how much love we may give to another person, it’s still narcissistic, isn’t it? Because we still get hurt if they don’t give it back in the manner and form in which we declare and define. So we basically have an addiction problem, you and me. We’re addicted to glory.
Now what is it that I mean by glory? Glory meaning we basically want the attention drawn to us. Because if it’s not drawn to us, then we would never be hurt, would we? We would never be upset. We would never be bothered. We would be glorying actually in other people’s glory and not our own. But that’s not the case. We have an addiction to glory.
Now this addiction to glory, mind you, is also coursing through the veins of these three apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration with our Lord, Peter, James, and John. Because was it not Peter… right before the crucifixion, that he completely separated himself from the other eleven and said, “Everyone else will fall away, but not me, Lord, not I. I shall not fall away.” And yet he heard the rooster crow after having been warned by his Lord. See the addiction to glory? Wanting to set oneself up better, different.
James and John are no better. In fact, if you look at the context of this text in Luke chapter 9, verses after, not very much farther, the disciples are arguing about who’s the greatest in the kingdom of God. James and John, as you remember, ask their mama to go talk to Jesus, to connive Jesus into having James on one side and John on the other when Jesus went into glory. Yeah, we’ve got an addiction to glory indeed.
In fact, let God lay a cross upon us. Let us suffer for the sake of our faith today. And we cry out, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out. This ought not to be. I’m doing everything I’m supposed to be doing. Why should this be happening to me? I’m crossing my T’s and dotting my I’s. I’m praying and so forth. Why ought this to happen to me then?” We’re addicted to glory. In fact, if we are going to have a cross, we want it to be a cross of our own choosing. Because then, if it’s of our own choosing… then we can glory in our cross, can’t we?
We are addicts. Addicts to glory. And in God’s children, there is no room for such an addiction to glory. Because there’s only one Lord, and we’re not it. The way of Christ is the way of the cross. His entire life was lived in spite of us. He was the obedient one for all of our disobedience. He was the one who did not seek his own glory, but sought whose glory? Yours. Your glory he sought, not his own.
You are his beloved bride, whom he clothed with white garments, the prostitute and the whore that we are as glory seekers and addicted to such glory. But he makes us white. He chooses to clothe us with the whiteness of holiness, not dishonor.
It’s interesting in this text. They’re on the mountain. Jesus is praying. What are Peter, James, and John doing? Sleeping. You know, that’s not the only time that we’re going to hear about Jesus praying while his disciples are sleeping.
Thanks be to God for such a Lord as this, who when we’re so tired, when we’re so self-centered, and we’re so full, A Lutheran Christian sermon. After the suffering, the rejection, the despisal, the death, then the glory would come, wouldn’t it? In fact, again, the verses preceding this event in the lives of the apostles, they were just told, verses before this event, Jesus said clearly the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of men, be rejected, be crucified, and die and rise again.
And then right after he says that, and the verse is immediately before this, he says, “If anyone is going to follow me, take up your cross. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” It’s that first part that we have trouble with, which is why I said we are addicted to glory, because the denial of self, it doesn’t always happen, does it? And when it does, we want to let the world know, including ourselves, we’ve denied ourself.
But when the voice from the cloud speaks to us, as it spoke to Peter, James, and John, rather than being so proud and bold, we fall prostrate on our face. You see, remember, Peter is listening to this conversation between this glorified Lord, Moses in glory, Elijah in glory. And they’re talking about, the text says, Jesus’ departure. That’s not talking about the resurrection. It’s also talking about the rejection. Rejection. The suffering, the death, and the resurrection.
But you see, as we’re addicted to glory, let’s not even have any of that be a part of the Christian life, and let’s just focus on the glory. Well, you and I can look at our lives, and you have heard stories from out of your own lips of when you were given little glimpses of God’s glory, how he worked things out, and it was so evident to you, so clear to you. But that’s really not glory. Because you still had to leave that moment and go back to living and walking by faith.
I guarantee you one place where you will always see God’s glory, always, every single time, that’s here on this mountain. Here on this mountain, God speaks to you and says, “I forgive you your sin.” That’s his glory being revealed to you. Every time you hear him in those words speak to you words of comfort and solace and forgiveness and mercy, that’s God’s glory being revealed to you.
Every time you come and sup at the supper, you see him face to face as much face to face as Peter saw. Because wasn’t it Jesus who said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed?” Yes. Yes. The world has defined for us glory as being something that everybody can see and everybody can say, “Wow, you’re chosen.”
Do you know what Jesus’ climactic glory was? Him upon that accursed tree for his bride, the church. That was his glory. It doesn’t look like it according to the world. It looks weak, beggardly, dastardly, and unwelcoming and offensive. It does not look glory-filled, and yet Jesus himself called it his glory.
See how we’re addicted to one kind of glory and Jesus shows us a different kind? It’s interesting, isn’t it, in our lives. If we don’t receive enough of this worldly glory, we think God must not love us. If we do see these moments of glory, earthly-wise, we think, God must love me. Jesus was given this moment of glory, right? His disciples, these three, were given this moment of glory. And what did they do immediately after? Look at the text. They begin to argue who’s the greatest among them. If they have a hard time getting this reality, do you think we have a hard time getting this reality? Yes, we do have a hard time. We’re addicted to glory.
Now, if you’ve ever known an addict, if you have been addicted to anything, if you have addiction in your family, you know… You know there’s only one way to deal with addiction. It’s to kill it. It’s got to be killed. It’s a beast.
How do you then kill addiction? To glory. You repent. You repent. We’re about to head into the great season of repentance, Lent, where we refocus on the things that are not of this world. Because the world is always like the sirens, drawing us into the rocks, telling us what real glory is. And Christ is showing us what real glory is.
Real glory is his forgiveness of your sins that he speaks to you. Real glory is feeding you that forgiveness in his flesh and blood with the bread and wine. Real glory is this imperfect fellowship of communion of saints. That’s glory. But it doesn’t look like it, does it? It even doesn’t sound like it at times, or smell like it, or feel like it, but it is glory because Christ is here in you, among us, broken people, addicted to glory, and coming here for continual help.
Here’s where we’re affirmed as broken people, and we’re affirmed as his beloved bride. The world doesn’t get it. You do, because you know your groom.
So what were those magical words that the Father spoke? And in fact, if you think about it, there’s only two places in all of the New Testament where the Father spoke, ever. At his baptism and at his transfiguration. We begin the season of Epiphany with his baptism. And we’re ending it with transfiguration, the two places where Jesus had the Father speak on his behalf. He was affirmed as the beloved Son, but at this transfiguration, the magical words were, “Listen to him.”
Here’s where the cloud envelops us and causes us to fall prostrate. And here is where our Lord touches us and raises us up from that and says, “You are mine, fear not.” Humbling and awesome is this indeed.
In the name of the one who speaks to us such glory, calling us his bride, Jesus himself. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus, to life everlasting. Amen.
