Scripture text: Psalm 2
When I was writing my sermon on Friday morning, news reports were coming in that Russian forces had occupied several key airports in Ukraine. Or maybe they’re not Russian, just pro-Russian Ukrainians. It’s not clear. Either way, we are seeing the emergence of the next major international crisis. It’s been a little too quiet since Syria (or was it Egypt last time?) and I guess we’re due.
“Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord.” so says our Psalm this morning. “Why do the nations rage?” The psalms ask elsewhere. Good questions. It seems they do a lot of raging. Wars and rumors of war, conflict, insurrection. We may be in one of the most peaceful times in history, but that obviously does not mean that human conflict and warfare has been eradicated entirely. This disease remains.
We know why. The Scriptures tell us that answer to these questions. The answer is because their time is short. A new world is coming.
Transfiguration Sunday is all about that new world. The disciples on the mountaintop are given a glimpse of it in Jesus himself, transfigured and transformed into glory before them, linked to the past in Moses and to the future in Elijah (whose return in Jewish belief is tied to the end of all things.) Peter and the others see in that mountaintop experience the new world that is coming; a world where everything has become new. Everything has changed.
And to those who benefit from the world being the way it is now, there is nothing more terrifying.
It is said that Satan rages all the more fiercely because he knows he is already beaten. You could probably say the same for the kings of the earth, or whatever title their modern equivalents choose to take for themselves: Premier, Prime Minister, President, etc. The leaders of nations grasping at the resource most desired at their particular moment: land, oil, people, gold, water, whatever.
They are not alone, these power-brokers. They are joined by the wealthiest, those who have enough money to buy everything and then some. I saw an interesting picture on the web the other day. The wealthiest 20 people in the world have more money in their possession than over 190 nations, including countries we don’t think of as poor like Norway, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Ireland, and Italy. “Hi, my name is ______________ and I have more money than the whole nation of Sweden.” Talk about “he who dies with the most toys wins.”
But that’s not how it is. As I often joke, “he who dies with the most toys is still dead.” And that’s what they fear. Their time is short, so they have to grab all they can of this world before their time runs out.
A new world is coming and it scares the daylights out of the powers-that-be.
But not just them. It’s us too. We can laugh at those who cling and grasp at power and wealth with manic and often destructive desperation, but we’re no different really. We have our things that we cling to as well. And many of them will have no place in a transfigured world.
We proudly wave our flags and speak highly of our home here in America. But there will be no America in a transfigured world, no nations at all. No tribes, no dividing lines between us and others. Are we ready for that? Are we open to that?
What will family mean when we are truly brothers and sisters with all humanity? No distinction of blood or breeding will remain. Are we ready for that?
It is said that Satan rages all the more fiercely because he knows he is already beaten. You could probably say the same for the kings of the earth, or whatever title their modern equivalents choose to take for themselves: Premier, Prime Minister, President, etc. The leaders of nations grasping at the resource most desired at their particular moment: land, oil, people, gold, water, whatever.
They are not alone, these power-brokers. They are joined by the wealthiest, those who have enough money to buy everything and then some. I saw an interesting picture on the web the other day. The wealthiest 20 people in the world have more money in their possession than over 190 nations, including countries we don’t think of as poor like Norway, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Ireland, and Italy. “Hi, my name is ______________ and I have more money than the whole nation of Sweden.” Talk about “he who dies with the most toys wins.”
But that’s not how it is. As I often joke, “he who dies with the most toys is still dead.” And that’s what they fear. Their time is short, so they have to grab all they can of this world before their time runs out.
A new world is coming and it scares the daylights out of the powers-that-be.
But not just them. It’s us too. We can laugh at those who cling and grasp at power and wealth with manic and often destructive desperation, but we’re no different really. We have our things that we cling to as well. And many of them will have no place in a transfigured world.
We proudly wave our flags and speak highly of our home here in America. But there will be no America in a transfigured world, no nations at all. No tribes, no dividing lines between us and others. Are we ready for that? Are we open to that?
