It's been another one of those interesting weeks. As many of you noticed, last Sunday the church septic tank overflowed, which led to a hundred feet of sewer line freezing up. Some said it felt like former times at their old church, and others said it was enough to make them want to find a new church! Yours truly had the honor of overseeing both the septic pumping and sewer line repairs. They say a pastor gets to see the good and bad sides of his members. This week I saw your worst side in what has become known as the Great Sewer Mess of 2007. The jury's out on whether this will happen again, so I welcome the city sewer hookup that will happen during construction and rid us of the septic tank.

         Speaking of a jury, how as your jury duty this week? Oh, you say you didn't have jury duty? Maybe you did, but didn't think of it in those terms. I'm talking about the jury of life, with the verdicts we reach on things every day. For example, Pastor-Elect Worral will visit us and soon reach a verdict on whether or not he wishes to accept our call to serve Epiphany. He will look at the evidence, examine his personal and family needs, and render a verdict.

         This past week I reached a verdict on eating a piece of cold pizza for lunch. I was hungry and the pizza was right there on the counter - two compelling reasons to have that pizza for lunch. My verdict: heat it and eat it! But the stomach ache I had that afternoon suggested I could have reached a better verdict for lunch that day.

         Sometimes the verdicts we reach are about people. A woman decides, "That man is not worth dating." Or a shopper for cars says, "I can trust that salesman." Or we reach a verdict about Jesus. We say, "Jesus Christ is my Savior and I need forgiveness" so we decided to come worship Him today. Some of you will come to verdict about whether or not to meet Pastor Worral tonight. Every day there are opportunities to reach verdicts in all kinds of situations. Some verdicts will be to attend soup supper this week before Ash Wednesday service. Sometimes our verdicts are full of conviction with the outcome assured. Other times they're based on shaky evidence, and we hope for the best.

         During our midweek Lent services this year, starting February 28, God will be bringing us into a courtroom to decide about Jesus, if He is our Lord or not. Today we begin that process on the Mount of Transfiguration. It's the last weekend before Lent starts, and we hear again about Jesus climbing the mountain and shining like a bright light.

         So we need to examine the evidence. Will we believe this story is the Word of God, and if so, will we learn from it? There is some powerful evidence and testimony here about Jesus. Will we believe it proves He is the Son of God and Savior who can give us eternal life? Or is He just a good teacher who deserves to be heard? That's our job today - to do our jury duty in the case of Christ.

         Transfiguration is recorded to prove that Jesus was the glory of God. The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel saw the glory of God leave the temple. That glory, or "Shekinah", had been a symbol of God's presence since the Exodus. As they journeyed in the wilderness, God showed Himself as the Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night. The pillars stood outside the Tabernacle tent during their 40 years of wandering, and were built into Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The people's apostasy, however, caused God to finally leave the temple. Ezekiel saw the Shekinah glory of God depart from the temple, and it was the saddest of days in Israel's history. God left His people because His people had left God.

         Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah God promised to save the world. The Old Testament is filled with prophesies that a Messiah would come, and one of the proofs was in the Transfiguration. He's shown like the sun. He was the Shekinah glory of God returning to earth once again.

         "Transfiguration" means substance transformed. Jesus wasn't just a man acting like God - He was fully God, and fully showed God's glory. The Disciples didn't understand this until later. Their lack of understanding should not surprise us. How often have we understood something only after thinking it over a long time? I call those "Aha! Experiences" and they can happen to us when we least expect it. Sometimes we wake up in the middle of the night and realize we have a certain problem all figured out. We are sleeping, but our mind is working, and, "Aha - that's how I can do it!" So the disciples later realized, "Aha - He's the glory of God!"

         You might recall how the Lord revealed himself on top of Mt. Sinai when He gave Moses the Ten Commandments. God was shown in glory through the burning bush. And then remember how the Lord revealed himself on top of Mt. Carmel through the fire that burned up Elijah's sacrifice. God's power consumed the wood, water and even the rocks of the altar. Now again on a mountain in today's text, God is revealing Himself in his Son, and showing Him to be the Savior. Here on the mountain, Peter, James and John saw others with Jesus, Moses and Elijah, discussing Jesus' departure. The Jews often called their Scriptures, "Moses and the Prophets", and here was Moses and the great Elijah talking with Jesus. Might that not be enough evidence to render the verdict that Jesus is the Promised Messiah, the Son of the Living God?

         God's Word has more than 330 prophecies and 450 details about what the Savior would do and what would happen to him. The Bible is filled with hundreds of bits of evidence as to who Jesus was. But the most powerful testimony on this Mount of Transfiguration comes last, from the Father Himself. He says, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen." God the Father calls Jesus his Son. He calls Him his "Chosen One", the Savior He had promised. And then to show the oneness between Him and His Son, a cloud comes over them, the Pillar of Cloud returning. He had shown them the Pillar of Fire in Jesus, and now He shows the Pillar of Cloud, just like in the Exodus.

         The one who recorded all this testimony and evidence about Jesus Christ was no religious fanatic. He wasn't even there at the time. Luke was a doctor, a man of science who begins his book by citing eyewitnesses. He wrote, "Since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught." (Luke 1:3-4) Luke was an educated man, a wise man. The two don't always come in the same person. But Luke was smart and he also wise. And he gives us evidence Jesus is God's Son.

         We also have the testimony of Peter, who was there on that mountain, who would later write about the experience, saying, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the majestic glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well-pleased." (2 Peter 1:16-17)

         Peter and James, two of the three disciples who were there would die as martyrs rather than refusing to renounce their conviction that Jesus was God. He was not just a good man, or just a great teacher; He was the Savior of the world.

         I suppose if we were in court someone would object and call this "hearsay." If you weren't there, it's all hearsay. But do we not live by hearsay? No one was there when the Big Bang happened, and yet most scientists believe it happened. And no one has found the supposed "missing link" between man and apes, but many scientists believe evolution happened. And no one is alive who was in the room when I was born, yet no one doubts that birth actually happened. No one was under the earth watching the ice freeze those sewer lines, but they did freeze. You and I don't have to see Jesus hanging on the cross to know He died. And we don't have to have proof to believe He is God. The Bible says He is, and it's has been around a lot longer than those who would call it "hearsay."

         We need all this testimony and evidence in a world where even some so-called Christians say Jesus was only a man. And if people would just look at the evidence honestly enough, perhaps they, too, will come to the verdict that He is God.

         You and I can't prove He's the Savior, but we still arrive at a verdict. We must have, or we wouldn't be here today. People don't leave warm homes, drive cold miles, give lots of money and sing strange songs if Jesus is a fake. 1.5 billion Christians of the world can't all be wrong!

         So, the verdict is in: Jesus is Lord and Savior. He loves us and forgives us and helps us forgive each other. Some may not agree, but remember, Jesus is not Savior by popular vote. He is Savior because He is Savior. Polls have nothing to do with His death on the cross. Media polls didn't make Him rise from the dead. Truth does, and faith accepts that truth. If a billion people think Jesus faked His resurrection, that would not make it a fake. The verdict is in: ice froze our sewer lines. The verdict is in: Jesus died for our sins, and rose again to bring us to heaven. And now, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your time and effort. Case is closed and the jury is dismissed! Amen.

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  Epiphany logo designed and provided by Dale Bargmann at daleb@ecentral.com