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Psalm 50, our Psalm for the Transfiguration of Our Lord, is so fitting for this occasion wherein we, the Lord's people gathered in holy assembly to receive His service in the divine liturgy, arrive at the culmination of His Epiphany and the gateway to Ash Wednesday and Lent. For, in this Psalm God confronts and calls His covenant people to account as they meet before Him in worship at His house.
It's possible that the liturgical event was the Feast of Tabernacles, which is also related to the ministry of Moses and, hence, to our texts for the Transfiguration of Our Lord, such as our Gospel lesson where St. Peter's proposal to build three booths, one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah, is reminiscent of that annual Jewish festival and may betray a realization of its completion in Jesus as the Fulfiller of the Law (represented by Moses) and the Prophets (represented by Elijah) and of God-in-Him tabernacling with His people in the flesh, delivering them from bondage and leading them into the Promised Land, God's kingdom and, ultimately, to heaven.
Having written down the Law of God and given it to Israel's priests and elders as the authorized custodians of God's Word and its proclamation and teaching, Moses commanded, "At the end of every seven years, in the year of canceling debts", that is, the Sabbath year, "during the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing. . .so they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess" (Dt 31:10-13).
Since everything in the Old Testament, including this thoroughgoing recitation of God's Word every Sabbath year during the Feast of Booths in the divine liturgy in holy assembly, is a foreshadowing of its substance and completion in the New Testament, in whom and by whom is this type realized but in and by Jesus, the embodiment and fulfillment of God's Word, indeed, God's Word incarnate, and His people's Sabbath in whom their debts are cancelled and they're set free from their obligations.
Yes, who is the Antitype to this Archetype but this Good Shepherd in whom His sheep in fact rest and by whom, through Holy Baptism, they pass over from death to life and into God's kingdom, their Promised Land, to live with Him forever--all of this transmitted to us in the glorious transfiguration of our Lord, the consummation of His epiphany and the gateway to the completion of His mission and ministry in the divine services of Ash Wednesday and Lent, culminating in the sacred liturgy of Holy Week.
And so it is fitting at this juncture for the mighty One, God, the Lord, to break forth from His dwelling place and to speak and summon the whole earth "from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets" (Ps 50:1), indeed, to beckon both heaven and earth as third-party witnesses to His covenant, God Himself being the first party and His people the second, and to judge them in the light thereof.
God's people have been served. Having received God's summons, they cannot but appear before Him in sacred assembly. Talk about an epiphany! "'Gather to me my consecrated ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.' And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God himself is judge" (vv 5-6).
But just who may dwell in His sanctuary? Who may inhabit His holy hill? "He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury", even as now during economic downturns and financial crises, "and does not accept a bribe against the innocent" (Ps 15:2-5a).
Or, if he has swerved into the path of wrong-doing, having received the Lord's summons and been confronted and called to account by Him, repents of it and returns to the right way. "He who does these things will never be shaken" (v 15b) when wrongdoers are shaken down and shaken out of the Lord's kingdom.
"Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?" Or in this instance, the mountain of His transfiguration? "Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart", having washed them in the waters of Holy Baptism again and again by daily repentance, "who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.
"He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob" (Ps 24:3-6).
Those who thus welcome God their Light and their Life, who delight in His epiphany, who are thus transfigured by their transfiguring Lord, thus transfixed, without trans-fatty acids, thus made receptive by Him, King David addresses in the remainder of this psalm, Psalm 24. We sing it, among other times, during the advent of our Lord as now at the peak of His peak performance in His transfiguration.
"Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates! / Behold, the King of Glory waits; / The King of kings is drawing near, / The Savior of the world is here. / Life and salvation He doth bring, / Wherefore rejoice and gladly sing: / We praise Thee, Father, now, / Creator, wise art Thou!" (TLH 73:1).
Or a bit more prosaically, "Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty--he is the King of glory" (vv 7-10).
So, who may ascend the hill of the Lord, or mount the mountaintop of His transfiguration on Transfiguration Sunday? Who may stand in His holy place and inhabit His holy hill and dwell in His sacred sanctuary? He who swerves back into the right way he has swerved out of in pursuing his own way, this wrong-way-Corrigan put right, that's who!
