1.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from
God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The
message from God’s Word this Transfiguration Sunday is taken from Numbers
20:7-12 & Deut. 34:1-12 (Read Text from Numbers 20). It’s entitled, “The Key to Greatness,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
One of my first jobs as a young
teenager was working at a grocery store in Minnetonka, MN called Cub Foods. I worked in the courtesy department. My
responsibilities included pushing the shopping carts from the parking lot back
into the store, cleaning the store, helping people find different grocery items
throughout the store, bagging customer’s groceries, and the like. After working at the store for a few years I
changed jobs to working in the deli department.
But, I had earned such a reputation for cleaning the different parts of
the store, pushing the shopping carts, and also helping in the grocery
department stocking different items that the manager would often page me to
help out throughout the store. After
awhile, those in the deli department started referring to me as the “great man,” because the managers and
other employees of the store kept me in high demand even outside the deli
department. They called on me because I had a reputation for getting results.
3.
The world thinks of greatness in
these terms. Greatness becomes a matter of what you do and the results you get.
This sort of greatness carries with it a hefty price tag, namely, that we might
start thinking of ourselves as great and let pride get the better of us. Since
we sinners crave the limelight, it’s always hard for us to resist the
temptations that come with being considered great.
4.
None of this is the way the Bible
sets forth human greatness. In Scripture, greatness always comes by relation to
the Lord. He alone is great. Just as any holiness for anyone else is by contact
with God, so also any greatness for anyone else comes by association with him. The
last chapter of Deuteronomy, which records Moses’ death, calls him “the servant of the Lord.” That’s the
first time this phrase is used in Scripture. Deuteronomy also mentions that
Moses was unique, for the Lord knew him face to face. Greatness in the Bible
only comes by association with God.
5.
Yet Moses didn’t lead the Israelites
into the Promised Land. He saw it from afar and died. Why? What had happened? The
answer is in Numbers 20, which relates an incident from Israel’s forty years of
wandering in the wilderness. The people needed water. They were
complaining. The Lord told Moses and his brother Aaron the high priest to
gather the community. Moses was supposed to speak to a rock, and the rock would
give forth water. So, Moses assembled the crowd, but then he struck the rock
with a rod. He struck it twice. It’s as if Moses were trying to provide his own
extra “oomph” to the miracle. The
Lord had told Moses to speak to the rock, but Moses struck the rock. Before he did this, Moses had said to the
crowd, “Listen, you rebels, shall we
bring water for you out of this rock?” Think about that. What did Moses
mean by saying, “Must we bring water”?
Who is “we”? At best, Moses meant himself and the Lord, and thus he was
taking credit for the miracle. At worst, he meant only himself and Aaron,
leaving the Lord out altogether. Moses in his pride was trying to upstage the
Lord.
6.
But, even in his wildest dreams,
Moses couldn’t be nearly as good a God as the Lord was and is. In this text it
wasn’t the Lord but rather Moses who was getting angry with the people. He
called them rebels, using a word that almost always means rebellion against
God. Moses had seen such rebellion from these people before. There had even
been an incident not long after they left Egypt in which the Lord told him to
get water for the quarrelsome people by striking a rock (Exodus 17:6). At times
in the past the Lord had been angry with rebellious Israel, and Moses had made
intercession for the people. But, this time Moses was overstepping his
responsibility as a Prophet of God. He lost his patience with the people. Their
rebellion truly was against the Lord, but Moses was taking it personally.
Whenever sinful human beings try to climb into the place of God, grace and
mercy are always the first things to go.
7.
On account of this rebellious act,
the Lord declared that Moses wouldn’t lead Israel into the Promised Land. People
today might say, “Well, Moses got the
desired results. Water came gushing out of the rock.” But, beware, of
confusing the way we account greatness with the way the Lord accounts it! God’s
Word gives no support to the idea that the end justifies the means. More to the
point, greatness in the Bible isn’t about our doing great things. Greatness
always comes in relationship to the Lord. Moses was blocking Israel’s
relationship with God. He was getting in the way. Nor did Moses himself trust
the Lord.
8.
This kind of thing happens with us. It
can happen even when we have the best of intentions. Sometimes we really want
to help others, but in our desire to help them we can prove unwilling to trust
them to the Lord and his Word. So, we stick our own selves into the picture, as
if we can give his power a little more “oomph.”
