Exodus 34: 29–35; Psalm 99; II Corinthians 3: 12 – 4: 2;
Luke 9: 28–36
This is the homily
prepared for St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, to be given by Fr. Gene
Tucker on Sunday, March 3, 2019.
“FORGING
AND TEMPERING”
(Homily text: Luke 9:
28–36)
When
I was a young boy, my dad operated a blacksmith shop in the small town we lived
in in Nebraska. When I say “blacksmith”, I don’t mean that he worked on shoeing
horses. No, he was engaged in repairing farm machinery, mostly.
I
spent a lot of time in that shop, so many of the memories I have of it are
quite clear.
He
had a forge, fired with coal, and with a hand-cranked blower to heat the coal
into a very hot fire. He also had a large anvil upon which he would beat pieces
of metal into shape. Nearby to the anvil was a large tub of water, into which
pieces of metal would be thrust to cool and quench them.
Dad
would heat a piece of steel until it glowed. Then, he’d take that piece of
steel and beat it with a hammer while it was still hot, shaping it into the
desired shape. While it was still hot, he’d put it into that vat of water, when
it would sizzle and create some steam until it cooled.
In
the process of all this, sparks would fly, as the metal was being shaped and
then hardened in order to make it useful.
In
much the same way, Jesus is forging and tempering His disciples, shaping them
and toughening them for the work He will have for them to do once He has
finished His course on earth, and has ascended into heaven. Unlike a piece of
steel which has no nerves, these original twelve disciples (minus Judas,
eventually, but then plus Mathias and then Paul) were flesh-and-blood human
beings, and their forging and tempering process involved a lot of painful
growth as the Lord shaped them and fitted them out in order to make them
useful.
We
would do well to retrace some of the steps in this process.
A
good place to begin would be with Peter’s confession, found in Luke’s Gospel
account at 9: 18–20. Recall that Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do you say
that I am?” Peter responds by saying that He is “the Christ[1] of God.”
Perhaps
it’s possible that Jesus then decided, based on Peter’s correct assessment of
His identity, that Peter and the other disciples were ready for the next
lesson, the next trip into the hot fire of the forge, for He tells them that He
is going to go to Jerusalem, where He will be killed, and will rise on the
third day. (See Luke 9: 21–22.)
Luke
doesn’t record what Peter said in response this first (of three) predictions
that Jesus makes about his destiny in Jerusalem. But Matthew does. He tells us
that Peter took the Lord aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from
you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” Then Jesus makes His famous
response, “Get behind me, Satan![2]. You are
a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but
on the things of man.”[3]
The
white-hot heat of the forge is visible to us in this interchange. Peter’s
shaping will require many more trips into the fire in the coming days in order
to make him a useful object in the Lord’s service.
Now,
we come to the Transfiguration. Matthew, Mark and Luke record the event. In our
liturgical calendar, it is an event we consider on the Last Sunday after the
Epiphany each year. It’s appropriate that we close the Epiphany season with
this text, for the revelation of Jesus’ true nature as God’s Son is the fullest
revelation of His identity to the world, a theme we’ve been considering all
throughout the Epiphany season.
Back
into the forge go Peter, James and John, as the bright light of Jesus’ glory is
revealed to them on that mountain. No doubt Peter isn’t comfortable with the
sight or the experience, so – in typical Peter fashion – he blurts out a
suggestion that three tents should be erected, one for Jesus, one for Moses,
and one for Elijah.
The
tempering of these three disciples will ensue as they remember this revelation
of Jesus’ identity, as God’s Son. Peter, writing many years later, will recall
it as he writes his second letter. (See II Peter 1: 18.)
The
journey will continue from the mount of Transfiguration down into the Jordan
valley, and then up into Jerusalem and into the final week of Jesus’ earthly
ministry. The forging and tempering of His followers will continue as they are
thrust into the fire of Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, beating, crucifixion, burial,
and rising again.
All
along the way, through this painful process, these disciples are being shaped
and hardened into useful tools for the Lord’s work.
These
original twelve disciples had begun their tempering and shaping process as
unformed pieces. They’d watched the Lord perform miracles. They’d watch Him
teach to larger and larger crowds of people, speaking with an air of authority
that neither the scribes nor the priests had. But oftentimes, they were unaware
that their character was changing as a result of their contact with the Lord’s
forging and tempering process. Time after time, these disciples don’t seem to
“get it”. They misunderstand, they are slow to believe, they are unfaithful at
critical times. But each time, the Lord picks them up and thrusts them into the
fire once more. The Lord’s hammer blows shape them into useful tools for His
service.
The
process by which Jesus’ original disciples-become-Apostles is the same process
by which the Lord shapes you and me into useful tools, in order that we might
become enduring agents of His purposes.
That
process won’t be easy. It probably won’t be a quick and miraculous reshaping,
Oftentimes, we aren’t hardened and shaped enough to be conformed to Christ’s
image in the world. So God will need to do some more work with us, heating us
up, shaping us with the hammer blows of life, tempering us. That’s the essential
meaning of Lent, a season which is upon us this week.
We
can be assured that God, working through Christ, has our best interest at heart
as we enter this reshaping and tempering process. For, as the Letter to the
Hebrews (12: 6) states, the Lord “disciplines the one he loves, and chastises
every son whom he receives.”[4]
AMEN.
[1] “Christ” is a title which comes to us from
the Greek, where it means “anointed”. “Messiah” has the same meaning, coming to
us from the Hebrew.
[2] Satan means “enemy”.
[3] Matthew 16: 22–23, English Standard
Version
[4] English Standard Version