He who renounces his wayward ways, relents of his wrong turns and returns to the straight and narrow. He who is converted and repents; he who is transfigured and transformed and transfixed, with or without trans-fatty acids to grease the skids!
Those, among others, who have had the wrong idea about sacrifice, who have believed their acts of self-denial are good works that are meritorious and have contributed to their right standing; they who have insisted on working out their salvation together with God, who have labored under the delusion that their justification before God and their reconciliation with Him is a joint, cooperative venture between themselves and God rather than a solo affair which God alone has worked.
To these God announces, "I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings," not the sacrifices themselves or the burnt offerings per se but your wrong-headed, stiff-necked, hard-hearted attitude toward them. God goes on to accent the obvious to a sarcastic, hilarious degree, lest His dense devotees miss the point.
"I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens" (Ps 50:9). Has He any more need of the rather more meager offerings in our offering envelopes? No, indeed! "For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills" (v 10), not to mention all the offerings we withhold to our own hurt.
"If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it" (v 12), including succulent fatlings which are a lot more appetizing than we scrawny, skimping spendthrifts. Yet all we are and have are His. And here He drives home His point and breaks it off. "Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?" (v 13).
Well, does He? Not on your life! Thus confronted and called to account, thus convicted, the works-righteous wage slave in all of us squirms and then repents. Assured of the absolution of the One whose self-offering alone atones for us, pays off our debt, ransoms and redeems us and secures our early release from debtor's prison, all the while reconciling us to God, and armed therewith, we're put back on the right track, the fast track back to Him from whom we've swerved and gotten sidetracked, the sure route to thanksgiving and thankful living.
So, live it up! Live and let live! Alive in Christ! Sacrifice your self-righteousness and self-righteous works-righteousness on the altar of Christ's cross. Then "sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me" (vv 14-15).
Who, on the other hand, may not ascend the hill of the Lord, that is, the mountain of His transfiguration and the mountaintop of the converted, repentant and believing sinner whom He has purchased, pardoned and transformed, much less stand in His holy presence, or live on its peak, the pinnacle of social climbers, thus surmounted, or dwell in His sanctuary?
He who refuses to be won over and who spurns self-renunciation and self-denial. He who will not relent, who will not turn, believe and be saved and who writhes and squirms and skimps and withers like the doomed worm he is. Of these God says, "What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips?
"You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you. When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers. You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit. You speak continually against your brother and slander your own mother's son. These things you have done and I kept silent;" and, oh, the effrontery! "You thought I was altogether like you" (vv 16-21).
These hardened offenders, hypocrites everyone, have the audacity to mistake God's merciful silence and longsuffering patience wherein He gives them ample time and space to repent, to cease and desist, for toleration, if not approval of their stubborn wickedness in not dealing with lawbreakers and not dealing out justice in a fair, impartial and timely manner.
To the contrary, God concludes, "when the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong" (Eccl 8:11).
Justice delayed is no justice at all. It is justice denied and justice miscarried. In this regard, just think of what a wholesale miscarriage of justice our liberal and tolerant judicial system has grown into, what a mockery of justice, what a charade and fiasco! Not to mention the vile favoritism implicit if not blatantly explicit in good ole boy cronyism!
When the curb of the law is removed, sinful human beings are no longer restrained in their wickedness but let loose and spurred on. Liberty becomes license, libertine license. Those who deliberately confuse God's merciful patience and longsuffering silence with ambivalence toward sin God rocks back on their complacent, ambiguous haunches. "For a long time I have kept silence," God concedes, "I have been quiet and held myself back" (Isa 42:14a).
But lest they miss the point of His patience, He sets the record straight. "But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all the vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools" (vv 14b-15).
Those whose casual, nonchalant yet crass misappropriation of God's merciful liberality has led them to take His gracious favor for granted and in vain, and exhibit that familiarity which breeds contempt, God counters. "Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?" (Isa 57:11b).