For example, I can be convinced that the friend I bring to church will
understand everything a bit better if it’s all explained by me, not anyone else.
I can even grow to think that my friend will believe God’s Word more readily if
I’m able to soft-pedal something in the Word that I know my friend will react
against. We can get in the way of God and his Word! It really shows unbelief on
our part, which is the very opposite of a relationship with God.
9.
In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “hallowed be thy name.” God’s name is
holy even before we say those words. It’s holy in and of itself. When we say “hallowed be thy name” we’re praying that
it might be kept holy among us, on earth as it is in heaven. The fact remains that God’s name is holy, and
God gets glory, completely without us and even despite us. He’s the Lord who
said through the prophet Isaiah, “I am
the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other” (Isaiah 42:8).
Shortly before Jesus went to the cross, he prayed, “Father, glorify your name.” A voice boomed back from heaven, “I have
glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (John 12:28). St. Paul wrote, “Far be it from me to boast except in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).
10.
Greatness and glory come only by
association with Christ. In the New Testament, on the Mount of Transfiguration,
there was great glory as Jesus’ face and garments shone like the sun. But
notice that this glory was in him. Others could share it only in association
with him. And in this association, Peter, James, and John couldn’t remain on
the mountain. They had to go down with him into the valley. They had to go with
him to Jerusalem, following him to the cross.
11.
They desired the cross no more than
you or I might. The cross seemed to hold nothing but pain and suffering, certainly
no glory. Jesus was stripped of his dignity, his clothing, and even his skin
when the soldiers whipped him. He was at length stripped of the saving presence
of God, and cried out: “My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Yet here was the hour Jesus had
talked about, the hour in which the Son of Man would be glorified (John 12:23).
Here he was bringing about our salvation, as our Substitute. He went on, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32).
12.
Greatness comes by association with
Christ. Jesus bore the sin of the world
alone. Now that he is risen from the dead, he includes us in the fruit of his
work. As one hymn puts it, Christ is the “stricken
Rock with streaming side” (LSB 534:4). He baptizes us into his death and
resurrection. He gives us to eat and drink the body and blood with which he
bought and paid for our redemption. On account of Christ, we stand as holy and
glorious before God. In a way we are even great before him, yet not with a
greatness of our own. Rather, this greatness comes entirely from him.
13.
In fact, God works things out in
such a way that even our sins call attention to him and his glory. I mean the
massive mistakes that we pull at times, the ones that make us quite embarrassed
and ashamed. Yes, these things, too, reveal the glory of his grace, for Christ
died and rose to forgive you and to forgive me of these sins. With this risen
Christ as our Lord, there is more than enough grace and mercy to cover the sin
of the world. The highest praise of God
is nothing else than receiving his blessings by faith. For before God,
greatness isn’t a matter of what we do. Greatness comes only in relationship
with him.
14.
Sometimes in this world, we have to
bear the consequences from those episodes when we’ve really blown it, not only
in the sight of God but also in the sight of other people. Moses had to bear
the consequence of his sins. He wasn’t going to lead Israel into the Promised
Land. God’s forgiveness was still there for him, though. At the end of Moses’
life, he was still called the one the Lord knew face to face.
15.
By the power of the Holy Spirit,
Moses was convinced that even his most embarrassing sin wasn’t going to end his
relationship with the Lord who redeemed him. And we, too, are “sure that neither death nor life, nor angels
nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the
love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39).
16.
When we do stupid and sinful things,
God’s great love for us in Christ doesn’t change. In repentance, we return to
our Baptism and he restores us to the life he gives. Maybe through some stupid and sinful thing we
do, we can ruin various opportunities to be regarded as great in the eyes of
the world. But, God doesn’t think of greatness in terms of what we do. He gives
it to us in association with himself. You have the forgiveness of our sins in
Christ, so you have all the holiness, all the glory, and even all the greatness
you could ever need. So did Moses.
17.
By the way, did Moses ever make it
into the Promised Land? Yes, he did. It was centuries later, at the
transfiguration of Christ. There Moses was, standing in the Promised Land, once
again speaking with the Lord who knew him face to face. On account of Christ,
you and I also know God. Jesus said, “Whoever
who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). St. John wrote that it is the
only God who has made God known (John 1:18). Greatness before God doesn’t
come by the great things we do; it comes in relationship with our gracious Lord
Jesus Christ. He remains the Key to greatness.
Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
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