My high school had a practice of sending each freshman class off for a week every fall for a hiking trip through the Cascade Mountains. It was an opportunity for us to bond as a class and get to know each other better. I had one classmate in particular whom I did not get along with at all in seventh and eighth grade. We were always at each other’s throats, usually figuratively. Yet during this hiking trip we became friends and, though we never made a big deal out of spending time together, we got along in a way that would have seemed impossible when we were in junior high.
The terrain of our hiking trip was such that we went up two mountains on the five-day trip. The first and second day found us always going up… up up up. On the third day we found ourselves on a mountaintop, we spent a bit of time there and then descended to a valley and a lake which is where we spent our third night. On the fourth day we went up another mountain, and then descended it that same day and hiked out on the fifth day. So the terrain of our trip was mountaintop, valley, mountaintop, end. It was a lot of work getting up those mountains. We were out of shape and not used to carrying everything with us and the second day in particular was pretty miserable. But then we got to the top of the mountain and the misery disappeared. As I looked out at the world around me and saw the beauty of God’s creation, I was ready to set up camp and spend the night there. I was having a mountaintop experience and I didn’t want to leave it. But, alas, that is precisely what we had to do. When Thursday came and we began to move upwards again, I could hear my body begin to complain about what I was going to put it through. But because I knew what was in store for me at the top of the climb, the climb became much easier.
And again, when we reached the top of the mountain, we were blown away by the beauty of the terrain in front of and behind us. Again, I would have loved to have stayed there, and perhaps would be there to this day if I had had any say about it. But again, as our journey moved us onward, we descended that mountain and went on to the next stage of our journey.
In today’s scripture, Peter wanted to stay at a mountaintop experience. He was experiencing something that was very special and holy to him and he wasn’t ready to let it go. But he discovered that we cannot always live in those moments of sheer grace. We need to move forward in our lives and see where next God is leading us.
I. Transfigured
The scripture we read this morning truly is a mountaintop experience. It is a place where Jesus is seen in all his glory. It is an opportunity for Peter, James and John to see Jesus in full majesty instead of just seeing him in meekness. It is actually quite amazing, and different than most of the rest of Jesus’ ministry. Throughout his ministry Jesus is showing his power in different ways. He calms the sea, he heals the sick, he casts out demons. Throughout his ministry we see Jesus use his power as the Son of God to help those around him. We realize that there is a deeper purpose to what he does as well, though. For he often makes a point of saying that the reason he is healing and helping those around him is so that they will listen to his message.
But here, like with Jesus’ baptism, we see something special in Jesus and his relationship with the Father. Here his power isn’t used to help others, here it is about him and God. Here a voice comes from heaven proclaiming Jesus as God’s Son. And then there is the fact that Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus. This is of extreme importance to the Christians in the early church and helps them to realize what to do with their understanding of the Old Testament. You see, Moses and Elijah were the greatest of the Law and the Prophets. Tradition had it that the first five books of the Bible, what we often refer to as the Pentateuch, what Jewish tradition refers to as Torah, was all written by Moses. Moses is the one who wrote down the Torah, the Books of the Law. And here was Jesus, talking with Moses, having a conversation, on equal footing.
And Elijah was regarded as the greatest of the prophets. Elijah was regarded so highly that it was believed that Elijah would return to prepare the people for the Messiah. And here was Jesus, talking with Elijah, having a conversation, on equal footing. These three disciples saw that Jesus was talking with the Law and the Prophets. The disciples saw that Jesus was something special. At another point in the gospels, Jesus says he didn’t come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to complete them. This seems a bit egotistical and over the top. It makes sense to us today for we know the whole story, we know who Jesus really is. But to his disciples of the day it would be hard to take this word from Jesus seriously. But for these three disciples who went to the mountaintop with Jesus, it perhaps made a bit of sense.
And so, here we see that Jesus is in good company. The disciples are shown how important Jesus really is. It gets even better, for there is a voice that comes down out of heaven telling the disciples that Jesus is God’s Son, whom he loves. And the voice also gives Peter and the disciples a command, “Listen to him.” For God it is not enough that the disciples have experienced this great wonder, they are given a responsibility because of what they experienced. Their responsibility is to listen to Jesus. It has been confirmed to them that Jesus is special. He is at least on par with the Law and Prophets, he is God’s son… listen to him.
And so, with all this going on, Peter gets this great idea: Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.