Then God provides the antidote for this pernicious poison. But it's a bitter pill to swallow. "I will expose your righteousness and your works," your pretty, petty poison, your toxic assets growing more and more toxic, "and they will not benefit you" (v 12).
Where is the antitoxin for this toxicity? When you beg for mercy, let the craven things you rely on save you! When you cry out, help!, and you will, just wait and see, just hide and watch, may the graven admiration you crave be your stock and stay! You think I'm altogether like you, God confounds the nay-sayers. If a little of the snake that bit you is insufficient, in other words, if the antivenom fails to counteract and neutralize the snake bite, God goes the whole hog, reserving the worst for last, one last drastic measure. No half-measure will do. Dire circumstances require dire moves.
Radical sin demands a radical cure--God's final reproof--or one last dying gasp, poof! For time is of the essence. Now is the moment for salvation. Now is the moment for the cure-all to kick in. Now! One moment more may be one moment too late! Since a little of the viper that bit you is too little, since there is no other medicine, "I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face. Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue" (Ps 50:21b-22).
On the other hand, "He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God" (v 23). God distinguishes between the haughty reprobate and the humble, hearty parolee. Which side of the fence are you on? This is one fence you cannot ride much less straddle. It's barbwire! You're bound to fall off on one side or the other. Which is it to be?
You're either for God and against the devil or you're against God and for the devil. And the devil take the hindmost! You cannot have it both ways, both-and. It's black or white, either-or. There is no great gray in between. There is no neutrality pact between God and you and the devil, like there is between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Here God has zero tolerance. If that makes Him intolerant, so be it! If that makes you and me, the contrite sinner, a bigot, so be it! Of far greater import is the fact that God is either for or against us. Repent, therefore! Be converted, believe and be saved. Be safe not sorry.
And as you follow your Savior, whose way is blameless and who does what is right, who speaks the truth from His heart and has no slander on His tongue, who does His neighbor no wrong, only right, and casts no slur on His fellows but bespeaks them righteous, He will receive you as one of His own.
Goodness, He doesn't even despise a vile offender, a hardened repeater, but pities him and shows him great mercy, taking away his vileness and wearing away his hardness, if he will yet relinquish them, and cleansing him if he will but be baptized. The Lord knows, He honors those who thus fear the Lord.
He keeps His oath even when it hurts, even unto death, He who ransoms without repayment and redeems without usury--and with interest compounded!--especially heartening in this economic downturn and during this financial catastrophe, and all without partiality, with malice toward none and favor toward everyone, all without taking a bribe and regardless of so-called entitlements and affirmative action.
As you shadow your transfigured and transfiguring Lord up the mountain of His transfiguration, step forth from the shadows and He will shine on you as you ascend His holy hill and inhabit His sanctuary and stand in His sacred place and dwell with Him. Dog His heels as doggedly as did Elisha those of his doggedly determined forerunner Elijah. Be just as determined and deliberate.
"As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you" (2Kngs 2:1-12c). Cleave to your Master as tenaciously as did Elisha. Do not be discouraged. Do not be dissuaded. Do not be dismayed. Do not be put off. Persist, do not desist. Do not be denied. "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit."
Thus emboldened, may you receive His Spirit and His spirited resolve and His spiritual reward. Thus transfigured, you will cry, "My Father! My Father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" Those fiery chariots and fiery horses and fiery charioteers which have accompanied and surrounded and protected you in this life, all life through, will escort you joyfully into the next.
Here at the apex, on the Sunday of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, the culmination of His epiphany and the gateway to Ash Wednesday and Lent and to His peak performance on yet another mountain peak, mournful Mount Calvary, having His mercy, resolve not to lose heart but to renounce secret and shameful ways and to turn and return to Him, no longer to deceive or distort God's Word but on the contrary, setting the truth forth plainly, commend yourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
And the veil will be taken away! For only in Christ is the veil which covers all sinners like a burial shroud removed and Christ's righteousness put in its place. It is as St. Paul puts it in his second letter to the Corinthians. "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2Cor 3:12-4:2).
Freedom is another word for liberty. Liberty not license. "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
Who may ascend the Lord's holy hill, the mountain of His transfiguration? We may. We already have. Amen.
- Pastor Erickson