Mind Your Own Business

Mind Your Own Business

Hank Williams

St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

Collect: Merciful Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church, that it, being instructed* by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to everlasting life†; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Gospel: St. John 21:19b-25

19b (BCP: Jesus saith unto Peter, Follow me.) And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?

21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?

22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

24 This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.

25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

Hank Williams, who died January 1, 1953, wrote a humorous song, titled “Mind Your Own Business.” He says, “If you mind your own business, then you won’t be mindin’ mine,” and “If you mind your own business, you’ll stay busy all the time.”

Jesus gave St. Peter a lesson in minding his own business as they walked together after Jesus’ resurrection along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

1. Jesus’ Call

1.1 After his Resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples only a few times. At some point most, if not all, of them left Jerusalem, and went north to Galilee. One day Peter said, “I’m going fishing,” and 6 others joined him. They fished through the night, and the next morning Jesus appeared to them on the shore and called out to ask if they had caught anything. John recognized Jesus by his voice, and when he said, “That’s the Lord!” Peter was so excited he jumped overboard and swam to shore.

1.2. But there was an item of unfinished business between Peter and Jesus. Have you ever let another person down and knew that sooner or later the two of you would have to talk about it?

On the night of his betrayal Jesus told his disciples, “Yet a little while I am with you...Where I am going you cannot come.” In characteristically impulsive fashion, Peter said, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered: “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow me afterward.” Peter did not know when to cut his losses, so he pressed on, “Lord, why can I not follow you? I will lay down my life for you.” We know how that turned out. Before the night was over, Peter three times denied even knowing Jesus.

The moment when Peter would have to talk with Jesus about Peter’s failure came after breakfast. Jesus looked at Peter and asked, “Peter, do you love me more than these other men love me?” Peter replied, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” That happened three times, and, after each affirmation of love, Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” Three times Peter denied the Lord. Three times the Lord asked Peter if he loved him. Three times Peter affirmed his love. And three times Jesus affirmed he still wanted Peter as a shepherd of the church.

1.3. Jesus then told Peter what lay ahead for him. Eventually Peter would lose control of his own comings and goings and die as a martyr in the service of his Lord. Then Jesus summarized Peter’s calling with the command, “Follow me.” That is what Jesus had said to his disciples when he first called them, “Follow me.” He had told them on his last night with them, “You can’t follow me now, but later you will.” Now Jesus says to Peter specifically, “Follow me.”

That command is not just for apostles. It is the essence of what it means for anyone to be a disciple. Following Jesus means we trust him and so entrust ourselves to him as our Savior and then follow him as our Lord.

2. Peter’s Question

2.1. Apparently when Jesus said, “Follow me,” he got up and began to walk along the seashore, and Peter followed literally. As they were walking, Peter looked back and saw another disciple was following them.

“It was “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” In the Upper Room Jesus had said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Peter motioned to one of the disciples, who was reclining at table very close to Jesus, for that disciple to ask who the betrayer was. Here that disciple identifies himself as the one who had asked, “Lord, who is it who is going to betray you?”

The question we naturally ask, since this disciple does not give his name, is, “Who is the disciple whom Jesus loved and who asked Jesus to identify the betrayer”? The traditional answer, and I believe the right answer, is that it is the Apostle and Evangelist whose feast we observe today, St. John.

St. John and his brother, James, were sons of a man name Zebedee. Both were included among the original 12 disciples whom Jesus appointed Apostles. Jesus gave them the nickname “Sons of Thunder.” They had their faults. When a Samaritan village would not let Jesus enter, they asked him if he wanted them to call down fire of judgment from heaven. Jesus rebuked them. They and their mother were ambitious for their future in the kingdom, wanting them to have the two most prominent positions, one to sit on the right and the other on the left of Jesus. Nevertheless, they, along with Peter, were the three disciples who formed Jesus’ inner circle.

In this Gospel which he wrote, St. John keeps himself in the background by referring to himself only as the disciple Jesus loved. He was used by the Lord to write not only this Gospel but also 3 letters and the Revelation. In later life he lived in Ephesus, and he died an old man in his 90s on the island of Patmos.

2.2. Peter, walking along the shore with Jesus and having just heard he would die as a martyr and charged to follow Jesus, looked back and saw John following. He asked a very human question: “Lord, what about that man? What’s going to happen to him?” Those who have raised children are probably very familiar with this sort of question. You tell one to go clean the kitchen, and he immediately asks, “Well what about my brother? What’s he gonna have to do?” We are tempted to ask the Lord when he gives us some assignment - a particular job, or marital situation, or health condition, or financial circumstances, or task in the church - “What about everybody else? Why don’t they have my situation? Why do they have it better?” It’s a very human question, but, as Jesus shows, it is not a question we ought to ask.

3. Jesus’s Answer

3.1. Jesus gives a frank, straightforward answer: “If it is my will that he remains in this world till I came again, what is that to you?” Jesus tells Peter that it is none of Peter’s business what Jesus plans for John. Peter as an undershepherd will follow the Good Shepherd, and lay down his life for the flock. Jesus alone could die in the place of the flock and for the flock to save it from Satan, sin, and condemnation. But Peter and many others are called to feed and tend the flock, and some of them are called also to die in service as shepherds.

Eventually Peter shared with others what the Lord had said to him about his future and about John’s. As the word was passed on among believers from one to another a misunderstanding developed. Some thought Jesus had said that John would not die but continue living till Christ’s Second Coming: “So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die.” John corrects that misunderstanding here: “Yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?’”

3.2. There are important lessons we can learn from Peter and John about our lives as Christian disciples:

3.2.1 What determines our places of service, as well as the whole course of our lives as Christians, is Jesus’ will. He determines the length, circumstances, and places of our lives. For some he wills long lives, for some shorter. He gives some good health and others health troubles. He calls some to marriage and some to singleness. He gives one certain skills and another different skills. He entrusts some with abundant material resources and some live their lives struggling to make ends meet.

He assigns us our places of service in the kingdom. You and I can know he has called us to this parish, and it is in and through this parish he calls us to serve him. This is where he has put us, and this where he calls us to serve him.

The important thing to know is that we are in the Lord’s hands. His will determine our lives. We may not understand why he wills what he wills for us, but he is not a cruel master. He does not look at us as objects to be coldly manipulated. He looks on us as sheep whom he loves and for whom he died. Always remember that. His will determines our lives, but he is the Good Shepherd who feeds the flock, who carries the young lambs in his bosom and gently leads those who are with young.

3.2.2. The Lord’s call to us is constant and unchanging: “Follow me.” You might be in doubt many times about what to do in the changing circumstances of life, but you never need to have any doubt at all about this. Jesus is always saying, “Follow me.” He never says, “Don’t follow me here. I don’t expect you to follow me now. You can take a break for awhile from following me.” If you ever hear that, you can be sure it is the devil not Jesus who is speaking to you.

Practically that means following him as he makes his will known in his written Word. It is Jesus who speaks in and through the Scriptures. Whatever he says to us in the Bible, he calls us to do. Always follow Jesus as he leads you by his Word.

That means also following him as his plan unfolds. He does not tell us as he told Peter, “You are called to follow me into martyrdom,” or as by implication he told John, “You are called to follow me into long life and ministry to the church.” We seldom see more than the next step or few, hardly ever around a corner, but he calls us, saying, “Trust me. Follow me. Do my will. Serve me.”

Mind your own business. What is our business? Following Jesus.

Call Him Jesus: A Christmas Eve Homily

Call Him Jesus

Christmas Eve

Gospel: Matthew 1:18-25 (KJV)

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.

20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus.

The most popular boys names the year I was born (1947) were James, Robert, John, William, and Richard. The most popular in 2014 were Noah, Liam, Mason, Jacob, and, still on the list, William.

Parents give a lot of time and thought to choosing their baby’s name. But no babies I know get named by heavenly messengers. However an angel named both John the Baptist and our Savior.

1. Joseph’s Accommodation

Joseph was a righteous man, an Old Testament believer. His faith was counted to him as righteousness. He lived out his faith by seeking to conform his life to the righteousness of God’s law.

Joseph was engaged to a young woman of perhaps 14 or 15 years, whose name was Mary, when he found out she was pregnant. He knew he was not the father. He was disappointed and shocked.

Because he was a righteous man Joseph faced the necessity of making a righteous accommodation to reality. He knew he could not marry a woman who had been unfaithful during their engagement. But in his day engagements were not easy to break. There was a process something like getting a modern divorce. But Joseph did not want to expose Mary to public shame through public proceedings. The best solution was to “put her away privily” - to use the legal process in a private way. This decision that honored both the righteousness of morality and the righteousness of mercy.

Joseph was thinking over all his plan when an angel showed up.

2. The Angel’s Revelation

The angel addressed Joseph as “thou son of David.” Joseph lived in Nazareth of Galilee, but his family belonged to the tribe of Judah and originally came from Bethlehem. He was from a humble family but was a descendant of King David.

After addressing Joseph, the first words the angel spoke were, “Fear not.” Angels are messengers from God. The natural response to them is fear. An Angel appeared four times in connection with the birth of our Lord, and each time gave assurance that there was no need to be afraid. When an angel of the Lord appeared to the priest, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, he said, “Fear not, Zacharias.” When Gabriel greeted Mary, he said, “Fear not, Mary.” When the angel of the Lord appeared with the glory of the Lord to the shepherds, he said, “Fear not.” In each case there is no need to be afraid because the angel brought good news of what God was doing to save his people. Knowing that God is for us, and has intervened in history in Jesus Christ to save us, dispels our fear and gives us peace.

The angel revealed to Joseph the secret that only Mary and Elisabeth knew: “Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”  

When Gabriel told Mary she was highly favored, and she would bear a Son, she responded, “I’m a virgin. How can this be?” The angel answered, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.” Now Joseph knew what Mary knew. Her pregnancy had come about by the miraculous work of God through the Holy Spirit.

Gabriel told Mary that her child’s name would be Jesus. Now the angel brought Joseph, who would have to name Mary’s Son formally, up to speed about the name: “Thou shalt call his name Jesus.”

There were three brothers who played professional baseball, the Alou brothers - Felipe, Matty, and Jesus. Announcers usually called Jesus “J” Alou, because many feel it is sacrilegious to give an ordinary person the name Jesus. Many think no one but our Lord ever had that name. For the last 2000 years that is generally true, but, when Jesus was born, the name was not uncommon. The name Jesus is the Greek form of the Old Testament name Joshua. The most famous Old Testament Joshua, or Jesus, led Israel in the conquest of Canaan.  

The importance of the name “Jesus” given to Mary’s Son, is not its uniqueness but its significance.

3. The Angel’s Explanation

The angel explained to Joseph why he must name Mary’s Child Jesus. “Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

The name Joshua or Jesus means “Yahweh saves.” You may have noticed in your English Bible that sometimes the word “Lord” is spelled with a capital L followed by lowercase letters - “Lord.” Other times it is spelled with all capitals - LORD. Those two different spellings represent two different Hebrew names for God. The Hebrew word behind the name LORD spelled with all capitals is “Yahweh.” The reason that is important is that Yahweh is the most personal name of God, the name he revealed to Israel as his people, the name of Israel’s Redeemer. Yahweh is the covenant God who saves his people.

Joshua, or Jesus, means “the God of Israel saves.” The name was given to our Lord, because he will save his people from their sins. People might have expected, “He will save his people from Roman oppression, reign as king, give prosperity, and restore Israel’s glory among the nations. But Jesus did not come for that. He came to save from sin.

Sin is the real human problem and underlies all other problems.

Sin creates guilt. An accused may or may not feel guilty. The purpose of a court is to determine whether before the law he is guilty of a crime. So people may feel guilty or not, but sin creates real objective guilt before God.

Sin controls. Sin promises freedom and happiness, but it produces slavery and misery. When the Jews claimed that, as sons of Abraham, they were not slaves of anyone, Jesus replied, “Everyone who sins is the slave of sin” (John 8:34).

Sin brings condemnation and eternal death. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but for all others there is the certainty of condemnation, condemnation to God’s just punishment of sin, which is the state of eternal dying outside the mercy of God forever.  

Jesus came to save us from all that. He is Joshua in the fullest sense. The LORD saves through him. But there is more. He is Emmanuel, God with us, God in the flesh. He is the LORD himself saving us. By his incarnation he became one with us, by his life he fulfilled God’s righteousness, by his death he paid sin’s penalty, by his resurrection he justified us, and by his ascension he presented his sacrifice to secure our eternal salvation.

At this Holy Table we have Holy Communion with Jesus our Savior in the company of his church on earth and in heaven. By faith we receive his sacrificed body and his shed blood to preserve us body and soul unto everlasting life.

King of kings yet born of Mary,

as of old on earth he stood,

Lord of lords in human vesture,

in the body and the blood,

He will give to all the faithful

his own self for heav’nly food.

Questions and Expectations

Questions and Expectations

Third in Advent (Rejoicing Sunday)

Collect of the Day: O Lord Jesus Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee; Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at thy second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

Gospel: Matthew 11:2-15

2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,

3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:

5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

8 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.

9 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.

10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.

15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

People tend to form expectations about Christmas. When those expectations aren’t met, they get depressed and sometimes angry. Therapists sometimes tell clients, “Expectations are resentments waiting to happen.” Today’s Gospel is about unmet expectations.

1. John’s Question about Jesus

1.1. Have you ever felt let down because things didn’t turn out the way you expected? John the Baptist’s life purpose was to prepare the way for the Messiah by preaching, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” One person he called to repent was King Herod Antipas. Herod had fallen in love with Herodias, his brother’s wife. She divorced her husband, he divorced his wife, and the two got married. John told Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” So Herod arrested John and put him in jail. Herod wanted to execute John, but he was afraid of the people who regarded John as a prophet, so John remained in prison.

John’s disciples who visited him in prison told him about Jesus’ ministry, and John sent them back with a question: “Are you the one to come, or are we to expect another?” You can understand John’s being perplexed. He called people to repent because the Messiah was coming soon and would bring salvation to those who repented but judgment to those who did not. But John languished in prison while Herod remained in his palace. Judgment had not arrived.

1.2. Jesus sent John’s disciples with instructions: “Go tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” The prophet Isaiah had predicted that such things would happen when the Messiah came. One example is in today’s lesson from Isaiah: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” All the things Jesus cited were miraculous except the last and most important, “The poor have good news preached to them.” Jesus does not ignore the weakest, most marginalized, and least important members of society, but preaches the good news of salvation to them. Jesus is saying to John, “Listen to the reports of your own disciples. Am I not doing the works of the Messiah?”

1.3. Jesus adds a mild rebuke: “And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” John stumbled because what Jesus was doing did not match John’s expectations. Why was John in prison? Where was the judgment on the wicked like Herod?

All the things Jesus cited are works of salvation. They show that Jesus has come to reverse the curse of sin. Ultimately that will require Jesus himself bearing the curse of sin on the cross.  Healing diseases, raising the dead, and preaching good news to the poor show that the age of salvation has arrived. What John did not understand is that accomplishing salvation and extending salvation to as many as possible means the delay of judgment.

We can be like John as we are puzzled about what Jesus is doing in the world now. We may wonder, if he is our Savior, why our health and wealth and other circumstances don’t match our hopes. We also wonder why Jesus allows the things he does - ISIS, terrorists, genocide of Christians in the Middle East. We ask what Jesus is doing in this world.

Neither the day of full salvation nor the day of final judgment is now. The day is coming when he will put everything right. He will remove every vestige of the curse of sin, raise our bodies to eternal life, and give us all the blessings and joys of salvation.  Then he will the judge all and execute judgment on the unrepentant. But this is the age of mercy, grace, and salvation when Jesus, who is not willing that any should perish, is calling on all to repent, believe the Gospel, and be saved.

2. Jesus’ Question about John

When John’s disciples left, Jesus asked the crowd the same question three times, “What were you expecting when you went out to see John?”

2.1. Did you expect a man who was a reed shaken by the wind? A man who wanted above all things to be liked? A man who would change his message to not offend his hearers? Did you expect to hear a Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller, or Joel Osteen? Someone who would preach a positive and optimistic message to make you feel better about yourselves and more able to cope with life? Did you expect a weak, vacillating man?  

Not John. His theme was, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” When Pharisees and Sadducees came to witness his ministry, he spoke roughly: “You vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? If you’re going to repent, show the fruits of repentance. Don’t think you are safe as the children of Abraham. God can raise up children of Abraham from stone. Already God is laying the axe at the roots of the trees of Israel. Those who do not bear the fruit of repentance will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

He warned them that the Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit but also with fire. “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Though John mistakenly thought that salvation and judgment would happen simultaneously, his message was true. The coming of the Messiah means that all are moving toward final judgment.

2.2 Did you expect to find a man dressed in soft clothes, the kind of clothes worn in palaces by kings, their families, and attendants? That wasn’t John. His clothes were as austere and rough as his message. He lived like a man of the desert where he conducted his ministry. He wore clothes made of camel hair, a leather belt, and ate locusts and wild honey.

2.3. Did you expect to see a prophet? You were right about that, but he was far more than a prophet. He is the messenger that Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament promised would come to prepare the way for the Lord. In fact he is the prophet Elijah God promised would come before the great and awesome day of the Lord arrives. Among those born of women there has been no one greater than John.

Jesus’ rebuke of John’s questioning from prison was mild. His commendation of John to the people could hardly have been stronger. No human being in the history of the world was greater than John!

2.4. But Jesus added a surprise: As great as John was, “Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Do you understand what Jesus is saying? If you are the least important person who has ever been a member of the kingdom of heaven, you are greater than John the Baptist. How can that be? I know that I am not nearly so bold or courageous as John the Baptist. I doubt you would claim you are. I know that I was not given the privilege of preaching to prepare the way for Messiah. Neither were you. But we are greater than John.

How can that be? St. Peter explained: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets (including John) who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”

We live in a day John and all the prophets could see only from a distance, hope for, look forward to - the day when Christ has accomplished our salvation by his death on the cross, by his resurrection of the dead, by his ascension to heaven, and by his pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the church. We live on the other side of Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, and Pentecost. John looked forward to the day of salvation. You live in the day of salvation! There’s something to rejoice about on the Rejoicing Sunday.

A Sure Word from God

A Sure Word

Second in Advent

Collect of the Day Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.  

Homily Text: 2 Peter 1:19-21

19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Susan and I were driving into Washington, D.C. on a Veteran’s Day, when we heard on the radio that Ronald Reagan was going to speak at the amphitheater at Arlington Cemetery. We decided to go. We saw and heard Reagan, a one time experience. But, there is much more to know about Reagan than what we experienced. To know more we must turn to books, the written word.

St. Peter tells of an experience he had that we cannot have. But he points himself and us to something we share - the sure written Word of God.

1. Certainty

1.1. Peter tells us about his experience in chapter one of his second letter:

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

Peter had seen the glory of God and heard the voice of God. He, along with James and John, was an eyewitness of Jesus’ Transfiguration. Jesus changed as his clothes became whiter than any bleach could make them and his face shone like the sun. This was an outbreaking of divine glory that belongs to him as the eternal Son of God. Then God the Father spoke, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.”

1.2. It is impossible to underestimate the glory of Peter’s mountaintop experience. But he comes down off the mountain and directs our attention to a sure word:

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.