II. Stay
Peter has seen something special and he wants to remain in the moment, he wants to stay. I am built a bit like that myself. At my college we would have a worship service each Thursday night that we could go to. It was voluntary, and it was a very contemporary style service, just an opportunity to sing praises to God. There wasn’t a sermon, though there was often scripture read. There was also a time of prayer during the service. The service also quite often became very deep. In college everything seems so much more serious than it really is and people would often show up for the service with heavy hearts. We would gather together and worship and sing and pray and you could watch people move out of their problems and difficulties and enter into God’s presence. It truly felt that we were in God’s presence quite regularly at this service. And then the service would be over. I would be making my way out of the room we were in and start working my way back to my dorm. I would often be quite contemplative, savoring the experience that we had just had. I was shocked that others could go right from that deep worship experience to goofing around and chatting. It didn’t make sense to me at all. I was wanting to remain in the moment and they were already far from the worship we had just had. It still doesn’t totally make sense to me when I think about it.
I realize, though, that I was being a bit like Peter. I was wanting to remain in the moment. I wasn’t ready to move on and integrate that moment with the rest of my life. Now, honestly, I believe many of the other students who would horse around after the worship service were dropping out of the moment too fast, and not allowing it to have any impact on the rest of their lives, but there has to be some sort of middle ground.
Peter wanted to remain on the mountain. He wanted to live in the splendor and glory. He wanted to bask in Jesus’ majesty and allow himself to be overwhelmed by it. He wanted to enjoy the fact that his Rabbi, his teacher was talking with Moses of the Law and Elijah of the prophets. He didn’t want to go back to the real world. Like I said, I understand this desire. It’s partially what makes me look forward to heaven, for that will be a place where I can bask in the majesty of Jesus to my heart’s content.
But that moment on the mountain was not something that could continue for Jesus, or for Peter. It was something that needed to come to an end so that Jesus could continue with everything else he had left. Jesus had to let go of the majesty that was present there so he could give into the meekness that was shown at the cross. And Peter could not stay here with the shelters to commemorate this moment, he needed to follow Jesus back down the mountain and do the very thing that God had called him to do, listen to Jesus.
We all have moments in our lives where the things of God seem so very clear. We all also have times where everything is so very murky. We long to stay in those moments where Jesus and his truth are so plain before us, but this is not the world we live in. Instead we are called to journey through the valleys. We are called to move from one mountain peak to another, having highs in our lives and having lows. But those highs, those mountaintops, give us the strength we need to make it through the valleys. When we begin to question where it is that God is leading us we can remember the time that it was so very clear before us. I am sure that there were times leading to the cross where Peter began to doubt whether he was doing the right thing in following Jesus. We think the disciples believed that Jesus was going to physically save Israel from their Roman masters. They were expecting a political messiah and not a spiritual one. When things seemed to turn on them as Jesus was taken prisoner and crucified, I wonder whether Peter doubted who Jesus was. I’m sure he did. But I am also sure that he was able to go back to that time on the mountaintop, with Moses and Elijah, with the voice from the cloud saying “This is my son” and he remembered that Jesus was God’s Son, the Messiah.
Remembering the time on the mountain did not make life easier during that difficult time. It did not answer the question of what was really happening with Jesus. We know that none of the disciples really got what the crucifixion and resurrection were really about until Jesus himself explained it to them, showing them the holes in his hands and in his side. When Jesus died, they all thought that was the end. But they stayed together. They spent time in prayer. And I believe that this is in part due to that time they had on the mountaintop with Jesus, seeing him full of majesty.
When we go through difficult times, what do we hold on to? Are we able to remember back to times when Jesus was just so very real in our lives? Are we able to accept the valleys because of the great mountaintops that we have been on? Our journeys are all different, they each have their own road. God leads us each through our own mountains and valleys. But we can all trust that our journey is leading us to him and we can trust that even when we are walking through the valley of shadow, God is with us. We may not see or feel him. He may not seem as strong as the things around us. But he is. He is the Lord and maker of all. He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the First and Last. He is the one who appeared as a tiny baby to a couple far from their home. He is the one who did not rely on earthly possessions to make it in this world but traveled throughout the land teaching and healing. He is the one whose greatest victory seemed at the time to be his biggest defeat. And he is the one who appeared on the mountain, transfigured, with dazzling white clothes and talking with Moses and Elijah. Jesus was a man of contradictions. And he is our God. Let us follow the command that God gave the disciples. Let us listen to him. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment