After the neck of the Schlucht, we here in the snow 
after the squeegee, a good walk in the snow 
of far, we can see the ski slopes 
and we meet a small doe and her fawn 
back home, we are greeted by the dog home 
A little reading, 
and as snow falls increasingly strong 
'll have to study the system of channels damned!! 
FESTIVAL OF THE TRANSFIGURATION
Text: Exodus 3: 1 - 10
1 Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-priest of Midian;
he led the flock beyond the wilderness
and arrived at the mountain of God, Horeb.
2 The Messenger Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire, the middle of a bush.
Moses saw the bush was on fire,
but the bush was not consumed.
3 Moses said
"I will make a detour to see this extraordinary phenomenon:
why bush is not burnt does not it? "
4 The Lord saw that he had a detour to see;
then God called him out of the bush: "Moses, Moses!"
He replied: "I'm here!"
5 God said
"Do not come; put off thy shoes from off thy feet,
because of where you stand is holy ground. "
6 He added:
" I am the God of your father,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. "
Moses turned,
because he was afraid to direct his gaze toward God.
7 The Lord said
"I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt,
and have heard their cry because they grow their tyrants;
I know their pain.
8 I am down to free the hand of the Egyptians
and to bring them up in this country towards a good and spacious land,
a land flowing with milk and honey,
live where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites,
Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
9 Now, the cries of the Israelites came up to me,
and saw the oppression that the Egyptians do to them.
10 Now go, I'm sending with the Pharaoh;
do my people out of Egypt, the Israelites! "
Dear friends,
who have met "Messenger of the Lord " !
This text was chosen for the Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ because he brings one of the many appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament as "the angel of the Lord" !
Remember! The word "angel" means "messenger" , "bearer of news" . In the Bible, God often sent an angel to someone.
In our story, however, God does not send an angel any and sends "the angel of the Lord" which here is called "God" ; that it is the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Our text is therefore a text of Epiphany, a story where "Christ the Lord, " (Lk 2.11) appears in his divine majesty, a story where he" s'épiphanie "where he manifests his divinity with a bang.
the time of Moses, Jesus was not yet "true man, born of the Virgin Mary" . At the time, it was only "true God, begotten of the Father from eternity" (Martin Luther, Small Catechism ).
"The Messenger of the Lord " - or "Angel of the Lord" - "appeared to [Moses]" and presented himself in these terms: "I am the God of your father, God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. "
No doubt here " The Messenger of God appears " as" true God " , here Christ is Messiah's epiphany is manifested vividly as God in person!
The question arises: Why? Why the Son of God appears to Moses he?
God does nothing out of boredom or for fun, or to be interesting. When it turns out, when it occurs, is it a project. This is also true of the epiphany of the Messiah in our history.
CHRIST was transfigured before U.S.
- 1 -
because of the struggle of our faith,
- 2 -
because of the alliance he made with us,
- 3 -
because of the far more glorious transfiguration
still ahead.
CHRIST was transfigured before U.S.
- 1 -
because of the struggle of our faith
"Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-priest of Midian. He led the flock beyond the wilderness and arrived at the mountain of God, Horeb. "
What is he doing in the desert of Midian, who has grown up with Egyptian Pharaoh in the palace? Why he seeks to find "Beyond the Desert" a grassy field for sheep, which he was surrounded by an army of slaves in Egypt? What will happen to find "Horeb" - which means "dry" - he who lived in the lush Nile Valley?
Life has not been spared. It fell from above. He had to flee the soldiers of Pharaoh who wanted to kill him (Exodus 2.15). His faith in God was severely tested. Raised in the highest spheres of society, it is among the poorest. Its safety and luxury, he had to exchange them against insecurity and the dangers of the desert. Previously prince, he's busy with work that would qualify today painful.
This social meltdown, he did not have to digest it overnight. He has known fear, flight, wandering, loneliness, poverty, but also disillusionment, disappointment, discouragement. Certainly, God had mercy on him and made him find a wife and family in this foreign land, but it is still felt like an outsider. His first son, he called "Gershom" , "Immigrant" (Ex 2.22). Like what "There is nothing new under the sun" (Ec 1:9), not even immigration and difficulties.
