|
<< Back to Sermon Archive
"Famous Last Words"
I am going to share a few phrases with you this morning,
and I need you to listen closely to see what they all have
in common. Are you ready? Here goes!
“It is just up the street on the left, there is no way you can miss it!”
“All you have to do is mix the ingredients together and bake. There
is no way that you can mess up this recipe.”
“Simple assembly instructions included.”
Or maybe these sound a little more familiar. “There is no
way that I will ever be…you fill in the blank… a pastor,
or a doctor, or a lawyer, or a mom, or a grandparent.” And
the list could go on and on.
From my personal life comes: “There is no way that I would
ever live in Nebraska or Texas!”
How about “God himself, could not sink this ship!” or
a personal favorite of mine, and used by permission:
“there is no way that I will ever date a single Vicar!”
What do all of these things have in common? Well, if
you haven’t figured it out yet, they all fall in the
category of things that we might identify as famous
last words!
It is fun to rattle off such a list and snicker a bit
at phrases which are a bit too familiar to us. But in
actuality this is exactly what God gives us in Luke’s
Gospel this morning. He gives us his famous last words.
It is a good thing for us to picture the scene for
a moment. Peter, James, and John have had quite a
week. Jesus has had a great deal to teach them,
especially about just who he is. Then he takes this
tired trio up to the top of a mountain. They are
barely there when they begin to doze a bit.
In the meantime we are given the most incredible
glimpse of our Jesus. This is not the Jesus who
is washing feet or dining with tax collectors.
This is Jesus whose glory and real appearance is
so bright that Luke is at a loss for words to
describe it and finally he settles on a “flash
of lightening.”
Jesus has a conversation with Moses and Elijah
next, and if that were not enough, all of the
sudden the voice of God the Father himself calls
down from heaven his famous last words: “This is
my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him!”
To fully understand the importance of those words,
we are going to need to travel back in time. In
fact, we are going to need to travel all the way
back to the Garden.
I wonder if you have ever noticed the famous words
that God spoke in the Garden. Have you ever noticed
that once he is done with the creation and has declared
everything good, the very next thing that God says to
Adam and Eve, and to you and me is: “Where are you?”
This has been God’s call to his people through the
centuries. He has called out to his people year after
and year and century after century: “where are you?”
And this his simple, heart-rending call to you and me
today. “Where are you?”
I guess the question is, why does that call have to be
among the famous last words of our God? Why does he
have to call out us, why aren’t we will him already?
Why don’t we listen the first time?
The truth is the answer is found in a few famous last
words of our own. I wonder if any of these sound familiar
to you.
“I won’t that mistake again.”
“I won’t hurt that person that I love again.”
“From now on I am going to keep my mouth shut.”
“Give me another chance and I will do better.”
“From now on I am going to think of others ahead of myself.”
If we put our minds and hearts to it, I daresay that each
one of us could conjure up quite a list of our own favorite
famous last words. It would be a list of all of things that
we have promised God, our loved ones, and even ourselves that
we would do differently the next time.
But how long is it before we have forgotten our new
promises to live according to God’s will. How long
is it before our thoughts, words, and actions lead us
back down the path that separates us from our God and
leaves him calling out once again: “where are you?”
The situation is endless and hopeless. That is if were
to be left up to you and me. Yet that is the message of
Transfiguration. God the Father wants us to be with him
and only he can make that happen.
So we hear again those famous last words. “This is my Son,
whom I have chosen. Listen to him.” God has chosen the
solution to our problem. That solution is His own Son. God
the Father chose His own Son to do what we cannot.
And now he invites us invites us to leave behind all the
problems, the concerns, the sin in our lives and bask in
the glory of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God. He is
the one chosen and sent by God our Father. He is the one
that gave up the glory that he revealed on the mountain
that day in order to go to the cross for you and me.
He gave up his glory to suffer the humiliation and
agony of the cross the point of death for you and me.
Then a short time later, God the Father raised Him
from the dead in order that He might have say several
famous things to you and me.
The Father asks us to listen to him, so lets here what
he has to say. Today he says to you:
- “I forgive you.”
- “I love you.”
- “I have a place in this life for you. All of your
work, all of your efforts, in my love, are pleasing
in my sight and they are your service to my kingdom.”
- “I am with you always!”
- “This is my body. This is my blood, shed for you for
the forgiveness of your sins.”
- “I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come back to take
you to be with me that you might be where I am.”
And finally, comes Jesus’ own final last words, final last
words from the final chapter of the Bible: “Behold, I am
coming soon!”
In this hope we pray, “Come Lord Jesus!
Amen!
Top of Page
<< Back to Sermon Archive
|