What will family mean when we are truly brothers and sisters with all humanity? No distinction of blood or breeding will remain. Are we ready for that?
I used to tell friends of the more evangelical stripe when they were going on about the end-of-the-world about how I really hoped it would NOT happen in my lifetime. When they asked why I was not very eager to see Jesus return soon, I answered honestly. This world, this life, is full of wonders and I’d like to experience a few of them before it’s taken away from me. I still feel that way. Am I ready for a transfigured world? I don’t think so.
None of us are.
We talk in church about sin as rebellion and here is perhaps where we see that most clearly. These kings, the psalmist speaks of, are far from alone in their rejection of God’s desires. We join them in that, every day, every time we place our ambition, our wealth, our desires, our patriotism, our familial bonds, and all our other idols before God and his plan for our salvation.
Peter was terrified upon the mountain when he saw that new world. He should be. Change is hard.
But the transfigured world Jesus inaugurates truly is a better one. It’s a world of life, not death. Think about what our fears have wrought upon this earth. The people of Ukraine likely face a bloody civil war over the ambition of petty tyrants, the latest in a long line of such conflicts. And those wealthiest of the wealthy who hoard the GNP of nations in their bank accounts. How many starve worldwide because they refuse to share? Patriotism is a wonderful thing until we make of it an excuse for bigotry and hate, an error we and those of other nations have made far too often. Our desperate sinful rebellion has done nothing but destroy and divide.
God would have it a different way. A world where wars would cease, where there would be no lack, where we would recognize each other by bonds of fellowship and friendship instead of by race, creed, and birthplace. But this world will not come about by our doing. We can strive for it, maybe even get a little closer to it when we let our better natures rule us, but we can never achieve it fully. We’ve seen that.
So God must act and he has acted. He has sent his son to bring his kingdom into our world. But it comes not with conquest, but with love and sacrifice, through death and resurrection. You see, we wrecked this world through fear, fear that our time is short. Jesus rises again from the tomb to declare that “No, it isn’t.” Our time is eternal and there is nothing to fear, not even death. He has transformed the world. From death to life.
Why do the nations rage? Why do we fear? There is reason no longer thanks to the cross and empty tomb of Jesus Christ. Amen.
None of us are.
We talk in church about sin as rebellion and here is perhaps where we see that most clearly. These kings, the psalmist speaks of, are far from alone in their rejection of God’s desires. We join them in that, every day, every time we place our ambition, our wealth, our desires, our patriotism, our familial bonds, and all our other idols before God and his plan for our salvation.
Peter was terrified upon the mountain when he saw that new world. He should be. Change is hard.
But the transfigured world Jesus inaugurates truly is a better one. It’s a world of life, not death. Think about what our fears have wrought upon this earth. The people of Ukraine likely face a bloody civil war over the ambition of petty tyrants, the latest in a long line of such conflicts. And those wealthiest of the wealthy who hoard the GNP of nations in their bank accounts. How many starve worldwide because they refuse to share? Patriotism is a wonderful thing until we make of it an excuse for bigotry and hate, an error we and those of other nations have made far too often. Our desperate sinful rebellion has done nothing but destroy and divide.
God would have it a different way. A world where wars would cease, where there would be no lack, where we would recognize each other by bonds of fellowship and friendship instead of by race, creed, and birthplace. But this world will not come about by our doing. We can strive for it, maybe even get a little closer to it when we let our better natures rule us, but we can never achieve it fully. We’ve seen that.
So God must act and he has acted. He has sent his son to bring his kingdom into our world. But it comes not with conquest, but with love and sacrifice, through death and resurrection. You see, we wrecked this world through fear, fear that our time is short. Jesus rises again from the tomb to declare that “No, it isn’t.” Our time is eternal and there is nothing to fear, not even death. He has transformed the world. From death to life.
Why do the nations rage? Why do we fear? There is reason no longer thanks to the cross and empty tomb of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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