Our faith in God is it not also sometimes put to the test? We live and inhabit not all in the country or region where we grew up. Some of us are away from their families. Others must work in harsh conditions or are struggling to make ends meet. Still others are struggling with health problems.
Keep faith in God, goodness and rightness of his decisions, the way we drive, is not easy for everyone. Have we ever done up to him these words of "Little Catechism" , but then as a sigh, a cry for help: "I can not, by my reason and my own strength to believe in Jesus Christ! " ?
But the Lord hears his people. There is not remote. This is the wonderful experience that Moses could do there in the desert. "The Messenger of Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire, the middle of a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire, but the bush was not consumed. "
" The Messenger of the Lord " , " the angel of the Lord appears in the middle of a bush " . He has not found better. The fertile Egypt culture so bright like a majestic palm. Life in the desert is symbolized by a "bush" . It also gives the image that sometimes the Church midst of the world a "bush" amidst a lush forest.
The community of believers, has problems, sometimes as hard as the life of Moses in the wilderness, financial problems (how to find enough donations to better announce Christ among and around us?) Cure problems soul (we are all human, torn by the problems and temptations of this world and our nature can be so low), problems also with other churches who try to circumvent the biblical revelation to better please the people, for give the Church more aspect of the majestic palm tree.
Yet, God manifests himself with grace in "the bush" , not in the palm grove in the Church, not the world. The Lord , " do not mind being lowered to meet us. Later, "Messenger of the Lord " will be born in a barn up and die on a cross so as not to miss the appointment with us.
In our text, he comes to meet Moses and through Moses, to meet the people of Israel enslaved in Egypt. He noted he wants his distress, save for his misfortune. "The Lord said:" I saw the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry because they grow their tyrants, and I know his pain. I'm down to deliver them ... "
God is not a distant God, inattentive, insensitive to the problems of its own. What did he say? "I saw [...] I heard [...] I know [...]. " Dear child of God, your heavenly Father " knows " your problems, he knows what you endure. But "knows" also what contributes to your good, if you lean on him and trust him (cf. Rom 8.28).
God does "sees" and "hear" not only our groans then go his way as some did in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:30-37). When God sees us suffer, he intervenes. Faced with the misery of the people of Israel in Egypt, he said to Moses: "I am down to free the hand of the Egyptians. " 's best to rid your home, a look later in the book " Exodus ", to see how God went about " deliver " the people of Israel "from the hand of the Egyptians" .
This interventionist stance in the interests of his family is still the attitude of God. Oh! it has not provided the Israelites heaven on earth. Their issue led them through other tests. And he came to grumble against the way God led them to freedom: it was not going fast enough or it was not good enough for their taste.
Dear friends, one despairs of God when we want to dictate how they should intervene - and obviously it happens otherwise. Make it confidence! In his wisdom, he knows better than us what is to our good and His goodness, he can not play with us.
Look, this was not the game when he sent his Son: his manger was not at stake, and his cross, much less. It "knows" our needs, it "knows" the struggle of our faith: that is why he is transfigured before us in his Gospel, that is why he invites us to his table sacred to pick ourselves up. That is also why it has ally to us in Baptism.
This will be our second point:
CHRIST was transfigured before U.S.
- 2 -
because THAT'S ALLIANCE HE CONCLUDED WITH U.S..
"The Messenger of the Lord " , "Angel of the Lord " , that " appears " by Moses, is none other than the God of the Alliance! It's like as it appears: "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. "
Our God is not a God far away, distant, but a God who binds, which is allied to his own. In presenting as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob" , he recalled that he joined with the patriarchs, promising to send them a Messiah-Savior.
By presenting themselves as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob" , he said he is a God who makes promises and keeps its word, a God who has a contract, who has contracted an alliance.