People want to know what they can be sure of, and it seems there is very little. We’re skeptical about what the media, government, politicians, and car salesmen say. Even scientific knowledge is frequently revised and corrected. About the only thing you can be sure of is mathematical truth -  2+2=4 - but nothing more. Many have given up on the whole idea of certain and sure truth. We are reduced to believing in “my truth” or “truth that works for me” which may or may not be your truth and may or may not work for you.

1.3. But Peter says we have a “sure word of prophecy.” He means the Old Testament Scriptures. When we hear the word “prophecy” we may think of “predictions” such as Micah’s foretelling of the significance of Bethlehem or Isaiah’s foretelling of the sufferings of the Messiah. But prophecy is fundamentally “speaking for God.” Sometimes it is foretelling but it is always forthtelling - telling what the Lord reveals to and through the prophet. Prophecy is a message from God.

The words of the prophets had been committed to writing. When Jesus or the Apostles quoted from the prophets, their source was the writings of the prophets. The term “Holy Scripture” means “holy writings” - writings that are set apart from other writings, different because they record, preserve, and pass down what God has said.

1.4. St. Peter tells us we will “do well” to “take heed” to the “sure word of prophecy” “as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” The world is dark because it is ignorant of the truth. People choose ignorance because they inevitably deny the truth of God’s existence and attributes revealed in the creation and within themselves as beings made in God’s image. The world is dark also because of moral depravity. One of the ironies of the present is that people think that indulging themselves and others in their sins is enlightened when in fact they engulf themselves in the darkness of evil.

Because of the world’s darkness we need light to guide us through the darkness to God and salvation, to truth and right. Otherwise we are constantly stumbling and going astray in the dark. We believe lies for truth and confuse immorality for righteousness. But the Scriptures are God’s light shining in this dark world.

We do well to pay attention to them throughout this age till the day dawns and the day star rises - that is, till the Second Advent, until Christ comes and finally dispels the darkness of the world and the darkness that remains in even our hearts as believers. That means we need to listen with understanding to the readings of Scriptures, to pay attention to preaching of the Scriptures, and to read our Bibles privately - or, as we say in the Collect for today, “to hear” but also to “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" the Holy Scriptures.  

2. Source

2.1. What makes the Old Testament Scriptures a sure word of prophecy? The answer lies in how they were produced. How were they produced? Peter answers that question both negatively and positively.

2.2. The Scriptures did not come about through “private interpretation.” The word “interpretation” usually has to do with how we understand what the Scriptures say. The goal is not to put into the Scripture a meaning that is not there, but to draw out of Scripture the meaning that is there. But St. Peter here is not talking about understanding the Scriptures but about how the Scriptures were produced.

They are not the result of “private interpretation.” That is, they did not come from a person thinking about some subject, coming up with his own thoughts, and then writing them down. Or, as he goes on to say, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man…” The Scriptures did not come about because some individual came up with some ideas and decided to write them down. Now that is the view of the Bible some people have - that it contains religious ideas man had in old times which may now be out of date and fashion. Or, they may say the Bible has excellent religious insights, but still is no more than high thoughts men had and committed to writing. But Peter clearly denies that. The writings of the Old Testament did not come from private interpretation or the will of man.

2.3. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” or as the ESV has it, “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” These men spoke from God - they were God’s spokesmen.

They spoke from God because they were moved or carried along by the Holy Spirit. When a ship is on the sea, it is carried along by the wind and tide. So the Holy Spirit carried these men. He used them, their personalities, their thought patterns, their vocabularies and writing styles, their historical and cultural settings, but he carried them where he wanted them to go so that not only their thoughts but the words they chose to express those thoughts were what he wanted. The direction of the Spirit led them to write God’s thoughts and God’s words. The authors of Scripture spoke and wrote from God because the Spirit guided them.

The Holy Spirit carried the writers to write God’s words. Where do those words lead us? The lead us to truth and righteousness, to salvation and eternal life. They lead us always to Christ who is the focus of all Scripture. On Easter evening, as our Lord walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). St. Paul reminded Timothy “ how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15). The Scriptures lead us always to Christ, to faith in him, and to life eternal.