An alliance also surprising: On one hand, the alloy is God, on the other hand, the alloy is "the people" . The contract says that God is the liberator ally and ally the human issued; divine ally give a new country and ally receive the human, "a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey " . This is not what is called "tit for tat. Here could shape the expression of "giving-receiving."
"What alliance wobbly! "We are tempted to exclaim. Indeed, it is enough. But has he not done the same with us, and we do not carry us well? Has he not bound to "promises" (Ac2.38-39) even more amazing to the baptismal covenant in which we received for the love of His Son?
This alliance is also completely out of balance: on one side, the best acting is God (as he has "regenerated" in Baptism (Titus 3.5-7), on the other side, the allies who profit, we, the believers on one side giver is God (he gave us his love, his forgiveness, his life, hello), on the other side those who receive without deserving it, it's still us.
And if the Land of Canaan, which God would offer the people of Israel would be a fertile country, the heavenly Canaan Christ the Savior that we got it and who is promised to the baptized is infinitely more radiant, beautiful and relaxing .
is how Jesus reveals his glory to his family in his Word. And now why he does it: first, to help us effectively in the fight of our faith, then, because he is a God of the Covenant, and finally, this will be our last point:
CHRIST was transfigured before U.S.
- 3 -
DUE TO TRANSFIGURATION
MORE GLORIOUS
AHEAD STILL
Early in our history, "Moses [...] came to the mountain of God, Horeb. "Why " Horeb " is it called " the mountain of God " ? Why this sad and desolate place it is called "the mountain of God" ?
You see, before to this story written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Moses had done on this same mountain experience even more overwhelming: God had given him the "Ten Commandments" (Ex 19.10 - 20:21).
This mountain is sometimes called "Horeb" sometimes "Sinai" . The manifestations of God on Mount "Sinai" or "Horeb" were awesome, supernatural, to the point where it is difficult to get an accurate picture. Since then, it has been called "the mountain of God" , the mountain where God has manifested his glory and power, but also his concern for his people.
For the moment, God tells Moses he is going "raise" Israel - "my people! " he said - "of this country towards a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. " Slavery will give way to freedom, forced labor in paid work, the prohibition of worshiping God in the freedom to do so. They no longer suffer from bullying, bans, a kind of straitjacket in which they are nestled in Egypt, but they shall dwell "a vast country" where they can spread.
But Canaan should also be a step on the road toward the great Epiphany of Christ, to the impressive final Transfiguration "the angel of the Lord" .
The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us : " [the Israelites] obtained the realization of promises, [...] a resurrection top [...] God in fact, had to something higher " for them, as indeed " for us [...]. " (Heb 11.33-40)
Transfiguration of " Messenger of the Lord " had to show Moses that God was concerned about the fate of " his people " , he had a plan for him to clear a path through the vicissitudes of life to eternal happiness.
"The Messenger of the Lord " would not only liberate the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, he would even deliver all mankind from its sins in the explant itself.
What Christ transfigured told Moses joined what Pierre, Jacques and Jean were heard on the Mount of Transfiguration: Christ or Messiah would free us to lead us to a glory unparalleled in eternal bliss. With the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, God wanted to show that God is a Savior able to keep its promises.
And as he led the Israelites through the desert to test the Land of Canaan, he leads us, with us, encourages us and helps us through the trials of this life to the heavenly Canaan, for "our citizenship is in heaven we" (Ph 3.20).
is the message of Christ transfigured. And all this we owe him alone and he would do and which he met with "Moses and Elijah" on the Mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9.30 -31).
Praise be to transform it and before our eyes in the Gospel, waiting to share with us his transfiguration in heaven! (Phil 3.21)
Amen.
Jean Thiébaut Haessig
songs available:
Deign in this hour, O loving Father LIS 1:1-3
O Jesus, Son of the Father, LIS 67:1 4-6
Lord directs my steps LIS 305:1-3
Jerusalem, lets your King, LIS 162:1-3
p'tits Hearts Valentine 
family with premeir sun 
you smile ..... 
bouquets February 
songs available:
Mansion with us by your grace LIS 3: 1-5
I sing Lord, LIS 22: 1-4
O sweet Providence LIS 24: 1-5
12 Who measured the oceans in the hollow of his hand? Who determined its measurements of the sky in a measure and shall maintain all the dust of the earth in a measure?
13 Who understood the Spirit of the Lord and what a man was to instruct his counsel?
14 With whom did he intentionally to be enlightened by it? Who taught him the path of law, he taught his skills and introduced him to the path of understanding?
15 nations are like a drop of water falling from a bucket, they are like dust on a scale, and islands like dust that flies.
16 forests of Lebanon would not suffice to fuel the fire of the altar and his animals would be insufficient for the Holocaust.
17 All nations are reduced to nothing before Him, they have less to his eyes that nothingness and emptiness.
18 Who do you look for God? Which representation would you compare?
19 is a craftsman who merits the statue, then covers it with a goldsmith gold and casteth silver chains.
20 He who is too poor for such an offering selects wood that will not rot, it uses the services of a craftsman skilled enough to make a sculpture that is not sacred bobble.
21 Do not you know? Do not you learned? Do you have we not learned from the beginning? Have you ever thought about the foundations of the earth?
22 is the Lord who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are, for him, like grasshoppers. He held up the sky like a curtain, it unfolds like a tent to make his dwelling place.
23 He who reduces rulers to nothing, which makes the judges of the earth like a vacuum.
24 They are not even planted, not even seeded, trunk has not yet developed roots in the ground it blows over them while they dry, the vortex carries them as a straw.
25 Who will you compare me to that I like him? asked the Saint.
26 Look up at the sky and watch! Who created it? This is the one who brings the heavenly bodies in order. He calls them all by name. His power is so great, his force so powerful that not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, Jacob, and why you affirm, Israel "My situation is out of the Lord my right goes unnoticed to my God! " ?
28 Do not you know? Do not you learned? This is the everlasting God, the LORD, who created the ends of the earth. It does not get tired, it does not end. His intelligence is impenetrable.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the resources from that in the end.
30 Teens get tired and exhausted, young people begin to stumble,
31 but those who rely on the Lord shall renew their strength. They take flight like eagles. They shall run and not run out, they walk without getting tired. "
Dear brothers and sisters who have " right " to the solicitude of the Father Heavenly!
We rarely pondered a text as long. Already scheduled to play today - verses 12 to 25 - was not very short: Why, then, have added six more verses?
Because the last six verses of this chapter indicate why God put this long list of questions.
To get all the "pith and substance" (Rabelais) of a text, it is good to see what is the context, why it is so said here.
course we could talk in the abstract, the omnipotence and omniscience of God of the universe, just as in a course of dogmatic. But this is not the intention of God in our text.
He wants that we should withdraw something that enlightens us, which we built, which strengthens our faith in him. There is no theory, answering questions, he intervenes in a situation. And we can not really understand that with the last six verses.
In fact,
TO THOSE WHO SAY:
" My situation is beyond the Lord
my right goes unnoticed to my God! "
MEETS THE LORD
1. it "does not get tired" ,
"not exhausted" and
that "His mind is impenetrable. "
2. it " gives strength to the weary" and "who relies on him. "
YYY 1 YYY
To those who say
" My situation is beyond the Lord
my right goes unnoticed to my God! "
The Lord replied
it " never tires " ,
" not exhausted " ,
and "his mind is impenetrable. "
Who among us has not already experienced the discouragement, doubt, maybe even a real coup de blues? Who among us, if he has not formulated well, at least not ever feel: " My situation is beyond the Lord, my right to my God goes unnoticed ! " (v. 27)?
Oh! Certainly, I know I learned in Sunday school, I hear it in worship and Bible studies, I read in the Bible: " His power is so great, its force so powerful! " (v. 26)
But then why should I fight well? Why, despite my prayers - or have I ceased to pray? - Nothing changes? Why is not he intervene? Would it not as powerful as he claims? Or what I saw him he would be indifferent?
As for the people of Israel, our faith in God is sometimes strained, let's face it. We sometimes have to make the big difference between the claims of the omnipotence of God and our situation does not change significantly between the assertions of the holiness of God and the injustice that we face, between the statements that God knows and sees all and our test that does not release an inch.
is what the people of Israel lived at the time of the prophet Isaiah. The Kingdom of Israel with Samaria as its capital, in the north, had fallen under the onslaught of the Assyrian power, and the small kingdom of Judah with Jerusalem as its capital, in the south, feared to go equally to the pot.
This does not he demonstrated that the Lord was not so strong as that? The idols of stone, precious metals and even wood, pagan peoples had other resources, benefited more in their worship?
And we, as also happened with the Psalmist, we see that the unbelievers around us does not seem to fare so poorly without God. Should we not look elsewhere? Seek salvation in the money in the career in science? Or Islam or Eastern religions? Even in the religions of the ancient Celtic Gaul who know, indeed, a revival, albeit marginally, in Britain? Or visit the myriad of fortune tellers who appear in magazines and on the web?
If happiness can lead some to find God superfluous, misfortune may also turn away from God. The test can lead to blindness. Suffering, whether physical or otherwise, can we hide God can make us forget who he is, what he has done for us and continues to do for us.
God is trying to shake hers in their lethargy. He tries to open their eyes to get them out of their blindness. It does this by asking us to think a range of issues.
It uses Isaiah as a spokesperson. Happy are we if, when we are helpless, we have Isaiah makes us think about issues that awaken!
Happy are we if, when we are at the bottom of the hole and we cling to them, God places on our side or we meet someone who makes us reflect on the senselessness of our attitude.
the Israelites, God said that nations - including the superpowers - are only teardrop " that " dust " in his hand (v. 15). "All nations are reduced to nothing before Him, they have less to him than the nothingness and emptiness" (v. 17).
And indeed: Where is the Assyrian power today? - Swept 90 years after crushing Israel. Where is the power of Babylon who conquered Judah and Jerusalem 25 years later? - Extinct well. Where is the power of ancient Egypt with its unique civilization? - Extinct!
Here, speaking of Egypt, it goes back to the news. But we might as well think of the famous "Eastern Bloc" or the French royalty, or both Napoleonic empires. Capacities are ephemera. They pass. God, it is still there. "He reduced the leaders to nothing, which makes the judges of the earth similar to the vacuum. " (v. 23)
And with the different civilizations also spend their idols, both ancient stone, metal or wood, as new: wealth, immorality and so on.
No, when it goes wrong, we do not turn to these lures to replace God. The money, career, property are not to be rejected as such. These are blessings we owe to God for the care and happiness of this life. So much so, that God protects the property with the 7 th Command: "You do not steal! " (Ex 20.15), to the point he also blesses honest work or medical treatment.
But do not do our gods, our idols. Do not organize our lives around them, just for them, as if our salvation and happiness came from them. Do not think this could replace God.
God asks us "To whom will you compare me to that I like him? " (v. 25) It is true, if God has " created in His image " (Gen 1.26-27) of holiness and perfection, once fallen into sin, humans have forged their idols sinful image. The gods imagined by the mythologies from antiquity formed couples had children, committing adultery, were in occupations, fought, and killed just like humans.
And today, the world produces a character that resembles him, to "image" its sinful tendencies. This is no different.
"And you want " I compare " them even prefer them to me? Asks God. But "stand [Therefore] eyes to heaven and see! Who created it? " (v. 26)
" Who hath measured the oceans in the hollow of his hand? Who determined its measurements of the sky in a measure and shall maintain all the dust of the earth in a measure? Who has understood the Spirit of the Lord and what a man was to instruct his counsel? With whom did he intentionally to be enlightened by it? Who taught him the path of law, he taught his skills and introduced him to the path of understanding? " (v. 12-14)
Person! To all these questions there is one and the same answer: Nobody! Nobody "was his advisor for teaching" nobody "understands the Spirit of the Lord" nobody him "taught know-how" nobody "introduced him to the path of intelligence" . All this he has decided and done by his wisdom only by its power alone. He is the one God. The replacement is based on the nil and "empty" (v. 17).
Let's trust him! "It does not get tired, it does not end. His intelligence is impenetrable. " (v. 28)
YYY 2 YYY
To those who say
" My situation is beyond the Lord
my right goes unnoticed to my God! "
The Lord replied
it " gives strength to that
who is tired"
and "who relies on him. "
God responds within two doubts can creep in us. He wants to reassure us on two issues that could destabilize us. He wants to show us how he acts when in fact we feel that our situation is beyond him and he does not treated as we deserve.
" Why do you say [...] and affirm why you [...] : "My situation is beyond the Lord!" ? " (v. 27) Of course when this happens to us is that we do not move: the healing is delayed, the unemployed can not find a solution, the tension in the family or kinship persist.
But after what we just heard, it can not be due to the impotence of God, his power is unlimited. Nor can it be due to his indifference to us. In the next chapter, he continues his speech. There he states: "I chose you and you do not reject. Do not walk around worried glances, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I come to your aid, I will uphold you [...] " (Isaiah 41.9-10)
Oh! But how, if I still see nothing moving? Is that in his great kindness and great wisdom, our heavenly Father "knows what we need," (Mt 6.8). He also knows when and how we help. He knows us better than ourselves, we, our needs, our strengths and weaknesses, and "it will not allow us to be tempted beyond our strength, but with the temptation," with proof that we are experiencing, "also make a way out so that we can cope" (1 Cor 10.13).
For Isaiah, God promises us: "Those who rely on the Lord shall renew their strength. " (v. 31) Again this applies Paul's question: " If God be for us, " him, God's faithful love and unlimited power, "Who can be against us? " (Rom 8.31) what can really hurt us because it" mastered "all, to speak like young people?
"Rely on the Lord" do trust him: his hands we're in good hands, hands that protect and bless, hands reassuring and never waver.
With this faith or "confidence" , we will take courage, we will find the strength to surrender ourselves with patience to his business management because "will act" ( Ps 37.5)
And do not think he treats us as opposed to what we "right" . God asks us, because he knows our excesses: " Why do you say [...] and affirm why you [...] : "My right goes unnoticed to my God!" ? " (v. 27)
Because we " rights " with God! Maybe we do not emphasize enough. Too often we confine to repeat at length of days and years - and worship! - That we are sinners and saved only by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. It is true, and is the basis of everything. But we forget to say and sing what Jesus did for us by saving us: the children of God with rights.
After confessing our sins with humility and received absolution at the beginning of worship, we should no longer continue to move forward in continuing to worship in fear of beatings: absolution we can move straight and proud and happy rights that are now ours. Certainly not their birthright, but vested rights, acquired through our Lord Jesus Christ. In redeeming us through His Son, by adopting us as his children, he has granted us immense.
"You are all son and daughters of God through faith in Jesus Christ, you who have been baptized, have put on Christ! " (Galatians 3.26-27) God sees us through His Son, as brothers and sisters of her Son, with rights as children of God. Paul reminds us that we were "adopted" and have now rights pertaining to children, children of God. (Rom 8.15)
It is true, as the Israelites, everything happens as if sometimes "my right went unnoticed by my God" (v. 27), as if God forgot my rights child, the right to its protection, the right to his care, the right to his aid.
This is only an impression. Not that our suffering or our events are imaginary: they are real. But this is not a sign that God would deny the rights that we acquired his Son. God "remains faithful he can not disown himself " nor the rights granted to us (2 Tim 2.13).
Let us trust in our God of love. It's not amnesia, he knows what we deserve because of Jesus, he knows what he is committed to provide us as care in the covenant of Baptism.
Let's trust him. He has his reasons when he gives the impression of having forgotten that he is our Father and we are his children, when we have the impression that he forgets his duty as a father.
Here, listen to what we said a few chapters later (we'll finish with this wonderful promise): "I will never forget you. Look! I have engraved on my hands. " (Isaiah 49.15-16)
Amen.
Jean Thiébaut Haessig
